By ANNE CHOVEY
Special to The Herald-Mail
FUNKSTOWN — Gracie’s Place in Funkstown has a great family history. It was opened by Grace Hartle-Hull, the daughter of John and Margaret Hartle of Hartle’s Subs fame.
According to the Gracie’s Place website, when John and Margaret died, the name Hartle’s Subs was sold, so Grace started Gracie’s Place using many of the techniques of her parents.
My friend, Pap Ricka, and I have long been fans of Hartle’s Subs, so we wanted to see how Gracie’s Place compared.
The restaurant is located on the main street of Funkstown in an old house. There is a small deck on the front with a couple of tables and chairs for outdoor eating. The inside of the restaurant is rather small with a few booths and tables and chairs. There is a tall counter for placing orders along with an ice cream freezer. Refrigerated coolers full of bottled drinks line the wall.
Gracie’s Place can’t be called elegant or even cute — and it isn’t decorated with any sort of theme. The floor is unvarnished wood, well worn in places. You get the impression that at Gracie’s Place, they want to let the food do the talking.
We were waited on immediately upon entering, but had to take a couple of minutes to check out the menu that was printed on the wall. Gracie’s is first and foremost a sub and sandwich shop with soup and salads thrown in.
The cold subs include most of the usual suspects including ham, turkey and roast beef ($6.60 to $7 for a whole and $3.95 to $4 for a half). There are also hot subs like steak and cheese, cheeseburger, grilled or crispy chicken ($7.50 for a whole; $5.25 for a half). Along with the subs are steamers, ruebens and gyros. Sides and finger foods like french fries, onion rings and cheese sticks are also on the menu.
If you are in the mood for a salad, you can get lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onions and cheese topped with steak, ham and turkey, grilled chicken, or crispy chicken ($6.50).
Among the listing for cold subs was the thing I was looking for: the famous cold-cut sub.
I have loved the Hartle’s version over the years and I couldn’t wait to try Gracie’s. We added a chicken salad sub to the order.
There was also an impressive list of burgers. It was hard to decide among the many choices but Pap finally chose a Bleu and Bacon with special sauce, lettuce and tomato.
I am not a huge Steelers fan but the Pittsburger sounded great — topped with lettuce, tomato, mayo, bacon, fried mushrooms, barbecue sauce and onion straws. We sat down and waited for the food to be prepared.
The clerk explained it might take awhile, which was fine. I don’t mind waiting a reasonable time for food to be fixed. It reassures me that it is fresh and not hanging out on a stove somewhere overheating and overcooking.
Apparently, they were running low on burgers, and that is what was taking so long for our order to be filled. The clerk generously offered us two bowls of soup on the house.
Daily soup specials include slippery pot pie, chicken corn, ham and bean and cream of crab. The soup of the day offered to us was potato. Two piping hot bowls of thick and creamy soup were placed in front of us. It didn’t look especially spectacular — but it was.
The potatoes were cooked perfectly for soup and the broth was delicious, well-seasoned and velvety. They could have taken all afternoon to make the sandwiches after that. But actually it wasn’t too much longer before the rest of the order arrived.
The cold-cut sub was exactly as I had remembered it: the delicious blend of lunch meats, especially the salami with big peppercorns, tasted great. I was less thrilled with the chicken salad. It had a nice crunch from celery or onions or both, but it also had sweet pickle relish in it. I don’t like my chicken salad sweet. Pap, on the other hand, liked it “a whole lot.”
We were both blown away by the burgers. The Bleu and Bacon had a wonderful salty richness from the combination of bacon and the melted blue cheese.
The Pittsburger was hearty with a sweetness from the barbecue sauce and the onion straws, which were miniature pieces of breaded onion similar to onion rings. Both burgers were cooked well, too: thoroughly but still moist and juicy.
Gracie’s Place is very friendly and unpretentious. Its food says it all.
Anne Chovey is a pseudonym for a Herald-Mail freelance writer who reviews restaurants anonymously to avoid special treatment.
Restaurant review
Gracie’s Place
3 1/2 stars (out of 5)
Food: 4
Service: 2 (the restaurant is designed to be self-service)
Ambiance: 3
Value: 3 1/2
Address: 3 W. Baltimore St., Funkstown
Phone: 301-393-8088
Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday.
Food: Sandwiches and subs, soup, and salads. A few vegetarian options.
Bathrooms: In need of an update and difficult to locate. Not accessible.
Parking and handicaped accessibility: Street parking available in front of the restaurant. As the restaurant is in an older building, accessibility may be difficult.
Reservations: Not necessary.
Website: http://graciesplaces.com. Also on Facebook.
