3 Rockville Restaurants Among DC’s 100 Best
The February 2013 issue of Washingtonian magazine is devoted to the 100 very best restaurants in the DC region and three Rockville restaurants are included! Here’s what the critics had to say about them:
- Cava Mezze: “Casual-rustic digs, clever takes on Greek mezze, and gentle prices make these eateries among the buzziest around [the two other Cava Mezzes are in DC and Arlington]. Sometimes the ktichen takes liberties with tradition–gyros, for example, are fashioned into sliders–but it’s usually to the good, and chef Dimitri Moshovitis understands that a bit of innovation goes a long way. And though it might seem there’s little reason to stray from small plates, a whole branzino crisscrossed with char marks convinced us otherwise.” 9713 Traville Gateway Drive (west of #270, just west of Shady Grove near a Giant grocery store). Warning: Traville Gateway Drive is a large loop that intersects twice with Shady Grove Road and nearby there’s a separate but similarly named Travilah Road–don’t the police and fire departments find these loose street-naming conventions a safety hazard? And technically, this restaurant is outside of the City of Rockville (which ends at Shady Grove Road).
- La Limeña: “You can eat Peruvian chicken anywhere these days. You come here to explore the multifaceted cuisine beyond pollo a la brasa–from tiradito (lime-marinated tilapia atop yellow-pepper sauce) to grilled beef hearts (imagine a hanger steak with slightly more chew) to rich aji de gallina (chicken in a sauce of egg, white wine, and garlic). And don’t allow the steam of a sizzling steak trailing through the room divert you from the fish, particularly the ceviches and the whole fried trout blitzed with shaved almonds.” 765-B Rockville Pike (in the far corner of the Continue reading →
A Farmers Market for Winter opens in Sandy Spring
You won’t find tomatoes or peaches, but there are plenty of other items available at the new Winter Market in Sandy Spring. The year, the Olney Farmers and Artists Market has extended the season by moving east a few miles, finding shelter at the Sandy Spring Museum on Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm.
Last weekend I found nearly two dozen vendors selling a variety of produce (mostly squash, greens, carrots, radishes, apples), meat (chicken, beef, lamb), food (tea, sheep cheese, cupcakes, jams, Vietnamese food), plants, handcrafted goods (soap, jewelry, quilted table runners, pet tags), and firewood. It was good weather and many vendors were spread outside but during inclement weather, there’s plenty of room inside the museum (plus there are restrooms!). And at noon, there’s typically a cooking demonstration by a local chef (last Sunday it was the former chef of the White House).
The winter market is every Sunday through April 29, when it shifts to its usual summer location in Olney. If you’re not familiar with quaint historic Sandy Spring, go east from Olney past the Olney Theater Center and continue on Route 108 until you encounter a tighter cluster of housing and a small commercial district that includes an Urban BBQ (a branch of the Rockville restaurant). The museum is on the left just past the gas station–if you pass Sherwood High School, you’ve gone too far. Free parking is available on site.
Dawson’s Market Opens in Downtown Rockville
After five years of work by the City of Rockville and Federal Realty Investment Trust, Dawson’s Market held its grand opening tonight in Rockville’s Town Square. A grocery store had been slated as an anchor for the Town Square since its inception, but an initial tenant’s bankruptcy and threatened lawsuits by a competing liquor store caused delays, as well as finding a grocery willing to move into space smaller than is typical today. Fortunately, Rick Hood, president of Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market in Richmond, was looking to expand and found an ideal location in Rockville. The Richmond store is named for the two streets that intersect at that store’s location; the Rockville store is named for longtime residents of Rockville (e.g., Beall-Dawson House, Dawson Farm Park).
Dawson’s Market is now open and customers will find it emphasizes local and organic food, and discover such nice amenities as beer and wine departments, juice bar, and a cafe. Many people have compared it to Roots or a small version of Whole Foods. Parking in Town Square is available free for two hours with validation and you’ll find the store at the corner of Washington and Beall, near the modernist Suburban Trust Bank building.
Does Rockville Have the Best Chinese Restaurant in the DMV?
In the July issue of Washingtonian magazine, East Pearl is called the “gleaming new addition to Rockville’s thriving Chinese-restaurant scene” and although it’s been open for only a few months, they’re tempted to call it the “best Chinese restaurant around”. That’s high praise so I checked it out myself a few weeks ago, and I have to say, it’s a significant step up from the others. I was struck first by the interior decor because it didn’t have the usual cliches of red vinyl booths, lanterns, and pictures of China on the wall. If you were dropped at the front door and didn’t notice the display of barbequed ducks in the back corner, you would have assumed it was nice modern restaurant serving Caesar salads with grilled chicken for lunch and crab soup and ribeye steaks for dinner.
The menu is extensive and you’ll see many of the usual dishes but also many that will be new. Some are definitely suited to Chinese tastes that might make Westerners squeamish, such as squid or intestine with sour cabbage. I hate to stereotype, but it seems that the Chinese love chewy textures. Most dishes will be intriguing because of their unusual combinations or preparation, such as steak mignon Cantonese style, Szechuan eggplant with ground pork in a casserole, or pan-fried stuffed triple delight. I tried the latter, which is minced meat (probably pork) sandwiched between slices of eggplant, bell pepper, or tofu, battered and fried, and then covered with a light black bean sauce and sprinkled with chopped green onions. Wow! I also had a side dish of barbeque pork (cha sui) and spicy shrimp dumplings Hong Kong style, while my wife had hot and sour soup. We found them all to be outstanding–well prepared, freshly made, delicious, and nicely presented. I haven’t had a chance to visit again, but I’ve recommended it to neighbors and they’ve come back happy as well.
