Food News: Champion Burgers, 'Whole-Animal' Cuisine

Get caught up with the food scene in Montgomery County and adjacent Washington, DC, neighborhoods with "1 Meat, 3 Sides." This week, a famed deli's move to Montgomery County takes center plate:

One Meat:

A second location for Baltimore’s famed Attman’s Deli will open in May at the Cabin John Shopping Center in Potomac. 

"According to Marc Attman, the Montgomery County location has been years in the making, after numerous Potomac locals made the hour-long trek to Baltimore for a Pastrami sandwich and to hint that a closer location would be welcomed with open arms," Potomac Patch reported.

"People have asked us for years to come to Potomac," Attman told Potomac Patch. "They come into Baltimore for the deli, for catering, and always wish we would come out there. They asked; we came. We really are excited and we know that the community is very, very excited too," Attman added.

Read more on Potomac Patch.

Three Sides:

To taste test a world champion burger, look no further than BGR. The Burger Joint's entry in the World Burger Championships last month took home third place—and the title of third-best burger in the world, Bethesda Patch reported.

"The World Champion" is a prime, dry-aged burger topped with bacon/onion jam, fried egg, cheese and pineapple, according to BGR representatives.

***

Range—celebrity chef Bryan Voltaggio's newest restaurant—is set to open in the newly renovated Chevy Chase Pavilion on Tuesday, Dec. 18, Chevy Chase Patch reported. The restaurant will focus on "whole-animal" cuisine.

Range's menu is meat-centric, offering menu items such as potted foie gras, rabbit, scrapple, pork shanks and cheeks, beef marrow bones, veal heart, veal sweetbreads and whole roasted rabbit, "hunter style." Shellfish options include oysters, shrimp, crabs and lobster. Fish dishes include rockfish and black cod with barbecued hazelnuts.

Less-adventurous options (like macaroni and cheese and roasted chicken)—as well as pasta, pizza and many vegetable dishes—also are on the menu. 

***

Approaching the holidays sans head chef may have forced Silver Spring's 8407 Kitchen Bar to get creative, The Washington Post reported. 

"Jerry Trise, proprietor of...food truck Chef Driven and former executive chef at Yin Yankee in Annapolis, will prepare a four-course meal for New Year's Eve revelers with prices ranging from $65 to $100 a person, depending on the time of the meal and whether wine is included. The special dinner is billed as a 'pop up' New Year's Eve, The Post said," Silver Spring Patch reported.

Extra Sides:

Bethesda's Mussel Bar recently changed its name after restaurant representatives said the old name may have been keeping away diners who aren't fans of mussels, Bethesda Magazine's Table Talk blog reported. 

The new name—"Mussel Bar & Grille"—"indicates the Bethesda Row eatery serves up more than mollusks and operates as a restaurant and not just a bar, according to the report," Bethesda Patch reported.

***

Luke's Lobster (with locations at 7129 Bethesda Ln., Bethesda; 624 E St. NW, DC; and 1211 Potomac St. NW, DC) recently began offering special menu items for the winter, including hearty fare like grilled-Gruyere cheese-and-lobster sandwiches, broccoli cheddar and butternut squash soups (suitable for vegetarians), apple cider and winter beers from Maine, Luke's Lobster Vice President Ben Conniff told Patch.