The owners of the new Woodmont Triangle restaurant Barrel and Crow were happy to find their restaurant listed along side the likes of Volt, Rose’s Luxury and Marcel’s this month.
The restaurant was one of four Montgomery County restaurants to make Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema’s Fall Dining Guide this year. The other three are Cuba De Ayer, a Cuban restaurant on Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville, La Limena, a casual Peruvian restaurant on Rockville Pike, and Bete Ethiopian Cuisine in Silver Spring.
“The fact that we’re on the list with some top tier restaurants is just incredibly humbling, said Barrel and Crow co-owner Patrick Forest, about being named to the list this year.
The guide includes Sietsema’s top 10 picks, as well as 27 other restaurants he recommends. The critic did not include any Montgomery restaurants in the top 10.
Last year not a single county restaurant was included in his picks.
Forest credited Barrel and Crow executive chef Nick Palermo, as well as pastry chef Rita Garruba for the recognition. Barrel and Crow’s inclusion follows a favorable review the Sietsema gave the restaurant in June.
In the dining guide Sietsema wrote, “Finally, a recipe in Bethesda worthy of a shout-out… Sautéed shrimp with grit croquettes will make a diner pleased to eat amid salvaged barn wood and old airport windows, as will golden fried chicken and waffles, their crevices sweetened with strawberry-rhubarb compote.”
Sietsema did, however, criticize the restaurant’s service, which has also been a point of contention in amateur reviews on Yelp.
Forest said service at Barrel and Crow “has some ways to go, but it’s leaps and bounds from where we were when we opened.” He added that they’ve hired a number of veteran servers from the area to help boost their service and recently added local bar manager Gunner Jacobson, who previously worked at Mix Bar and Grille in Potomac. The restaurant also plans to add a new awning and heaters to their patio to extend its usability into the fall, Forest said.
In the dining guide, Sietsema praised Bete’s vegetarian sampler of lentils, collards, beets and cottage cheese. He described La Limena in Rockville as “a cheery 60-seat storefront that greets you with the fragrance of roast chicken and treats you like an honored guest.”
The four county restaurants joined Volt in Frederick, Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore, and Preserve in Annapolis as the only Maryland restaurants included in the dining guide.
