MemSahib closes in Rockville
The owners of MemSahib, an Indian restaurant in the Randolph Hills Shopping Center, closed the restaurant Nov. 21 after a 17-year run in Rockville so they can retire, according to their son.
Ron Tuli, son of owners Raj and Nelu Tuli, said Wednesday his parents decided to retire after working in the restaurant business for more than 30 years. “The business is demanding,” Tuli said. The restaurant served customers for 10 years in Olney before relocating to Rockville in 1999, Tuli said. Tuli owns a second MemSahib location in Baltimore that he will continue to run. He said he decided not to take over the Rockville restaurant because he’s busy in Baltimore.
Tuli said a kosher catering company is going to fill the restaurant space at 4840 Boiling Brook Parkway.
TapaBar receives two stars from Washington Post
.jpeg)
Interior of TapaBar Bethesda. Photo by Aaron Kraut, file photo
Brothers Alonso and Alvaro Roche received a stamp of approval from Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema last week with a two-star or “good” review of their new Woodmont Triangle restaurant, TapaBar. Sietsema praised the stylish interior and several of the eatery’s small -late dishes. “Good ingredients, minimally fussed over, translate to food you want to return for,” Sietsema wrote. He recommended the lamb and pork meatballs, tortilla Espanola and pan-roasted cauliflower. Sietsema found things he didn’t like as well, including “soupy seafood risotto” and sliced rib-eye that he described as “lackluster.”
TapaBar opened in July in the former BlackFinn space on the corner of Norfolk and Fairmont avenues. The restaurant is next to Alonso Roche’s other restaurant, Bold Bite.
Macon Bistro & Larder hires new chef
The interior of Macon Bistro and Larder. Photo by Andrew Metcalf
The French and Southern food fusion restaurant in Chevy Chase, D.C., has hired North Carolina native Tyler Stout to helm the kitchen. Stout previously worked as a sous chef at Bethesda’s Barrel and Crow and the now-closed Newton’s Table, but this will be his first time heading up a restaurant kitchen, according to Washingtonian. Stout plans to introduce new menu items such as a caramelized onion tart, duck breast, short rib bourguignon, and extra-fluffy pancakes made using a nitrous-oxide cartridge.
New restaurant to replace former Pho eatery on Wayne Avenue in Silver Spring
The former Pho restaurant location via Google Maps
“City Taste Restaurant” filed for a $78,000 commercial building permit Oct. 30 to renovate a 635-square-foot restaurant space at 930 Wayne Ave. The location is the former home of the short-lived Pho Hoa Binh 2 Vietnamese restaurant, which opened in early 2015 and then closed this summer. The retail space is on the ground floor of the Crescent condo building and next door to the Silver Spring Library.
The location has struggled to maintain tenants, possibly due to its significant setback from Wayne Avenue. Skew Works Café, an Asian fast-casual grill, closed at the spot in 2012 after a year-long run.