SILVER SPRING ISN'T necessarily known as a Cuisine Capital, and a restaurant week isn't likely to change that. But there's no doubt that after Silver Spring became Silver Sprung, the variety of venues to chow in, and their attendant quality, has increased and improved.

There are 16 Silver Spring eateries participating in Restaurant Week, offering prix fixe lunch ($12) and dinner ($22 or $30) menus through Sun., April 13. Many will also offer standard fare at regular prices, which is a good thing since prix fixe menus don't always offer the best deals.

"While I do enjoy many of these other restaurants," says Sligo from the blog Silver Spring, Singular, "at some of them I'd have difficulty dropping $30 on a regular visit — which is a good thing — so the value of the Restaurant Week price is dubious. I'd first have to see what was on the Restaurant Week menus."

True dat.

There are actually plenty of good-to-great restaurants in Silver Spring that are not participating in Restaurant Week — Taste of Morocco, A Taste of Jerusalem and Ray's the Classics come to mind. But if you've been curious about eating in the Sprung, here is my highly educated — and, more often, not-so-educated — rundown of the restaurants participating in the promotion, along with some comments and recommendations from my fellow Silver Spring bloggers.

ABOL ETHIOPIAN RESTAURANT
The third and newest Ethiopian in downtown Silver Spring — and the only one I haven't tried yet. But it's in a great location — right across from the AFI Silver — and the Post's Eve Zibart gave it a good review in February.

Jennifer Deseo, editor of The Silver Spring Penguin, seconds Zibart's recommendation: "For vegetarian grub, I recommend Abol Ethiopian. They really know how to liven things up with bold spices, without muting the vegetables' natural flavors and textures."

The other two Ethiopian restaurants are just outside the redeveloped zone — that would be anything southeast of Wayne Ave. — and one in particular stands out, according to Dan Reed from Just Up the Pike: "Addis Ababa, at Fenton and Thayer. The place to go for your first time eating Ethiopian: soft lights and giant armchairs make you comfortable; eating with your hands gets you into the food — literally."

I haven't sat inside at Addis Ababa because I've only eaten there during the warmer months, when you can sit up on the roof and look at the beauty that is Silver Spring. ... OK, so maybe not the beauty, but you do get a good view of the hodgepodge collection of dilapidated mid-1950s buildings and modern construction that is today's Sprung.

The third sit-down option for Ethiopian is Langano, which has been around the longest. Its decor is bare-bones, to be sure, but the food is solid. And on weekends you get to hear some really sweet Ethiopian smooth jazz. Nothing goes better with sega wat than some funky bass lines and synth-keyboard horns.

AUSTIN GRILL
The last time I went here — and I do mean the last time — we sent our margaritas back to the bar because they were so watery and awful. Rather than just honor our request for replacements, the waitress told the bartender, who proceeded to walk over to our table and ask what was wrong. When told about the problem, he proceeded to pick up one of our margaritas, take a swig from it — and pronounce it "just fine." He set the drink back down and left. Apparently, we were not only supposed to accept the bad beverage, we were now supposed to down it with his cooties. We sent the whole mess back and soon left. Another minus: Your dinner might be interrupted by loud, overemotive and mostly crappy alt-country singer-songwriters. 'Nuf sed.

BLAIR MANSION INN
It's a murder-mystery dinner theater joint, but I've never been because I don't like to contemplate anything but the chow in front of me when I go out to eat. I'll figure out if Colonel Mustard did it with Miss Scarlet in the library when I get home. American cuisine.

CEVICHE
Thank you, Maurico Foaga-Rosenfeld. The owner of Chi Cha, Gazuza, Guarapo, Mate and Nena brought his pan-South American menu to Silver Spring (and also Glover Park) at a time when it felt like the Sprung's entire downtown redevelopment was going to be made up of chain restaurants. The namesake food is fantastic — and I don't even like fish usually, raw or cooked — and the pulled chicken in cream (aji de gallina) is perfecto. Plus, this was the first place I ever had a Malbec wine (mmm) and where my mother-in-law downed her first mojito. Good times. Sligo from Silver Spring, Singular gives Ceviche a thumbs up, too.

