Food & Restaurants

Schools & Kids

Beauty & Health

Pets

Shopping

Home

Best of the Rest

FOOD & RESTAURANTS

Best New Restaurant

Mussel Bar

Did Robert and Polly Wiedmaier, owners of Mussel Bar, ever imagine their noisy Belgian roadhouse would be such a big hit when it opened in July?

“We definitely thought it would draw a good crowd since there’s nothing like it in Bethesda,” Polly Wiedmaier says. “But the numbers do continue to surprise us.” One October Saturday, she says, the restaurant served more than 800 people.

The other thing that surprised the Wiedmaiers, who live in Kensington, is that the check average is lower than they anticipated (about $25), indicating that parties are sharing the salads, mussels and tarts. “We thought the check average would be higher, but it evens out,” Wiedmaier says. “We didn’t expect volume to be so high.”

7262 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, 301-215-7817, www.musselbar.com

Other top vote-getters: Bistro Provence, Againn Tavern, Zoës Kitchen

---