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Tunnicliff’s manager Andreas Arethas, with
co-owners Anthony Harrison and Med Lahlou
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“Now it looks like a Hill tavern,” said Med Lahlou, co-owner of Tunnicliff’s, the restaurant/tavern situated directly across from the recently resurrected Eastern Market.
Inside the recently refurbished restaurant, a fuzzy black and white photo reveals much of its rich history. Dating from 1796, the original Tunnicliff’s was built at Ninth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE, where BP/Distad’s service station stands today. John Adams, the second US president, may have been an overnight guest; no word on whether George Washington ever laid his head here. Moreover, Tunnicliff’s claims to hold Washington’s oldest alcohol license.
Fast-forward to the early 1980s, where a homespun dive called Spindler’s dispensed beer from 8 a.m. until the 1 p.m. last call. When the final brewski was drawn and Spindler’s closed, Hill entrepreneur Drew Scallon (who still owns the building) unveiled the present Tunnicliff’s in 1982 with a simple menu of burgers, sandwiches, and a few main dishes.
Three years later, Scallon sold Tunnicliff’s to Lynne Breaux. A native of New Orleans, Breaux introduced Louisiana specialities including jambalaya and crawfish pie. Breaux, now president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), sold Tunnicliff’s in 2001 to the current proprietors, Med Lahlou and Anthony Harrison. Besides Tunnicliff’s, Lahlou and Harrison operate Stoney’s at 1433 P St. NW (near Logan Circle) and Ulah Bistro at 1214 U St. NW. Both restaurant/pubs serve fare similar to Tunnicliff’s.
“When we bought Tunnicluff’s, we spent about $200,000 to get it back in working order,” said co-owner Med Lahlou, 42, over late-morning coffee and an egg-white omelet in his restaurant. “Recently, we gave it a facelift, with a new awning, fresh paint, additional tables and bar stools.” The once-familiar sofas and bronze turtle are long gone, giving way to a sleek bar along the side of the front room, as well as comfortable window tables.
More vintage photos caught my eye: New York Yankee legends Babe Ruth, Joe Dimaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle (the baseball photos came from a New York store), boxing great Mohammed Ali, and recent images of Bill and Hillary Clinton and other celebrities.
The crawfish pie is gone, but Tunnicliff’s tavern menu has changed little in recent years. Philippine-born chef John Quintana–who has been on the job for five years--continues to turn out fare like fried calamari, jumbo lump crabcakes (a customer favorite), a big Greek salad and an array of pizzas including chicken/artichoke and “Fiesta,” piled with chipotle Alfredo sauce, mozzarella cheese and chicken. Customers may invent their own pie, and there’s even a peanut butter and jelly pizza. (The family-friendly Tunnicliff’s also has a kid’s menu with chicken fingers, burgers, veggie plate and yes- a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.) Besides juicy burgers, satisfying entrees include pesto penne pasta with grilled chicken, Dijon-style salmon, fish and chips, and that all-American comfort food: meatloaf.
Weekend brunch is wildly popular; just try getting an outdoor table later than noon. Among crowd-pleasers are an assortment of eggs Benedict-like dishes and omelets. We especially like the Mediterranean omelet stuffed with spinach, feta, mushrooms, onions and tomatoes. Lahlou (who is half Moroccan and half French), and partner Harrison invented the concoction themselves.
“Business is not that bad,” Lahlou reflected. “Because of the recession, we were down about 20 percent last year. We took a hit when Eastern Market burned down. But now we are holding our own, and when the market reopened, business started picking up. On the Friday before the official ribbon-cutting (June 26), we set up grills outside and cooked free burgers and ‘dogs for the construction guys.” Lahlou estimated that Tunnicliff’s, which seats 87 indoors and 30 more at the covered outdoor patio, sells 300 to 500 covers (meals) a day.
As Lahlou and I talked, we were joined by Tunnicliff’s co-owner Anthony “Tony” Harrison, who grew up in Northwest Washington and used to take the street car downtown every day. Harrison, now 69, recalls growing up in DC in the 1930s and 40s, when his father owned the long-gone Stanton and Lincoln Park Grills. “Back then, we didn’t say we lived on Capitol Hill,” Harrison added. “We simply said ‘C Street NE or wherever.’”
In 1968, Tony opened the first Stoney’s at 1307 L St. NW, a comfortable watering hole frequented by workers from the now-defunct Washington Daily News, later the Washington Evening Star and after that paper closed in1981, The Washington Post. Stoney’s moved to its present Logan Circle digs in 2006.
“We opened Ulah Bistro a year and a half ago,” added Harrison, as he sliced into his omelet. “The building was a shell and it took two years to construct it from ground zero.”
Tunnicliff’s Tavern
222 Seventh St. SE
202-544-5680
www.bardc.com
Open daily
Lunch: Monday-Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Dinner: daily from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.; late bar menu nightly from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.;
Saturday-Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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