CUBANO'S
If you love meat, step right up. Cubano's cooks up some great pork dishes and other delights from the land of salsa (the dance, not the dip). Vegetarians like my wife struggle to get a full meal here, but the real mojitos — fresh mint leaves, succulent limes, pure cane sugar, carbonated water and rum, with none of that powdery mix — make her forget that she's only had black-bean soup and salad for dinner. Jessica McFadden from A Parent in Silver Spring gives the restaurant her vote: "I immensely enjoyed Cubano's prix fixe dinner menu during Silver Spring restaurant week in 2007." And Jennifer Deseo from The Silver Spring Penguin seconds my feeling: "Carnivores probably would enjoy Nicaro [see below] or Cubano's."

EGGSPECTATION
I love eggs. I'm well on my way to becoming egg-shaped. I am the Eggman, goo goo g'joob. And I can pretty much eat breakfast food all day long. But this chain is just gross. I've gone there twice: Once when they first opened just to try; and once again just to confirm how bad the food was — soggy, sloppy, shi... Nevermind. It was one of the first restaurants to open in the redeveloped area, so perhaps it has improved. But after consulting my egg-cellent prognostication skills, I highly doubt it.

EL AGUILA RESTAURANT
This Salvadoran and Tex-Mex joint is in a strip mall off 16th Street, but I've yet to try it since I moved to "the other side" of town. I used to frequent this shopping center when I lived in Forest Glen, often hitting up the Blockbuster (back when people actually went out to rent movies rather than rocking Netflix or the Internet). I haven't stopped in this plaza in at least eight years, although I do occasionally read about businesses there being robbed, which makes me nostalgic for my heady early days in the Spring before the Sprung.

GOLDEN FLAME RESTAURANT
The blurb on the Silver Spring Downtown Web site states, "The Golden Flame Restaurant is known for its excellent salad bar." If a salad bar isn't worth a $30 prix fixe menu, I dunno what is. You could just pull up a chair to this excellent salad bar and treat it like a trough. Actually, Golden Flame has been holding it down in Silver Spring since 1972 — much respect — and it specializes in Greek food as well as steaks, seafood and prime rib. I haven't been to the restaurant, which is tucked out of the way on Fenton Street, but Washingtonian named it a Best of Silver Spring joint in 2004.

JACKIE'S RESTAURANT
Fancy American comfort food is how I describe Jackie's to friends who ask me about it. The decor is a mix of industrial chic and 1950s, and the bar area attracts many of the Silver Spring area's movers and shakers — no, really, we have some. In fact, I once saw infomercial screamer Matthew Lesko here — and yes, he was dressed in his question-mark suit. (In fact, it was green, so he totally looked like the Riddler.)

If you can stomach paying $15 for some meatloaf, you'll be rewarded with the best meatloaf in your life. How about $19 for a chicken breast? Worth it; the food is that good. Jennifer Deseo from The Silver Spring Penguin says, "I love Jackie's mini Elvis burgers. They're tiny hunka-hunks o' burning love."

It's no surprise the food is good since the menu was co-created by Ann Cashion, whose namesake restaurant in Adams Morgan is a top-end eatery, and her former chef, Sam Adkins.

Sligo from Silver Spring, Singular says that during Restaurant Week, "Strictly based on price, I'd have to advocate going to Jackie's, especially if one of their desserts is included."

The Jackie's folks also own the old Quarry House Tavern now, and they've upgraded the menu there while keeping the horrific stench that made the basement drinkery such a distinctive neighborhood joint.

MCGINTY'S PUBLIC HOUSE
An Irish restaurant — oh, really? How do you say quelle surprise in Gaelic? I've eaten here once or twice, but I can't for the life of me remember what I've scarfed. I do remember having a really good glass of white wine at McGinty's — which is pretty much sacrilege in a Guinness-and-Jameson joint. What can I say? I'm delicate.

