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Reviews Alexandria Gazette General Gastronomy at Del Merei Grille Mary Abraham and her mother, Laura, are sitting at a table near the long, dark wooden bar at Del Merei Grille, the contemporary Southern cuisine eatery Mary owns in Del Ray. They represent two generations from a family of food: Great grandparents who owned a butcher’s shop on King Street; grandparents who turned a watering hole named Freddy’s Café into an institution called The Vienna Inn; their son Mark and his wife Laura, proprietors of Monroe’s, a popular “American Trattoria” on Commonwealth Ave. in Del Ray; and Mary, who along with childhood friend Eric Reid will celebrate the second anniversary of Del Merei’s opening on Feb. 15. Is Laura happy that the restaurateur tradition has continued through her daughter’s generation? “Oh, yeah.” Mary sends a sarcastic glare at her mother. “Don’t lie,” she cuts in with a deadpan tone. “She says it’s actually a defective gene I’ve inherited.” “This was the space where I had my very first job in the restaurant business,” said Mary, looking around the Del Merei bar, which was once a Calvert Grille “kid’s room” where young customers could draw on the paper-covered walls. Abraham is discussing her family’s history at the Calvert when her eyes dart to the left and her face lights up like a hostess on a busy Saturday night. “Hi!” she exclaims. A man walks over and greets her like an old friend, explaining how he hasn’t seen her since her wedding last fall and how he’s heard it was a “great time.” They go to a corner of the bar to talk about a fundraising partnership for a local organization. It’s a scene that's replayed each time Abraham works the Del Merei dining room, from old acquaintances from her days at Alexandria Country Day School to new friends made during dinner at “The Del.” She is a charismatic hostess, a gracious owner and the tireless public face of a burgeoning business. “Mary thrives on this, and she’s such a people person,” said Laura Abraham. Perhaps that’s the most frustrating aspect of her diagnosis. LAST MARCH, Mary Abraham said she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, becoming one of 90 million Americans living with the autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system. She’ll have months when she’ll feel great, and then weeks where blurred vision and a disoriented equilibrium will prevent her from working at the restaruant she cherishes. “I’m Mary of Del Merei. It’s really hard because I know 90 percent of our clients, and they all come asking ‘Where’s Mary?’” she said, “and I don’t want to tell them, because I don’t want sympathy and stuff.” She said she knows that stress can trigger symptoms, and that her doctors are urging her to work less. For a year and a half after the restaurant opened, Mary Abraham worked seven days a week. Even now, she claims one night and one full day off, with many other days working from 9:15 a.m. until around midnight. Reid’s sister-in-law Elizabeth works the door when Mary’s not there. “She's so important to the restaurant. I had a really hard time giving up [control], but it’s family. It’s the only reason I can sleep and relax,” said Abraham. “I’m trying to leave work a little bit earlier. But I’m not at a point where I can’t be here.” Her mother said the disease can be unpredictable. “We’re not a full year into her diagnosis. It’s been rough these last few weeks, but her neurologist keeps telling us that you go through these bumpy roads and that other times he won’t need to see you for three year.” When asked if the diagnosis may have been a sign that, at age 27, and with a new husband, it was time to slow her frenetic pace, Mary Abraham said, “I stopped kind of asking why, because that’s when you start feeling sorry for yourself.” She doesn’t seek sympathy, but she’s received plenty of support. Since last March, one blessing she’s counted numerous times is having a friend and partner like Reid to depend on. “It’s been our biggest challenge, and why it’s so important to have the relationship that we have,” she said. REID AND ABRAHAM have known each other since they were about 13, growing up in Alexandria. She said many customers are convinced they’re an item; the fact that Mary married his brother last November and is now “Mary Reid” just complicated things. “Everyone, through this whole process, has thought we’re together. Now I don’t even know how I’ll keep it