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Writing Sample for the Washington City Paper
Review:
Lunnderdome Bar & Grille
Berwyn Heights, MD
The University of Maryland community has many
choices of places to eat and drink in the immediate College Park area. The popular fraternity watering holes of Cornerstone
and the Santa Fe Cafe are always busy, while Lupos (where the famed Terrapin Station used to be) provides a slightly more
up scale alternative to the Tri Cuppa Brew hangouts. I recommend a place off the beaten path in Berwyn Heights where the only
fraternities represented are music, arts or vocational, and you may just have to pump the keg yourself: The Lunnderdome Bar
& Grille.
Usually called the “Dome,“ it is best described as a gourmet dive. Purchased two years
ago by local entrepreneur Jason Lunn, the Dome offers an eclectic mix of geeky college home furnishings (complete with an
impressive collection of Starwars paraphernalia) and upscale lounge attitude. The bar and lounge room is comfortable and careful
ears can pick up conversation by local activists and hipsters. Behind the bar you may find bar manager and entertainment director
Andy Kaylor pouring guests drinks of imported Aqua di Vita, or Tarantula Azul, with an array of bottles behind him. Although
the drink service is arguably not always top-shelf, anything that comes in a plastic handle bottle or has the word “Lite”
in it’s name is actively shunned and occasionally thrown at the patron suggesting it. In the pool room, the occasional
live DJ or band can be found on the mezzanine providing music for the dancing and competition around the sole antique billiards
table. Gus Collins -entertainment director and newest staff member- mingles and keeps the mood cool, casual and flowing late
into the night.
Hungry people at the Dome turn to head chef Bob Gandy, who’s years of private catering and
passion for art forged a menu that is as diverse as the clientele. One moment he may be offering sushi with fish he bought
fresh that morning from the DC fish market and the next you may find him checking the doneness of a mandarin chicken roast.
The chili is unremarkable, but he makes up for it when he helps Mr. Kaylor at the bar with his perfected “Devil’s
Advocate” martini.
The Dome is as comfortable as it is affordable. Nobody is ever charged (unless it’s
another cancer fund-raising event), and donations of soft drinks are just as welcomed as hard currency. Ample parking is available
across the street, and the neighborhood is regularly patrolled by the watchful eyes of the Berwyn Heights police.
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