Chutzpah

12214 Fairfax Towne Center, Fairfax, VA - (703) 385-8883

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Posted By Michael Stern on November 9, 2006 1:36 PM

Following mouthwatering tips from users of the Roadfood.com forums, we took an hour out of our schedule in Washington for lunch at Chutzpah. Located at the far end of a Fairfax shopping center, it is an modest-size storefront with an immodest personality. Billing itself as a REAL New York deli, it features gigantic sandwiches, smoked fish platters, bagel plates, hot or cold borscht, and a full repertoire of Dr. Brown's sodas.

We started with a bowl of matzoh ball chicken noodle soup, which was as homey as can be; and of course I devoured the sour and half-sour pickles that are presented to the table with a bowl of good cole slaw. Jane went for wiener schnitzel, a big, thick slab of juicy meat in an envelope of crunchy, dark brown crust. It is served with lemon wedges and a large side dish of serious meaty gravy. We both thought the gravy superfluous; but the latke (potato pancake) on the side was excellent. I had a hard time choosing from among the pastrami sandwich (which is annotated on the menu with the advice, "Please don't embarrass yourself and ask for mayonnaise"), hot brisket, chopped liver and a white fish salad platter. So I went for a Reuben, which is an extremely unwieldy heap of steamy corned beef, sauerkraut, melted Swiss cheese and Russian dressing between two crisp-grilled slabs of rye bread. It comes with thick-cut steak fries and it is delicious!

High on the list of must-try dishes for the future are matzoh brei, blintzes, corned beef hash, chicken in the pot with matzoh ball and kreplach, and noodle kugel. We walked out with a nice black and white cookie, forgoing the seven-layer cake, carrot cake, and genuine New York cheesecake.

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Posted By DL on July 13, 2011 9:33 AM

I have visited this establishment a few times over several years and, in the beginning, thought it to be acceptable. However, as time has gone by I have found the quality of the food items and service to be inconsistent and less than satisfactory.

The latest visit involved my order of a pastrami sandwich and my friend’s order of fried fish. The waitress made no effort to clarify that I had choices about the way the sandwich could be prepared and, as a result, I got a cold pastrami sandwich on plain rye with a VERY thin sliver of Swiss cheese that cost me an extra dollar for an already expensive sandwich ($11.00).

I noticed on the menu that it clearly stated on an individual line that I could “upgrade” the side dish for a sandwich to steak fries for $1.95 and decided to accept the “option.” What I got was a small plate of lukewarm fries for $3.95 because the “upgrade” was not available for sandwiches, which was clarified only after I received my bill.

When the fried cod was ordered, I clearly heard my friend say the “codfish sandwich” and heard the waitress change the name to something else in such a way as to be taken as correcting my friend. I said, “Well, if that was what the codfish is called…” while looking across the table, after being “corrected” twice. What was delivered was a meatball sandwich.

After getting the correct item ordered (codfish) and asking if I could get my sandwich griddled, we waited 20 minutes and received a fish sandwich that was extremely overcooked and greasy. The bread on my pastrami sandwich was buttered and griddled but the interior was cold. We went ahead and ate what we had to “just get it over with.”

At the end of the meal, after we asked for our check, I wanted to try some of the “complimentary coleslaw” delivered to the table at the beginning of the order process but decided against it when I found something black stuck to the side of the bowl that clearly would have been noticed by anyone that cared while filling the dish. It was NOT CLEAN! I brought this to the attention of a server, who took the dish away. We heard nothing more about it.

The total bill came to $34 plus for two regular sandwiches, one soda, and a side of fries, along with poor service and a poor attitude. We agreed, “Never again.”

Overall Rating

codfish sandwich

Pastrami Sandwich

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