straight,” she said. Abraham grew up on Davis Ave. near George Mason Elementary School. She attended Alexandria Country Day School — which sends plenty of business to Del Merei thanks to her alumni status — and went to T.C. Williams with Reid. There, she was intensely involved with student life, so much so that she was only an infrequent worker at Monroe’s during its early years. “I was pretty self-centered. They were going through massive stress getting the place open,” she recalled. Abraham was a regionally recognized coxswain for the Titans crew team, and attended the University of Virginia after being recruited by its Div. 1 rowing program. After graduating UVA, where she studied sports marketing, she moved down to Raleigh, NC and started with a small marketing firm. Laid off after 9/11, she tried her hand at real estate, and eventually moved back to Virginia to practice it. That’s when she reconnected with Reid, who had been working at the Evening Star Café for two years and taking culinary classes on the side. That “defective gene” in the Abraham family began to fire — could these childhood friends one day open their own local eatery? Abraham figured her culinary aspirations would wait for a few decades, especially after she landed a “dream job” with Sports Illustrated in Manhattan. Living on the Upper West Side, she loved the buzz of New York, but not the worker bee salary. “To have had a high-paying job and then be at a point where it’s like, ‘Oh my God, I’m eating cereal tonight if I want to go out’…that was nuts.” Eventually, something clicked for her: “Long hours? No money? Of course: the restaurant business.” Abraham returned home to discover the Calvert Grille was vacant. After convincing her parents to stake their initial funding, she and Reid started a major reconstruction project. A photo album the duo kept speaks volumes: It had a decimated dining area, rusty basins in the kitchen and plumbing that had to be replaced to the sidewalk. They also redid the storefront, adding a revolving door “which is more expensive than most people’s cars,” she said. A year and half later, Del Merei was ready to be unveiled. BUT WHAT, EXACTLY, does Del Merei mean? “Del” comes from Del Ray. The second name, they said, needed to be something personal. Mary and Eric combined? “Meric,” which Abraham said is “kinda cheesy” and was rejected. But there was another option. Eric always had “E. Reid” on his cooking uniforms — drop the ‘D’, add an ‘M’ for Mary, and you’ve got “Merei.” Of course, most patrons just call it “The Del,” which is fine by them. It’s just another example of the eatery’s affable connection with its community — an Abraham family tradition if there ever was one. Monroe’s is usually packed with local food lovers who keep coming back. The Vienna Inn became a neighborhood institution on her grandfather Mike Abraham’s watch. Del Merei offers a quaint dining room, perfect for either a romantic night out or a joyful group outing. The other side of the restaurant could be a corner pub on a city street corner — a gorgeous, fully-stocked bar with several tables surrounding it. Both rooms feature Abraham’s New York-inspired décor: Contemporary and cool, but neighborhood and friendly. We wanted to be that neighborhood spot, but we also wanted to serve the freshest food,” said Mary Abraham. Freshest, but with a little fun. Like those signature Vienna Inn chili dogs on the Del Merei menu ($7), whose blend of flavors has made them an addictive classic for regional bar crawlers. “It’s a turkey dog that’s cooked in Budweiser beer. There’s actual coffee grounds in the chili,” said Abraham. Reid, 28, recalled the first time he tried the dogs at the Inn with Abraham. “The first time we went out there, she ordered two, and I’m thinking if she’s ordering two, I can do four,” he said. “I got through three of them.” Reid was a successful sous chef at the Evening Star Café before creating Del Merei’s take on Southern cuisine. “Eric put a gourmet spin on common, comfort food,” said Abraham. Like Frickles ($4), a starter featuring fried pickles in a spiced remoulade; or his braised beef BBQ ribs ($19), served with slow-cooked collard greens and baked mac-n-cheese, a top seller; or the popular grilled salmon ($17), which can be paired with everything from apple butter baked beans to creamy garlic cheese grits. Reid keeps a permanent dinner and lunch menu, but adds seasonal offerings as well. “We’ve got that fine line of