I’ve been following Jarrad Silver’s career since he was laid off from his chef’s job at D.C.’s Birch and Barley restaurant in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and struck out on his own, starting a takeout barbecue business in 2021 called Silver and Sons Barbecue from his Kensington home. He parlayed that into a food truck business, retrofitting a retired mail truck. In a June 2022 Bethesda Magazine piece I wrote, he described his fare as “my take on barbecue, combining my Jewish background and Middle Eastern cuisine. It’s not kosher but is pork-free.” The chef, now 36, told me early on that his goal was to open a brick-and-mortar shop one day; that dream came true in January, when he opened Silver and Sons Barbecue, an 800-square-foot space with a six-seat counter in Bethesda’s Westbard Square development.
“I grew up in the area and know it really well. I wanted a place not too downtown-y or in a random shopping center, someplace with a community feel,” Silver says.
At the new shop, Silver’s gas-powered Old Hickory smoker uses oak and hickory chips. The barbecue items and sides I raved about in 2022 remain, among them smoked chicken, brisket, shredded lamb shoulder, short rib pastrami and baby back beef ribs—plus he has added merguez kofta (lamb sausage) and turkey breast to the menu (half-pound for $14 to $32; a pound for $25 to $50). His tasty pastrami-spiced mushrooms remain, too ($14/half-pound), as do the terrific, fluffy challah rolls. The proteins are also available as platters and sandwiches.
Specialty sandwiches are new, among them a gooey steak and cheese made with smoked brisket, Gruyere and fried chicken skin on a sourdough challah hoagie roll ($19), a pastrami Reuben ($18) and smoked turkey, lamb bacon and avocado with pimiento aioli on rye ($16). Salad bowls ($12) are available with protein add-ons ($4 to $6). Nightly specials include a Sunday night eight-piece fried chicken dinner that comes with four buttermilk biscuits, four chicken pot pie croquettes and two orders of mac and cheese ($52). Frozen goodies to take home include brisket chili ($12/quart), rugelach dough ($18 for a 12-piece log) and lamb shepherd’s pie ($38).
Silver uses high-quality products such as FreeBird chickens from Pennsylvania and Creekstone Farms Black Angus beef. The locals appreciate it. On my visit there in March, one made a point of telling Silver, “Excuse me. I’m not here for anything today, but I just wanted to tell you that the food I got from you the other day is the best I ever had. It’s not that it’s cheap, but it’s the best.”
Silver and Sons Barbecue, 5362 Westbard Ave., Bethesda, 301-500-3140, silverandsonsbbq.com
This appears in the May/June 2025 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
