With a new menu and décor, Kung Fu Kitchen is expected to hold its grand opening Tuesday in the former home of the Peter Chang restaurant in Rockville, according to the eatery’s owners.

The grand opening will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the restaurant at 20-A Maryland Ave., according to a press release.

Kung Fu Kitchen owner and chef MingYang Fang worked 11 years for Chang, a celebrated chef known for serving authentic Szechuan dishes, before purchasing the Rockville restaurant from him, according to the release. Chang owns Q by Peter Chang at 4500 East West Highway in downtown Bethesda and several eateries in Virginia.

“With new ownership comes a fresh start, featuring an entirely new menu, delightful teas, stylish decor, and upgraded seating, including tables that can accommodate parties of up to 45 people,” the release said.

Kung Fu Kitchen’s menu will highlight a range of Chinese cuisines, including Sichuan, Hunan, Huaiyang and Cantonese dishes, the release said. Fang is “passionate about using high-quality, organic ingredients, focusing on healthy, low-fat, and low-salt cooking without any added MSG.”

A native of China and father of three, Fang served as a chef in several hotels in his home country and also worked in Japan and Korea before moving to the United States with his wife, Aixia Wu, in 2013, according to the release. While cooking for Chang, he “created a unique fusion duck dish, combining the techniques of Peking Duck and Zhangcha Duck.” His wife also has crafted several dishes that will be on the Kung Fu Kitchen menu.

The restaurant also will offer teas harvested from “high-altitude, pollution-free areas” in several of China’s provinces, the release said.  

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At Lime & Cilantro, which opened in Silver Spring in May, a server pours a deeply verdant aguachile (chili water) around ultra-thin slices of branzino decorated with dainty dollops of avocado crema and tiny pickled spheres of cucumber and radish. The sauce, zesty from jalapenos, transforms the raw fish into a delightful ceviche imbued with—no surprise here—lime and cilantro. The dish is a study in modern art with hallmarks of refinement found at the fanciest of fine-dining restaurants. But Lime & Cilantro is a no-frills spot offering tacos and tortas (sandwiches) as part of its contemporary Latin fare. 

Chef and co-owner Danny Chavez, 36, was born in El Salvador. When he was 12, he moved to Windsor, Connecticut, to live with his father, a chef in an Italian restaurant. Under his dad’s tutelage, he trained over the years on every station, starting as a dishwasher and winding up as the sous-chef. When his maternal grandmother died in 2012, Chavez went to D.C. to help his mother, Maria Torres, and two siblings. A friend tipped him off to a job at the Liaison Hotel (now YOTEL Washington D.C.) as a banquet cook at its restaurant, Art and Soul, where he worked his way up to line cook, sous-chef and, after returning from brief stints at D.C. restaurants Plume and Gravitas, executive chef. He left in February 2024 and opened Lime & Cilantro with Fathi Sarsouri, who had been Art and Soul’s food and beverage director. The two had been looking to strike out on their own, Chavez says, and when a pal told them about the availability of their current space, he contacted the landlords and signed the deal that day. “We thought it was the perfect location for our modern Latin concept because there was nothing like it in that area,” he says.  

The business partners rolled up their sleeves, scrubbed the former fried chicken joint from stem to stern and prettified the 1,700-square-foot, 40-seat space on a shoestring budget, with design help from Chavez’s fiancée, Sarah Reinecke. Walls, painted in off-white and sage green, are decorated with collections of basketry and wooden spoons. Narrow pinewood planks of varying lengths line the walls horizontally with small wooden shelves protruding between them to hold flowerpots of cascading faux flora. Woven baskets on each table hold cutlery, paper napkins and salt and pepper shakers.  

