Please support Adega

[JPW]

[VENT]

So, for various reasons I found myself at work until about 7:15 last night. Facing the lovely noise barrier view of the drive down 270 and around the Beltway to Silver Spring, I decided that there was no way in hell that I was going to cook dinner. Whipping out my trusty cell phone, I leapt into action. Dialing Mrs. JPW while plugging in my earpiece so it could look like I was speaking to my invisible friend Gus the Cat or that the Secret Service was now driving 2000 Honda Civics with cracked windshields I began contemplating where I should get some take-out (with my other hand I was smoking a doob while cracking open my 8Ball).

The answer came sharp as the point of the rusty needle rolling around below the passenger seat -- get a sandwich from Adega. As I valiantly fought through traffic on Georgia Ave, dodging minivans pulling out of Snider's and cursing the demise of Deetle's Tavern, I made my decision -- the Duke Ellington -- roast beef and brie on a lightly toasted baguette. MMmmmmmmm....

Having fended off the Takoma Park crunchies and the Chevy Chase "walk with my butt very tight"s that flock to Whole Paycheck, I found a place in the garage -- pointedly next to cars that were much nicer than mine. Like a salmon swimming upstream I rounded the corner towards Adega against the flow of people streaming out of Baja Fresh laden with high sodium McDonald's owned "healthy fast food". Seeing a break, I dashed left towards the door, yanked it open like tearing a band-aid off of a tetanus infected wound, and into serenity.

One lone man sat forlornly sipping his plastic cup of water.

Up I strode to the counter, a hero in a polo shirt to the two (very blonde, very cute, very .. Oh wait I'm married) counter girls whose entertainment for the evening was apparently limited to attempting to learn Spanish from the cooks. having placed my food order, I asked for a glass of vino to soothe my soul while waiting for my food. At the $2 happy hour price I was more than willing to overlook that it is served in a rather unstylish plastic stem. As I sat in my oasis of calm, I watched the torrent of Baja Fresh customers continue to flow by unabated. Polishing off my wine, an article on the soon to come publication of the entire Charles Shultz Peanuts library, and grabbing my order I departed back into the scrum, leaving behind nothing, but

2 Latino cooks, 2 cute countergirls, and 1 lone man forlornly sipping his plastic cup of water.

Why?

(cue crying native american from the anti-littering ads of the 70s?)

[/RANT]

[morela]

"Having fended off the Takoma Park crunchies and the Chevy Chase "walk with my butt very tight"s that flock to Whole Paycheck, I found a place in the garage -- pointedly next to cars that were much nicer than mine. Like a salmon swimming upstream I rounded the corner towards Adega against the flow of people streaming out of Baja Fresh laden with high sodium McDonald's owned "healthy fast food". Seeing a break, I dashed left towards the door, yanked it open like tearing a band-aid off of a tetanus infected wound, and into serenity."

YOU ROCK!! This is great! I

[iamthestretch]

Idiga Adega. Why you nodiga? Soon noAdega!

[Mrs. P]

Chuckle

Adega is fabulous. People are nice, food is really quite good, especially the happy hour specials, and it is one of only a handlful of non-chain places of note in Silver Spring. Come on folks, $2 wine, $5 (huge) apps - How could you miss this happy hour!

I'm feeling like a trip over there for good homey food and wine after listening to this Rusmfeld testimony...yeesh I could use a drink!

[Malawry]

FYI: I am not one of the Takoma Park crunchies referred to in JPW's post. Well, I am, but I wasn't there last night.

They've been pretty dead the three times I've walked in there. But while I like them, I'm not excited by Adega like I am by Red Dog.

[iamthestretch]

I've taken to checking out the attendance at Adega when I'm up in SS, and they seem to be doing OK, certainly at lunchtime. Today, prodded by Todd Kliman's recent comment about the cabernet burgers, I inhaled one myself and can only say that it certainly wasn't too upscale for my own good. As a bonus, I read one of their back issues of Wine Enthusiast while I waited and decided what to get myself for my wife's birthday. (She gets Sunday at the spa; I figure I get Sunday to grill myself steaks, kill a bottle of Saltram No. 1 and watch the Czechs play Italy (I assume) in the Euro Championship quarter finals. Ahhhhhhh.)

[hillvalley]

Where is this place? I went looking after spending the afternoon at Mayorga but I couldn't find it.

[morela]

Where is this place?  I went looking after spending the afternoon at Mayorga but I couldn't find it.

It's Right Here --------->*

Oh look, they have an Ann Taylor Loft in Silver Spring now...

Where did The Burlington Coat Factory go?

[jmc8y]

this was a very enjoyable read! i'll try to visit this place if i'm in the area

[iamthestretch]

It is a little hard to find, as it's tucked away down a sort of side passage between the Whole Foods and the new mega movie theater. Best option is park in WF lot and, looking toward the store, head to the right past Strosniders hardware and follow the walkway around the corner. On your left will be Adega. Buy a nice German riesling while you're there and drink it, cold, in your back yard on an evening such as this. This will lead to happy thoughts.

[My Confusing Horoscope]

Thanks for the directions, iamthestretch. For the geographically-challenged like me, it is a big help! I know right where it is now. Can't believe I have never tried it! Yes, we are having a season unknown around these parts, i.e. low humidity!

Edited June 30, 2004 by My Confusing Horoscope (log)

[wilewil]

Ain't it Wendy's who are into the Baja Fresh - Chipotle is McD.

[JPW]

Ain't it Wendy's who are into the Baja Fresh - Chipotle is McD.

I stand appropriately corrected

[Crabby]

I've been to Adega twice to buy wine and haven't been back for some time. I'd purchased a very nice, bargain-priced French pinot noir (Roncier) there for about the same price it was going for at Harris Teeter in Reston (just under $9). On a second visit, the price had been jacked up to $12 and change. Perhaps the proprieters aren't to blame, given the totalitarian, fascist alcoholic beverage distribution system in Montgomery County.

But JPW has inspired me to give them a second chance and try their victuals next time, to determine if it's a viable alternative to dialing Domino's or dragging home a salty Sniders rotissery chicken when in a dinner-time pinch.

Thanks for the motivation ...