Food Wine & Co.

7272 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, 301-652-8008, website

My rating:

Cost: $$

• This place looks beautiful, but is an unmitigated disappointment.
• Deeply uninspiring menu, inexcusably abysmal service, and (despite the masthead) a lame wine list. 
• Exactly the kind of place that gives Bethesda a bad name. I went with friends from DC with skeptical priors about restaurants in the suburbs and it was embarrassing!

Favorites: Nothing

Duds:  Everything

Guardado's

4918 Del Ray Ave, Bethesda, 301-986-4920, website

My rating:

Cost: $$

• Really lovely low-key family-run Spanish tapas, with Salvadoran extras
• Starts with great bread, thick green olive oil, and cheery staff
• I want to adore this place, but not quite there yet
• Tapas mostly tasty, but nothing memorable
• The wine list is all low-end and could use some additions

Favorites: Pulpo a la gallega, calamari frito, tortilla con chorizo
Duds:  unexciting paella, limited wine list 

BCS Barbecue

8804 Old Georgetown Rd, Bethesda, 301-564-1009, no website

My rating:

Cost: $

• The idea is perfect: a little trailer in a parking lot, big pile of firewood, huge roadside smoker, slow-roasting no-frills BBQ.  Unfortunately, the execution, at least so far, stinks.
• The ribs and pulled pork are passable, but not up to the quality of the competition (such as Urban BBQ). 
• The lobster rolls, which face stiff competition these days from the likes of nearby Freddy's and the mobile Red Hook Food Truck), are downright scary.  I took two home and on arrival they smelled so bad I just threw them away.  If lobster isn't super-fresh, how can they even serve it?
• The old-school mac & cheese is pretty darn good, but I'm not coming all the way here just for that.
• It sure looks cramped in the trailer, but that's no reason for the guys to be so gruff and grumpy. (It's BBQ, lighten up!)
• Why, oh why, would any place close at 7pm?  I recently stopped in to give it one last try, but arrived at 7.05 and they were done.  So am I.

Favorites: mac & cheese

Duds:  Lobster rolls

Saveur India -- SADLY, CLOSED

6831 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD 20815, tel (301) 951-0062, restaurant website

My rating:

Cost: $

Winner of my Best Indian (take-out), Best Undiscovered gem

• UPDATE:  As of April 2013, Saveur seems to be CLOSED.  Bummer.

Previous review...

• Tiny family-run place you have probably passed a million times but never noticed. It's tucked into a blah plaza near Trader Joe's (just the kind of place Tyler Cowen is hunting) in the middle of Bethesda.
• Saveur India reminds me of the great hidden Indian places you can find in London but not Washington DC.
• The food is also like you'll find in Britain, always fresh and bursting with flavor and vibrant colors.
• The choices are fairly limited, but I think that's a good thing when it's just a family place.
• Go for the food, not the atmosphere. I have always taken-out or had the food delivered since the decor is a little drab.

Favorites: Saag Paneer is the best I've ever had, Coorgi Murgh, Yellow Daal

Duds: None so far, but I wish they had more spicy chicken options

Founding Farmers

12505 Park Potomac, Potomac, 301-340-8783, website

My rating:

Cost: $$$

• I like the downtown DC Founding Farmers and had high hopes. They were dashed.
• Despite its weird location in a plaza overlooking 270, the inside has a lively buzz. The owners have clearly put a lot of effort (and $) into the decor of recycled and reclaimed materials, but it feels like they are trying too hard.
• The menu is eclectic, with a leaning on old-school southern-style comfort food with a modern twist: deviled eggs with lobster, thick-cut bacon lollipops on a stick, chili dogs, fried chicken and waffles, chicken pot pie, you get the idea...
• At first this seems like good fun, but it all adds to up to a disappointing menu of mostly fried and deeply unhealthy food.  I started to wonder if the local organic theme was just to distract you from the death-on-a-plate? 

Favorites: Fried green tomatoes, Spicy Ahi Tuna Poke 

Duds:  Nothing was really bad per se, I just felt awful after eating it. 

Urban BBQ

2007 Chapman Ave, Rockville, 240-290-4827, website

My rating:

Cost: $
Winner of my Best BBQ

• I'm a late convert to Carolina low country BBQ, but it's now one of my favorites.  Urban is so far the best I've found around DC.
• Some of the embrace-death-appetizers (Fritos pie, Redneck Fondue, Urban Soul Rolls) are yummy but will give you a coronary. Only for the young and brave.
• One of those places where you can feel that staff love the food too. Always a good sign.

Favorites:  Pulled pork, brisket, ribs, vinegar BBQ sauce, apple pie

Duds:  Mac & cheese too bland

Abol

8626 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, 301-650-0061, website

My rating:

Cost: $$

Winner of my Best Ethiopian

• I love Ethiopian food but don't always want to schlep down to the U Street corridor (my current DC favorite is Etete), so I'm always on the lookout for a suburban option that's as good. Abol is it.
• Local family-run place, delicious home cooked dishes, warm and friendly service. 

Favorites: Kik Alicha (yellow peas), Yemisir Kik (spicy lentils), Yebeg We't (spicy lamb stew)

Duds:  Don't always have Ethiopian beer (Harar!)

Mamma Lucia

12274 Rockville Pike (Federal Plaza) 301-770-4894 in Rockville or 4916 Elm Street in Bethesda, 301-907-3399, website

My rating:

Cost: $$

Winner of my Best Italian (comfort food), Best Pizza

• A solid local Italian place for NY-style pizza and old-school comfort-food pastas.
• Not sure if the chef is different or what, but the Rockville location in Federal Plaza is consistently better than downtown Bethesda. Worth driving out to this location.
• Good for family dinner or to drop in for quick lunch

Favorites: Pizza, Meatballs, Calamari, Penne Vodka sauce, Cappelini Adriatico, Fettucini alla Bolognese

Duds:  Salads are lame, Chicken & veal dishes not as tasty as the pastas

Freddy's Lobster & Clams

4867 Cordell Ave, Bethesda, 240-743-4257, website

My rating:

Cost: $$

• I love the concept: a lively, rustic, lobster shack in the middle of Bethesda. Feels almost like you are at the beach. The menu is promising: lobster rolls, fried shrimp, fried whole belly clams, and they've recently added salads and plenty of new options. 
• It still feels like a start-up, however, and I'm not yet a fan.
• Service is consistently awful, staff often visibly unhappy.
• Lobster rolls are good enough, but that's faint praise for a place with such a name. The meat is fresh and it's not overdressed, but the roll is barely toasted and it appears to have been thrown together without much care. (For a perfect lobster roll, chase down the Red Hook food truck.)
• The fried shrimp are positively minuscule, overly battered, and way too salty. 
• The beer list is impressive but the wine list is utterly pathetic. A crisp white wine goes perfectly with a lobster roll, but the only sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio on offer is ultra-cheap Barefoot ($4.47 at Total wine, $28 here). How hard is it to add a better wine?
• A recent conversation that sums up the problems with Freddy's:
• Me: "The waiter says you are out of all the white wines. Is that right?"
• Bartender: "We don't sell much wine."
• Me: "I see that.  Probably because there aren't any. Why not?"
• Bartender: "Because we sell 140 beers."
• Me: "Yes, but surely some of your customers drink wine. You are owned by Grapeseed which is literally right next door and they have a great wine list. Couldn't you offer at least one or two decent wines?"
• Bartender: "Go eat at Grapeseed."
• Enough said. 

Favorites: Salads are pretty good. Fish & chips excellent, Lobster rolls adequate

Duds: Fried shrimp, Lobster nachos, Whoopie pie.