Glover Park’s Virtual Food Hall Gets a New Deli for Reubens and Italian Subs

An experienced D.C. chef with fine dining experience has come up with a new sandwich shop that will sell a handful of Jewish and Italian deli staples out of Ghostline, the new takeout- and delivery-oriented food hall in Glover Park.

Sandwich Beast opens Friday, November 20, joining vendors who sell ramen, pizza, and Indian khichdi. Chef Peter Smith, the recently installed culinary director at the facility who worked at Georgetown beer hall the Sovereign and now-closed restaurants like PS7 and Southern kitchen Vidalia, has come up with an opening menu of five sandwiches that cost $10 to $15. There are two types of Reubens, one with Singers pastrami and another with corned beef, served on griddled rye bread. A classic Italian includes proscuittini, proscuitto di Parma, Genoa salami, provolone, sweet and hot peppers, shaved lettuce, tomato, onion, oregano vinaigrette, on a soft roll. There’s also roasted porchetta with Calabrian chile gremolata on ciabatta and a banh mi that tucks in pork belly cured with star anise.

“[Smith] has been wanting to do sandwiches a long time — now he’s going for more comfort foods to match our times,” Ghostline owner Aaron Gordon says.

To create a more casual, beer garden vibe on a spacious back patio, Ghostline’s outdoor bar will start taking orders this weekend, too.

In other news...

• Shilling Canning Company executive chef Reid Shilling collaborates with fellow Baltimorean and James Beard award-winning chef Spike Gjerde for a four-course “Taste of the Chesapeake” dinner at his Navy Yard restaurant tonight (November 19). Plates will showcase produce from Maryland-based Jon Shaw’s Karma Farms and the bounty of the bay. Tickets are $125 (includes gratuity) and help benefit Baltimore Farm Alliance.

Taco Rock/official photo

• Hearth-fueled Middle Eastern stunner Maydan reopens its award-winning dining room to the public for the first time since the pandemic on Friday, November 20, joining its outdoor alleyway as a seating option.
• Pentagon Row now allows open containers, so can “sip and stroll” around the shopping center with to-go alcoholic beverages from Asia Bistro, Basic Burger, Bund’Up, Wild Tiger, Saigon Saigon, and Sin’ E Irish Pub.
• Prolific Northern Virginia chef Mike Cordero is expanding fast-casual taqueria and tequila bar Taco Rock to Alexandria in early December. The new 2,500-square-foot addition to Pinecrest Plaza (6548 Little River Turnpike) builds upon the brand’s debut in Rosslyn a year ago. Roll-up garage door windows will reveal 48 alfresco seats suited for COVID-19 times.
• Espita’s ghost kitchen, Ghostburger, just added a new sandwich that puts a Mexican spin on Philly-style roast pork and broccoli rabe. Instead of traditional thinly sliced roasted pork, eight ounces of carnitas meet blanched broccoli rabe, cheddar whiz, and smoked tomatillo salsa on a Sarcone’s roll ($15).

• Chef Paolo Dungca, who’s reportedly working on a new Filipino restaurant with Tiki TNT owner Todd Thrasher, won DC Central Kitchen’s Capital Food Fight in a first-ever virtual edition of the 17th annual fundraiser, beating out local chefs Angel Barreto (Anju), Peter Prime (Cane), and Shannan Troncoso (Brookland’s Finest Bar and Kitchen).
• Top Chef alum and Ghanaian-American chef Eric Adjepong was just named culinary advisor at Bowery, the farming company that grows greens indoors year-round. Adjepong will help test new products, develop recipes, and fight food insecurity for Bowery. The chef, who’s based in Maryland near the Bowery farm, is also friends with investor and Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio.