Earl's Reviews

Published in Northern Virginia Magazine
By Stefanie Gans and Warren Rojas

From strip malls to main streets, budget dining options pop up all over NoVA. We’ve tasted more than triple the amount of dishes we’ve listed here to make sure this tight group of 31 promises an enjoyable bite for carnivores (steak and stout pie) and meatless fans (eggplant quesadilla), for traditional eaters (fish and chips) and heat seekers (red curry jerk chicken) and to anyone who simply craves an indulgent plate of noodles (fettuccine Alfredo).

The full Northern Virginia Magazine article can be read here »

Published in WashingtonPost.com

The sandwiches at Earl’s Sandwiches
At Earl’s, otherwise basic meats prove the building blocks for a menu full of creative sandwiches. “I order the Beer Mustard Barbeque almost every time I go,” wrote Mike Gill of Arlington. “Every ingredient is fresh, meats properly and tenderly prepared, all served up by a friendly staff. Earl’s is where it is at.”
(2605 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. 703-248-0150. www.earlsinarlington.com.)

The full Washington Post article can be read here »

Published in the Washington Post Lifestyle
By Bonnie S. Benwick

The blue-and-yellow cod hanging outside Earl’s Sandwiches in Clarendon is a sure sign that evening commuters have a new option for dinner: fish and chips, fried to order.

Shop co-owner Stephen Dugan hung out his Cap’n Earl’s shingle a few weeks ago. His lunchtime trade is gangbusters during the day, having grown along with the condos and businesses on this stretch of Wilson Boulevard since he opened in late 2005. The 45-year-old New England native had been looking for just the right lure to boost traffic in later hours when he decided to re-create a favorite.

“I love Scotland. I went for the third time this past summer,” he says. “There are chip shops all over the place. I finally asked the guys at Jack’s [a chain] about how they do it.”

So Dugan now uses the same basic batter ingredients — baking soda, flour, water — adding a little salt and pepper, or beer and the flavor of chipotle to a separate, special batter. He dips six-ounce cod fillets from JJ McDonnell in flour before battering and frying them in canola oil. In five minutes, that classic, sturdy crunch develops around fish that becomes snowy white and moist.

A purist need look no further than the bottles of malt vinegar on the table, but Dugan offers housemade sauces that include tartar, chipotle mayonnaise, sweet curried mango, a vinegar-mayo combo, chipotle barbecue and chipotle ketchup.

Fried cod is featured in the Jerk Fish Sandwich. (Russell Warnick) On the potato end, Dugan sticks with the twice-fried technique he uses for the skin-on, medium-cut specimens that accompany his sandwiches. They sit nicely atop a Fish and Fries sandwich with sweet pickle chips, a variation on Dugan’s popular Pork and Fries sandwich. He ups the ante further with his Jerk Fish sandwich by giving the cod an initial swim in a jerk marinade. The fried pieces are served on a soft sesame seed roll with honey mustard, lettuce and tomato.

The spuds are where my Earl’s dining companion, food blogger Russell Warnick, drew a polite line. I invited him, “for he is,” as the song says, “an Englishman.”

“I’m used to chips that are cut a bit thicker,” he said. “But this fish is spot-on. Very crisp. Scottish chip shops win fish-and-chip-making competitions all the time, so I’m not at all surprised.”

Dugan is still experimenting with to-go packaging. He didn’t like the steamed effect caused by restaurant parchment paper and has resorted to Styrofoam containers for now. To keep things traditional, I’m thinking the fish-wrapping concern I work for could yield the right material.

The full Washington Post article can be read here »

Published in the Washington City Paper
By Stefanie Gans

A streak of customers curved around the perimeter of this tiny sandwich spot on Wilson Boulevard during the lunch hour one Thursday a few weeks ago. The last in line butted up against the door. A good sign.

Sure enough, the Mona Lisa vegetarian sandwich at Earl’s Sandwiches would live up to the level of anticipation embodied in that considerable queue.

The ciabatta takes on a hoagie-like quality, but remains lovely in its cushy tenderness. The sandwich layers a grilled-to-silky soft eggplant, with just enough mushrooms (but not too many) and thick strips of roasted red pepper. In a bold mood, Earl’s piled lettuce in the sandwich. Not greens that naturally wilt into something appetizing, such as spinach or kale, but ordinary mesclun. Somehow, the purplish greens stood up to the heat, only slightly wilting but not turning soggy.

In a most heretical statement, I find that this sandwich didn’t even need the melted layer of provolone. The soft eggplant lent enough creaminess to be left alone on that front. Earl’s offers a choice of balsamic vinegar and olive oil or pesto mayonnaise. Go with the pesto for an added snare of garlic.

One last tip: pickles come for free, when you ask for them. My advice: Ask.

The full Washington City Paper article can be read here »

Published in Northern Virginia Magazine
By Warren Rojas

Pork and Fries, Earl’s in Arlington

Average entree: under $12 ($). Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

If necessity be the mother of invention, let’s go ahead and crown Stephen Dugan the father of sly substitutions.

The Earl’s Sandwiches proprietor is rumored to have fallen for the potato-packed constructs he encountered in Pennsylvania, and quickly set about to fashioning his own starch-protein power play when he returned home.

His Pork and Fries is a fitting tribute, layering shaved, slow-roasted pork (coated in a thin layer of cracked black pepper) atop toasted ciabatta bread. Dugan seals the deal with a cadre of perfectly in-tune accompaniments, including: feisty chipotle mayo, piquant white onions, tangy pickle chips, roasted sweet peppers and, of course, hand-cut fries—their glistening skins projecting straight-from-the-fryer warmth, while the sparingly used salt allows all the other flavors to develop.

