The District
The District Provisions and Supply Co restaurant brings modern, understated-chic style, and small plate dining to downtown Hagerstown.
By Allison Hurwitz
Tucked away on a Downtown alley lies one of Hagerstown’s hidden, and most delectable, gems. Literally off the beaten path, District Provisions and Supply Co has been serving its eclectic take on small plate dining since 2021. Despite featuring a tiny, rotating menu, dinner at District is bursting with big, vivid flavors and unique, exciting takes on cuisines from across the continents.
The understated-chic restaurant exudes a hipness and modernity that’s sometimes missing from regional dining. With adventurous menu choices and an eye towards local products and community, the District would be at home in any metropolitan area; luckily it’s settled right here.
At the entrance of the 40-seat restaurant is its bar area, with room for seating, a few high tops, and a counter of hot sauces. Keep venturing back to the exposed brick main dining room and outdoor patio area, or take the flight of stairs to the mezzanine table or loft seating.
While perusing the menu, order a creative cocktail like the “And Don’t Call Me Paloma” (Don Julio Blanco with aperol, grapefruit juice, lime juice, and agave syrup topped with Fever Tree club soda & singed thyme). Then tuck into District’s eclectic tapas-style or shared-plate type of eating with items that riff on a variety of International dishes.
Don’t forget to include the spectacular “Fried Brussels,” perfectly crispy, succu-lent Brussels sprouts topped with salty Parmesan, crunchy pistachios, just a hint of sweetness from honey, and finished with white truffle oil. They are to die for.
And if service at District feels especially attentive, it’s probably thanks to owner-operators Trent Renshaw and Ankoor Das, who are both in the restaurant seven days a week, open to close. The pair couldn’t possibly be more hands-on, with Renshaw mostly in the front of the house and behind the bar and Das in the kitchen.
Renshaw and Das met in 2017 while working in the local restaurant industry and bonded over mutual interests and influences–namely a lust for travel and delicious food from all over the world.
“We liked the idea that we could do a lot of cuisines together and have it make sense,” says Renshaw. “Ankoor and I both like to eat that sort of way, and share amongst the table, and go to different places and try new things. We wanted to bring that to our table, so to speak.”
Before turning their sights towards a brick and mortar eatery, the pair originally bounced around the idea for a food truck. But when downtown’s The Plum restaurant came up for sale, Renshaw and Das fell in love with the space, particularly its internal layout and capacity.
They first acquired The Plum in the fall of 2021, but didn’t make any significant changes to the cuisine (or name) until May 2022. Renshaw explains that the name District is synonymous with region, and “We want to support our region and we want to support local community.”
For the most part, the lunch menu is similar to what could be found at the previous restaurant, while its dinner offerings are more adventurous.
Lunch fare features fresh ingredients in seasonal salads, classic hot and cold deli sandwiches, and soup specials. “The Woodley,” for example, is a very generous portion of warm roast beef, caramelized mushroom and onion, provolone, lettuce, tomato, and horseradish mayonnaise piled high on a club roll.
A “something for everyone” type of place, each menu has plenty of vegetarian options as well, such as a flavor-packed falafel pita, roasted vegetable on focaccia sandwich, or hummus and veggie pita for lunch.
Dinner shifts to an eclectic tapas-style or shared-plate type of eating with items that riff on a variety of International dishes.
The menu changes monthly, keeping a handful of the most popular dishes (those brussels sprouts, deviled eggs with different toppings, gobi manchurian- a spicy Indo-Chinese cauliflower dish, and a table charcuterie board featuring house-crafted pickles, meats, and cheeses).
The other additions are chosen after a collaborative process of brainstorming and recipe creation and fall into the categories of “handhelds” (think Butter Chicken Egg Rolls: Basmati rice and house butter chicken egg rolls served with raita or Gochujang Shrimp Tacos: gochujang-seared shrimp with chimichurri, kimchi, cucumber and peanut sauce on corn tortillas) and small plates.
January’s menu showcased supremely tender, fall-off-the-bone pork ribs slathered in mustardy Carolina BBQ sauce, and exceptionally crisp fried artichoke heart tacos with zippy cucumber pita, Za’atar cream and spicy tomato sauce. Flavor selections ran the gamut from Italian to Middle Eastern to Southwestern.
All of those delectable elements derive from their from-scratch kitchen, using local meats when possible, and punched up with house-made sauces and pickles, which are sold by the jar. The District has also collaborated with Riverbottom Roasters to make their own locally-roasted coffee blend, which they sell whole beans of as well.
District opens every day for breakfast starting at 9am, serving up classics like build-your-own egg and cheese sandwiches and fancy avocado toast. And on Saturdays and Sundays, don’t miss their special brunch, which changes weekly based on what’s in season.
The District is available for private events and catering in addition to their popular beer and wine-pairing dinners. These dinners allow the kitchen to seek out even more local products, like their recent beer dinner with Cushwa Brewing from Williamsport and Four Score from Gettysburg. The main course was their take on a shepherd’s pie, using lamb from Horst Farms.
As for the future of The District, “The reason we included ‘Provision and Supply’ in the name is because we’ve always wanted to at a later date sell more grab-and-go items, things we make here in house and also some goods from some other local purveyors and farms, that sort of thing,” says Renshaw.
They may even revisit the food truck concept at some point.
For now, they will continue to turn out beautiful, inventive plates of supremely flavorful food - like those crispy, golden brown brussels sprouts that foodie dreams are made of.
So while you might have a little trouble finding the District Provision and Supply Co. from the main street, it’s a tiny price to pay for the spectacular culinary experience you’ll find inside.