Rolls N Rice- Rockville, MD

My coworker recommended that I try this new sushi place in Rockville called Rolls 'n Rice. It's been open for around 2-3 months. It's located in the old Lemon Tree space, which is in the Congressional Village shopping center. There are 2 entrances, but the one in the back has all of the free parking. The closest metro station would be Twinbrook on the red line.

The inside is so nice! It's a large space with tons of lighting, colors, beautiful wood, and just an open feeling that I like. There are a lot of tables too. This is the side with the sushi bar and register.

Picture on the left: The opposite wall from the sushi bar that has lots of cool Japanese decorations.
Picture on the right: The tiny section that has the fountain drink machine and the entrance from the road.

This is a casual place where you order food at a register, get a number, and someone delivers the food to your table. There are a lot of items like special rolls, bento boxes, daily specials, a la carte sushi, rice bowls and combos.

Our meals came with a free salad with ginger dressing. My meal came with a miso soup.

The bf ordered the 'Sashimi, Sushi & Roll Combo- 6 pcs. Sashimi, 3 pcs. Sushi, & California Roll' for $12.95. He really liked it because they gave huge pieces of fish and it was a good price.

Don't kill me, but I don't remember the exact name or price of my order. It was a special written on a white board. It was a 'Salmon combo' that had 4 pcs Sashimi, 3 pcs. Sushi and 6 roll pcs. The only fish was salmon, and it was all really good, fresh and huge. If you don't like a lot of fish, ordering a roll would be better than sushi or sashimi because the slices are big. I thought the presentation was nice (cool plates) and believe it was around $12 something.

It's a casual place to get sushi that is quite cute on the inside. The staff was very helpful since it was our 1st time in there. Food came out pretty quickly, and everything tasted fresh. They were also playing Stevie Wonder the whole, which was awesome. They do have some interesting rolls like the 'Club Sandwich Roll- Turkey, Ham, Lettuce, Mayo, Tomato, Cheese".

17001 Rockville Pike B-1
Rockville, MD 20852
301-770-4030

Morton's- Bethesda, MD

Hi Everyone! I told myself I wasn't going to write about national restaurant chains, but I had a great experience at Morton's Steakhouse and thought "oh what the heck" so I'll blog about it anyway.

The bf and I were trying to decide on a place for our 5 year anniversary (we're going to Co Co Sala), and I came across a deal at Morton's for $99 for two people, which includes 2 appetizers, 2 surf and turf entrees, 2 sides, and 2 desserts. Such a good deal!

Located in Bethesda attached to the Hyatt Regency hotel, they offer valet parking and expensive garage parking. Since the Bethesda metro stop (red line) is pretty much across the street, there are a lot of metro parking garages.

The interior of Morton's is very classy. Lots of wood, low lighting and wine bottles everywhere.

The prices I'm listing are the actual a la carte prices. The bf got the 'Sliced Beefsteak Tomato- Purple onion, and Vinaigrette'($11). He thought it meant there was steak on there =) I ordered the 'Chopped Salad- Iceberg lettuce, hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, bacon, blue cheese, chopped egg, purple onion, tomato, and avocado with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette'($11.50). I thought it was mediocre. Perhaps not enough flavor.

The bf ordered the 'Cajun Ribeye Steak'($43) with a 'Jumbo Lump Crab Cake'. I tried his steak and it was AMAZING! Very juicy and flavorful. The crab cake wasn't anything special though.

I ordered the 'Filet Mignon'($39) with 'Bacon-wrapped Scallops'. My filet mignon wasn't too flavorful and is a leaner cut of meat, so I actually prefered the ribeye. The scallops were very good since I love scallops and bacon, so together is the perfect pair.

For our sides we ordered 'Creamed Spinach'($11) and 'Macaroni & Cheese'($11). They were both delicious. There was probably a ton of butter in each of the sides, but it gave them so much flavor.

For dessert the bf got the 'Chocolate Lava Cake' and I ordered the 'Key Lime Pie'($10). We actually only ate the lava cake in the restaurant and took the pie home since we were stuffed. Both were great choices and yummy.

Overall most of the food was amazing. Some items were mediocre, but nothing was bad. The onion bread they gave is as we were waiting for our food was really good and fresh. The service was IMPECCABLE! Someone was always asking how we were doing, water glasses were constantly being filled (the bf is a camel), our server was so helpful with the menu...just everything. Our server even noticed that I had my camera with me and asked if it was for a special occasion, and it was kind of an early anniversary dinner, so they offered to take a picture of us and put it in a cardboard frame. It was so nice of them! Morton's is a very expensive place, but definitely worth it for a special occasion.

