The September 2011 issue of Washingtonian features “cheap eats,” those places where “some of the area’s most exciting eating can still be had for $25 or less, tax and tip included.”  Of the one hundred restaurants listed, Rockville features eight of them:

• A&J Restaurant, 1319-C Rockville Pike (in the funky colorful industrial strip mall just south of Woodmont Country Club). Specializes in dim sum from northern China, and while this restaurant is incredibly popular (the parking lot always seems packed), I’ve always preferred the dim sum from the south (give me a Hong Kong dim sum palace any time!).
• Carbon, 100-F Gibbs Street (Rockville Town Square).  Haven’t eaten here yet, but it serves Peruvian-style charcoal-grilled chicken and is owned by the same family as La Canela just down the street.
• China Bistro, 755 Hungerford Drive (just north of the Giant).  Haven’t eaten here because I’m still working my way through all the Chinese restaurants on my end of town, but I hear this is supposed to be the best place in MoCo for dumplings (and who doesn’t like Chinese dumplings!).
• La Limena, 765-B Rockville Pike (just north of Wooton Parkway, near the IHOP).  I can’t believe there’s a Cuban place in town I haven’t tried, but here it is.
• Pho 75, 771 Hungerford Drive (just north of the Giant).  One of the five Pho 75 restaurants in the DMV specializing in the satisfying Vietnamese soup.
• Sichuan Pavilion, 410 Hungerford Drive (just north of the fire station).  And again, another Chinese restaurant to visit once I finish south of Beall Avenue.
• Spice Crossing, 100-B Gibbs Street (Rockville Town Center).  One of my favorites.
• Viet Goel Tofu (aka Lighthouse Tofu), 12710 Twinbrook Parkway (between the Rockville Pike and Viers Mill Road).  I recently overcame the odd name and ventured inside this Korean restaurant to enjoy an endless assortment of appetizers followed by a delicious silken tofu soup served in a sizzling stone bowl.  Nothing like a meal with a show!

Nearby in Gaithersburg  or NOSG (North of Shady Grove Road, which is not in Rockville)

• Batik, 200 Main Street Continue reading →