The mozzarella stick, that ’80s bar-snack favorite, is staging a comeback as today’s most popular appetizer. Here are six spots where you can get your nostalgic cheese pull on.
Monster Mozz
Eebee’s Corner Bar
location_onShaw
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At buzzy new Eebee’s Corner Bar in Shaw, patrons line up early to score supersized six-inch sticks paired with marinara concealing a spicy kick.
Classic Take
Tune Inn
location_onCapitol Hill
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The handmade versions at the historic Capitol Hill dive Tune Inn are double-breaded, creating a crunchy golden crust with a gloriously gooey interior.
Secret Sticks
Caruso’s Grocery
location_onCapitol Hill and North Bethesda
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The off-the-menu mozzers (just ask) at Caruso’s Grocery, chef Matt Adler’s pair of comforting red-sauce spots, come with Calabrian-chili-infused fra diavola sauce and basil pesto for dunking.
Italian Style
Stellina
location_onMount Vernon Triangle, Union Market, Shirlington, and Tysons
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Neo-Neapolitan pizzeria Stellina doesn’t settle for simple sticks. Instead, the kitchen deep-fries a breaded-mozzarella sandwich finished with a snowfall of Parm.
Shape Shifters
All-Purpose
location_onShaw, Capitol Riverfront, Bethesda
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All-Purpose, the Jersey-inspired pizza joints in Shaw and Capitol Riverfront, shape their mozza logs into triangles, which are showered with Pecorino Romano and a hint of Genovese basil.
Getting Saucy
Gemini
location_onDupont Circle
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The golden batons at Gemini, Dupont’s beloved wine shop/pasta bar, come with constantly changing condiments—perhaps spicy marinara or skordalia, the garlicky Greek dip.
Nevin Martell is a food, travel, and foraging writer whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, USA Today, Men’s Journal, Fortune, Travel + Leisure, The Daily Beast, BBC, and many other publications. He is author of eight books, including Red Truck Bakery Cookbook: Gold-Standard Recipes from America’s Favorite Rural Bakery, Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip, and The Founding Farmers Cookbook: 100 Recipes From the Restaurant Owned by American Family Farmers. When he isn’t working, he loves spending time with his son, foraging for wild foods, and traveling.