7400 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
Phone: 301-657-2650
Website

Monday - Thursday 5:30pm - 11pm
Friday - Saturday 5pm - 11pm
Sunday 5pm - 10pm

One Year/Capital Food Fight/Metropolitan Cooking Show

Time flies! I almost forgot today has been my first full year of Lunching in the DMV! It's been such a fun year doing what I enjoy.
A little history behind it: I used to have a makeup blog and realized that all of my money was actually going towards food. When going out to eat, I was taking pictures of my food anyway because I loved how it looked. I then decided to blog about where I was eating in order to help other people decide on places to try.
Thank you everyone so much for your comments, suggestions, and just stopping by to read. Thank you Cindy at RockvilleCentral.com for featuring my Rockville posts on your site, and to everyone that has linked me on their site.


The Capital Food Fight is an event I'd LOVE to go to, but it's a bit expensive. I'm still debating. 5 chefs are battling against one another, there is an auction going on, as well as 60 local restaurants participating in a tasting buffet for those attending. This is to raise money for DC's Central Kitchen.

Capitol Food Fight 2009
November 11, 2009
6pm-8:30pm
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20004
$175

Battling Chefs:
Barton Seaver (Hook, TackleBox)
Michael Mina (Bourboun Steak)
Mike Isabella (Zaytinya)
Tracy O'Grady (Willow)
Bryan Voltaggio (Volt)

Hosts:
José Andrés (Café Atlantico, Jaleo, Zaytinya, Oyamel)
Anthony Bourdain (Travel Channel's No Reservations)
Ted Leonsis (America Online)

Judges:
Ted Allen (Food Network's Chopped)
Eric Ripert (multiple awards from the James Beard Foundation)
Carla Hall (Alchemy Caterers)
Jonathan Umbel (Hook, TackleBox)

I will be going to The 2009 Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show. 200 vendors, local and celebrity chefs doing live cooking demonstrations, seminars, tastings, etc! I got tickets to go Saturday, and will be seeing Giada De Laurentiis cooking!

2009 Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show
Saturday November 7, 2009 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday November 8, 2009 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
$20 General Admission
$45 - $74.50 for celebrity demonstrations (includes general admission)
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, N.W.
Washington, DC 20001

Food Network Stars:
Paula Dean
Giada De Laurentiis
Guy Fieri
The Neely's
Tylar Florance
Jamie & Bobby Dean

Temari- Rockville, MD

Ever since trying ramen for the 1st time in NYC, I've been on a search. Recommended by friends, the bf and I went to Temari. Located in a green shopping center across the street from Best Buy, I've past this restaurant countless times, and didn't ever notice it. There is plenty of parking in the shopping center, and the closest metro would be either be Twinbrook or Rockville on the red line. It's pretty much right in the middle of the two.

The place is very small with only like 8 tables, and some bar seating. The photos below would be as if I was looking to my left and then to my right. It has a very casual, homey feel. There was a Japanese game show playing on the TV, and lots of menu items taped onto the walls.

We were acting goofy while waiting for our food. I was trying to be a cool Japanese tourist, and the bf was playing with his chopsticks =)

The menu consisted of one page of food. It's not a sushi restaurant, so even though they do offer it, it's not a place where they make special rolls with crazy flavors. There are more traditional dishes on the menu.

The bf ordered the 'Katsu Curry Rice' for $15.45. I am a big fan of Japanese curry, and it was flavorful with breaded pork. This huge plate was filled to the edges!

I came specifically for the ramen. I didn't really think about trying anything else on the menu. They offer around 3 different kinds, and I ordered the 'Tonkotsu Ramen' for $10.25. This one had pork broth instead of miso broth. It was good but sadly kind of bland. I think the spoons are pretty cool though.

After lunch we walked up some stairs to the back of the shopping center to buy some stuff at the Japanese market called Maruichi. It's TINY! But they have some cool items I've never seen in a Korean supermarket. We ended up getting candy: coffee, green tea, and milk. Once again, I would've NEVER known about this place unless someone told me about it.

Overall meal at Temari was fine. The portions were big. My ramen was mediocre. I guess I had high expectations after the NYC trip. I'd probably try something else next time. The bf's curry was really good. The service was quick and helpful. The prices were a bit steep. $15 for some curry is a lot to me. But if you're in the mood for Japanese food other than just sushi, this is a neat Rockville secret to try.

1043 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
301) 340-7720
Website