Bethesda Exploring the other side

[painemilla]

Friends and I have exhausted the Woodmont/ Edgemoor/Bethesda Ave section of Bethesda eating and we are anxious to explore the Old Georgetown Rd/Norfolk/Woodmont area.

I have done a drive by in that section and have looked a bit and was amazed at how many restaurants there are, especially Italian. I have also done a quick review on the web but was looking for recommendtions for this area and any other areas to explore in Bethesda. Basically, we are trying to expand out Bethesda dining experience.

[txaggie]

My favorite restaurants on that side of Bethesda are Haandi (Indian) and Grapeseed. Haandi is located on 4904 Fairmont Avenue. They have the best tandoori chicken. Grapeseed is located on 4865 Cordell Ave. Grapeseed has an excellent wine selection and has wine tastings every other Tuesday night from 5-7pm. The schedule is on their website.

Haandi -- www.haandi.com

Grapeseed -- www.grapeseedbistro.com

[JPW]

Sorry I missed this thread and I'm glad somewhat responded and bumped it up.

Haandi is very good, a favorite of mine. Hopefully, I'll get around to Grapeseed before too long. It's gotten some good mentions and the menu looks interesting.

[geekdoc]

How about Rio Grande for decent texmex, and run by the Bethesda Bagel Bakery for NY quality boiled dough.

[pastramionrye]

la panneteria is decent italian food...bangkok garden is good thai food...and there are some decent carribean/latin american food places as well...also, for a relatively cheap, not neccessarily super authentic, but tasty asian food, oodles noodles always has been pretty good.

[rbh]

Cesco is very good for Tuscan food.

Red Tomato Cafe for pizza (before Matchbox, this was probably one of my pizza favorites)

i second the haandi and oodles noodles suggestions (though i think their other outposts are a tad better in falls church and 19th St respectively).

i'm probably in the minority here, but i didn't particularly care for black's - though i think addie's in rockville is amazing.

and then there's always guapos - i'm sure there's a tex-mex thread somewhere else on this board, but comparing rio grande, austin grill, and guapos - i'll go with guapos everytime.

[tjaehnigen]

South Beach Cafe is good, I think relocated to Woodmont a year or two ago. Cesco is good and decent. California Tortilla is a great lunch joint for huge burritos. Oodles Noodles had an outlet in that vicinity, but I am not sure it is still there....

[hillvalley]

tjaehnigen-you are two for two. Oddles is still there and South Beach did relocate.

Matuba and Tako Grill have good sushi and Tako has great sake drinks.

Rockbottom has good beer but just okay food.

Don't bother with Caddyshack.

The pizza place next door is pretty good, but Mama Lucia's is better

[tjaehnigen]

Is Red Tomato still there? It's a great little pizza sit down for lunch joint.

[dcfoodie]

HAANDI, HAANDI, HAANDI. There is also a Hard Times over there, but I would not call that fine dining. There is also a great italian place called Frascati. I have only been there once, some friends of mine swear by it.

[dcfoodie]

Oh. Stay away from Cesco Trattoria. That place is way too overpriced for what you get. It has been on the top 100 Restaurants in the Washingtonian since forever, and I never understand why. I mean the food there is good, but not that good. I mean you would think you were at Galileo or something. Go to Il Pizzico, Kuna, or Spezie. Click on the spezie link for some things I wrote on my site about my experiences there.

Nam's is good Vietnamese.

Ocean Grill is kind of hit or miss. It used to be really good when it was "GrillFish". Then it changed owners and kind of went downhill. That place used to be so crowded on the weekends, and now you can just walk in. The one downtown is still a Grillfish, and I hear it is still wonderful. Definitely go there instead of Legal Seafood for really fresh fish.

That's about all I can think of for now.