The Gist: http://virtuefeedandgrain.com/
The Why: Cathal Armstrong runs it. RJ Cooper recommended it. I’d already had breakfast at Blue Duck Tavern, Brunch at Birch & Barley, and just witnessed Steven Strausburg hit his first career home run – that and the Kings/Coyotes were on and I needed a place to watch the game somewhere between DC and dinner at Trummer’s on Main. Open 11:30 to close and a ‘no problem’ when I called to inquire about the game – seems like plenty of reason to me, even before taking into account the history of the building and the Irish “pub grub” approach of the menu.
The Reservation: I hear they are a good idea, but arriving after brunch but before dinner to a limited afternoon menu I had the place largely to myself, though keep in mind that parking in Old Town Alexandria is most certainly at a premium.
The Setting and Service: Reading the history of the building during intermissions I was amazed at the amount of thought put into Virtue – an old feed house nearly completely renovated with recycled materials and maintaining a rustic feel with exposed brick and wood abound. Two levels with the bar and kitchen downstairs and large windows plus doors leading to an open patio the space feels quite old and true to the area though everything comes with a degree of polish; a beautiful reinvention to say the least.
Moving next to the service – there really is not enough that I can say about the team at Virtue on that particular day; having already eaten plenty and with more to come my order was small and steering away from alcohol my bill was low yet throughout the entirety of my nearly 3 hour visit I was well taken care of by both the bartenders and the servers – water and coffee refilled without question, dishes cleared rapidly, and plenty of chat about the game.
The Food and Beverage: Water, Coffee, One Plate, One Dessert.
Ceremony Coffee: The same coffee served at Eve – the same coffee I purchased a couple pounds of two days prior – a really great roast that I drank far too much of throughout the duration of the game; a bottomless cup to be certain.
Fried Shrooms with Aioli: High quality local mushrooms deep fried in a dainty batter with herbal aioli – perhaps not the best choice with coffee, but with the light marinade and crunchy sea salt these were still quite awesome and the aioli was a perfect condiment; enhancing instead of marring the earthiness of the mushrooms.
Bread Pudding, Raisins, Irish whiskey Sauce: If there is a better way to spend $8 in Alexandria I’d love to know about it because for me this was about as good as it gets; a dense soda bread absolutely soaked in rich vanilla custard and baked to a golden brown on the exterior while the inside was nearly molten. Rich and sweet without being cloying as the raisins added just a bit of fructose what truly put this dish over the edge, however, was the sauce – boozy and almost bitter on the tongue but smoothing out on the palate and proving a perfect foil to the bread pudding (while the small sidecar of extra sauce went quite nicely in the coffee.)
The Verdict: The Kings lost the game – their only loss of the series – and yet I left Virtue Feed and Grain about as happy as I could be under such circumstances. A great space from a chef that can only be summed up as a true champion of his community I really cannot say enough about how I’ve been treated at each of Armstrong’s establishments and I can say without hesitation that my next trip to DC will feature a proper meal at Virtue – I owe it to them (and myself.)