Updated to reflect that Kevin Hsieh graduated from Gaithersburg in 2013.
Washingtonian Magazine writes that “Food influencers love to promote restaurants as “hidden gems” to the TikTok and Instagram masses.” so the magazine put together a list of “The DC Area’s Best “Hidden Gem” Restaurants, According to Food Influencers”. Montgomery County’s Bao Bei was the only MoCo restaurant to be listed.
In April it was announced that all 360 Bed Bath & Beyond and all 120 Buy Buy Baby stores will be closing permanently. Buy Buy Baby’s sole Montgomery County location, at 1683 Rockville Pike in Rockville’s Congressional Plaza, will be closing its doors forever on Sunday, July 30th. The Rockville location was the first Buy Buy Baby store to ever open.
Currently, the store is offering major discounts on all products, but is out of furniture, toys, and other items. There is still a high volume of clothes offered with major discounts. An employee let us know that this is changing by the day, so we recommend anyone checking it out to those who are interested and won’t get into specifics on what is available aside from the clothes.
Update: The targeted opening is now by the end of September
The Heights Food Hall at Wisconsin Place in Chevy Chase is now targeting a late August opening. The new food hall will be located in the space formerly occupied by Anthropologie and PF Chang’s on the 5400 block of Wisconsin Ave. The Heights will offer both indoor and outdoor patio dining and will be open seven days a week from 11am-Midnight. According to Common Plate Hospitality (CPH) group, the food hall will include: e one full-service restaurant (Urbano), a full-service bar (The Heights Bar), a speakeasy (The Turncoat), and eight local food stalls, including one stall picked from Urbano’s “Stall Wars” competition. We expect the following culinary partners at this anticipated culinary space:
Tom Sietsema, The Washington Post’s food critic since 2000, has just released the latest version of his “6 Favorite Places to Eat Right Now” and the list features one of Montgomery County’s newest restaurants– Charley Prime. “The menu casts a wide net without going all Cheesecake Factory on its audience.” Sietsema wrote.
Charley Prime opened in Gaithersburg’s Rio Lakefront in May and has been generally well-received by the community. The new restaurant from Jackie Greenbaum & Gordon Banks (Little Coco’s, El Chucho, Bar Charley, Quarry House Tavern) replaced Tara Thai on the Rio Lakefront boardwalk at 9811 Washington Blvd. It features an extensive steak menu that includes filet mignon, New York strip, and a 36oz Tomahawk ribeye, as well as house made pastas and sandwiches like the Roasted Lamb French Dip.
Olney Winery has been operating since 2012, initially as The Winery at Olney. The winemaker was located at 18127 Town Center Drive in the Fair Hill shopping center in Olney until September of last year. In 2016, expanded and opened a tasting room in the stone house at 12810 Shank Farm Way in Hagerstown. Last week, Olney Winery opened its new space at 52 Olney Sandy Spring Road in Ashton Market. In addition to wine, they’re also offering pizza at the location.
Per Olney Winery: “Olney Winery employs the unique business model of sourcing our grape product from suppliers and vineyards all over the world to ferment over 34 different varietals of award-winning wines locally. We bring the world of wine to Maryland.
Raising Cane’s started its expansion into the D.C. metropolitan region when its first area restaurant opened last December in Sterling, VA (45545 Dulles Eastern Plaza). The first Maryland location opened in Towson in January 2023 and both stores featured lines out the door for months on several days of the week. A Waldorf Location opened in May and a Westminster location opened last week to make three for the state.
We previously reported that Raising Cane’s aims to open 14 stores in the next year, stretching from suburban Baltimore to the Richmond area, and now the chain has announced 15+ locations for Maryland alone. Currently, only three of the 15+ have been announced with a Gambrills location, at 1070 Maryland Route 3 North, opening in September. A Columbia restaurant, at 9071 Snowden River Parkway (Howard County) is coming this fall, and a Forestville restaurant, at 3270 Donnell Drive (Prince George’s County) is also set to open this fall. None of the other Maryland locations have been announced yet, and we are awaiting word on if Montgomery County will be included in the openings.
Featured photo courtesy of @Champion_Clarksburg on Instagram.
Peri Peri Original & Kallisto Steakhouse is now open in the space that was previously home to Pollo Mex at 13436 New Hampshire Ave in the Colesville Center. Pollo Mex closed last summer after 12 years in the location. Items at Peri Peri Original include wings, coconut shrimp, flame-grilled chicken, pita sandwiches, wraps, smash burgers, and tacos. Kallisto Steakhouse, a concept by the owners of Peri Peri Original, will be joining Peri Peri in the restaurant space, but items from its menu are currently unavailable.
Peri Peri Original is an international chain that has over ten locations in Virginia and Maryland, as well as an additional location coming to Rockville (location not yet available). “Peri Peri chicken is marinated for 24hrs in our unique Portuguese Peri Peri sauce flamed grilled for serving from the spice selection of your choice.” The first United States location was opened in 2018 in Alexandria, Virginia. Kallisto Steakhouse was launched in 2020 in Herndon, VA. “Impatient and unsatisfied from the unavailability of true steak parlors and appropriate cuts under Halal sector, company leaders took a daunting and brave step to take the reins in their hands and inaugurated the operations with the deep vision on providing excellence around the principles of 3Ps – people, process and product. Kallisto Steakhouse incepted with only one goal and that is to bring premium cut and best in class Halal Steaks to its loyal and respected steak connoisseurs, Kallisto Steak house company is proud of being a first mover in the steak industry while offering the unique products to its esteemed patrons. The founders bring deep enthusiasm towards ensuring the sophistication in ultimate product delivery to the end consumers with pride and excellence. Furthermore, finding passion and zeal in delivering mouthwatering steaks that are flavored and grilled to perfection to serve the perfect taste and fulfill the appetite.”
Below is a list of restaurants that have opened in Montgomery County, MD so far in 2023! Asian Cuisine and Seafood – Gaithersburg Asian Cuisine and Seafood is now open […]
The grand opening of La Table Du Chateau takes place on Saturday, July 22, 2023 (open weekends 8am-3pm). We stopped by for a soft opening event and have put together a “first look” video available below. Situated inside of The Block at Pike and Rose (967 Rose Ave. North Bethesda), this breakfast and brunch destination invites guests to savor the delightful flavors of French cuisine, blended with a touch of home and a dash of international inspiration.
Chef Max Zelenkov’s journey began when he emigrated as a Ukrainian/Russian native to the United States and was raised and pursued his education in Montgomery County. MoCo, a melting pot of culture and tradition, was the perfect setting to foster Chef Max’s fascination with the world’s diverse culinary traditions.
Lotus Cafe, located at 8077 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, will close permanently at the end of July, according to a representative from the restaurant. The restaurant has been serving the Silver Spring community for nearly 15 years and has garnered over 300 Yelp reviews and over 350 of Google reviews, earning 4 and 4.4 stars respectively. The restaurant has offered Vietnamese cuisine and is known for its outdoor patio in Silver Spring. There is no word on a possible replacement.
Featured photo courtesy of Lotus Cafe.