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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Where’s Wolfgang?

Wolfgang Puck Express
Pentagon Row-1301 Joyce St.
(Pentagon City Metro stop on the blue line)
(703) 412-3550

Wolfgang Puck is known world-wide for his inventive dishes. Puck has a line of restaurants across the United States and each promises to recreate the fine dining of his first restaurant in New York. While most Wolfgang Puck restaurants are expensive, the recently opened Wolfgang Puck Express in Pentagon Row brings Puck’s cuisine creations to the majority. The restaurant promises to bring superior food that Wolfgang Puck is known for, even if Puck isn’t anywhere to be found.

The atmosphere is trendy. The walls are bright orange, yellow and green. The chairs are light wood and the kitchen is exposed. Clearly, this restaurant, like Puck’s cuisine, is modern. Puck wants you to “Live. Love. Eat,” as he declares it on the walls, menus and even the cups. What makes this restaurant different from his full service establishments is that you place your order with a cashier and get a box that lights up when your food is ready. You then make your way up to the front again to pick up your food.

Your meal is served on “real” dishes, but the plates and silverware don’t quite match the big orange tray you carry. The upscale dining on a budget seems a little mismatched as well. The mounted menu above the cashier is hard to read and doesn’t give any descriptions. However, your meal will only run around $12.

Unlike most “express” restaurants, the salads here really are gourmet. While the chicken caesar is ordinary, the young spinach salad stands out from the rest. With Granny Smith apples, radicchio (which looks like red cabbage but has a more bitter taste), gorgonzola cheese, caramelized pecans and a sherry vinaigrette, this is one delicious salad. While you may wish there were pears instead of apples, the pecans add a sweetness to the salad that will make you wish you had ordered two. At only $5.95 for the regular size – which is a good-sized portion – and $7.95 for a large, you may as well break out the wallet and spend the extra two dollars.

For a main dish, Puck wants you to try his 7- or 9-inch pizzas. Ranging from $4.95 to $9.95, the pies are pretty filling. The variety, however, isn’t as inventive and unique as you would expect. From four-cheese to margherita to spinach and mushroom to pepperoni, the menu doesn’t surpass an Italian pizza shop, or even Bertucci’s for that matter. One signature pizza does stand out, though-the smoked salmon. Complete with dill cream, red onion and chives, you may just want to scrape off the toppings and eat them without the crust.

If you are on a tight budget but have a big, empty stomach, the cheese or barbecued chicken quesadillas come at a fair price at $4.95 and $6.95, respectively. You get two large flour tortillas filled with cheese, fresh cilantro and chicken if desired. They are both topped with ranch dressing and pico de gallo. The quesadilla preparation is where you can most easily see the Wolfgang Puck touch. The chefs pipe the dressing on top in a large swirl pattern that shows the attention to detail and presentation that diners expect from Puck. The taste? Well, the quesadillas are OK but prettier to look at.

The pesto chicken sandwich, at $5.95, may surprise you with how ordinary it is. It has pulled rotisserie chicken with basil, red onion and garlic pesto set on top of greens and tomato. The roll the sandwich is served on aspires to have a gourmet taste but falls flat. The bulk of the sandwich is the pesto chicken salad, which has more of the pesto mixture than chicken. The chicken is white and dark, which is surprising considering the Wolfgang Puck commitment to quality. It’s pretty good, but a piece of chicken breast would be a better choice and give the sandwich more bulk.

The restaurant’s side dishes include garlic mashed potatoes, herb French fries, four-cheese macaroni and two types of bread. Skip the bread and go for potatoes or the macaroni. While the pasta isn’t as savory as expected with the four cheeses, it still is filling. The French fries are skinny, long and extra-crispy. The herb flavoring is sprinkled on top with coarse salt. These are a safe bet and are a nice alternative to the Chick-Fil-A fries we are all used to.

While the food here is good by any normal standards, customers will be disappointed because they will expect something better because Puck’s name is attached. While Puck tries to put a gourmet spin on lunch-time favorites, the Express falls short. If you simply want a sandwich and a Coke, take a walk to a nearby Cosi instead of the Metro to Wolfgang Puck Express. The sandwiches are comparable, even if they are a bit more expensive.

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