East Pearl Restaurant is located at 838-B Rockville Pike in Rockville, north of Edmonston in the midst of the string of shops on the east side of the Pike adjacent to the railroad (between YoCake and the MoCo liquor store). Parking is tight and limited. I’ve heard there’s usually a line at dinner, so arrive early or plan to hunt for a parking space and wait for a table. By the way, the Vietnamese restaurant nearby is also a great place to try!
Hometown Holidays in Rockville
Hometown Holidays is one of Rockville’s biggest events and spreads out among several streets in downtown with artists, restaurants, music, kiddie rides, businesses, and local organizations. For a few hours today I joined the volunteers in the food ticket booth in a wonderful location between Oro Pomodoro and Bombay Bistro, two great Rockville restaurants. Oro Pomodoro brought their wood burning stove and prepared the pizzas next to me, which was fun to watch (and I ordered a pizza al funghi when I finished my rotation in the booth). Strolling the artists’ booth, I encountered Charlie Barton of Baltimore, who creates stunning silkscreened images that merges high contrast panoramic photography with the boldness of 1960s psychedelic art. If you collect contemporary art by local artists, he’s one to watch.
Farmers Markets Back for the Season
The “summer” farmers markets began this weekend in Rockville and Olney, providing a fun day for families and foodies alike. On Saturday mornings, the Rockville Farmers Market is held in the Jury Parking Lot at the corner of Jefferson and Monroe. On Sunday mornings, the Olney Farmers Market is held in a park on Sandy Spring Road and Prince Philip (about 3 blocks east of Georgia Avenue). Both sell vegetables, fruit, bread, pastries, cheese, meat, fish, flowers, and plants and there’s perhaps a 20 percent overlap in vendors. Olney is perhaps twice as large because it also includes arts and crafts, food, and live music. I like Farmers Markets so much that I often wind up visiting both and if you’re foodie, you can stay informed through my tweets on any new or unusual products I encounter. Right now, strawberries and lettuce are at their peak but you’ll also find early hothouse tomatoes and last fall’s apples.
Homes and Hospitality Tour this Saturday
Get to know your city a bit better through the upcoming Homes and Hospitality Tour on Saturday afternoon, May 12. Peerless Rockville organizes this special one-day exploration of a neighborhood every two years, and this year’s focus is East Rockville. Most people don’t realize that this neighborhood east of the tracks not only has one of the densest collections of historic houses, but also some award-winning contemporary homes. Once directly connected to downtown Rockville via Baltimore Road, after the streets were rerouted in the mid-20th century, East Rockville became hidden and forgotten, with many of the houses being cut up into apartments or falling into disrepair. During the last couple decades, however, young couples and entrepreneurial investors saw the potential of this derelict neighborhood and began restoring the historic houses or building new ones on rare empty lots. Interest in this neighborhood continues to grow given its long history, its architectural diversity, and its proximity to Metro, MARC, and downtown.
The Tour includes six different places to visit at your own pace and in any order: three historic houses, two modern houses, and one public building. All have remarkable stories (one of the first electrified houses in the city, another linked to a typhoid epidemic, and another that stands on a former “laboratory to prepare for Armageddon”–wow!) and by exploring them together, you’ll leave with a new appreciation for your community and be inspired by the care of your fellow residents (several have won awards). Unlike most home tours, however, the event is staffed by many community leaders (so you may greeted by your Mayor, Police Chief, or State Delegate), many local restaurants provide refreshments (such as Carmen’s Ice Cream and Tower Oaks Lodge), and music is provided by local artists and students. For $25, it’s a bargain for a special afternoon in your own town (and a great gift for Mother’s Day!) but if you buy in advance or if you’re a Peerless Rockville member, you can get a discount of up to 25% off. Get your tickets in advance at PeerlessRockville.org or on the day of the event at the Pump House at 401 South Horner’s Lane.
Two Rockville Restaurants Named Best “Cheap Eats”
Tom Sietsema, restaurant critic for the Washington Post, recently named two Rockville restaurants to his list of Best Cheap Eats in the DC region:
- Carbon (100 S. Gibbs Street in the Town Square), a Peruvian restaurant specializing in charcoal-grilled chicken
- Michael’s Noodles (10038 Darnestown Road in the Travilah Square Shopping Center–actually just beyond the city boundaries), a Taiwanese restaurant featuring soups, dim sum, the usual Chinese entrees, and lots of noodle dishes.
And in nearby Gaithersburg, he included Burma Road (617 S. Frederick Avenue, two blocks north of Shady Grove). That’s really impressive for our area, considering Tom had only 17 restaurants on his list!
Hometown Holidays 2011
It was a bit warm this weekend, but still a great time to enjoy Rockville’s annual Hometown Holidays. I love seeing lots of people downtown enjoying our fair city, and I also like to see what’s happening with restaurants through the “Taste of Rockville” (you may figured out I’m a bit of a foodie). Lots of restaurants were there and the most exciting was Oro Pomodoro, who was making pizzas with a portable wood-burning oven. Some people may be disappointed in the lack of variety, but participating in a “taste” event is very difficult–restaurants often have to stretch their resources to staff a second location for two days and then guess at how much food to bring. Most do it as a community service and hope it will result in future customers–they rarely make any profit at these events. Alas, the “tastes” were large and typically cost $5 so I only managed to try out three restaurants. I hope next year they’ll include smaller menu items in the $1-3 range to encourage people to take a risk on something new.
There was plenty to do for families (which also meant lots of strollers to navigate) but adults could probably explore it all in a couple hours unless you enjoyed an entire performance. The City did a great job of placing and scheduling bands carefully throughout downtown, but setting up all the stages and chairs also pointed out that we lack obvious community gathering places downtown (hardly any benches and shade trees arranged for a group of a dozen or more people). Let’s hope the new buildings going up soon will solve that.
Max for Rockville 