I’ve lived in Bethesda for four years, and today I finally made it to the annual Taste of Bethesda. It’s sad that I’ve never been before, because it is literally right outside my door. With the apartment windows open, scents of grilled meat waft into the apartment, and I can hear the bands playing Cream covers.
The view from my apartment balcony.
Here are some of my pathetic excuses for not going the past few years: I’ve already eaten at most of the restaurants, it’s too crowded, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, I already ate lunch at a restaurant, and I’m on vacation in the Outer Banks. But since this might be my last year in Bethesda, I just had to go.
Larry and I tried to make it a point to only sample food from restaurants we’ve never been to before, which was difficult because we’ve been to most of the restaurants here. Oh, and we tried to avoid chains like Chipolte and McCormick and Schmicks.
We got lamb stew and an onion tart from Brasserie Monte Carlo:
Onion Tart
Lamb Stew
We also tried the beef rice noodle bowl from Rice Paddies Vietnamese restaurant.
Beef rice noodle bowl
For dessert, we got a cupcake from Just Cakes and a piece of chocolate cake from Ri-Ra Irish Pub. We broke our little rule with these two, because we’ve eaten at both places. Oh well. They were delicious.
Coconut cupcake
Chocolate Cake
It was super crowded, and it amazed me that people lined up around the block for Haagen-Dazs ice cream! Come on, people, you can buy that at the grocery store and it will taste exactly the same. Why not try something a little more adventurous?
And another thing, I think it’s a complete cop-out when restaurants serve chicken satay. Please. No one wants to eat dried up chicken on a stick. I think there were at least four restaurants serving this, and it all looked like a shoe sole on a stick. Gross.
All in all, it was fun and delicious, and I’m glad I finally went.