About Chevy Chase's Kenwood Forest

I had a great meal this afternoon with my family at BGR, the Burger Joint, just a few minutes walk from Kenwood Forest. Located at 4827 Fairmont Ave. north of Old Georgetown, BGR, the Burger Joint, has been bringing smiles to Bethesda for nearly a year now.

My husband went classic with a delicious hamburger with Swiss cheese, cooked to order, and crispy onion rings. According to the website for BGR the Burger Joint, their burgers are crafted with the finest beef on the planet. They only use grain-fed cattle; all natural, no hormones, fillers or antibiotics, and most importantly the cattle run free in the fields. The prime beef is dry aged (the amount of time is a closely guarded secret), blended and ground fresh.

My daughter and I were a little more adventurous, and we tried the Greek – which was featured on the Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay.” Fresh ground leg of lamb, seasoned with cumin, mint and garlic. Topped with tzatziki and feta, and served on a fresh toasted buttery brioche bun! It scrumptious – particularly with the sweet potato fries that we added on in a moment of weakness!

I was tempted by the Wellington too – the most popular burger of the month. Deep roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, garlic and black truffles with a touch of mustard seed and blue cheese all on top of the burger with mojo sauce too! I am getting hungry all over again!

Don't miss the 9 Pounder!

In case you have a special event coming up with some hearty eaters, you might consider the 9 Pounder! As featured on the Travel Channel, the Food Network, and in an official I.F.O.C. competitive eating contest, this “hamburger” weighs in at 15.4 pounds with the bun and condiments. It has two heads of lettuce, 8 tomatoes, 3 red onions, 4 whole pickles, and a lot of mojo sauce! Maalox is even included! If one eperson can eat it in one sitting, the whole burger is free! Otherwise it feeds approximately 10 to 15 people! BGR the Burger Joint requests 24 hours notice to produce one of these “whoppers!”

The Voters Had Their Say at BGR Too

During the election BGR the Burger Joint ran its own voter poll. It created a hamburger for each candidate, and kept one on the menu after the election was over! In this election McCain beat Obama, but it was probably just a reflection that the Southwestern McCain burger, topped with poblano chili and chipotle peppers, was far tastier. The Obama burger was a meat-on-meat combo: a patty topped with a Vienna beef hot dog from Chicago. You can still taste the Southwestern with its chipotles, poblanos, onion and chiles. Topped with with Pepper Jack and served with a black bean relish mixture with roasted corn, cilantro and onion atop a brioche bun.

As you are walking home from the Bethesda metro, and you just realized that you didn’t defrost anything for dinner, or you are too hungry to make it home before you expire from starvation pangs – relax! Help is now at hand. Just stop in at BGR, the Burger Joint and treat yourself to a great hamburger and some fries. If you are not a big carnivore, there is even a great Ahi tuna burger with grilled pineapple and pickled ginger. Check it out!

There are so many great restaurants in Bethesda, and that is just one of the many reasons that living in Kenwood Forest is so wonderful. You can leave your car parked for days at a time as you wander around Bethesda and Chevy Chase, stroll down the Crescent Trail, or take the metro nearly anywhere in the city! What a great life it is to be in Kenwood Forest!

If you aren’t lucky enough to live here already, just give Lise Howe a call at 240-401-5577 and put her to work for you finding that perfect home!

You already know that Bethesda seems like the food capital of America, but this Saturday afternoon is a foodie heaven right in Bethesda.

Save the date: 21st annual Taste of Bethesda - Saturday, October 2, 2010!
Bethesda's famous food and music festival, brings over 50 restaurants will be happening again this year in the Woodmont Triangle along Norfolk, Fairmont, St. Elmo, Cordell and Del Ray Avenues Each year, more than 40,000 attendees sample the delicious restaurants and enjoy the live entertainment All this activity is .located just three blocks from the Bethesda Metro.

Admission / Tickets
Admission to the Taste of Bethesda is free. Taste tickets will be sold on-site in bundles of four tickets for $5. Food servings cost one to four tickets.

The annual Taste of Bethesda is held in conjunction with Best of Bethesda Day, which also features Come Back to Bethesda classic car show and Rescue Day.

