Friday, October 29, 2004

Cheap Eats: Smarty Pants

Wonderfully retro -- from its vintage motorcycle decor, concrete floors and exposed brick walls, right down to the Boraxo powdered hand soap in the bathrooms -- Smarty Pants is a year-old popular eatery in increasingly hipster Georgetown.

Here, the sandwich is king. All 15 of them, $6.25 to $7.25, can be substituted with vegetarian Field Roast and come with a choice of potato salad or tortilla chips with salsa fresca. There's usually a soup or two, vegetarian or meat chili, several salads, appetizers, and, I kid you not, Frito pie.

Spicy clam soup ($4.75 bowl) was neither Manhattan, nor New England. It had a tomato bent without being tomatoey, and a nice balance of spicy and sweet, though it was a bit salty.

The Lil' Brat ($7.25), the wonderful house Reuben, was devoured with appreciation. Served on marble rye, the ample kraut was thinly sliced, the corned beef was lean and flavorful, and the dressing just right. The satisfying B.E.L.T. ($7.25), served on toasted sourdough, adds sliced hardboiled egg to the classic BLT.

The Gringa ($7.25) sounded delectable -- pulled, lime-infused pork sandwiched in a hearty French roll. While good, it was a bit too limey and lacked other nuance.

The service is friendly, and though the food is casual, it's served with a cloth napkin.

There are plenty of bottled beers, a few on tap and the hard stuff. Happy hour drink specials are on weekdays from 4 to 7 p.m.

Smarty Pants, 6017 Airport Way S.; 206-762-4777. Open Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-midnight.

-- Kristin Dizon