Chavez, wearing a black T-shirt and apron, can be spotted in the open kitchen in the back of the restaurant standing under two large copper heat lamps as he puts finishing touches on dishes. In addition to the branzino crudo, start with guacamole brightened with plenty of lime juice and topped with queso fresco, pickled red onions, chili oil and cilantro sprigs. Then move on to a round, flaky empanada filled with chicken that has been braised in a mole of dried peppers (guajillos, pastillas, poblanos and fiery, smoky chipotles), chocolate, sesame seeds, corn tortillas, cinnamon and cloves. Chavez pulls and shreds the chicken and mixes it with caramelized onions to add a hint of sweetness to the already flavor-packed filling. The pie is served with dollops of chipotle aioli and striations of dark green chimichurri, a South American salsa that, in Chavez’s version, includes ramps in addition to more traditional herbs, including cilantro, chives, parsley and garlic.  

Another starter, a hummus made with 75% corn and 25% chickpeas and served with roasted corn salsa, is a good idea that, with boosting of some of its ingredients—perhaps more lemon juice, cumin and chili oil—could turn into a great one. The homemade potato chips that accompany it are fab, though. The “not-your-classic” Caesar salad (it has corn and avocado in it) could also benefit from a boost of extra anchovies and garlic in its timid buttermilk chipotle dressing. 

Chavez offers four kinds of tacos, all made with corn tortillas pressed and griddled to order, including al pastor (adobo-marinated pork butt sliced and cooked on the flattop griddle and served with fermented pineapple salsa enhanced with Korean gochujang, a fermented red chili paste), carne asada (griddled flank steak that has been marinated in a puree of guajillo peppers, soy sauce, chili oil and a paste made with annatto seeds, garlic and spices) and a vegetarian option made with sauteed mushrooms (maitake, cremini and button), refried beans, charred broccolini and whipped goat cheese. The standout, though, is the fish taco, thick batons of perfectly cooked and moist fried sea bass lightly coated with crispy cornmeal and beer batter and crowned with pickled cabbage and chipotle aioli. (The slaw, touched with oregano, is the recipe Chavez’s mom uses to accompany her pupusas.) 

Among the entrees, a marvelous choice is the roasted chicken breast with a red, chili-based sauce called pozole. To make the sauce, Chavez simmers chicken stock, garlic, bay leaves, chipotles and charred poblano, guajillo and jalapeno peppers for 90 minutes and purees the mixture after removing the bay leaves. To assemble the dish, chicken breasts are brined overnight, then pan-seared to order with garlic, thyme and butter and enrobed with pozole that has been sauteed with browned and rendered chorizo sausage, corn and kale. A final spritz of lime juices adds just the right touch of acid. The chicken is tender and juicy, its sauce layered with complexity.  

For another entree, Chavez braises seared short ribs for 10 hours in the deep, rich mole used for the chicken empanadas. The tender beef then gets glazed with more mole and served with wild rice, kale, pickled cabbage, queso fresco and a swirl of chili oil. The result is luxuriant and rib-sticking.  

Pan-seared branzino basted with lemon, butter and thyme and accompanied by a kale, quinoa and avocado salad dressed with chipotle tamari vinaigrette is also a winner. I have high hopes for tamales—one corn, the other chicken—but find them a tad bland and stodgy and their fillings skimpy.   

Tortas, lightly pressed sandwiches filled with mortadella, herb-crusted pork, pastrami-spiced chicken, or mushrooms and broccolini, are not a strong suit at Lime & Cilantro. Do try the fluffy cheesecake with rhubarb jam and caramel sauce or the rich tres leches bread pudding with macerated berries for dessert.  

Chavez won my heart moments after I sat down for my first meal at Lime & Cilantro and eyed a dog’s menu alongside the fare for humans. “There’s a veterinarian next door to the restaurant and I’m a dog lover with two dogs,” he says. Offerings include grilled, unseasoned flank steak tips, “awoof con pollo” (braised chicken with rice and veggies) and “bon a-pet treat” (popsicles made with peanut butter, banana and yogurt). Chavez says you have 30 minutes to get the popsicles home before they melt. The restaurant has no outdoor seating except a two-top right in front of the building. 

A sign on one of Lime & Cilantro’s walls says, “Vive tus Sueños,” which means “Live your dreams” in Spanish. It’s heartening to see Chavez living his. 

