Silver and Sons, Bethesda, Montgomery County, Maryland

Great news! Silver and Sons, the food truck that has the best barbecue in Montgomery County and made my “Best Barbecue Places in the Washington Area” last year, has opened a brick and mortar spot in the new Westbard Square development off River Road. Their place sits at street level at 5362 Westbard, with convenient parking on the street and in the free garage.

It’s a small place, about 80 percent kitchen, with room for only five stools at an L-shaped counter facing the wall and window, and room to wait on orders.

Nancy and I went on Opening Day. That meant we braved not only the elements but also the heartaches and the thousand natural shocks that Opening Day is heir to. I make it a rule to wait at least a couple of weeks for restaurants to iron things out. And it’s a good rule, but this was bigger than rules. I was eager to try it, and Nancy and I had an errand to run in far northeastern Silver Spring. Why not start out by going northwest to Bethesda? We arrived and got in line and looked over the menu, which is substantially more extensive than that for their food truck. We made our choices and were told our food would be ready in ten minutes. Ten minutes later, our orders had arrived and we had found seats.

I’d chosen the smoked lamb and gruyere arayes,

which arrived wrapped in saluf, a sort of Yemenite grilled pita. I’d never tried saluf but I’m now a fan. It came with two sauces, tahini and mango amba, a tangy pickled mango sauce. Here’s a side look.

I enjoyed it quite a bit. They do a fine job with lamb. There was a nice mix of inside and outside meat that gave the sandwich a slightly different flavor and texture with each bite. Very nice. I’ll order this one again — after I get through some other menu highlights.

I also ordered a half pound of their short rib pastrami, which I planned to take home and eat in a sandwich for dinner.

I decided I should give it a taste first.

It was good, very good. I’m a major fan of hot-smoked pastrami. The familiar deli pastrami is cold smoked, and utterly delicious, but the wood flavor of hot smoking elevates the dish, or perhaps better, transforms it. A number of places in the area hot-smoke pastrami — 2fifty, HammerDown, Buckets, and Monk’s (anyone else?) — and I’m not about to start picking among them now, but I do think that Silver and Sons is the best at the deli-style spicing.

Nancy ordered one of their salad bowls, the quinoa tabbouleh with smoked turkey.

First the turkey. Nancy thought it was good but not as smoky as she likes. I thought it was smoky, but not as smoky as Greenberg Smoked Turkeys, which we’ve enjoyed at others’ houses and ordered for Christmas ourselves. I agree that it wasn’t as smoky as a Greenberg Smoked Turkey, and note that a Mercedes Maybach is not as opulent as a Rolls Royce.

As you can see, the quinoa was not tabbouleh. It was just quinoa. Nancy ate her abstemious fill, and before we left, mentioned it to the manager. The order had been mixed up, one of the Opening Day thousand natural shocks. The response was immediate. “We’ll get you another one right away.” “You don’t need to.” “Yes, we do.” “Another tabbouleh [to the kitchen] with smoked turkey.” “I don’t need more turkey.” “Here it is (with apologies).” We received another tabbouleh with smoked turkey for Nancy’s dinner, no charge.

A guy sat next to us with a brisket and cheese sandwich that came on a long, sub-like roll that turned out to be sourdough challah. He liked it a lot, and volunteered that it had a unique flavor that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. The cheese was gruyere, and his sandwich included chicken skins(!) and a red sauce.

I guess that will be my next order. I took a photo of one that had just been served. He also ordered macaroni and cheese, and volunteered that it was the best macaroni and cheese he’d ever had. He praised it to the heavens, but then put it away to save some to share with his fiancee. Now that’s love! I won’t give his name. He well may have given in and eaten the rest on the way back to work, and I’m not one to blab.

I had gone into Silver and Sons planning on ordering a merguez sausage sandwich, having seen merguez on the menu. Alas, it wasn’t available on a sandwich, so I ordered the lamb. I checked the website when I got home and it turns out that their merguez is a kofta, ground lamb, and beef combination on a stick rather than in a sausage casing. You may have seen them at Whole Foods. I plan to try again next time. The kofta could go very nicely indeed on that sourdough challah, and a stick is no impediment to those of us who grew up eating ribs, chicken legs, and pork chops in sandwiches with the bone-in. Wish me luck.

It sounds like Silver and Sons will resume their food truck operations once things settle down, and they’ll continue their catering business. Still, it’s great to have Silver and Sons in a set place you can go for an expanded menu and to pick up some of their frozen foods, maybe a chicken pot pie in this winter weather. The area is a whole lot better for it. I certainly am. You should go by and start working your way through the menu. If you go you’ll go back. I hope to see you there.

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