Brightening up Bethesda
Get cozy at friendly neighborhood bar and grill
By Jeff Dufour
Examiner Staff Writer
The Examiner, Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Pat Gaffney is an old hand in the local restaurant game: He oversaw
McCormick & Schmick’s East Coast expansion a dozen years ago, and
has worked with Cafe Asia and Hamburger Hamlet — to say nothing of
opening his own Gaffney’s Oyster and Ale House. Now he’s flying his own
flag again with Gaffney’s in Bethesda, in the Wisconsin Avenue space
that used to house Paradise Restaurant. Gaffney said he sees the new
venture, now nearly two months old, as a “world-class neighborhood
restaurant in a world-class neighborhood.” He’s got some good
neighbors, too. The Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative Market is next
door, something Gaffney calls a “natural tie-in.” He said he’s already
received fresh flowers and vegetables from the market’s purveyors and
expects the relationship to deepen.
The scene:
This is a long, narrow room bathed in dark-orange hues. Tables up front
look out the large picture windows, while the booths lined up opposite
the massive bar have a more informal, cocktail feel. True to the
owner’s vision, the crowd is a mostly reserved group of neighborhood
residents, young and old.
The pour:
The wine list here is modest, fitting as it does on a single card at
the table. Among its reasonably priced selections, most available by
the glass, you’ll find representatives of most major styles and
winemaking regions.
The taste:
James Oakley, a veteran of McCormick & Schmick’s as well as B.
Smith’s, helms the kitchen. His regional American menu, the same at
lunch and dinner, toes the “bar and grill” line rather faithfully, but
with some welcome flourishes. Shrimp etouffee and bayou stew hearken to
New Orleans, while a pleasantly tart version of fried green tomatoes
and a baked-to-order peach cobbler bring the Carolina Low Country into
the picture. I’ve paid a lot more for mussels that don’t come close to
Oakley’s — plump, fresh and steeped in marinara, lemon-butter or Thai
sauce. And his panko-crusted fish and chips reveal that he was paying
attention at McCormick’s.
The touch:
The service is what you’d like it to be at a place like this: quick, friendly and conversational.
Don’t miss:
The trio of Italian meatball “sliders”: rich, deeply flavored ground
meat, spiked with tomato sauce and served on three miniburger buns.
Why you won’t go:
Because you’re looking for a social
scene. Despite how the bar dominates the room, the scene never quite
gets boisterous, and groups don’t mingle much.
Why you will go:
To watch the game: A good many seats in the house provide a close look at the large flat screens behind the bar.
jdufour@dcexaminer.com