College Park area-Saturay night

[sgschef]

Parents weekend this weekend-looking for good food for Saturday evening-would prefer not to go into DC. We like all food but will pass on Chinese this time. PLease help!!

[My Confusing Horoscope]

Down Route 1 in Riverdale there is the Calvert House Inn. Good fish and seafood, some pasta dishes.

[takomabaker]

Parents weekend this weekend-looking for good food for Saturday evening-would prefer not to go into DC.  We like all food but will pass on Chinese this time.  PLease help!!

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The hamburgers at Franklin's in Hyattsville are fabulous and it is just a few miles up Route 1, but other than that we just usually just grab fast food when we are in College Park -- Noodles and Co., Chipolte, Boston Market, etc.

I'd venture into Silver Spring if you don't want to go into Washington and check out the SS restaurant postings. I could be proven wrong by others who live in the area, but the only thing I've found in College Park is typical student food -- fast and cheap.

[Daniel]

The only place in college park I would reco is Marathon Deli and thats not a place for a dinner with parents..Might be the best gyro in the world. The Calvert House will pass as a meal with parents, but not so great.. When I went to college there and my parents were coming we would go to Bethesda if we didnt go to D.C..

Edited October 11, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Malawry]

Go to Silver Spring and check out Jackie's or the new Ceviche. Or Franklin's in Hyattsville, as already suggested.

If you really don't want to leave College Park, the only parent-friendly acceptable dinner option IMO is Lupo's on Route 1/Baltimore Ave. It's not fabulous creative cuisine, just solid Italian favorites served with bread, a salad and inexpensive wine. I took my mom there when I was working in College Park last year. I also regard local chain Hard Times Cafe, in the shopping center with the Home Depot and Shopper's Food Warehouse near the Beltway, as a good (and inexpensive) dinner option. I usually get the vegetarian four-way and the root beer there.

College Park does have some decent lunch places--there's a Kosher place, I think called Pita Plus, with excellent Sephardic specialties near Marathon Deli which I like. The Bagel Place is actually really good--some of the best bagels around, especially if you get them in the morning.

After dinner, for a real touch of color, there's a location of York Castle Tropical Ice Cream somewhere around Beltsville (beyond the Beltway) on Route 1.

Let us know where you end up!

Edited to add: I've never had a disappointing meal at Tiffin on University Blvd in Langley Park, and both my parents and my mother-in-law seemed to enjoy it when we took it there. It's not terribly far from the university and is a good idea if everybody likes Indian food. Be sure to get the onion kulcha if you go.

[KOK]

I will second the recommendation for Lupo's. A darn good steak, solid Italian, and overall good service.

Of course a gyro from Marathon Deli never hurt anyone.

Thanks,

Kevin

[captainjaroslav]

As a Hyattsville resident and, thus, someone who eats in the area somewhat frequently, I agree on:

Franklins - for burgers and beer, I've never really been impressed with much else there.

Tiffin (or Udupi palace, which is all vegetarian and has no booze, but is run by the same people) in Langley park.

Some places in SS, especially Mandalay, which, unfortunately for some of us, used to be in CP.

I would add:

Pasta Plus up Rt. 1 in Laurel, about the same distance as going to SS. Great, informal Italian. I've never been to Lupo's, but I've heard PP is better.

La Sirenita or any of the other Mexican places in the "Little Mexico" area of Riverdale.

Yi Jo Korean Restaurant in College Park. If you're not too adventurous, Korean may not be what you want, but this place should get more recommendations than it does. I think being in the lobby of a Days Inn doesn't help them, but people should get past that and eat there, especially now that Mandalay has moved away.

I realize these suggestions come too late for the original post, but I haven't been on the forum in while and I wanted to get my two cents in on this topic.

[chappie]

The only place in college park I would reco is Marathon Deli and thats not a place for a dinner with parents..Might be the best gyro in the world.

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I would ammend this to say Might "have used to have been" the best gyro in the world. I used to live in Frederick Hall right up the hill from Marathon, making the brief downhill pilgrimage several times a week for perfect spannakopita, tyropita, gyros and — my favorite — souvlaki. Unfortunately, the place changed owners in 1997 or so, and the food, though still good, was never quite the same. The pastry for each of the turnovers, for instance, became overly sweet and gummy, while the gyros were drier and more similar to what you'd find at a diner. I still went.

My favorite place in College Park, though, hands-down, is Food Factory. Tucked into a bland shopping center behind Town Hall liquors, you could pass right by this place and never know it served some of the best Persian kebabs this side of the Ayatollah's grandmother's kitchen. Go for the lamb, toss in a $1.50 samosa, and you will roll yourself out for under $7. Every order comes with freshly baked naan — lowered into a coal-burning, vertical oven by a wispy, asparagus-thin man who appears to be closing in on 90 (he's probably in his 60s) — that comes out charred in just the right spots. Also a homemade, yogurt-based cucumbery "hot sauce" you could drink straight up if no one was looking.

We used to call the guy who ran it the "Kebab Nazi" — after the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode — because when we'd call in an extensive order, he would say "About 30 minute", we'd arrive too early, and he would instantly know it was us when we entered. The place was overly packed, mostly with Middle-Eastern people, a good sign, and he would shake his fist and shout "I say 30 minute, not 20!"

Also, you can't beat taking a jaunt down University Boulevard for cheap pho or the various Peruvian and other Vietnamese places...