The Latest and Greatest Restaurants in Rockville
The January 2011 issue of Washingtonian magazine is devoted to the area’s 100 very best places to eat and I’m proud that Rockville was included four times:
- Addie’s (actually, it’s in White Flint but I’ll adopt them because it’s such a good place)
- Againn (this is for the DC mothership, but we have a version of it in Rockville on the Pike)
- Cava (in the Fallsgrove neighborhood)
- Spice Crossing (in the Town Square)
Living in Rockville, we have a bit of a headstart on DC residents on a couple other winners:
- Volt in Frederick (outstanding restaurant in a great historic building; so popular you need to make reservations weeks in advance)
- Mannequin Pis in Olney (a Belgian-style bistro in a very ordinary strip mall).
These lists are always fun because they provoke conversation and encourage you to try out new places, so in that spirit, here’s my unofficial and incomplete addendum for the best places to eat in Rockville (in no particular order): Continue reading →
Great Places to Take a Date in Rockville?
With Valentine’s Day coming up, Washingtonian magazine has just listed the 158 great places for a date but Rockville barely gets a mention. The only places that made the grade are:
- Mayorga Coffee Roasters (801 Pleasant Drive in King Farm)
- Spice Crossing (100-B Gibbs Street in Town Square)
- Music Center at Strathmore (okay, that’s really not in Rockville, but I’m grasping)
Really? Really? Are there no other great places to get a drink, listen to music, see a show, go dancing, have fun, enjoy a meal, do something different, or even pop The Question in Rockville? Here are my suggestions:
- Lots of romantic restaurants in town, including La Tasca or Cava (fun to share small dishes of food)
- Take a stroll along Rock Creek (trailhead at Linthicum Street and Marcia Lane in Twinbrook)
- Go rock climbing on the indoor wall at the Civic Center Park.
Any other suggestions to help out the romance-impaired?
Three of the Very Best Restaurants are (mostly) in Rockville
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| Rockville’s Spice Xing |
The January 2010 issue of Washingtonian magazine lists a couple restaurants in Rockville among the “100 Very Best” in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. They are part of an exclusive club that includes Komi (#1), the Inn at Little Washington (#11), and 2 Amys (#28). We’re delighted that the restaurants in Rockville are being recognized and that a few of them are meeting an extraordinarily high standard for quality. Here are the gems in our fair city:
45. Cava, 9713 Traville Gateway Drive (west of Fallsgrove). “If all you know about Greek food comes by way of family-style diners trading on heaping portions of mousaka, this cozy mezzeteria—the creation of three Rockville natives and longtime friends—will be revelatory. It straddles the lines between authenticity and modernity, between lightness and heartiness.”
52. Spice Xing, 100-B Gibbs Street (Rockville Town Square). “The sibling restaurant to chef Sudhir Seth’s Passage to India [Bethesda] trades the elegance and formality of its big sister for a more casual and vibrant experience. It’s a looser operation but the profusion of flavors emanating from the kitchen—complex, vivid curries, lovingly rendered street snacks, well-blistered breads—is testament to the commitment to authenticity. A tantalizing roster of cocktails complements—and balances—the heat in the dishes.”
77. Addie’s, 11120 Rockville Pike (across from the White Flint Mall). “What has come out of the kitchen at Jeff and Barbara Black’s folksy first restaurant can best be described as uneven. But now it’s a different story with Nate Waugaman behind the stove. Gone are the scattered attempts at fusion fare and in its place are house-made charcuterie (plus a whole lot of excellent Benton’s ham from Kentucky) and rootedly American roasts and fish dishes. Finally, the food has one personality, not 15.”
Rockville has very porous boundaries and only Spice Xing is actually inside the official city limits, but these three restaurants call Rockville as their home, so we’ll welcome them. Do check them all out since they’re so close (Addie’s is one of my favorites for a special occasion, Spice Xing for an inexpensive lunch downtown, and although I’ve never been to Cava, I’ve heard lots of good things).
Max for Rockville 