Features/Reviews

Summer 2021 Food

The unwritten rules for a food critic include some big no-nos: Never reserve under your own name. Don’t accept free food and drink. Refrain from getting too close to your subjects.

Let me apologize, then, for breaking rule number three, shortly after D.C. restaurants threw open their doors to 100 percent capacity and I found myself at Buck’s Fishing & Camping, a restaurant I’ve put in my hall of fame and one I hadn’t dined in since before the pandemic. Fourteen months is a long time to be away from favorite foods and wonderful waiters. Buck’s onion rings and buttermilk chocolate cake were calling to me in a way they couldn’t when takeout was the only option.

2019 FALL DINING GUIDE

Every food critic I know has a “Cheers,” a place they frequent when they’re not on the clock, typically because the food is familiar and the staff makes it easy. For years, my few nights off found me in the honey-lit dining room of this casual American restaurant with a handsome communal table and a canoe suspended from the rafters.

WASHINGTON POST FAMILY MEAL REVIEW

Sure, you can get someone else to bring you fried chicken from Buck’s Fishing & Camping. But the bonus for retrieving it yourself is a nightly fire on the patio out front, an opportunity to peruse a selection of wines on a table inside and the chance to chat up someone other than your shelter mates.