We live so close that we felt it would be wrong not to attend Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington. While this is a food blog, of course, it was nice to be there and feel like we were part of something important.

Around 1:00pm we got hungry for lunch. We didn’t have anything in mind other than walking north, away from the Mall. A few miles later we ended up in Shaw at Smoked & Stacked, Marjorie Meek-Bradley’s new deli and sandwich shop. Chef Marjorie is a bit of a celebrity from last season’s Top Chef, so we were star struck to see her in the kitchen preparing sandwiches.

Smoked & Stacked is counter-serve restaurant, but I would not call it fast-casual. For example, it doesn’t have that assembly line atmosphere that is a hallmark of fast-casual restaurants. Instead, Smoked & Stacked has a chef-driven menu that clearly had a lot of thought put into them.   While you can customize your sandwich, it’s probably best to stick the featured sandwiches.

The star of the show is the housemade pastrami, so we could not miss that. We shared “The Stacked”, which is pastrami, slaw and Dijon mustard on a sea-salt topped milkbread bun. The moist and meaty warm pastrami gets a cool crunch from the slaw. The best part, though, may be the sweet and pillowy milkbread. In fact, it’s so good that it distracts a bit from the pastrami. Still, the chef can’t be faulted if her bread tastes too good.

The sandwiches are substantial in size and would make a hearty lunch. We shared one, plus a bag of Route 11 potato chips, so that we would have room for dessert. Conveniently, Buttercream Bakeshop is directly across 9th Street, NW. The much anticipated bakery is a partnership between former Neighborhood Restaurant Group pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac and cake decorator Alexandra Muddy-Till.

We shared an “808 Bar”, which resembles a s’more. It ended up tasting like a luscious combination brownie, blondie and fudge sprinkled with toasted coconut. I also got a matcha latte, creamy from steamed 2% milk. The barista asked if I wanted it sweetened. I said “no” but if I could do it again, I’d say yes. This is a purely personal preference, but by having it sweetened, it just would have underscored the decadence of our trip to Buttercream.

Best Bite
Paul and Marnay: The Stacked

Address
Smoked & Stacked: 1239 9th Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
Buttercream Bakeshop: 1250 9th Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
Closest Metro: Mt Vernon Square