not being over-expensive, but at the same time serving the best food and not selling ourselves short,” said Abraham. SERVING AND PREPARING this food is, well, a small army, with 31 people on staff. Some are students; some are husbands and wives trading shifts in the kitchen. Typically, there are five people in the kitchen, two bartenders and four servers on a busy night. There’s a sense of family on this staff, just like there’s a sense of family each time Mary Abraham flashes a smile at a familiar face entering The Del. “It’s her personality, but it’s also family roots and being native Alexandrians,” said Laura Abraham, whose husband Mark grew up in Alexandria. “We’re known in the community, but Mary’s made her own mark.” On Feb. 11, 2005, Mary Abraham and Eric Reid opened Del Merei Grille four days before its official unveiling; a night to work out some bugs and get some feedback. “We had a friends-only thing,” she said, “and we have a lot of friends, so we had a packed room.” And they kept coming back; at a time when so many new restaurants struggle to take flight, business was steady at Del Merei from Day One. “Those scary first nights weren’t as scary because of them,” recalled Abraham. For Mary Abraham, friends and family took the fear away.
2006 Fall Dining Guide ** (out of four) The perky, blond mistress of ceremonies? That's Mary Abraham. The guy behind the fried pickles and spicy beef kabobs? That's Eric Reid, Abraham's childhood chum. Together they make sure you feel at home and dine quite nicely in their red-and-gold dining room, which packs in soccer moms, seniors and twentysomethings on dates. One of the most heart-stopping appetizers around – "The Plate" – brings together those crisp fried pickles, bacon-topped deviled eggs and beer-battered mozzarella. Fear not, for there are salads to balance the equation. Entrees consider a host of appetites, too, which means one of you can explore the Low Country with very good shrimp and cheesy grits, and the other can go the meat route with a lean buffalo hanger steak. The common denominator: generous portions (the grilled items come with a choice of two sides, including terrific potato salad and baked beans). At Del Merei, the drinks are strong, the desserts are decadent – grilled doughnuts, anyone? – and the vibe is – "Howdy, neighbor." No wonder the revolving door gets such a workout. Washington Post Like many such neighborhoods where food plays a central part, Del Ray has drawn not only restaurants but also a growing number of gourmet shops hawking a variety of delicacies. For those who hanker for triple creme fromage or strawberry balsamico sorbet, Mount Vernon Avenue delivers.
One of Del Ray's newer arrivals is the Del Merei Grille, owned and run by Mary Abraham, 26, and Eric Reid, 28, friends since they were students at what is now George Washington Middle School, just down the avenue from their establishment. A few years ago, after Abraham had finished college and was pursuing a sports marketing career, she and Reid found themselves sipping cocktails and having a heart-to-heart about the food business. Reid, then a line cook at the Evening Star Cafe, another popular Del Ray spot, longed for his own place where he could serve petit filets and slow-cooked collard greens and other Southern dishes he favors. Abraham, whose parents own Monroe's, another neighborhood fixture, grew up working in the business. The idea germinated. Things began to click in 2004, when a restaurant vacated years earlier by Mary's aunt and uncle came available. The space, in a small strip mall next to a hulking apartment building on Mount Vernon Avenue, hadn't been occupied in more than a year. It was strewed with debris, padlocked shut and needed major renovations. But Abraham felt that the neighborhood and the previous family connection to the space made it right. "I ran to my father and said, 'It's a sign! We're meant to be there!' " Abraham recalled. "He looked at me and said, 'Mary, it's a hellhole .' " Last year, after investing more than $100,000 to retool the kitchen with Vulcan appliances and all new plumbing, Abraham and Reid opened Del Merei (a play on both their names). The stylish restaurant, with its red-and-yellow lacquered walls, tables dressed in white linen and granite-topped bar, regularly draws locals, a few city politicians, even a Washington Redskin or two. Del Merei's signature appetizer -- salty batter-fried pickles, or "frickles" -- has helped