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Black-owned ice cream shop Lil’ Sumthin’ Sweet just opened in downtown Silver Spring. The shop on Fenton Street offers a variety of ice cream desserts, including ice cream nachos and globally inspired flavors. [DC News Now]

Takoma Park volunteer pedals change with Meals on Wheels  

One Takoma Park volunteer, John Salmen, is making a difference in Montgomery County by riding his recumbent tricycle to deliver prepared meals to neighbors in need. Salmen said he hopes to help the community while helping the planet. [Source of the Spring] 

Pool rental website gives options for cooling off after Labor Day

Most pools close after Labor Day weekend, but some local pool owners have extended the pool season by renting out their backyard oases through the website Swimply. [WTOP]

Today’s weather: Rainy with a high of 78 degrees 

In case you missed it:  

Two men dead in apparent murder-suicide shooting in Rockville 

Elrich: County needs to rethink commercial taxing to reach goal as life sciences hub 

MCPS to explore how serious incidents are tracked 

The post Lil’ Sumthin’ Sweet ice cream shop opens in downtown Silver Spring appeared first on MoCo360.

Taiwanese ghost kitchen Bao Bei will open its first brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Montrose Crossing shopping center in Rockville in early 2025, Federal Realty Investment Trust announced Thursday.

Since 2022, Bao Bei has operated a ghost kitchen at 11910 Parklawn Drive in North Bethesda serving bao buns, rice bowls, desserts and catering bundles. Bao Bei’s restaurant will open at 12055 Rockville Pike, next to Honey Pig Korean BBQ and Kosmo Nail Bar.

Federal Realty did not say whether the restaurant will keep the Bao Bei name or if the ghost kitchen will close.

Ghost kitchens are restaurants without dining space and no visible storefront, according to a release from Federal Realty, which owns Montrose Crossing and several other local shopping and dining developments. Food prepared in ghost kitchens is typically sold through third-party delivery apps.

“We welcome Chef Kevin and Bao Bei to Montrose Crossing,” Joseph Byrnes, vice president of regional leasing at Federal Realty, said in the release. “Bao Bei will be a savory addition to our merchant lineup offering another premium, innovative restaurant to this shopping and dining destination.”

The news of the upcoming opening follows Bao Bei’s recent participation in the 17^th season of Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race, which brings together nine aspiring chefs from across the U.S. and challenges them in an elimination-style race to win $50,000, the release said. The season aired this summer and Bao Bei made it to the finale, winning second place.

Bao Bei was created by founder, owner and chef Kevin Hsieh. The graduate of Gaithersburg High School and University of Maryland Baltimore County had landed a job as a financial analyst but found himself considering a culinary career. He launched the eatery in September 2019 at a street market pop-up in Washington, D.C.

“The job didn’t occupy my mind as I wanted it to, so I got the idea to sell my nostalgic childhood food,” Hsieh said. “I grew up in the Rockville area, where there is a plethora of Asian food—Japanese, Korean, Chinese—but not much Taiwanese.”

Hsieh started Bao Bei guided by mentorship from his father—who manages a restaurant at the MGM National Harbor in Prince George’s County and was a chef at several Washington, D.C.-area restaurants—and a research trip to his parent’s hometown of Taipei City, the capital of Taiwan.

After debuting at the D.C. street market, Hsieh also focused on selling food at festivals and markets. In 2022 Hsieh moved the operation to its ghost kitchen in Rockville and now operates it with his childhood best friend Zakary Keres.

According to Hsieh, Bao Bei is a term of endearment in Taiwanese, describing someone or something that one deeply treasures.

“A tribute to my family, I will share my culture with the community through Bao Bei’s dishes,” Hsieh said in the Federal Realty release.

After The Great Food Truck Race season ended, Hsieh posted a video on Instagram thanking the show’s viewers and his supporters for rooting for the Bao Bei team as it completed challenges including creating meals for astronauts.

“I’m really glad that Food Network and Tyler Florence gave us an opportunity to showcase Taiwanese food to a larger audience,” Hsieh said in the video.

“I hope you’re excited to watch us expand our power and influence to the whole realm,” he added. “I appreciate all of you very much. Your support is amazing. It’s going to help me continue to live the dream of bringing Taiwanese food to every block of the world.”

