ByGeorge!

September 2007

Tonic Revitalizes Historic Quigley’s

Family and friends of Jeremy Pollok, B.S. ’94, gathered to cut the ribbon for Tonic Restaurant. Pictured from left to right are: Amy Pollok; Doris Edlund, neighbor; Eve Dubrow, GW associate vice president for operations; David Lehrman, ANC commissioner; Pollok; Louis Katz, GW executive vice president and treasurer; GW President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg; Councilmember Jim Graham; Matthew Cohen, candidate for ANC and GW student leader; and Bill Schechter, candidate for ANC.

By Julia Parmley

Thanks to a new restaurant, Quigley’s Pharmacy is once again a popular campus hangout.

Open since May, Tonic at Quigley’s Pharmacy, 2036 G St., NW, serves classic American fare in a renovated setting that preserves the building’s original design. “Quigley’s has seen a lot of history,” says Jeremy Pollok, B.S. ’94, GW alumnus and co-owner of Tonic. “We are excited to bring it back.”

First opened in 1891 and purchased by GW in 1974, Quigley’s Pharmacy was for decades the place to be for the University community—due to its soda fountain, friendly owner Richard Lucien Quigley, and location at the crossroads of the University’s Foggy Bottom Campus. It’s a tradition that Pollok, along with business partners Eric “Bernie” Bernstrom and Ilias Nathanail, hopes to continue. The trio already owns a Tonic restaurant in Washington, D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood, and Pollok says the restaurant’s name and its “Cures What Ails You” slogan fit perfectly with Quigley’s history.

Tonic’s brick walls—lined with historical black and white photos from GW’s archives—and entrance are original to Quigley’s, and the
beer taps are in the exact location of the pharmacy’s old soda taps. The three-story restaurant’s dark wood interior features a combination of bar seating, couches, and tables. A bar and digital jukebox are on the first floor, and flat screen televisions are on the first and third floors. The third floor also offers wireless Internet access and a stage for performances.

The GW-customized menu, which features “Thurston Hall” pizza, as well as a variety of entrees, sandwiches, and salads, is the creation of chef Shannen Smith. Nicole Ryan, Tonic’s general manager, says Smith studied the menu at Tonic’s Mount Pleasant restaurant before revamping it for the Foggy Bottom location. Pollok says most of Tonic’s 40-member staff, a third of which are students, were hired long before the restaurant opened its doors. “For the most part, the opening and permit process were smooth, painless, and very professional,” he states. “I really enjoyed working with the University. To say that the University was helpful would be an understatement.”

Tonic is open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night. To make a reservation, call (202) 296-0211 or visit www.opentable.com. To order takeout, call (202) 296-0999.

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