Off to the Hill Country for Our Last Hurrah in DC - CLOSED

 Hill Country Barbecue Market

410 7th Street NW

Washington, DC 20004

One of the main reasons we picked Washington as our winter vacation destination was that we like watching our beloved Anaheim Ducks on the road. Even though the Ducks have fallen on some hard times recently, they were well on their way to a seventh consecutive season of not making the playoffs when we watched them in DC. It's still always fun visiting new arenas and being one of the few, if not the only, among the 17,000 fans rooting for the Ducks. 

As is our custom, we usually shy away from the mediocre arena food in favor of a restaurant near the game. Capital One Arena is located in the Chinatown area of Washington, DC, an area of town that has many good restaurant options. I did a Google search to see where most people eat before hockey games, and just picked a place at random. That's how we ended up at Hill Country Barbecue Market. 

We arrived at Hill Country at 5pm, two hours before puck drop, and were met with a ton of people wearing Capitals jerseys. As we were shown to our table near the back of the restaurant, there were some weird glances our way because we were decked out in our Ducks jerseys, but no one jeered us or made us feel unwelcome. Maybe they pitied us because our team was near the bottom of the standings, or perhaps the fact that we only play each other twice a year made us seem like less of a rival.  

Hill Country Barbecue Market had been in this location for fourteen years and was spun off from their original location in New York City, near Madison Square Park. This restaurant specialized in Central Texas-style barbecue and was also known for line dancing and karaoke in their basement. They were on a month-to-month lease, and two months after our visit, they were informed by their landlord that they were to vacate the premises to make way for another restaurant. The Hill Country website has a coming soon message on their DC page, so there might be hope that they are looking for a new location. 

The dining room at Hill Country was huge, with wooden tables and chairs. At least 200 people could fill this space, and most tables were full with two hours to go before game time. Your server takes care of your beverages, and you order your food in the market, located in the rear of the space. Meats are weighed out in one station, hot and cold sides are available at another counter, and drinks and desserts are available at the checkout. It was reminiscent of a cafeteria. 

You have the option of getting things à la carte, or you can choose from a couple of combos. Meats available were brisket, pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken, turkey breast, and sausage, which was flown in from Texas. You could also get your pulled pork or BBQ beef in a sandwich. Sides were just as you'd expect from a barbecue restaurant: mac and cheese, baked beans, a sweet potato mash, coleslaw, collard greens, and German potato salad. Here's what we ended up with after our trip through the market. 

Whenever we are eating barbecue, Katie's always partial to having her meat in sandwich form. The Pulled Pork Sandwich ($14.95) came with plenty of the pit-smoked pork, pickles, and sliced onions, which Katie got on the side. The pulled pork at Hill Country was solid. It had a good variety of textures, and the two bites I had were not dry and not too heavy with the flavor of smoke. The bun was standard, and the barbecue sauces provided were a good accompaniment to the pulled pork. The sandwiches come with a side, so Katie selected the Confetti Cole Slaw. This slaw was okay. Nothing really stood out about it, but it was not awful. Just standard coleslaw. 

I selected the Cue and 2 ($32) for my meal, which means two meats and 2 sides. I also ordered a Jalapeno and Cheese Sausage ($9), which I did not get charged for. This may have been because the cashier did not see it due to the way the brisket was piled on top of my ribs. I didn't notice it until I looked at our receipt while I was writing this review. Of the meats, the sausage was clearly the best of the three, and not just because I got it for free. It had a good, smooth texture, and the cheese, with a slight hint of jalapeno, made it a pleasure to eat. The brisket and pork ribs both had the same problem: there was a lack of a smoke ring, and they both fell flat flavor-wise. They were tender, but tasted like nothing. The barbecue sauce helped, but good barbecue meats are not supposed to need barbecue sauce. Even the bark of both the ribs and brisket was devoid of flavor. Something I haven't come across in a long time. 

For my two sides, I got the Collard Greens with Bacon and the Longhorn Mac and Cheese. The collard greens were good, with plenty of bacon, which helped boost the taste of each bite. The mac and cheese was the better of the two. The cheese-to-noodle ratio was on point, and the cheese blend they used was tasty and clung to the noodles perfectly. Crisping the cheese under the broiler for a minute or two would have brought this mac and cheese to even bigger heights. Nicely done, mac and cheese, though. 

Our last hurrah at Hill Country was the Cornbread Muffins ($3.75) that Katie ordered. These came three to an order, but Katie snatched one before I could take my picture. They were soft, but served cold, which was odd. The ancho honey butter was spreadable, but I would have liked a little more heat from the ancho chili side to balance out the sweetness from the honey and the cornbread itself. 

I enjoyed the game day atmosphere of Hill Country, but as I thought about it later, I should have done some more research on where the best places to eat are before the Capital games. Hill Country was not awful, but it wasn't remarkable barbecue either. From what I've read online, this was the first spot for authentic Texas barbecue in DC. Still, after pitmaster changes, there was a noticeable drop in the quality of the meats, and the fact that other highly rated barbecue restaurants opened up in DC, Hill Country lost some of its luster. The ordering process here was fine, but I can imagine that the ordering line could get pretty long at peak meal times. Service was okay, with us getting our own food; we only saw our server a couple of times to see if we needed refills of our drinks. It's pretty crazy that we closed our dining adventure in Washington, DC, with a restaurant that is now closed, because the first restaurant we ate at at the start of our trip is also now closed. I hope we are not a jinx to the rest of the restaurants where we ate. 

As you can see from the scoreboard above, the expected outcome from the game happened. Our Ducks did not make it much of a game, but hopefully, the coming season will be the start of an upward trend for them. This was our last few hours in Washington, DC, and we had a great time. It's a must-visit city to view the history and story of our country. The food scene was impressive as well, and I'll file away my restaurant wishlist, which still has some places to try, for the next time we visit. Thanks for everything, DC. 

Out of five phone booths (because the original name of the arena where the Capitals play was MCI Arena, which was nicknamed the phone booth by the media in 1997), with five being best to zero being worst, Hill Country Barbecue Market gets 3 phone booths. 

For more information about Hill Country Barbecue Market, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.hillcountry.com/