On Friday night we visited the recently completed Rockville Town Square. Located about two blocks away from the Rockville metro stop, it has plenty of parking garages and is very easy to get to from Bethesda and downtown DC.
The redevelopment at Rockville Town Square was designed to bring new life to the once struggling Rockville Town Center, and has only been open since Memorial Day Weekend.
The huge, open-air town square features residences, shops and restaurants as well as a brand new 100,000-sq.-ft. Montgomery County Library. There are concerts and kids days throughout the summer and was a fun place to explore.
We had a nice dinner with Aaron and Becky- their new house is almost ready! After dinner, we got treats at Gifford’s Ice Cream, walked around the town square’s fountains and people watched a bit. Gifford's Ice Cream is the Washington area's oldest and most distinguished ice cream parlor, they have been making gourmet ice cream and candies since 1938.
As we explored the area. we were happy to see a mix of familiar favorites (Cosi, Five Guys, Gordon Biersch Brewery and Lebanese Taverna) as well as new places to explore including:
Bobby's Crab Cakes, a casual seafood restaurant we will definitely go to next time.
The Fractured Prune, a donut shop with hot hand-dipped homemade sweets.
Cloud 9 Clothing, a small Baltimore clothing chain.
La Flor de la Canela, an upscale Peruvian restaurant.
Pomegranate & Co., a Bethesda home furnishing boutique.
Oro Pomodoro, a casual Italian restaurant with wood-oven pizza (same owner as Primi Piatti and Finemondo in DC).
First Watch Cafe, a tasty looking breakfast chain that is starting to move into the Washington area.
La Tasca, a Spanish tapas bar and restaurant.
Sushi Damo, contemporary Japanese cuisine.
We were given samples of The Fractured Prune’s signature O.C. Sand donut (honey glaze, topped with cinnamon sugar) it was delicious! I’ve wanted to visit this place since I first heard about it last year. You can either get one of their amazing specialty donuts (their banana nut bread donut has banana glaze, cinnamon sugar, peanuts and their Blueberry Hill has blueberry glaze and powder sugar) or create your own dessert using their selection of donut flavors, glazes, toppings and sugars.
The new Rockville Town Square was a huge project, replacing sparsely developed area formerly occupied by the Magruder’s shopping center and a few parking lots. The redevelopment project cost the city of Rockville about $50 million, and additional funds ($264 million from the private sector and $38 million from county, state and federal governments) helped complete this project.
We had a very nice night, and it really does seem to have changed the face of Rockville. The place is a little Disneyesque in its attempt to emulate an Italian piazza, but overall we enjoyed our visit very much. It’s a nice way to spend a summer night with friends, and I hope you get a chance to go visit soon!
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