put the place on the map. "If we didn't get this spot, we weren't sure we'd even open a restaurant," Abraham said. "That's how badly we wanted to be in Del Ray." Part comfort zone, part stomping ground, the neighborhood provided Reid and Abraham with a connection to their patrons who are not tourists but neighbors and other Alexandrians. "I wouldn't want to work six days a week if it weren't for the neighborhood people with smiling faces who e-mail Eric for his cheese grits recipe," Abraham said. "Really, why would we want to be anyplace else?" added Reid. Sitting at Del Merei's bar last week, Jack Taylor, who owns a car dealership nearby, said he used to eat mostly in Old Town until Del Merei's atmosphere and Reid's grilled salmon won him over. "Del Ray is starting to become the Sausalito of Virginia," Taylor said. "We don't have the beautiful views but have the street action." Mark Abraham knew that the restaurant business was in his blood. As a teenager, he spent summers working at the Vienna Inn, which his parents made famous for its chili dogs and beer. But Abraham wanted a different life, one not ruled by managerial headaches and daily specials. So he became a lawyer, specializing in banking and commercial real estate. It was an opportunity a decade ago to lease space in Del Ray, at Commonwealth and Monroe avenues, that drew him back into the family web, convincing him that it was time to take the entrepreneurial plunge and see what he could do with his own restaurant. Like the epiphany his daughter Mary would have a decade later, he felt the signs were right. "When I was 5 years old, I would literally ride my bike to that corner" where the restaurant is, recalled Abraham, 53. "It was a drugstore then, and I would go in and buy comic books and Orange Nehi. This was my back yard growing up." Today Monroe's attracts customers from elsewhere, but Mark Abraham is clear when he says, "It's the neighborhood that sustains us." In fact, neighbors pack the oak bar on Friday nights, ordering thin-crust margherita pizzas and the crab pasta, many placing orders to go to feed their families waiting at home. Although the clientele has changed over the years, patrons often know one another, sharing tidbits on the latest marriage and ugliest divorce. Some customers say they have eaten more meals inside Monroe's mural-painted walls -- doodling with crayons on the paper that overlays the tablecloths -- than they have in their own homes. "It's a family atmosphere," said legal assistant Tara Day, 30, who lives down the block and eats at Monroe's several nights a week. "I'd never thought I'd be a person who'd eat alone at a bar before I came to Monroe's, but it's the kind of place where I know I can always go in and know at least one other person." Washington Post The petite blonde greeting guests at the door of Del Merei Grille seems to know every other arrival by name, while the stocky young chef feels comfortable enough to leave the kitchen after a dinner rush to slide into a booth and chat up what appear to be friends. Without knowing any of the players at this four-month-old restaurant in Alexandria, even strangers get the sense that it isn't just another place to grab a bite to eat in the neighborhood. "We like to keep it real family around here," says the chef, Eric Reid. No kidding. He and his main business partner – that would be Mary Abraham, the general manager – have known each other since elementary school and have long wanted to open a restaurant together. Two of the hostesses are Abraham's twin cousins, one of the busboys is her brother, and Reid's sister doubles as a server and manager. The site itself was once known as the Calvert Grille, which Abraham's aunt and uncle ran for a decade, until 1998 – and where Abraham worked as a hostess. Reid, who was a sous-chef at the Evening Star Cafe nearby in Del Ray, pays tribute to still more relatives with "Zadie's" hot dogs and other items on his menu. And the restaurant's name is a rough hybrid of the two principals' names, with Merei pronounced like Mary. The menu is a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll, at once old-fashioned and up to date. If I need some cheering up, a heaping plate of lightly battered butter pickles, or "frickles," served with cool remoulade is where I might head. They're hot, crunchy, salty and "best with beer," as a waiter pointed out to me. In the same vein are a pinkish scoop of horseradish-spiked beer cheese dip