Mussel Bar - Bethesda, MD

Even before Mussel Bar had opened in Bethesda, there was a lot of talk about it online. I definitely wanted to try it because I love mussels as it reminds me of my childhood. Located on Woodmont Avenue, there is metered street parking and a metered garage 1/2 a block away. The closest metro station is Bethesda on the red line. They offer some outdoor seating, but it's way too cold for that right now.

Aside from their mussel selection, they offer over 90 different types of beer, which they put on display in the middle of the room. Their bar takes up about 1/2 of the space in the center of the room with dining room seating around it. We ended up sitting at the back of the restaurant, which has a comfy/contemporary-rustic feel. It's a little loud in there, so it's more of a fun, laid-back environment.
They do not take reservations, but our party of 2 was seated in about 15 minutes on a week night for dinner.

My friend and I came specifically for the mussels, which are “Blue Bay” Prince Edward Island mussels. They are served in a big, covered saucepan that the staff opens for you. My friend ordered the 'Spicy Thai (Green Curry)' for $17. All of the mussel dishes are served with frites (fries). She liked the flavor and it was recommended by our server as being one of their more popular flavors.

I ordered the 'Wild Shroom (Pancetta, Parmesan, Truffle Cream)' for $17. I love everything with truffle, so this dish was good, creamy and rich. The mussels were big, opened and cooked perfectly.

Bread was served for dipping into the sauce.

The fries were good because they were crispy and thin with herbs sprinkled on top. Served with mayonnaise, you can also request a bottle of ketchup.

I had a nice dinner with my friend, and our server was nice and helpful. We found the mussels to be good and came with plenty of food. As you can see from the pictures, our dishes look similar and had a similar creamy sauce. I think if I were to come back I would get the classic flavor because it can be hard to eat a large, creamy dish like that without feeling stuffed.

7262 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-215-7817
www.musselbar.com


Monday-Thursday 11:30am-11:30pm
Friday 11:30am-1:00am
Saturday 11:00am-1:00am
Sunday 11:00am-11:30pm
Breakfast served Saturday & Sunday 11am-4pm

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

After being with the bf for 6 years, we've had so different many occasions to exchange gifts that after a while they become more practical. This time he got me an ice cream maker! Woo hoo! I got him a video game, so now we're both happy.

For my first flavor I chose vanilla because I didn't want to make anything fancy in case I didn't know what I was doing. I chose David Lebovitz's vanilla ice cream recipe because this was the perfect opportunity to try one of his recipes.

Vanilla Ice Cream
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

This was my first time using a vanilla bean, and they're a lot longer than I thought. Being the second most expensive spice because of the extensive labor used to grow them, they are kinda pricey but well worth it. I went to a local spice store and got 3 for around $7. Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out.

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Add the vanilla bean seeds and pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks.

3. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

4. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl. Our ice maker is broken, so I just used a  bag of frozen fruit to chill the water.

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. I'm using a Cuisinart ICE-21.

It took about 20 minutes, and I put it into a container so it could harden more in the freezer. I've heard a few hours but it took like 6 hours for me.

Serve and enjoy! You can also keep the used vanilla beans by drying them and flavoring sugar or coffee.

Next flavors on my list are pumpkin and pistachio!