good stuff eatery

September has turned out to be a very busy month and has presented me with some fun, unique food opportunities. About seven years ago while donating blood I was asked if I would like to give an extra vile and be entered into the Department of Defense (DOD) national bone marrow donor program. In return for entering yourself in the program you received the rest of the day off of work, so of coarse I said yes. Being in the national bone marrow donor registry is pretty uneventful. Until you get called. I got my first call two and a half years ago. After a series of rigorous physical screening I was determined to be the closest match for a leukemia patient in need of a donation. My donation was actually for stem cells, not marrow. Which is a less painful, more precise method of treatment. Its a cleaner product that's more easily accepted by the recipient. This initial treatment lead to two more donations over two years to help stimulate the healthy growth of cells for my match. ANYWAYS, the point of telling you all this is that the donations are held in Washington D.C. Which means every year or so I get an all expense paid vacation to the nations capitol. And I take full advantage of the booming food scene there. On my first trip years ago I was super excited to visit a new restaurant opened by a favorite Top Chef contestant of mine, Spike Mendelsohn. The Good Stuff Eatery is a burger joint serving the good old favorites as well as new and interesting burger combinations. They also offer hand cut fries (with or without special seasoning), hand spun shakes and a selection of homemade dipping sauces. My first trip to the Eatery was a memorable one. We were even lucky enough to meet Spike and see him work. The burgers were large, hearty and delicious. The staff friendly and fun. It was such a memorable trip that I have gone back every time I visit D.C. However, this last trip was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I have been craving a burger from The Good Stuff Eatery for weeks now, ever since I got the call to come back. It was the first place we went when we arrived in the city. The music was unbearably loud and the place seemed ridiculously crowded. And it didn't take long to figure out why. Right inside the door in the only downstairs waiting area was a large shipment of paper products. Some boxes were even open and product taken out to be used while the rest of the boxes sat there unattended and obviously not where they belonged. There was mass confusion as you walked up to the counter, no one was sure who was in line, who was waiting for their food and who was working. There were at least four men in uniform just standing around on the customer side of the counter. Doing nothing. Being a manager myself, it was really hard for me not to tell those lazy boys to stop leaning on the wall and go put away the paper shipment. Once we finally made our way up to the counter we had to yell, literally yell, over the music to order our food. And when the cashier couldn't hear us correctly she didn't politely ask us to speak up, instead she rudely ordered us to 'talk louder'. The experience was so far from the usual I couldn't help but look around and notice the be-wildered look on the other patrons faces too. Finally we were handed a buzzer and a numbered ticket and sent to wait. The next thing we knew the rude counter girl was shouting numbers that didn't match any one's ticket. And since none of our buzzers were buzzing we all stared right back at her. Eventually (and still rudely) she informed us she was calling the numbers of the buzzers. Which left us wondering why hand out buzzers if you aren't going to use them for their intended purpose? At last we went upstairs to take our seats. Again we noticed several employees standing around. And several uncleaned tables. The only upside to this trip was that the food was still amazing. My mom and I got the same burger, A cheese burger with American and Muenster cheese, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions and 'the good stuff sauce'. And we both got hand spun shakes. Mine was a black and white (vanilla with hot fudge) and my mom got a basic chocolate shake. As we were enjoying our super calorie laden lunch we starting to get an uneasy filling. And it soon became apparent what the extra staff was for. To stare at you and make you uncomfortable so you leave sooner. All and all we spent less than a half and hour at lunch. I was left with the overall feeling that the boss was away (and had been away for a while) and his employees were not behaving as they should. At least that is what I hope was the problem. Sadly I doubt I will ever find out. If I was a D.C. resident I would surely give The Good Stuff Eatery another chance. But since I only have a few days a year to sample the D.C. food scene I won't be waisting them on another chance at a horrible experience.