dusted with cayenne and circled in crackers, and another thick dip, slightly fancier, with artichokes, crab and bacon and meant to be spread on a baguette. The appetizers don't all hark back to "Happy Days," though. There are grill-singed shrimp with a small teepee of shoestring fries and a zesty cocktail sauce, and spinach salad enhanced by creamy avocado and toasted pine nuts as well as a basil-bright dressing. The kitchen should lose that salad's Parmesan cheese, however, which tastes like a pallid version of the real deal. There's one item on the lunch menu, the hot dogs, that will bring a smile to the face of anyone who has eaten one at the Vienna Inn, one of the Washington area's most beloved pubs – and owned for years by Abraham's late grandfather, Mike "Zadie" Abraham. Draped in finely ground beef chili, whose seasoning includes (surprise!) coffee grounds, a pair of hot dogs arrives with the perfect sidekick: tater tots. And so it goes with the entrees, where a diner can opt for a messy and nostalgia-inducing sloppy joe – or a thick cut of salmon topped with tomato-onion chutney and supported on a thin raft of grilled asparagus. That salmon is worthy of a high-end restaurant, and is further dressed up with a light and lacy corn pancake. "Free range tarragon roasted" half-chicken, though, reads better on paper than it tastes. The chicken is overcooked, but it gets a nice boost from some garlicky spinach and a tomato-laced risotto cake. There's plenty to like about the chef's braised beef ribs – the meat falls easily from the bone, and it comes with a pleasantly sweet barbecue sauce – flanked by cheesy mashed potatoes and tangy collard greens. Reid is a generous cook, doling out portions as if he were feeding hungry teenagers. Ray's the Steaks blazed a trail when it opened in Arlington and began serving good cuts of meat for about half the cost of a proper steak dinner in the city. Del Merei Grille continues that happy trend, with a roster of steaks that are offered with a choice of two side dishes and an optional sauce. Of the seven meats, I'm partial to the bison strip steak, deep red in color and offering some nice chew, and the lean but flavorful flank steak. Good meat doesn't need any enhancement, but duty required me to test out "something saucy," as the menu puts it, and I can vouch for the rich bearnaise and jazzy mustard-and-horseradish cream. Most of the side dishes look to the South. Green beans are cooked so they're soft, and nicely smoky with bacon. Macaroni and cheese manages to be lightly crunchy outside and creamy in its center. The chef honors his late mother, a Virginia native, with "Martinsville" summer squash, cooked per her recipe with white wine, sauteed onions and black pepper. French fries come to the table limp, and "dirty dirty" rice turns out to be pretty tame, with little of that Cajun staple's typical spark. Otherwise, the accompaniments are nice nods to home cooking. With a few small changes, Del Merei Grille could be an even better restaurant. The young servers are likable, and they seem to know the menu, but I'd like it better if they checked in more often. As for the cooks, they need to use the salt shaker less often – and rethink the recipe for pumpkin bread pudding, which tastes like a wet loaf of plain bread. (Far superior: fruit pies baked in-house.) Red wine served too warm continues to be a problem at too many restaurants, including this one, which otherwise offers good value, better-than-average labels and fine stemware. Squeezed into a modest shopping strip, Del Merei Grille doesn't look like much from the street. And the small dining room, which adjoins a more handsome bar, relies mostly on red and gold paint for flair. If given the choice, however, most of us would probably forgo style for steak, fashion for frickles Chronicle Newspapers Del Merei Grille is sandwiched inside a miniature shopping strip along Mount Vernon Avenue in Alexandria and one could easily pass it in the blink of an eye. Merei is pronounced like "Mary" and is a combination of two names: Mary Abraham, the general manager, and chef Eric Reid, previously sous-chef at the Evening Star. Most of the staff are family members and some of the menu items recognize other relatives. "Zadie's dogs," two Vienna Inn chili dogs, are a tribute to Abraham's late grandfather, Mike "Zadie" Abraham, owner of the Vienna Inn for years. We started off with the garlic lime marinated grilled shrimp which was