MRS. K'S TOLL HOUSE
It's a place worth going if you want to "kick it old school one night," says Sligo from Silver Spring, Singular. What he means is that Mrs. K's has been around for 75 years, but it's also a great spot to take grandma. You can get cozy, classy American cuisine, but with prices that are more in line with a fancy D.C. restaurant than an eatery in ol' Silver Spring. (This is one place a prix fixe menu might actually be a deal.) But despite Mrs. K's conservative appearance, it has something of an adventurous menu that includes ostrich meat and venison in addition to the usual standard animal fare.

NICARO
This relatively new place is the baby of Pedro Matamoros, formerly of the Tabard Inn. It's another classy American-cuisine restaurant, and I've yet to make it in, but if the grub is anything like that of the Tabard, you know it'll be great — if you like seafood and meat dishes. Vegetarians will have less-than-slim pickings. The location is also southeast of Wayne Ave., giving that somewhat ignored location of the downtown development another shot in the wallet.

OLAZZO
I think I met the two Italian brothers who constructed this place about two years ago: I was just wandering by, they were in mid-build and they gave me a tour. (I say "I think" because, at this point, I can't really remember if I met them; everything is foggy ... all the time.) They were proud and excited about what they were creating — and after finally going there this past February I can see why. Another southeast-of-Wayne Ave. place, the decor is dark, warm and inviting, completely rendering the previous eatery there — the bright, warm and inviting Half Moon BBQ — a distant memory.

Jessica McFadden from A Parent in Silver Spring says, "I recommend people try Olazzo for its delicious pasta entrees, signature cocktails and atmosphere. Olazzo is owned and operated by Silver Spring residents."

The food was fantastic; the drinks tight; the ambiance romantic. Well, it was for me and my wife. The couple sitting next to us — on Valentine's Day — were staring at their plates and wiping away tears. It made eating our appetizers a little awkward, but after the broken hearts left, we relaxed and ate more than we had thought was humanly possible. You know the old saying: Nothing invokes one's hunger like another couple's misery (or something).

REDDOG CAFE
Um, why am I doing this restaurant roundup again? Because this is yet another place I haven't been to yet, even though it's been around for a while. It's a bit out of the way (relative to the other restaurants here), and I just forget the RedDog is there. Last September, Kirsten Poole of Kirsten's Cafe took over the restaurant, which had received good notices but perhaps was lacking in clientele. The Silver Spring Penguin's Jennifer Deseo reviewed the restaurant soon after ownership changed, but she said the promise of the diverse menu wasn't fulfilled. She sounded hopeful, though, that things could turn around.

REDROCK CANYON GRILL
I went once. That was enough. Another chain, more bland American cuisine, and since it's in the heart of the new Silver Sprung, the place is usually jammed to the gills. Avoid.

"I often find Redrock Canyon Grill too crowded and hectic to luxuriate over a meal, and it definitely has a big chain-restaurant vibe," concurs Jessica McFadden from A Parent in Silver Spring.

THAI AT SILVER SPRING
The lone Asian outpost participating in Silver Spring's Restaurant Week is, thankfully, also one of the best. The imaginatively named Thai at Silver Spring serves the usual fare, but it's all very tasty, very filling and very reasonably priced.

On a side note — not that this whole article hasn't been a side note — but Thai at Silver Spring and Ceviche bookend one of the worst Asian restaurants in Silver Spring: Pho-Hiep Hoa. I love Vietnamese food, and one of my favorite places is Saigonese, in Wheaton. But I've tried Pho-Hiep Hoa many, many times, and I've always been disappointed by the chow and the service. Even their namesake pho soup — which is, like, the greatest soup ever when done right — is flavorless. Stay away.

» For more restaurant coverage of Tha Sprung, visit The Silver Spring Penguin.

Posted by Christopher Porter at 5:09 PM on April 8, 2008
Tagged in Eating Around , Free Ride , Maryland , Montgomery County , Silver Spring , Top Stories