Saturday, December 8, 2012

Buffalo & Bergen

After years spent dazzling the DC mixology scene, Gina Chersevani opened her own venture in Union Market called Buffalo & Bergen. Enamored by the classic New York soda shops of yesteryear, Gina aims to bring her extreme and envied “mixtress” skills to the classics: egg creams, malts and phosphates. Her love of all things liquid promises to deliver an experience like nothing you’ve ever had before.  For a savory snack to go with your shake or malt, try one of the various knishes - a mashed potato-filled Jewish pastry.  Flavors such as bacon & cheddar, BBQ, and Reuben are available. Closest Metro is NoMA-Gallaudet University.

We've had Gina's drinks before and so after lunch, I knew I wanted to stop by the soda bar for dessert.  A menu is written on a mirror on the wall, and handwritten paper copies available on the bar.  From the 20 or so flavors, we chose the "Big O" - an orange and sassafras soda and made it a float by adding vanilla ice cream for an extra $2.  The float was light and had unique herbal tones from the sassafras.  It was the perfect treat for both kids and adults. We also wanted to try a knish and ordered the bacon & cheddar, however were told they wouldn't have any ready for about 30 minutes, so we went with the traditional onion instead.  The knish could have been a bit warmer, but had good flavor and the mustard was pungent with horseradish, just the way we like it.  There were some shreds of onion skin mixed in the filling that I did not care for, but overall a nice snack.  I would come back to try the bacon & cheddar knish another day and perhaps the grape soda.  What can I say I'm kind of a kid at heart when it comes to soda.

Total Rating: 3.58
Food: 3.5, Price: 4, Service: 3.5, Ambience: 3.5, Accessibility: 3

What I ate:
Onion Knish

"Big O" Float
orange/sassafras soda with vanilla ice cream

Buffalo & Bergen on Urbanspoon
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