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The latest restaurant from the founders of the Cava eatery chain will be Bouboulina, a modern steakhouse with Greek influences that’s set to open this fall in North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose development, according to Cava co-founder and chief concept officer Ted Xenohristos.

Bouboulina, which be located at 915 Meeting St., will be the restaurant group’s fifth full-service restaurant in Montgomery County.

Named after Laskarina Bouboulina, a Greek female naval commander in the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the restaurant will be a modern steakhouse that takes inspiration from Greek and Mediterranean culture and flavors, Xenohristos told MoCo360 Wednesday.

“In everything that we do, we go into our roots and we look at our heritage, and we draw inspiration from that. … We always go back to Greece, where our parents were born and raised and came from and emigrated to this country,” said Xenohristos, who lives in Rockville.

Xenohristos is opening the restaurant alongside Cava founders Ike Grigoropoulos, director of culinary excellence at Cava, and Dimitri Moshovitis, executive chef for the full-service restaurant group. The three men grew up in the county.

The trio own and operate Cava Mezze restaurants in Rockville and Olney and the Pike & Rose eateries Julii and Melina–which offers a cocktail named after Bouboulina and has a painting of the commander in its dining room.

Cava’s first fast-casual eatery opened on Bethesda Row in 2011, according to Bethesda Magazine. Thirteen years later the company is valued at more than $6 billion and has 341 Cava restaurants across the country.

According to Xenohristos, Bouboulina won’t be a typical steakhouse “with 30 different kinds of steaks” on the menu.

“We’ll have a select few cuts of meat that we really love and then we’ll bring in some pork, some lamb, some fish, we’ll bring in lots of different kinds of proteins,” he said.

Bouboulina’s chefs will also lean on Mediterranean flavors and spices at Bouboulina, using Aleppo pepper, sumac, Za’atar, oregano and sundried tomato powder in their dishes, Xenohristos said.

He said he is especially excited about the restaurant’s wood- and charcoal-fired grill and oven from Spain that will be used to cook meats, vegetables and other ingredients.

As patrons enter the restaurant–which will be split into a “light” and relaxing lounge for drinks and a darker and “moody” dining room–they will walk by the ovens to see and smell the food being cooked, Xenohristos said.

“We’re really proud of [the ovens]. We think that’s what will differentiate our food from others,” Xenohristos said, noting the smoky flavors that can be achieved from cooking on a charcoal or wood-fired grill.

He said the restaurant is in the early stages of construction and the founders are aiming for opening in October or November.

“We’re really excited,” Xenohristos said. “Obviously, our focus is on expanding our Cava restaurants, but we really, really love doing these full-service restaurants … and doing them in the place we all grew up in, the county that we all went to high school in.”

Xenohristos said it was special for the trio to build the restaurants and share them with family and friends but also people who have supported the restaurant group and Cava over the years.

“Bouboulina will just be an extension of what we do at Cava and Melina and Julii,” Xenohristos said.

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Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, an upscale restaurant chain, is looking for approval from the City of Gaithersburg to construct a 10,000-square-foot restaurant fronting Gaithersburg’s Lake Varuna, according to an application filed Aug. 12 with city planners.

If the project is approved and constructed, the restaurant will be the first Maryland location for the restaurant chain. The MoCoShow first reported Eddie V’s proposal to construct the restaurant.

According to the application filed by the property owner, 151 Lakelands LLC, the restaurant is proposed for the corner of Lakeland Drive and Great Seneca Highway next to the lake. The development plan is under review and a public hearing has not been scheduled, according to the City of Gaithersburg’s planning website.

A media representative for Darden Concepts, which owns and operates Eddie V’s, did not respond to MoCo360’s multiple calls and emails for comment.

Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, the Capital Grille and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse are among some of the restaurants owned and managed by Darden Concepts.

Eddie V’s offers an upscale dining experience with signature cocktails, a jazz lounge and private events, according to its website. At its other locations, Eddie V’s menu includes oysters, Maine lobster bisque, crab fried rice and ahi tuna for lunch and dinner offerings include a shellfish tower, steak tartare, Chilean sea bass, scallops and cold-water lobster.