The full Northern Virginia Magazine article can be read here »

Published in the Washington Post Weekend Section
By David Malitz and Justin Rude

First off, there’s nobody named Earl. So don’t ask to speak to him when you want to give somebody a compliment on that Louie (roasted turkey with pesto mayonnaise) or Monty (roasted beef with a homemade barbecue sauce) you just devoured. The Earl of Sandwich is the namesake of the cozy little shop that unlike, say, Cosi, roasts its own meat every day. You can find soups, salads, chilis and delicious hand-cut fries on the menu. But there’s a singular focus — and that’s two slices of bread and the tasty stuff that goes in between. Meat dominates, but vegetarians will like the Mona Lisa (grilled eggplant, provolone cheese, roasted peppers, garlic and mushrooms), among others. Two more added bonuses: Breakfast is served all day, and save for the made-to-order crab cakes, nothing costs more than $8.

The full Washington Post article can be read here »

Published in Washingtonian Magazine
By Ann Limpert & Kate Nerenberg

The tiny sandwich shop Earl’s feels like a small-town lunch counter. You don’t come here to eat delicately: Fried-egg breakfast sandwiches, pork sandwiches piled with French fries, and buttery roast-beef-and-cheddar melts with horseradish mayo are the standouts.

The full Washingtonian article can be read here »

Published in Washingtonian Magazine
By Ann Limpert, Todd Kliman, Kate Nerenberg, Rina Rapuano

This breakfast/lunch counter barely has room for the bags of Miss Vickie’s chips that line the walls, but big flavors come out of its kitchen. Weekdays the line is long for two-fister sandwiches overstuffed with freshly roasted meats. Turkey is a good bet, whether stacked with bacon in a club ($8.99) or slathered with cranberry mayonnaise ($6.99).

But what really makes Earl’s a destination is the hefty pork-and-fries sandwich ($7.99), a chewy ciabatta layered with roasted pork, onion, sweet pickles, chipotle mayo, and, yep, a handful of French fries. The sandwich, which has echoes of a Cubano, isn’t as heavy as it sounds—the fries are more crunch than grease—but it’s plenty filling.

The full Washingtonian article can be read here »

Published in Northern Virginia Magazine
By Warren Rojas

For as long as I can remember, I have incorporated deep-fried potato products—be they in chip, shoestring, waffle or tot form—into any and all sandwiches preparing to pass between my lips.

Some people stare slack-jawed when I start my culinary consolidation routine. Others have openly mocked me.

Not Stephen Dugan. He gets it.

The Earl’s Sandwiches proprietor has paved the way for other closet potato-packers to indulge their starch-laden passions in public with his signature pork-and-fries creation.

Earl’s associate Michael Newman said Dugan stumbled across something similar to the pork and fries during a trip to Pennsylvania and immediately began toying with the potato-on-pork theme when he got home.

The end result features rustic ciabatta bread swabbed in a radioactive chipotle mayo—even my spice-averse better half appreciated the potency of this pepper-powered dressing—and loaded up with shaved pork (smoked in-house, daily), hand-cut spuds, diced onions and tangy pickle chips.

The Pearl is another gem of a meal, boasting slow-roasted turkey breast (plump, juicy slices of bird smoked in-house, daily), lump-free gravy and tart cranberry dressing dolled up with real cranberries (like Thanksgiving dinner on a bun).

The full Northern Virginia Magazine article can be read here »

Published in the Washington Post Going Out Guide
By Bonnie Benwick

The basics are done well at Earl’s Sandwiches, a friendly new carryout cafe located on the eastern edge of Clarendon’s lively restaurant corridor.

Step inside on a Saturday morning and employee Katie Fitzpatrick and co-owner Steve Dugan will be making breakfast sandwiches to order. The locals are lucky to have such a worthy alternative to standing in line for spongy stacks of franchise pancakes: Not-too-thick, square slices of sourdough are brushed with butter and lightly toasted on the outside only, so the beaten egg and custom fillings are cushioned in softer, chewy bread ($2.59 to $4.99). “It’s really good, and more convenient than making it at home,” says customer Allison Geballe of Arlington, with her husband Josh and 18-month-old son Will.

Long before the lunch rush looms, Dugan has grilled eggplant slices for the day’s orders of Mona Lisas (a “vegetarian masterpiece,” $6.29). Every other day, he roasts the turkey, top round and pork loin for his other signature sandwiches. The portions are generous but not gargantuan, dressed with nice homemade touches and served on fresh ciabatta and sourdough breads made locally with no preservatives.

“There’s a lot of processed stuff out there,” says Dugan, a 39-year-old Adams Morgan resident whose business partners are investor Maurice Roche and John Snedden, founder of Rocklands Barbecue and Grilling Co., where Dugan once worked.

His simple concept for Earl’s is clear. The satisfying Louie (roasted turkey with pesto mayonnaise, $6.29) and Monty (roasted beef, served warm with a zippy barbecue sauce made in-house, $5.99) already have earned a loyal clientele. But the classics hold their own in Earl’s lineup, such as the BLT ($4.29), cheeseburger (lean yet juicy, served on a Big Marty sesame roll, $4.99) and all-beef hot dog with chili ($2.49). Soups, chili without beans, side salads and hand-cut french fries, all made from scratch, round out the menu.

A half-dozen sandwiches were recently added, including a few more vegetarian options. And Dugan now sells his Monty barbecue sauce (12-ounce jar, $3.99) and special-recipe cranberry relish (eight ounces, $2.29). But you might be happier to let Earl’s do the fixin’.