“A Table Down The Street” follows Howie Southworth, author of "A Taste of Alexandria," one local barstool at a time. No reviews. Only encounters. The bartender chasing perfection, the chef with a story, the regular who swears this place was better before you found it. Food and drink may be the excuse. People are the point. A corner seat can tell you everything.
Photo by Howie Southworth
LaPluma Coffee & Wine, 1000 Cameron St. in Old Town Alexandria
Dany is the guy behind the bar at La Pluma. He suggests pupusas. Dany also reads minds, apparently. Street food is my current speed. “With a Pinot Noir rosé,” he prescribes. What? He says people who stick to reds never learn the trick. States it like he’s seen this conversation play out enough times to stop doing the lecture. So I don’t argue. I listen. Rosé turns out to be the right move.
He isn’t only the barkeep. The place is his with his wife Iliana. She’s the chef. He handles the wine. Also the build. They dug out the earth themselves to fit a kitchen in. Took a while. Oyster shells still buried underfoot from when this was something else. Original brick left where it stood. Reclaimed wood everywhere. Wine shelves, chairs, trim. At some point I stop asking what’s decorative and what’s holding the place up.
Photo by Howie Southworth
The coffee board at LaPluma in Old Town Alexandria.
It feels built, not designed. And I’m handed a filled glass curated by the same hands that crafted the place. That’s unique. Also unique, La Pluma is the only pan-Latino spot in town. And a wine bar, just to bring it home. It leans into Old Town well. And slightly out of it. That’s the move. It usually is.
Dany talks about the location like it was part of the plan all along. Route One. Patrick Street. Close to everything without being of any one thing. “King Street. The river. The Metro. Even the airport, if you feel like it,” he beams. And this neighborhood filled with Airbnbs, that can’t hurt.
Photo by Howie Southworth
A window view from LaPluma in Old Town Alexandria.
Out back, a brick patio under some shade, set just far enough off Route One that it stops being a problem. Happy people back there.
There’s a whole other version of this place in the morning. Coffee shop. Quiet. People pretending they’re merely stopping in, then getting comfortable. Danny’s from Guatemala. So is the coffee. Strong. Direct. No ceremony.
He tries to sell me on coming back for the dirty horchata. Coffee shot in that famous Latin American rice drink. “Very powerful,” he says. “And very popular.” It went a little viral. People show up at nine in the morning looking for it like it’s a solution to something. Social media, go figure.
Photo by Howie Southworth
Pupusas and wine at LaPluma in Old Town Alexandria.
“The best horchata you’ll ever have,” he says. “But definitely too late in the day for that.” I believe him.
Before noon, people come in for coffee. If that laptop stays open long enough, the coffee turns into wine with a wave of Dany’s hand. Quick bites become another glass. Plans loosen. Same place. Different tempo.
For now, it’s the pupusas. Chef Iliana’s from El Salvador. That’s where they come from. Not as an idea or simply an item to put on the menu. As something lived with. A sign of place.
Photo by Howie Southworth
Chalk art at LaPluma in Old Town Alexandria.
Revueltas first. Stewed pork and friends. Then spinach and cheese. Then beans. Dany is right about one thing immediately. “Ours are stuffed, not a light filling,” he smiles. Not accented. Not suggested. Stuffed. There’s heft to them. Gravitas. You pick one up and it holds its shape like a Frisbee from a wayward game of ultimate.
Crisp and slightly charred corn dough gives way to a creamy hearty pocket of good. Savory in a way that doesn’t rush you. Good thing. They’re large. A curtido of bright pickled vegetables to top it at will. Salsa when it needs it. The system works if you let yourself inside.
Photo by Howie Southworth
A view out the window of LaPluma, through a glass of rosé in Old Town Alexandria.
Then the wine soon after a bite. The first sip with the pupusa lands better than expected. Cuts through the depths. Lifts the corn flavor barely toward sweet. Not dramatic. It lights the reflex to go in for another bite as if stopping is an option.
It doesn’t change the food. Or the wine. It changes how long you stay with both.
La Pluma doesn’t feel like it’s trying to elevate anything. No reimagining. No deconstruction or foams. No manifesto about street food becoming something else. The pupusa stays exactly what it is. Corn, filling, heat, time. Everything around it adjusts instead. Glassware. Cadence. Somewhere nearby, a sink earns its keep.
Street food you eat with your hands. Paired with wine that would be pleased with a white glove. Informal food, formal attention. Hands and glassware sharing the same table without arguing about it. But it works. Because nothing is pretending to be something else.
I finish slower than I meant to. Perhaps that was the plan. The last bite goes the way it should. With a last sip. Clean plate and a clean glass. By design. Around me, people are doing the same quiet math. One more glass. One more minute. One more taste. Maybe all three.
Dany passes by again. “I should listen to more Guatemalan coffee guys,” I tell him. He nods like that’s always been the advice. He’s probably right.
About the wine. About the pupusas. And probably about the horchata.
Photo courtesy of Howie Southworth
Author Howie Southworth
Howie Southworth is a seasoned denizen of Old Town Alexandria and the best-selling author behind "A Taste of Alexandria: Modern Restaurant Recipes That Echo Our City's Past," published by Alexandria Living Magazine.
Southworth is also the author of a new book, Hemingway’s Spanish Table (Insight Editions), released March 17.
Past works include "Chinese Street Food," "One Pan to Rule Them All," "Kiss My Casserole!" and "How to Cook Anything in Your Dutch Oven." Howie is also a regular essayist for Salon.com.