Eddie V’s operates 30 locations in the United States, with the closest to the county in Tyson’s Corner in McLean, Virginia, according to the chain’s website.

The restaurant’s proposed site has been the subject of controversy in recent years after the property owner applied to build a 12,900-square-foot daycare/early childhood education building, according to city planning documents.  Currently, the site is a forested green area.

The application was “controversial and resulted in vigorous community opposition to what was deemed to be despoilation of a natural area, with an adjacent lake, that had become, de facto, a community-oriented space,” the documents stated.

The city’s planning commission recommended approval of the childcare center to the City Council but in August 2021 the Gaithersburg City Council voted 3-2 to deny the application. The property owner filed an appeal of the council’s decision to the Montgomery County Circuit Court. After oral arguments were heard, a judge affirmed the council’s decision to deny the application in June 2022.

The site remains zoned for a 6,000-square-foot restaurant. According to planning documents, Eddie V’s approached the property owners with interest in the site due to its proximity to the lake for a “water view dining experience,” a large surrounding population and easy access from nearby transit routes.

The post Upscale Eddie V’s seafood restaurant proposes Gaithersburg location appeared first on MoCo360.

Cubano’s, a restaurant on Fidler Lane in downtown Silver Spring since 2001, is not reopening after closing for renovations. The restaurant’s Bethesda location, which opened in 2020, remains open. [Source of the Spring]

Students, families attend MCPS Back-to-School Fair

Students and families headed to the Westfield Wheaton Mall on Saturday for the Montgomery County Public Schools’ fifth annual Back-to-School Fair to play games, get immunizations and check out resources.  [WTOP]

Rockville’s Bikes for the World sends 200,000^th donated bike

Bikes for the World of Rockville, which sends locally donated bikes to other countries, is celebrating its 20^th anniversary and on Saturday prepared to send its 200,000^th bike along with hundreds of others to Costa Rica. [WUSA9]

Today’s weather: Mostly sunny, with a high near 91

In case you missed it:

MCPS teacher charged in man’s fentanyl death allegedly left school to sell drugs 

County police officer loses job after conviction on charges related to Jan. 6 insurrection

MCPS still has an antisemitism problem

The post Cubano’s closes in downtown Silver Spring appeared first on MoCo360.

Nearly five years after Fuddruckers served its last burger and fries in downtown Silver Spring, the hamburger chain is planning to reopen in its former location on Ellsworth Drive.

On Monday, Houston-based Fuddruckers posted on social media that it would open new locations this fall in Silver Spring and Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown.

Laurie Yankowski, regional marketing director of the Peterson Cos., confirmed with MoCo360 Thursday that Fuddruckers signed a lease to return to its previous location at 819 Ellsworth Drive. The Peterson Cos. owns and manages the downtown development where Fuddruckers will be located.

The MoCo Show first reported Fuddruckers’s return to the county and Washington, D.C.

Yankowski did not provide an opening date for when the restaurant will reopen. Fuddruckers did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s request for comment Thursday afternoon.

In December 2019, Fuddruckers closed its Silver Spring location. At the time, MoCo360 reported that Yankowski did not know why the location had chosen to close. That closure followed the August 2019 closure of the chain’s location at 1592 Rockville Pike in Rockville.

The burger chain offers burgers grilled-to-order on scratch-baked buns that are made daily. Patrons can customize their burgers with a variety of items from Fuddruckers’s extensive topping bar.

Fuddruckers also offers specialty burgers, fish and chips, nachos, chili cheese dogs, veggie burgers, chicken sandwiches, wings, salads, wedge-cut fries, shakes and bakery treats, according to the chain. Plant-based burger options are also available as well as specialty meats such as bison and Kobe beef.

Fuddruckers was previously owned and operated by restaurant company Luby’s Inc.

In 2021, North Carolina-based businessman Nicholas Perkins acquired the franchise for approximately $18.5 million, according to a June 2021 press release announcing the sale. Perkins’s company, Black Titan Franchise Systems LLC, took over ownership of Fuddruckers and its more than 92 U.S. locations.

