Liquid Assets, Ocean City, MD

I spent the first 22 years of my life in Ocean City, so I get a little disappointed when there are restaurants that I have not tried.  Luckily, my parents still live there and I am slowly checking all of them off of my checklist.  One that I had been wanting to try for years was Liquid Assets.

I guess it was a little bit intimidating to me when I was in high school. It's definitely not a typical Ocean City restaurant.  When my mom and I walked in, it was like being in a completely different city.  It's half restaurant, half bar/store.  The atmosphere in the dining room was a little bit strange; it was really dark and felt empty on the day that we were there.  That probably changes during the summer and at night, but for lunch it was odd.

We both opted for the $8 Lunch Combo.  I got the andouille sausage macaroni and cheese and roasted veggies.  My mom got the veggies and a cauliflower soup.  Everything was fantastic, especially the veggies.  It was a blend of brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, and other fresh local veggies.  The portions were not large, but satisfying.  I think a dinner bill could probably get high very quickly.  But the quality of food here compared with other OC restaurants is worth the price.

Alewife, Downtown

The first night that we tried to go to Alewife, we were turned away at the door because they had no tables and did not expect to have any until 8pm, when the show at the Hippodrome started (silly us, we were going to the show and should have known better).  We made a reservation for 6 the night after that and had much better results.  We got there about 20 minutes early and the same man was at the door.  He tried turning us away, but we explained the reservation and he reluctantly let us go in to the bar area.  It is a beautiful space and has been converted really nicely.  All of the beer selections are written on a chalkboard wall.  It was very crowded and we sort of felt like we were in the way.

The  majority of us ordered the smoke burger:

An 11oz House Ground Ribeye, Brisket, Skirt and Filet of Beef Burger, Smoked Gouda, Gruyere Cheese, Apple Wood Smoked Bacon, Caramelized Cipollini Onion, Chipotle Aioli, Brioche Bun, Duck Fat Fries

It was very good.  A few people said that it was the best burger that they had ever had.  The fries were also good, but they were cold.  The server was not great.  We sort of lost him after he brought our food and we're pretty sure he left.   Overall, it was a great experience with very good food.  They just need to work out a few kinks with their staff.

Olney Ale House, Olney, MD

I was happy to be eating at Olney Ale House for many reasons.  My aunt and my mom were visiting so it was a nice treat to have lunch with them.  I didn't have to pick the place where we were going to eat (I am notoriously bad at this).  My mom used to eat there when she was in high school and that made it seem cute and special.

It was actually very cute.  They had a fireplace and it felt like a cozy log cabin.  It was very busy, but the service was great (this is always a huge plus for me).  We all ordered a salad that they had on their specials which had pears, dried cranberries, pecans, feta cheese and grilled chicken and had a loaf of their famous bread and butter.  The salads were huge and delicious!  I love fall flavors and this was the perfect combination of ingredients.  The chicken was also perfect, which can really make or break a salad.  In fact the salads were so big that we combined them all for me to take home and I ate it for another two days.  The bread was also very yummy, served with whipped butter.

The Olney area seems to have a lot of restaurants popping up, but I recommend trying the Olney Ale House if you're out that way. 

Good Stuff Eatery and 2 Amys, DC

I am so backed up on my reviews. I can't wait until I graduate. But that's another tale...

We went into DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity.  It was a mess.  Such a mess that we decided to pass on the mayhem and wander down the street a ways to Good Stuff Eatery, which we had heard very good stuff about.  The line was pretty much what we expected and we did wait for a while before we got our food (at least we could watch the rally on TV).  We each got cheeseburgers, fries, and marshmallow shakes.  We agreed that the burgers were good, but not anything extraordinary.  I'd rather have Five Guys or Abbey. 

The fries were pretty great, though.  They have a little condiment bar that has different types of dipping mayonaisses to try. I believe we had Old Bay mayo, Chipotle mayo, and pineapple.  They were unique and cooked well.  By far the shake was the best part.  It definitely had marshmallow fluff mixed into the vanilla ice cream and was not as sickeningly sweet as you would expect.  On top were big, toasted marshmallows.  Yum.  I would recommend just going for fries and shakes!



Later on, we had dinner at 2 Amys in Cleveland Park.  It was a beautiful neighborhood and we were very happy with our choice of restaurant.  They are certified by the Italian government to make authentic Neapolitan pizza.  I've never been to Italy, but I imagine that this is what pizza tastes like there.  The service was incredibly fast and before we knew it, we were tasting some of the freshest and purest pizza you could imagine.  This is no-frills food and it is awesome.