Taste of Bethesdsa Restaurants & Menus

Whether you are blessed with children or blessed without them, everyone has some dining experiences that include children. Then the question becomes where can you go that adults and children alike will enjoy. What restaurants are receptive to small diners but still are not fast food?

Open Table in the DC area has just released its newest top 10 Diners' Choice List of Kid Friendly Restaurants and leading the list is Clyde's of Chevy Chase. (Clyde's also makes the list again in Georgetown at number 8 and number 10 at Willow Creek Farm in Leesburg.) Noisy and energetic and well known for its hamburgers and omelets, Clyde's works well with children and adults, particularly for Sunday brunch!

Number 2 on the list is Legal Seafood at Montgomery Mall. This is definitely a step above the rest of the mall food and the martinis are huge! Even if you are the only one there without children, the size of the martinis will have you singing along with the "Wheels on the Bus."

The next two, Capitol City Brewing Company - Capitol Hill and Carmine's Restaurant - Penn Quarter offer a great opportunity to check out the museums or take in a hockey game at the Verizon Center and still get a good meal with the kids.

If you are in Tyson's Corner doing a little shopping, then you should definitely include #5 in your plans. Maggiano's Tyson's Corner also appears on the list as number 9 in Chevy Chase DC. With huge portions and great salads, this is a wonderful place to relax and refuel with carbs!

Big Bowl Reston is a Chinese hot spot in Reston at #6. If you find yourself in Dupont Circle, the diners of Open Table suggest that you check out the Odeon Cafe with its wonderful Italian cuisine.

If you have your own suggestions just email me at lise@lisehowe.com or give me a call at 240-401-5577.

Of course, if you are looking for a home or have a home to sell, rather than needing a restaurant, please give me a call. I have been in business for 21 years and know the DC metro area well from Frederick to Fredericksburg - and all points in between.

Bethesda Maryland is a small town with more restaurants per capita than almost any place else in the United States - including New York City! We have undergone a revolution over the last five years or so in downtown Bethesda. We now have sushi restaurants on nearly every block. There are Mexican restaurants galore, and French, of course. Looking for a small brewery or Irish pub grub - you can find it easily in Bethesda! Need an Afghan fix or tapas? We have that too. As the world has shrunk, we have gotten more cosmopolitan and demanding in our opportunity to taste the new and unusual - all just a few steps from Kenwood Forest and other great neighborhoods like Edgemoor and Chevy Chase Terrace.

Bethesda offers not only great restaurants but famous chefs too. Jose Andreas, renowned Spanish chef, occupies a corner of Woodmont Avenue with his restaurant, Jaleo, a great place for tapas and sangria, while Chef Robert Weidemaier has just opened Mussel Bar across the street. Bethesda now has dueling chefs eyeing each other from across a two lane street. Whether you live in Kenwood Forest or Chevy Chase Village,

All these restaurants are the face of the new Bethesda, but Bethesda has been around for many years before we got to be trendy. Pines of Rome, a Bethesda, Maryland mainstay for more than forty years, may not look like much to a new resident in Bethesda. It is a quaint restaurant where the specials are written on a chalkboard in the small reception area. A bench lines the wall, designed for the crowd of people that waits to be seated on weekend nights.

Besides those nights, however, the host will most likely be able to seat you right away. There are two main rooms in which you can be seated, and the decor is decidedly quite unremarkable. The tables are lined with red checkered cloths, a la Lady and the Tramp, which are held down by containers of olive oil, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper on each table. If you don't have time to enjoy the restaurant, you can pick up a white pizza and take it home to eat in your great townhouse in Kenwood Forest!

The Washington DC area as a whole, and especially areas like Bethesda, need more places like this. The atmosphere and menu are not at all pretentious. The menu is family-style Italian-American cuisine and quite reasonably priced, especially considering the massive quantities. Service is quick and efficient. It's not the most authentic Italian cuisine ever, and certainly not trendy cuisine either. And the decor makes it look like a scene from Goodfellas or some other similar move should have been filmed there. But these are all good things. So yes, it can get crowded and noisy - especially on a Friday or Saturday evening. It's not fancy. But definitely a good time. I recommend the white pizza, antipasto platter, and anything on the specials menu.

After all this yummy food, if you are too tired to drive home, you should give Lise Howe a call and start looking for a wonderful new home in Kenwood Forest!