“We’re excited to be purchasing Fuddruckers and look forward to working with Fuddruckers’ many dedicated, highly capable franchisees to further build this brand,” Perkins said in the release.

“As a Fuddruckers franchisee, I have a vested interest in ensuring that all Fuddruckers franchisees have the resources, infrastructure, and operational and marketing support they need to maximize their return on investment,” Perkins said. “This strategic alignment, when combined with the fact that we sell the ‘World’s Greatest Hamburgers,’ will ensure the long-term success of the brand and our franchisees.”

When Perkins purchased the company, he became the first Black person to have 100% ownership of a national burger business, according to Essence.

In a 2021 interview with Essence, he said the company’s long-term goal is growing its franchise operations domestically and internationally.

“I always wanted to become a part of this iconic brand. I just didn’t realize that one day I’d end up owning it,” said Perkins, who grew up eating Fuddruckers. “You cannot buy a better burger.” 

The post Fuddruckers to return to downtown Silver Spring this fall appeared first on MoCo360.

Little Miner Taco, which opened July 24 in Rockville Town Center, will hold a grand opening fiesta Aug. 28 with free birria tacos and agua fresca drinks – a Mexican fruit drink – to celebrate its newest brick-and-mortar location.

The fiesta will run from 1 to 4 p.m. at the eatery’s new location at 39 Maryland Ave., Suite A, in Rockville. At the event, a DJ will be spinning tunes and the first 50 guests who show up will receive a complimentary birria spice kit and $5 gift cards, according to the eatery.

Owner Kathy Voss told MoCo360 Wednesday that business in the first month since opening has been steady. “I’m super grateful to the neighbors, everyone at Rockville Town Center that’s helped out and not just helped out but just come to buy food,” she said, noting the area produces a large lunch crowd.

Little Miner Taco also operates a location in Brentwood in Prince George’s County and a ghost kitchen in Northeast Washington, D.C., which handles take-out and delivery orders only. It also has two food trucks serving the D.C. metro and Baltimore regions.

In addition to free food and drinks, music and gifts, the grand opening fiesta will welcome Rockville city officials, business leaders from the Rockville Chamber of Commerce and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) officials, according to a press release. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 1:15 p.m.

The event is also a celebration of the eatery’s new initiative to donate 100% of proceeds from its $3 kids meals to the MCPS Educational Foundation’s Dine with Dignity program, the release said. Dine with Dignity was established to “settle unpaid school meal balances,” according to the foundation website. Since 2018, the program has settled meal debt of $235,579 for more than 16,000 county students.

This coming school year, which starts Monday, the program aims to raise $170,000 to settle some of the $700,000 of unpaid meal debt accrued by MCPS students, according to the foundation website. At the fiesta, Little Miner Taco will present a check to MCPS foundation officials.

According to Voss, Little Miner Taco offered kids meals at no charge during the COVID-19 pandemic to help out families and children who were unable to receive free meals while schools were closed. After the pandemic, the program evolved into a $3 kids menu.

“The initial purpose was to really target those kids who didn’t have any nutritious food coming in other than at school,” Voss said. “So now that gap is filled, the schools are back, so now I want to help the schools fill the gap.”

The restaurant’s kids meals include cheese and chicken quesadillas served with rice and beans and pulled chicken and rice.

Little Miner Taco’s Rockville location features a colorful mural, a full salsa bar and indoor seating for 30. According to the release, the location will also have a full-service bar, which is expected to open in 2025.

In addition to the bar, another exclusive item at Little Miner Taco’s Rockville location will be vegan cheese. Voss said the eatery will serve plant-based cheese starting next week after hearing requests from patrons.

In the beginning

The eatery began as a food stall in miXt Food Hall in Brentwood in 2019 and quickly went viral on social media for its birria taco.

Voss said a viral photo of the birria taco dripping in consume sauce received more than 144,000 retweets within 24 hours. “It was really a blessing in disguise,” she said.

During the pandemic, the food hall shut down and Voss decided to take Little Miner Taco mobile, so she rented a food truck in April 2020.

