From: hunter@work.nlm.nih.gov (Larry Hunter)
Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants
Subject: Re: Bethesda-Rockville
Date: 29 Sep 92 15:42:23 GMT
Distribution: rec.food.restaurants
Organization: National Library of Medicine


Marc Branch asks: 

  Any recommendations for Bethesda-Rockville, MD?  Good wine lists sought, too.

I work in Bethesda, and eat around here a lot.  The local chamber of commerce
rag claims that there are 150 restaurants in the (maybe 10 block?) trianglar
area between Wisconsin Ave, Old Georgetown Rd. & the NIH campus.  I call it
"Land of a Million Mediocre Restaurants."   There are some places I like more
than others, but no real gems.  Here are some hints:

Probably the best in the area both for food and wine is Buon Gorno.  Awesomely
expensive, too.  There are many other decent and less expensive Italian places:
Taverna is my favorite of these (OK wine selection), and Il Forno has
reasonable (brick oven) pizza.

There is one pretty pricy French place, whose name escapes me at the moment,
but has a good wine list.  It's on the Old G'town side of Bethesda...  "The
Restaurant" has a decent wine list, but overpriced and mediocre food.

Overall, Bethesda's best options are its ethnic restaurants.  I can think of 6
latin/mexican places: My favorite is a take-out only dive called Chela's, which
is actually just east of Wisconsin Ave. However, I grew up in LA, and I truely
believe that the best mexican food is often the cheapest.  For those who like
more upscale (and more americanized) versions the main choices are Rio Grande
and Tia Queta.  Rio Grande is by far the more popular, and the atmosphere is
loud, informal & young.  Tia Queta is a bit more subdued, and they have an
outdoor dining area, which is nice.  Both serve fairly generic americanized
taco/enchillada/relleno menus.  Rio Grande is slightly more adventurous, but
pricier.  The only dish I really like at either place is Rio Grande's frioles
el charro (cowboy beans).  Then there is the obligatory Yuppie Southwest place,
the Cottonwood Cafe.  Nice decor, food is pretty to look at, but often bland
and undistinguished tasting.  Decent wine list. The best thing they do is the
shrimp stuffed jalepeno appetizer.  How they manage to get the spice out of the
jalepenos is beyond me.  El Caribe (which is in a Holiday Inn, but don't let
that deter you) covers Latin America outside of Mexico, and they do a decent
job.  Skip Tequilla Sunrise altogether.

There are several good Asian choices.  Ivy's is a respected (but not inspired)
Thai/Indonesian place.  I like their stuffed squid appetizer, Cumi Empec.
Ricky's Rice Bowl is a spartan place, but their stir-fried veges & rice + your
choice of chicken/pork/beef/fish & various sauces is actually one of my
favorite meals in the area.  Matuba is a decent Japanese place (mediocre but
not inedible sushi, better cooked dishes).  Foong Lin is a decent chinese place
(I like their vegetarian pot stickers).  House of Kao is a chinese place right
by the Bethesda metro; inconsistant, but occasionally very good. Taste of
Thailand (I think that's the name) is just OK.  There is a new Indian place
(accross from Rio Grande) which I tried once and was favorably impressed with.

There are some unusual cuisines that are worth checking out.  Kabul West offers
Afghani food, and is unusual and reasonably good.  Bacchus does Lebanese
cooking, and their dinner menu is quite extensive.  I often bring a bunch of
friends and make a meal out of lots of appetizers.  They are one of my favorite
dinner places in the area.  Lunch is a much smaller menu, but still pleasant;
they have a small wine list.  The Vagabond is a Rumanian restaurant on
Wisconsin accross from the metro; I didn't like it, but others have given it
good reviews; how do you feel about east european wine?  A ways south on
Wisconsin is a decent Iranian place called Persian-something.

Well, that ought to give you something to work with.   Have a good trip.

Larry
--
Lawrence Hunter, PhD.
National Library of Medicine
Bldg. 38A, MS-54
Bethesda. MD 20894
(301) 496-9300
(301) 496-0673 (fax)
hunter@nlm.nih.gov (internet)
Newsgroups: rec.food.restaurants