Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, the closure of a popular seafood restaurant that recently celebrated its 90th year takes center plate. One meat: O'Donnell's Sea Grill—which recently celebrated its 90th year in the Washington, DC, area—announced on its Facebook page that this year will be its last, Gaithersburg Patch reported. "...[We] have made the purposeful decision to officially close our doors and exit on a most high note," the restaurant stated. The restaurant originally opened in DC, at …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, a new Tex-Mex restaurant on the 'Rodeo Drive of the East Coast' takes center plate. One meat: On Friday, Chevy Chase's newest restaurant, Mi Cocina, opened in the middle of the ritzy Wisconsin Avenue shopping block, The Collection at Chevy Chase (5471-5481 Wisconsin Ave.)—also known as the 'Rodeo Drive of the East Coast.' Mi Cocina is a popular upscale Tex-Mex chain that opened 20 years ago in Dallas. Its Chevy Chase location has one-of-a-kind art, a lofty private…

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, the closure of two popular Bethesda businesses takes center plate. One meat: Bethesda tea shop Zen Tara Tea is shutting down operations later this month, citing the sluggish economy, disruptive construction nearby and the loss of nearby parking as the main reasons for closing up shop, Bethesda-Chevy Chase Patch reported. Nearby, Ri Ra, an Irish pub in downtown Bethesda, will close in early September. "The popular gathering spot, which opened 10 years ago, is not …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, a kosher dairy bakery takes center plate. One meat: The Costco that opened earlier this month at the Wheaton mall includes a kosher dairy bakery, Wheaton Patch reported. What makes Costco's bakery different from the other kosher bakeries in the area is that it is dairy, instead of pareve. Pareve baked goods, because they are prepared without dairy or meat, can then be eaten at a meal with either dairy or meat, under kosher guidelines. "Following the same rules, …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, awards for Montgomery County restaurants take center plate. One meat: "Rockville restaurateurs were embraced by the glitterazzi of Maryland foodies on Monday night," Rockville Patch reported. Three city restaurants won awards at the Restaurant Association of Maryland’s Fire & Ice awards gala, Bethesda Magazine reported: Quench won the award for favorite new restaurant. Jeff Eng, chef of Clyde’s Tower Oaks, was named chef of the year. Chef Geoff’s won wine and …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, the shuttering of an iconic Gaithersburg restaurant takes center plate. One meat: Gaithersburg's Roy's Place has shuttered its doors for good, Gaithersburg Patch reported.  In December, Patch reported that Roy’s Place—once home to a dizzying array of more than 200 sandwiches—was seeing its business “dying off a little bit” and that it would cut its hours. "Roy’s was obviously one of Olde Towne’s signature establishments," Gaithersburg Economic Development Director…

Restaurant news from around Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods. Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, Montgomery County's lackluster showing in The Washington Post's list of top 40 dishes in the DC area takes center plate. One meat: Only three Montgomery County restaurants made made The Post's list of "40 dishes Washingtonians shouldn't live without in 2013," released on Thursday, Bethesda Patch reported. The fried potato tots at Bethesda's Food, Wine & Co., the fried chicken…

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, a new jazz and blues supper club in Bethesda takes center plate. One meat: The Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club (7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda) opened on March 1 in a circa-1938 Art Deco movie house, Bethesda Patch reported. The club underwent a $6 million renovation by the Bozutto group in 2007. To that, operators added a two-level, 1,800-square-foot kitchen and a 35-foot bar that will serve beer, wine and cocktails. The theater seating was replaced with two …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, Montgomery County's growing recognition as a dining destination takes center plate. One meat: As we all know, DC's suburban food scene frequently outshines that of DC itself. But getting District-dwellers to dine out in the 'burbs is another story. Eater DC's special guide to dining in Wheaton should help with that. Tim Ebner reported that: [Wheaton is] a neighborhood strewn together by small businesses, many serving cheap, authentic and simple food. Walk a few …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "Foodie News." This week, DC Restaurant Week participants announce extensions, Chevy Chase loses a favorite coffee shop, a Bethesda favorite re-opens its doors and more.   Does America’s worst cook live in Montgomery County?  Sunday’s season premier of Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America” – matching TV cameras with culinary ineptitude – may show just that. Rasheeda Brown of Germantown will compete with 13 other kitchen clods for a $25,000 grand prize and the title of being the best—of the worst, …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, best of lists top headlines, a loving ode to a Silver Spring institution, mapping area CSAs and more.   Silver Spring Patch published an ode to a longtime favorite Italian eatery, Marchone's Italian Specialties in Wheaton – where authentic food and friendly service inspire decades of loyalty from customers. “A deep affection for Italian tradition is evident from the moment you pass under the red, green and white awning and enter Marchone's Italian Specialties in Wheaton…