served with an excellent tequila cocktail sauce and shoestring fries, a definite must try. All the appetizers were tempting, especially the "Frickles" which were fried pickle chips with spiced remoulade. The Del Merei beer cheese and soda crackers as well as the bacon, crab and artichoke dip seemed enticing, but would have to wait until our next visit. As for the salads, he loved the spinach salad with feta cheese, avocado, and pine nuts tossed with basil vinaigrette. She didn't care for the lolla rossa with blue cheese, raspberries, and spiced pecans because it was drenched with dressing. All the salads have the option of becoming entrée salads with the addition of chicken, steak, shrimp, scallops, or portabella mushrooms. Del Merei Grille's dinner signature is a "put it together your way" type menu. You choose the grilled entrée, the sauce, and two side items. The more unique standouts include a porterhouse pork chop, buffalo strip steak, flat iron steak as well as a portabella mushroom entrée for those who prefer an alternative to steaks. Next comes the "Something Saucy?" as stated on their menu which include a delicious mustard horseradish cream, traditional béarnaise, a tangy house steak sauce, a very unique blueberry compote, and for blue cheese lovers, a blue cheese reduction, as well as a few others. The "sides" portion of the menu just screams, "Try me!" and we had to make sure we got as many options as possible. The smashed potatoes come six different ways: roasted garlic, chive cream cheese, horseradish, goat cheese, caramelized onion, and chorizo. He suggests the horseradish, while she says the goat cheese is the way to go. Other unique, creative sides are the baked mac-n-cheese, Southern-style green beans, creamy garlic cheese grits, camp fire beans, "dirty dirty" rice, and Reid's original home recipe of "Martinsville" summer squash. The chef also suggests on the menu his "already put together" entrees, of which she loved the grilled halibut and he thought the braised beef ribs were good, but not the best he's had. We think it's a lot more fun pairing the menu items up yourself. It makes you feel like an amateur chef. There are a lot of great combinations to mull over, and it does take some time and a little help from the servers to get it right. Don't hesitate to ask your server for advice. Our server was very knowledgeable of the menu, as well as the history of the establishment. This made us believe that training doesn't go overlooked and the servers spend a good amount of time learning the information. Dessert was deliciously described to us by our server, no menu to look over, as chef Reid changes his desserts frequently. We had a triple chocolate terrine, a dark chocolate layer in between a light cake and espresso cake-gone in seconds. Our only thought was that it might be a good idea to have a few desserts listed consistently on the menu for those guests who play favorites. Del Merei sports a unique mix of Southern cuisine with "New York-inspired" modern décor and colors. It is very comfortable and casual and it most definitely is family friendly. Take some advice from its menu: "Eat and be Merei." Del Merei Grille is located at 3106 Mount Vernon Ave. in Del Ray Alexandria, 703-739-4335. Weekdays lunch is served 11:30-2:30. Dinner hours are 5-10 Sunday-Thursday and 5-11 Friday and Saturday. Weekend brunch is served 11-3. Prices range $4-$10 for appetizers, $8-$19 for lunch and $12-$24 for dinner. Reservations are not necessary, and a separate smoking area is available. Old Town Crier by Tamar Alexia Fleishman, Esq. I would describe the brunch menu as Southern-influenced, without being gimmicky. Owners Mary Abraham (whose relatives owned the restaurant previously) and Eric Reid are childhood friends who grew up in this neighborhood. Then, they both discovered the Southern cuisine of Virginia and the Carolinas. The restaurant has two distinct rooms, one to accommodate smokers. I visited during the "Grand Opening" period; the atmosphere was open and airy. Dress is casual and while some tables made reservations, they have plenty of room. There seemed to be people of all ages there, enjoying themselves, from young guys having brunch to seniors. Dining Companion and I love Southern food, so we started out with creamy garlic cheese grits. Those $3 are extremely well spent on this tasty side. I don't care if you eat grits, you don't eat grits, or you think you don't eat grits -- think of a