The people: Chalk up another entry in celebrity chef Bryan Voltaggio’s growing portfolio; this is his third restaurant in the Chevy Chase Pavilion (the Voltaggio Mall?), which also houses Range and Aggio. The Chevy Chase locale of Lunchbox is a revamped version of an unsuccessful restaurant with the same name he and business partner Hilda Staples operated in Frederick, Md. from 2011 to 2013. Frederick, home base for both Voltaggio and Staples, is also home to their flagship restaurant, Volt, and Family Meal, the diner-style eatery which is in the midst of expanding to Richmond and Ashburn, Va. Meanwhile, another Aggio just opened in Baltimore.
The place: Located on the Metro level of the mall, the look-alike design takes its cue from other artisan, industrial chic fast casual places that have become depositories for reclaimed wood (in this case, Maryland barns). What’s different: Potted silk plants in silver containers hang from the ceiling, and intriguing wall décor features a pulley system from the old Hershey Chocolate factory in Harrisburg, Pa. The set-up is a tad confusing, as it’s unclear whether to order from the food preparers at the entrance or from the cashier at the end of the line, and at least for now, the service tends to be slow.
The food: Sure, the ingredients are high quality, but after trying a soup, salad and a few sandwiches and sides, it seemed like inventiveness got the better of good taste. That cabbage slaw dressed with coconut milk, buttermilk, jalapenos and cilantro clanged with an overpowering, off-putting flavor, and the unattractive pimiento oil slick on the surface of the Eastern Shore soup added little zip to the bland, creamy liquid beneath it. The meatloaf sandwich, with its pineapple ketchup, red onion marmalade and blue cheese on a chive biscuit, had one or two too many specialty ingredients (give me a potato roll and some Heinz), and the weighty combination of beef, blue cheese and biscuit could be a recipe for an afternoon nap. Odd proportions bedeviled other items. Revealing little of its Vietnamese heritage, the barebones Southern Bahn Mi was mostly a fried chicken breast sandwich with a light swipe of liver mousse and a small tangle of pickled vegetables, cilantro and mint. And my order of Beets by Bryan was a garden of arugula with only a smattering of cubed Chioggia beets, goat cheese and roasted pecans.
The bottom line: The Voltaggio team’s creativity seems better suited for the more complicated stuff. Take the escalator up.
5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW Washington D.C. Suite 018 (in the Chevy Chase Pavilion), 202-244-3470, www.voltlunchbox.com. Salads and sandwiches, $7 to $13.
The Southern Banh Mi sandwich (Andrew Metcalf)
Beets by Bryan salad (Andrew Metcalf)
Meatloaf sandwich (Andrew Metcalf)
Eastern Shore soup (Andrew Metcalf)