I like the butter from South Mountain Creamery. They do home delivery and I think you can go out to the creamery and buy stuff directly (not sure if they are at farmers markets... contact them for info). http://www.southmountaincreamery.com/...

Okay, at the risk of showing myself to be a complete idiot... we went to Carmen's for FC twice this past week and then we stopped by Jimmie Cone (which I guess is softserve ice cream?) today and I have absolutely no clue what the difference is between FC and SSIC. We liked them both. Jimmie Cone has maybe more vanilla flavor... I'd have to try them side by side. Either way, they're both tasty!

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Jimmie Cone
26420 Ridge Rd, Damascus, MD 20872

Thanks for mentioning Carmen's Italian Ice -- I never had tried it before so we went today. I'm no FC expert, but I thought it was yummy (also sampled some ices that were tasty). Good to know it's there!

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Carmen's Italian Ice
1115 Nelson St, Rockville, MD 20850

Thanks... no, I meant the Coal Fire Pizza. I've seen it now... it's next to the Blockbuster near the party store.

Can you tell me where it is? I haven't seen it yet and I'm in the Kentlands every day.

I often end up at La Madeleine on the Pike. Also Mon Ami Gabi in Bethesda. And IHOP. :) http://www.lamadeleine.com/

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Mon Ami Gabi
7239 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

PYO at Homestead starts Monday.
http://www.homestead-farm.net/

Maybe Tower Oaks?

That would be awesome!

I had the pumpkin today, too. Yum. :)

Thanks for this thread, as I wouldn't have noticed he had opened otherwise. We went by today. I am not from this area and don't have any memory of the old Gifford's, but I tried a sundae with Swiss Chocolate ice cream and swiss chocolate sauce.... good, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it, personally. Must be one of those childhood tastes that you reminisce about. Mine is Malley's tin roof in Cleveland. Anyway, Cal was really, really nice, and I had tastes of many of the tropical flavors and will go back for them. Also, the Amaretto was pretty amazing. This is really rich, yummy ice cream, and there's nothing else like it around here that I know of. I'll add that he is not sure he wants to stay open in the winter, because the shop was freezing today and he's not looking forward to what it will be like to try to heat it in the winter. He needs more business, so get ye up to Rockville so he will stay open!! It is yummy stuff. I will definitely be going back... the passionfruit was really good. I will need to try soursop. I'm sorry I don't have the burning memory of the swiss chocolate, rum raisin etc. Also, I didn't notice pumpkin on the menu, but maybe overlooked it. I told him to get in with the Montgomery College crowd... he's walking distance from campus, and I would think he'd be popular with college kids!! Keep him open!

I'm from Cleve, too, and always die when I step into any grocery store there.... and all those little ethnic shops... and I miss the health food stores. DC grocery stores don't compare in my opinion. I have been to Wegmans, but can't justify the drive. I shop at Harris Teeter now, because it's close and a thousand times better than the Safeway and Giant by me (not saying much). Whole Paycheck for the stuff I'd rather buy at a little health food store. Make do, basically. Have been in this area for 20 years and still am mystified at the awful grocery stores.

Yup, the tart cherries are in at Homestead right now.

Be sure to call Homestead the day you are going out to make sure it's worth your while. There is not much there now unless you want tart cherries. The strawberries kinda sucked this year (weather) and they don't have blueberries at Homestead.
http://www.homestead-farm.net/

I googled Pick your own farms dc area and found this which looks pretty extensive: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&...

I went to Homestead last week for strawberries and it wasn't great (maybe a bad day). Blueberries aren't quite in yet, but I'll go to Butlers for them. Have fun!

When are you traveling? You might have better luck in Loudon Cnty, but in MoCo...

Homestead Farm will open for Strawberries at the end of the month: http://www.homestead-farm.net/

Lewis Orchard opens in June: http://www.lewisorchardfarmmarket.com/

There's a farm tour in July:
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/agstmpl.asp?url=/content/DED/AgServices/agfarmtour.asp

Not near your route at all, but South Mountain Creamery is a nice dairy to visit:
http://www.southmountaincreamery.com/...

There's a Ruth's Chris in Glen Riddle off 50.

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Ruth's Chris Steak House
11501 Maid at Arms Lane, Berlin, MD 21811

I saw that in the paper. The food's not bad at all at the airpark cafe. I like the gyros. Not many other places around you can sit on the deck on a nice day and basically be on the runway watching planes take off and land.

