RT’s Restaurant – Alexandria, VA

Earlier this week I knocked another restaurant off my DC Bucket List.  RT’s Restaurant – named for the initials of the founder – is now in it’s 28th year and has occupied 3804 Mt Vernon Ave the entire time. I was told that before RT’s opened the location was occupied by another restaurant dating back to the 1930s.  Hung on the wall inside the current restaurant are several black and white photos of waitresses outside of the front door of 3804 Mt Vernon Ave and I was told these photos date back to that earlier restaurant.

Just north of the heart of Del Ray, RT’s is on a section of Mount Vernon avenue that has undergone significant change over the 28 years RT’s has existence there.  RT’s is now adjacent to a check cashing store and at the end of a series of shops that includes a Chinese take-out restaurant and the La Feria Grocery store. But while many things have likely changed around RT’s I’m not sure anything much as changed within RT’s. The decor is certainly the same. They even had a bowl of RT’s Restaurant matchbooks at the door  – a fixture, I’m sure, that has been there since the beginning. Upon walking in, I felt as if I had just walked into the Regal Beagle. The seat back in my booth was well worn and anytime the person in the adjoining booth leaned back he pushed on me and I did the same for to him.  It was the long lost dinner tango that can only take place in well worn diner booths.   But you quickly realize the lack of ambiance character adds to the culinary experience as opposed. RT’s is – and has been since the beginning – focused on preparing cajun and creole cooking and everything else is superficial.

Coupled the atmosphere with the staff who are attentive and friendly – and dare I say homely in the most endearing way – and “causal neighborhood restaurant” is a very fitting description for the establishment. But as with many restaurants – and certainly most on my D.C. bucket list – looks are deceiving. Over the years RT’s has attracted a number of notable personalities including President Bill Clinton, Vice President Gore, Leslie Nielsen, Woody Harrelson, Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter and more. It has also catered to large number of congressmen and senators over the years.   The back/side room is named in honor of Sonny Callahan – nine time congressman from Alabama – who clearly frequented RT’s during his years in office. Callahan was somewhat famous infamous for being named as the person speaking on the phone with President Bill Clinton during one of the President’s first sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky. Callahan’s congressional aide, Jo Bonner, won the election to fill Callahan’s seat upon his retirement and dinner fundraisers for Bonner have been held at RT’s. Still today RT’s finds itself on the short list of the favorite restaurants of politicians. Rep. Duncan (R-Tenn.) has frequented RT’s for years and one can even find a papier-mâché likeness of him hanging on one of the wall of the Sonny Callahan room.

It seemed somewhat slow with only a table or two occupied, but it was lunch on a Monday and I could easily see things picking up early heading into the early evening. The bar was staffed even at lunch and I imagine there are a deep set of regulars who are known by name the moment they walk through the door. We ultimately couldn’t leave without introducing ourselves to the waitress by name and bidding her farewell.

At the same time, it felt in many ways as though RT’s has slowly been forgotten while at the same time the quality of the food hasn’t faltered.  More as though the restaurant has simply faded with the green of the vinyl seats or the formica tables.  RT’s website states, “RT’s has been a fixture on the Washington Magazine’s “Top 100 Restaurants” and other places say it has been  listed in the Washingtonian magazine’s Top 100 for 15 years in a row.  Above the bar are certificates from these accolades which the waitress was also quick to point out.  But I couldn’t find the restaurant on the current top 100 and while the waitress told us they’ve received so many accolades they’ve run out of room to hang them all I’ve never seen a restaurant void of wall space for excellent reviews – especially recent ones.  There was a string of Washingtonian magazine Top 100 certificates – with dates going back to the early 1990s.  So while I don’t doubt they had a run of 15+ years on the list, I’m not sure when that run was.

Now on to the food.

I started with the delicious she-crab soup. The description on the menu simply says, “Our Original Recipe.”  It had tent of spice to it which was great and arguably they could have even made it even more spicy. The waitress – who herself had lived in New Orleans for a time – explained that creole cooking is essentially home cooking and most restaurants destroy it because it has to be prepared fresh like home cooking. Otherwise you lose structure and flavor. She explained that RT’s pretty much prepares everything fresh to order to maintain the structure of the dishes. You can’t mass produce creole or cajun cooking.

For the main event we followed things up with Spicy Crawfish Red Beans & Rice and Crawfish Etouffée.   The Spicy Crawfish was superb – though arguably could have been a bit spicier. But the structure of the dish was fabulous. Structure is a key element of exquisite cuisine. To enjoy spices they have to roll over your taste buds separately and in all of the dishes we tried, RT’s did a wonderful job of allowing the elements of the dish to have their own unique identity. RT’s special – unsurprisingly – is Etouffée. I give it the slight nudge over the Spicy Crawfish Red Beans & Rice.

I’ve seen written that RT’s is one of the best NOLA restaurants outside of New Orleans and some have even said it rivals those within New Orleans.  I would certainly agree with the latter and you see why many transplants from that region frequent RT’s.