Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Sheila Gaskins wanted to give Prince Georgians a taste of barbecue, ribs and cornbread from her hometown of Bellville, Texas, so she went about it the authentic way.
Gaskins' Thomas Marios BBQ in Fort Washington doesn't use a single processed ingredient in its food, and even flies some of its produce straight from the Lone Star State. And restaurant cook, Mario Gomez, wouldn't settle for anything less than a wood grill from Houston to slow cook the myriad of meat dishes.
"People want fresh food, and they want it from scratch," said Gaskins, who works as a library media specialist at Choice Academy High School in Washington, D.C. during the day, and runs Thomas Marios at night. "We pull all the potatoes and squeeze all the lemons."
The fresh lemonade is what brought Fort Washington resident Terry Reid to Thomas & Marios on a recent Wednesday night. The real stuff, he said, didn't have the bitter bite of store-bought lemonade in a can or bottle.
"It's really got that sweetness," Reid said. "It doesn't have that bitterness or tartness that most [lemonades] have."
While the restaurant's staple dishes like chopped beef or chicken potato ($8.40) – a jumbo potato stuffed with your preference of meat – and the Dallas rib platter ($25) have brought customers back in recent weeks, Thomas & Marios peach cobbler has inspired nostalgia among many first-time customers.
"People eat it and tell me it tastes just like their grandma's peach cobbler," Gaskins said, crediting the handmade approach, rather than buying pre-made cobbler.
Gomez and Gaskins buy their ingredients from local markets, but their most authentic dish may be the links sausages ($7.40), which are flown to the Washington, D.C. metro area from Houston, where, according to Gaskins, "they just taste better."
Thomas Marios' menu includes the rib dinner with two sides ($8.40), the rib and chicken combo ($8.95), and various kinds of mild and spicy chicken wings. Sides include collard greens ($2.60) and barbecue baked beans ($2.60).
Jerome Logan, who works near Thomas Marios, has had a steady diet of authentic Texas chicken since the restaurant opened in September. One bite of the chicken, he said, and his taste buds could tell the difference.
"It just tastes all-natural," Logan said. "Plus, it's always flavorful ... and moist – never dry like some chicken you eat."
Thomas Marios BBQ
945B Swan Creek Road, Fort Washington
Phone: 301-203-7825
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