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, DC searches for its top-40 foods, Montgomery County puts food service inspection reports online, a $5 food challenge and more.   Last year’s “40 Essential Eats” list from the Washington Post drew quite a buzz out here in the ‘burbs – 25 percent of the area’s 40 must-try burgers, shakes, entrees and appetizers were from Montgomery County and Prince Georges County alone.  Duck confit in Bethesda, deli fare in Silver Spring, popcorn in Potomac, mashed potatoes in …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, DC gets a pat on the head from NYC, a Bethesda Hooters-style restaurant gets a strange makeover and locals say goodbye to a decades-old local grocery chain. Washington, DC, finally may have the cultural acknowledgments it has so longed for from New York City. The New York Times recently released its list of the top 46 places to visit in 2013 worldwide, and sitting among tropical getaways and exotic locales is Washington, DC—but the reason DC makes the list might surprise…

Catch up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with 1 Meat, 3 Sides. This week, a new organic grocery takes center plate: One Meat: Dawson's Market opens this weekend—on Sept. 29—in Rockville Town Square, Rockville Patch reported. The store is "a locally focused, independent, natural foods market," according to its website. “Local is what we’re all about,” Becky Lakin, marketing director for the store, told Bethesda Magazine. "It remains to be seen how much nearby produce will be available in the dead of winter, but the 100-mile radius the store …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair takes center plate: One Meat: The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair has only a nine-day run—not a whole lot of time for one person to sample all the culinary goodness (sweet, salty, fried and otherwise) that the fair has to offer. Nevertheless, intrepid Gaithersburg Patch Editor Greg Cohen tried out about $60 worth of fair fare—man vs. food style (see the video that accompanies this post)—so that he could tip us off to …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, a Korean restaurant in Rockville takes center plate: One Meat: The spicy chili sauce at Moa, a Rockville restaurant (12300 Wilkins Ave.), got high marks from Washingtonian Magazine food critic Todd Kliman. "To rattle off the [chili sauce's] ingredients—soy sauce, chili and sesame oils, green onions—is to miss the magic of this sauce, one of those cases in which the sum is much greater than its parts," Kliman wrote. And, it's not just the chili sauce that is …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, chicken takes center plate: One Meat: As debate over whether to eat chicken at a certain chicken restaurant continues across the nation, Washingtonian Magazine surveyed the fried chicken offerings at DC-area restaurants. In Montgomery County, Silver Spring's beloved Jackie's Restaurant made Anna Spiegel's list of restaurants serving top fried chicken dishes. Jackie's skillet-fried chicken dish, served on Monday evenings for $15, comes with three pieces of "plump…

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, mobile cheesecake takes center plate: One Meat: The region's celebrated food trucks are starting—finally—to branch out to Montgomery County. The latest one to venture north beyond Western and Eastern avenues is That Cheesecake Truck, the "Big Blue" purveyor of Sweetz Cheesecake of Gaithersburg. "Although Sweetz has had a shop and wholesale business in Gaithersburg since 1992, its mobile operation ... started rolling last summer," but only in DC, Carole Sugarman reported for …

  Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, Mexican street food takes center plate: One Meat: Fans of Silver Spring's beloved Jackie's Restaurant, Sidebar and Quarry House Tavern now have another destination for trying restauranteur Jackie Greenbaum's famous restaurant creations: El Chucho Superior, which opened late last month at 3313 11th St. NW, in Columbia Heights, Washington, DC. Two years in the making, "El Chucho is finally bringing a street food-inspired Mexican menu, margaritas on tap and a …

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, Maryland "crab fakes" take center plate: One Meat: What's behind our state's signature dish? Not a whole lot of home-grown muscle, it turns out. When it comes to Maryland crab cakes, "the little-known truth is that our region’s signature dish is rarely regional. More than 43 million pounds of crab meat are imported into Maryland each year, but the Maryland crab meat industry only produces about 700,000 pounds. That means less than 2 percent is from Maryland," …