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Airpark Cafe
7889 Cessna Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20879

I saw there's a new bar opening next to the Dogfish head, in the place that was formerly Mangiare Bene. It was not yet open when we went by a couple weeks ago. I don't know if they have TVs. I think it said organic microbrews or something like that.

I'm taking some guesses here on places I never go to... so these are not recs, just ideas.

End Zone in Old Towne Gaithersburg? Pelican Pete's in Germantown? O'malley's in the Holiday Inn Gaithersburg?

Hard Times Cafe in Germantown has TVs. Not sure about the one in Rockville.

Maybe JJ Muldoons... I've never been there, but it sounds like a sports bar.
http://mymuldoons.com/

Does Red Hot & Blue have TVs?

Hope this helps!

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J J Muldoon's
16143 Shady Grove Rd, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Red Hot & Blue
16811 Crabbs Branch Way, Rockville, MD 20855

Hard Times Cafe & Cue
13032 Middlebrook Rd, Germantown, MD 20874

Pelican Pete's
12941 Wisteria Dr, Germantown, MD 20874

End Zone Bar & Grill
317 E Diamond Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 20877

Glory Days in Germantown?
18050 Mateny Road
Germantown, MD 20874
Phone (301) 528-2662

Also, maybe Middlebrook Restaurant? It's not a sports bar, but they have a lot of screens always tuned to sports, and it wouldn't be a bad place to sit and watch a game.
http://www.middlebrookrestaurant.com/

Caspian Cafe, there's one on 355 and also one in Kentlands. I couldn't find a link to the one in the Kentlands, but it's in the strip next to the Bonefish Grill. I think they have belly dancing at night. Also, there is Johnny's in Germantown. There's also Village Green in the Rio. This is just FYI, not recs. I like Moby Dick better personally.

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Johnny Kobob Restaurant Corporation
12933 Wisteria Dr, Germantown, MD 20874

Caspian Cafe
19911 Frederick Rd, C Germantown, MD

Village Green Grill House
9811 Washingtonian Blvd, Gaithersburg, MD

South Mountain Veggies has their veggie delivery website up now.
http://www.southmountainveggie.com/ho...

My experience with SMC is a little different... We have different standing orders each week (so every other week we get x bottles of skim milk, the alternating week we get y bottles of skim plus a quart of whole, every 3rd week we get butter, every 4th week we get ground beef) and then they've been good about making changes as needed to the delivery. I've only had whole milk go bad... it doesn't last more than a week for me, and I just get a quart for my son. If he doesn't drink it, I dump it. The skim milk has never gone bad for us. But I bring it in quickly after the delivery. It's never sitting outside long. Just my experience. I've never had problems with billing. They now send an email prior to delivery, so I know what's coming, and then another email after the delivery that shows the billing for that week. I think South Mountain Creamery is doing a good job of communicating (better in the past year than prior to that). Their website is useful for making delivery changes and vacation stops. I just don't have a problem with them. I don't have a big family (2 little kids who don't drink much milk).

I mainly buy milk from South Mountain Creamery. I've had delivery service for a long time now and they are great. I love the butter. The chocolate milk is a real splurge. I also buy ground beef from them, which has been good. I've tried the yogurt drinks, but no one in my house likes them. I tried cookie dough once, but thought it was too pricey. I like their egg nog and cider, which are seasonal. The only product I really did not like was half and half, which had fatty chunks in it. It's been years since I tried it, so maybe it's better now. Anyhow, that's about it. I don't eat a lot of meat, so haven't tried much, although I have always wondered what "puddin" is.... now I see they have a description of it on the website. Ick. :)

The Post did an ongoing column last year called the CSA Chronicles. Here's the wrap up:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/12/02/ST2008120202848.html
It made it clear that a CSA would not work for me. Too hard for me to cook around what they provided randomly each week. Just not my preference. South Mountain Creamery just sent an email announcing they were going to offer fresh veggie and fruit deliveries soon. They are still organizing it, but it sounds good to me (not a CSA, but delivery of fresh, local produce on demand). It doesn't look like they have anything on their website about it yet, but they sent an email to dairy customers. http://www.southmountaincreamery.com/...

La Canela might be okay... milanesa (basically breaded chicken) and various meat dishes might fit her tastes.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/322322

Where on L St is this cart? I keep meaning to tell my husband about it. He works nearby.

What's the family-owned Greek place in Gaithersburg?