How often can you order a burger ‘Medium’ and get it medium? Yeah, that’s my point. Oh let me splain … no let me sum up. I went for the first time to Matchbox last week. I went with a friend who frequents this Gallery Place/Chinatown (713 H St., NW) favorite often so when she found out that I had never been, she insisted that we go.

I must add that my friend and I are remarkably similar in tastes and seem to like some of the same things. So I was pleasantly surprised when we both wanted our miniburgers, medium. Even more surprising is that the 3 Angus Beef miniburgers actually came medium! Can you believe it?! You order something … and it comes the way you want it. Amazing!

The burgers were topped with a heaping portion of crunchy onion straws drizzled with grated Parmesan cheese. The burger itself is served in between a perfectly lightly toasted brioche with tiny Gouda slice (cheese optional for $1) and a single pickle slice. I wondered why Matchbox staff were wearing t-shirts with ‘3.6.9’ on it … until I saw the menu. These miniburgers are served in orders of three, six, and nine for $8/$14/$18. Along with my miniburgers I ordered a small pear, apple, Gorgonzola salad with sweet candied pecans. The balsamic vinaigrette was perfectly sweet and tart. The candied pecans were delicious; they added a sweet crunch to each bite. The small salad is served perfectly proportioned for sharing entrees or several appetizers.

Our sever, Jim was attentive, polite, humorous, and rather cute. His suggestions for desserts included the chocolate chip waffle. Yeah, he didn’t have to twist our arms. The chocolate waffle was drizzled with “chocolate ganache”, a rich, dark chocolate topping and Crème anglaise or “English Creme”, a light yellowish custard. On top of the waffles sat a perfect little scoop of almond gelato. For color, a few raspberries were added; nice touch.

View from our table I asked Jim about the recent completion of the restaurant addition and renovations. He said that the renovation increased their seating capacity to a whopping 210 people. Part of the newly completed expansion included another brick oven for pizza. I didn’t have a chance to try their pizza. We were fortunate enough to be seated to the table right next to the pizza oven on the bitter Tuesday night several weeks ago. It is as beautiful as the pizza that comes out of it! I can’t wait to return to Matchbox in order to try their pizza!

DininginDC pointed out all of the essential aspects of Matchbox, a hip, friendly atmosphere, reasonable prices, and excellent taste. Their signature appetizer, the mini-burgers, represent the White Castle sliders perfected by a chef with European taste and American burger mastery. The beef was cooked to perfection in patties that were thick like a regular half-pound burger should be, but shrunk to about a third the size. Like the original White Castle, they are each adorned with a pickle slice and cheese to order. Each burger was as good as the best burgers this author has experienced, even in the well-known California joints. The plate comes with either 3, 6, or 9 elegantly presented mini-burgers topped with onion straws (shoestring style fried onion). My server explained that people don’t want her to remove the plate until they have taken every last bite of the sweet, crispy straws. Our meal was no exception.

We also shared a pizza, which was also quite good in flavor, but was too spicy. The next time, I will choose a pizza that is a little easier on the gut.

The atmosphere of Matchbox is great – very modern and classy. The part we sat in had a glass roof and I love the natural lighting. They’ve got multiple vegetarian pizzas – I had the oven dried tomato and buffalo mozzarella and it was very good. My coworkers gave it their seal of approval as well. Looks like there’s always a wait though and they only take limited reservations.