rich, thick, cheesy polenta in a white crock. I only wished that there were some little hot sauces on the table. I was extra hungry that morning, so I ordered a side of applewood smoked bacon ($3), which was a good go-with for the grits. We both got a nice, strong, dark coffee -- the way they do in places in New Orleans. The main thrust of Del Merei Grille's brunch is a wide selection of gourmet egg dishes. There areall kinds of eggs benedict: bacon and tomato, ham, steak, crab. They'll set you back between $9 - $13. Another option includes a salmon omelet with dill creme fraiche. I went off the beaten path, more towards a Southern route with the Delta Omelet ($9). It is a creative take on the down home ingredients of chorizo sausage, crawfish, grilled peppers and onions with Vermont cheddar cheese. Del Merei Grille doesn't skimp on the good stuff, either. The omelet was loaded with big hunks of crawfish and spicy sausage. One of the non-egg breakfast type items that I'd love to try was the Sour Cream Pancakes ($8 ), served with vanilla honey butter, real maple syrup and blueberry compote on the side. Many of you readers know by now how much Dining Companion loves a good sandwich. While I would have bet the rent that he was going to order the Braised Beef Rib BBQ Rib sandwich ($12), he tried a true brunch combo in the Momma Reid ($13). This house invention is a sandwich of scrambled eggs, Vermont Cheddar cheese and applewood smoked bacon or homestall ham between 2 slices of French toast, served with home fries. I think this would make a very gourmet to-go brunch! And, about those home fries . . .they are served with most of the brunch items and are excellent. Del Merei Grille does them with tater tots (yum!), grilled onions and peppers. In the mood for something lighter, a little more "ladies' lunch"? Del Merei Grille has several salads, including the Lolla Rossa ($8), which is served with crumbled bleu cheese, raspberries and spiced pecans tossed in vinaigrette. With all the salads, the restaurant has a variety of add-ons that you can order for just a few dollars to create an entree salad: grilled shrimp, chicken breast, chicken tenders, flank steak or chicken tenders. Del Merei Grille has a fully stocked bar with its own bar menu, too. It features traditional bar favorites, along with "Frickles" ($4), which are fried pickle chips with a spiced remoulade and also Garlic Lime Marinated Shrimp ($10), served with shoestring fries and tequila cocktail sauce. On Tap Magazine If you haven't noticed, Del Ray (Alexandria) is one cool little neighborhood. And it keeps improving. Del Merei Grille (pronounced "dell mary") is the newest neighborhood eatery and bar on the Mt. Vernon strip, and the vibe is simultaneously laid-back comfortable ($2 PBR cans) and metropolitan chic (hand-tile mosaic walls) Opened February 15th by Mary Abraham and Eric Reid, Del Merei boasts "Southern-inspired American cuisine" in a "New-York-inspired setting." The founders were childhood friends, raised nearby. Abraham's restaurant blood includes grandparents who owned and operated the legendary Vienna Inn for some 50 years, parents who continue to run Monroe's in Del Ray, and uncle in the biz (and CIA grad) in Connecticut. Reid earned acclaim for his skills as sous chef at Evening Star, also in Del Ray. From the street, Del Merei is a bit difficult to spot, given its strip-mall-ish setting, but neighborhood residents know the location from its previous tenant and neighborhood staple, Calvert Grille, which Mary's aunt and uncle also owned. Abraham and Reid spent a year gut-renovating the space, using bright crimson, goldenrod, and earth tones; mosaics and textured paint finishes with squares of color to create a fun, modern feel. The bar is elegant and a good size, and boasts TVs and fun orange hanging lamps. In the dining room, big red banquettes and dark wood tables with inlay and votive lanterns are inviting, and nicely spread throughout the space-a reminder that you're not in the city cramming elbows with fellow diners. Food here is what Reid is used to preparing: comfort food with an edge to it. Alongside entrees like Cedar Planked Salmon and Porterhouse (or Portobello) with choice of sauce and two down-home sides are tons of salads that can be made entrees by adding your choice of protein. Says Reid, "I wish I wasn't one of the owners because I'd love to come in here" as a patron.
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