General Store

Gillian Clark is a very good cook, but her restaurants are a bit quirky. Colorado Kitchen was fun and cozy but you never knew when it was going to be open. They took off Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday, and closed on a weekend when they had something better to do, it seemed.

The new place in Silver Spring is cute and accessible, but out of the way and was mostly empty when we were there yesterday -- on a Friday night. The menu is very restricted.

We both had fried chicken, which is still amazingly good -- juicy, tender, with a flaky crust. I had really good collard greens with mine, and tasted the mac and cheese, also a winner. Cornbread just so-so, and the pecan pie was a such a disappointment I wondered if it was actually baked there. On our first trip a few months ago, we had the fish tacos and they were great, with tender deep-fried fish.

It's self-service at the General Store, which seems to be something of a trend (Surfside, Tacklebox) -- fine by me because it definitely keeps the costs down. Beer and wine are available, though for some reason they feel the need to be more draconian about IDs than even Montgomery County would warrant (we were both carded).

Their emails have been talking about a tavern, but that is really just a place underneath the stairs that wasn't good for anything else and super un-appealing as a place to sit and drink a beer.

I'm eager to go back and try the beef stew once the weather is colder, and they have a special Sunday dinner that changes every week (sign up the for the weekly email to find out what it is).

Gillian Clark is a good chef and deserves a bigger audience. Not sure who is making the quirky choices on these restaurants. There is supposed to be a second venue in the offing, so maybe they will get it right. I don't find the formula at General Store one that guarantees a long life.