Eamonn’s Dublin Chipper

There are three or maybe four guilty food pleasures everyone needs to have at their disposal.  These are the staples that you can hit on a whim, with no research and no navigation system to get you there. The list for me includes a great burger joint, pizza place, pub, chipper, and diner.  In the DC area we pretty much have all these covered well several times over, but of all these the clearest choice for fish, chips (and a Guinness out of a clean tap) is Eamonn’s.For DC food freaks this’ll probably come as no surprise.  Cathal Armstrong’s already made quite a name with his first DC enterprise, the deservedly high-rated Restaurant Eve, also in Alexandria.The menu is geared to quick fare and has been recently been updated to include quite a few additional items – a scary thought to consider having too many options to entice more business with the lack of seating in the restaurant’s tight corner spot on King Street – but you’ve gotta get over to Eamonn’s for the fresh battered cod and all the sauce options offered, which all happen to be made in-house daily.  There are some old standbys on the list and some others (you need to try them all), including:  Tartar, Marie Rose, Chesapeake, Hot Chili, Kitty O’ Shea, Fronch, and Curry.  Just know that when your fish comes out, it’ll be hot but at a busy time this might not be so bad, since it’s possible you’ll still be waiting for one of the few open seats (and it’s most likely you’ll be sharing a table with some new friends).Willy gets tired of me whining about beer taps.  Seems like it’s about a 50/50 on whether you’re going to get a draft beer that’s part beer taste and part foul, old tap taste or, with luck, a nice draft pour.  No worries here.  An Eamonn’s Guinness is all good: just what one expects to get when ordering the nectar of the gods.Perhaps the only downside to Eamonn’s is that you’ll definitely spend a little more than you might expect from a quick grab chipper.  Just remind yourself that you’re getting a great tasting, fresh, high quality product that won’t disappoint.For me, Eamonn’s is the first place to go for fish and chips in the DC area.  3 out of 4 stars (great food in a fast serve environment, authentic but sometimes challenging to get a seat so you might wind up doing take out if you can resist a fresh Guinness on draft).