“We ran it almost like a speakeasy. We would post [on social media] the general vicinity of where we would be and open up ordering at noon and we would be flooded with orders and have to shut it down by like 12:30 p.m.,” she said.

Voss said she chose to open the eatery in Rockville due to its proximity to North Bethesda’s Pike & Rose neighborhood, where the taco shop ran a food stall at the now-closed The Block food hall. She said she did not want to displace the staff who worked at the food hall and leave behind patrons in the neighborhood.

“Rockville Town Center, it just looked great. I mean the revitalization plan for it, having other really great restaurants open nearby, like Kusshi [Sushi], it just made it a very attractive space to want to open up,” Voss said. “I feel like I’m part of the revitalization.”

Since opening the eatery, Voss has been impressed with the lunch rush in Rockville Town Square–so much so that Little Miner Taco plans to offer a breakfast menu.

She said chef Joel Sanchez began this week conducting tastings for breakfast items–think chilaquiles, breakfast burritos and tacos–and hopes to launch the menu in early to mid-September.

The post Rockville’s Little Miner Taco to host grand opening fiesta with free birria tacos, agua frescas appeared first on MoCo360.

For Darnestown resident Rob Gresham, a teachable moment during the pandemic led to Isaac’s Poultry Market, a Gaithersburg fast-casual restaurant specializing in chicken, sold roasted, fried (tenders, wings and sandwiches) and in chicken salad. Sides, salads and frozen custard round out the fare.

Explaining to his sons Robbie and Jackson (now 17 and 16) four years ago that the world has faced pandemics before and prevailed, Gresham relayed that Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity and invented calculus while quarantined for the plague in 1665. As a learning opportunity to go along with virtual schooling, he had Jackson help write a business plan for an imaginary restaurant; his son suggested they name it after Newton, and Isaac’s Poultry Market was born. Gresham says he focused on chicken because from his first-hand experience running and consulting for fast-casual brands, the protein accounts for more than 50% of their sales.

Gresham’s no stranger to the restaurant business. His first job while growing up in Montgomery County was at Chesapeake Bay Seafood House in Burtonsville, where he started as a dishwasher and became a cook at 16 while attending Paint Branch High School. “I’ve been in restaurants and kitchens ever since,” he says.

His resume includes many now-closed Montgomery County establishments, among them Eatzi’s Market & Bakery in Rockville, Cafe Deluxe in Bethesda and Harry’s Cafe in Silver Spring, where he met his wife, Christine, who was bartending there while attending law school. From there, he climbed the corporate ladder, working for successful powerhouses including Founding Farmers, Chipotle and Cava, which he joined in 2010. He says he helped develop the Cava Mezze Grill brand (now known as Cava) as the business grew to 80 restaurants, with 20 in the pipeline. “My job was morphing into an office guy, but I like building and creating,” Gresham says. He left in 2019 and started a restaurant consulting business. 

When the pandemic hit, Gresham says, restaurants didn’t need consultants, and he found himself at home baking bread like everyone else. He moved forward with Isaac’s, and the 2,400-square-foot space opened in February 2023. (It’s called a market because the plan is to offer retail items in the future, such as baked goods and olive oil.) 

It took two years to develop the recipes. The roast chicken is dry-rubbed for 24 hours with a blend of za’atar, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic and other spices and roasted in a combi oven (a combination convection and steam injection oven) to keep it moist. In August, the fried chicken breast Isaac sandwich (toasted potato bun, broccoli slaw, dill pickles and a mustard honey barbecue sauce) won the 2023 Restaurant Association of Maryland’s Best Sandwich competition. “I put a giant banner on the store about it, and sales skyrocketed,” Gresham says. The win qualified him to enter the World Food Championship in Dallas in November, where he finished in the top 10 and was invited to compete in next year’s competition. 

A second location of Isaac’s is slated to open in the Burtonsville Crossing development in Burtonsville at the end of the year.

Isaac’s Poultry Market
12163 Darnestown Road, Gaithersburg
240-477-5037
isaacs.market

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