Red Dog Café in Rock Creek / Silver Spring

[clayrae]

I was excited to hear about a new place in Silver Spring and tried out the Red Dog Café on Monday night. They definitely need to work out the service issues. There appeared to be two waiters for all of the tables. Most people in the place were waving for a waiter at one point or another. Getting our drinks refilled took multiple requests.

We started with the Artisan Goat Cheese, which was a dollop of cheese in the middle of a pool of tomato sauce. It was good, but it was served with four rather small pieces of bread, not nearly enough to eat all the cheese with. We finished it with our spoons.

I had the Cedar Plank Salmon, my friend had the Chicken Under A Brick. They both were sitting in the middle of the large plate. My salmon actually slid across the plate when the waiter put it down on the table. Some greens, sauce, or hell, even a sprig of parsley would have helped. I like my salmon rare, but this was cold in the middle. The chicken was dry on the inside and kinda soggy on the outside. The accompanying herb roasted potatoes tasted mostly of salt. We had the bread pudding for dessert, but calling it bread pudding is inaccurate. It was egg pudding with a chunk or two of bread in it, quite possibly the strangest “bread pudding” I have ever encountered.

Physically the décor was pleasing. I will however wait a few months for them to work out some of the kinks before I try them again.

[Al_Dente]

Welcome to eGullet, clayrae!

[slarochelle]

The wife and I made it there Friday evening, around 8. Outside tables looked full, as did inside. The very small "waiting area" was full, although 6 or 7 people makes it full. Our quoted 20 minute wait turned out to be 5 as a two top opened up. I felt bad walking by the two famlies of 4 who had gotten there before us.

The only thing new to report is that they had begun serving alcohol that day. They had one each of a red and white by the glass, and a couple bottles. We never got the info on bottles, and I don't remember the label names on the by the glasses. We each had a nice light chardonnay though. For beer, I saw a pale ale, and a few other large name micro brew type beers going around. The waitress mentioned nothing is set yet regarding wine (and alcohol), as they are still deciding what to carry.

The service was spotty, as others mentioned. I think I saw three waiter/waitress, and a manager type helping the bus boy. Toward the evening, I saw one of the chefs serving plates. We had some delays in getting menus, drinks and refills, although I'd expect as much from a new place.

Overall, the food was good. We split the baked goat cheese and tomato sauce appetizer. The cheese was tasty and the sauce was simple and light (reminded my wife of her grandmother's gnocchi sauce). The bread served with it was mediocre; it needs a sauce or topping of some sort. We'd have it again without question.

I had most of a margarita pizza. Crispy crust, thin but still chewy. Maybe a little too much cheese, and could have used more tomato and basil. It was still good the next day too, briefly reheated. Wife had a half portion of mac and cheese, which was very good. Not too gooey and the pasta still had good texture.

Most of the deserts were gone, except the bread pudding, which is what we wanted. As someone else said, not much bread for a bread pudding. More like a custard with bread, and a caramel sauce on top. It was good, but not what I expected. I'll try something else next time.

And next time will probably be soon. The place looks great and the food is pretty good. The best part is that it is close to my home, although it'd be nicer if it were in down town Silver Spring. Guess I'll have to wait for Ann Cashon's place later this summer.

[iamthestretch]

Bizump, my bitches.

After a few profoundly mediocre meals at Red Dog last year, we stopped going altogether. Judging from the silence here, that wasn't an isolated decision. Anyway, yesterday we were right around there and it was such a nice day and they had the front 'wall' open so we thought we'd try lunch. And, behold, it was really quite good. The flabby, doughy, watery pizza I remembered came out nicely brown, decently crisp and pleasantly slicked with tasty animal fats. (It was the pepperoni/sausage pie.) The chicken in the ripieghi was moist and lemony and the flatbread was soft and light. Even the service bordered on the excellent. Jolly good show.