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Best Bargain Restaurants: Calvert Grille

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Calvert Grille
Alexandria

Don and lynn abram maintain a perpetual open house in Del Ray. The Calvert Grille sometimes seems not so much a restaurant as a neighborhood social, and the party has recently been widened with the opening of their second restaurant, Monroe's, on the former site of the Del Ray Cafe, just a few blocks away.

The menu has dependable versions of American diner favorites, from burgers to onion rings to hot turkey sandwiches. But many regulars time their visits according to the calendar of nightly blue-plate specials: good, home-style meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy; red beans and rice; southern fried chicken with biscuits; fish and chips; even duck lasagna and buffalo burgers.

Don Abram loves beer, and in addition to a regular selection of local microbrews, he brings in "guest brews" from further afield and runs a popular series of beer dinners. (A wheat-beer dinner is scheduled for May 15.)

Calvert Grille , 3106 Mount Vernon Avenue, Alexandria; 703/836-8425. Open Monday through Thursday 11 am to 12:30 am, Friday 11 am to 2 am, Saturday 10 am to 12:30 am, Sunday 10 am to 9 pm. D, MC, V. MapIt!

QUALITY: ****Excellent; *** Superior; **Very Good; * Good
PRICE RANGE: $$$= Very Expensive; $$ Expensive; $=Moderate; ¢=Inexpensive

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