Mrs. K — for Kreuzburg — no longer owns Mrs. K’s Toll House Restaurant, and the name has been shortened to Mrs. K’s Restaurant, but in the early 20th century, it was a toll house with living quarters for the keeper and his family. The toll was 2 cents, the price of mailing a first-class letter.
In 1930, Blanche and Harvey Kreuzburg of Washington bought the building and opened Mrs. K”s Toll House Restaurant, which became a fixture on Colesville Road as the Silver Spring area expanded. Owners Konstantina Margas and her husband have altered the name and transformed the basement into the Wine Press, a cozy and inviting wine cellar and dining area. The wines are the most sophisticated aspect of Mrs. K’s offerings.
The beautifully kept gardens are pleasant for dining in good weather. The dining rooms inside retain an Old World atmosphere. Though Mrs. K’s Restaurant is no longer completely provincial, it hasn’t quite made it uptown, or rather, in Washington parlance, “downtown.” The restaurant retains vestiges of suburban character, but the superb wine list and good cooking are promising.
Executive chef Maurisee Upshur, once a computer programmer, is a graduate of Baltimore International College’s School of Culinary Arts. She has cooked at the Caribbean Room of the old Ponchartrain Hotel in New Orleans and has been with Mrs. K’s for 11 years. She uses some of the Creole flavors of New Orleans and the spices of her Caribbean background in her cooking, which is basically French-inspired.
We began a recent dinner with a generous seafood ceviche, an excellent combination of chopped shrimp and scallops in a tart marinade.
Mrs. K’s shrimp cocktail is a fallback to the days when they, and steaks, were standard fare. The tiger shrimp served at Mrs. K’s are large; the sauce is tangy.
The lettuce in a Caesar salad was limp and the dressing uninteresting.
Appetizers, or small plates as they are called on the menu, are tempting, with grilled octopus, spicy jumbo tiger shrimp Creole-style, tuna au poivre (served with a cognac-port sauce), and steamed mussels in white wine. For non-fish-eaters there are grilled portobello mushrooms with a Roquefort vinaigrette, a goose and sauterne pate, a cheese plate and a selection of salads.
Shrimp on the entree menu are served over seared grits cakes. The crab cakes, which also can be ordered singly as a starter, are first-rate. The chef considers them to be her “No. 1 dish,” and they are some of the best in town: no filler, all crab and gently sauteed.
A veal chop also was well-prepared, but it would have been even better if the rich mushroom sauce had been served on the side rather than smothering the chop.
Miss Upshur’s lamb is marinated with juniper berries, garlic and rosemary, and the steaks are threefold: rib-eye grilled and finished with a Gorgonzola cream sauce; New York strip served with mushrooms and cognac cream sauce; and a filet, which comes in various sizes, with a red-wine reduction. Venison medallions are paired with venison sausage.
The chicken breast with dried-cherry port sauce, redolent with herbs and moist with melted butter, is an excellent version of a menu staple.
Pastas are a mix of shrimp, scallops and crabmeat in a creamy champagne sauce, or shrimp and crabmeat sauteed in olive oil and garlic with spinach. Both are served over linguine. Grilled polenta with a ragout of wild mushrooms and spinach is available for vegetarians.
The lunch menu offers several entree salads. Among the sandwiches, an oyster po’ boy reflects the chef’s New Orleans stint. A crab-cake sandwich, a chicken BLT and the Toll Keeper (sliced beef, smoked horseradish cheddar cheese on a ciabatta roll with Creole mayonnaise) offer choices beyond the usual.
Desserts include an excellent bread pudding and a pecan pie with a fine filling, not too sweet but deserving a crisper crust.
RESTAURANT: Mrs. K’s Restaurant, 9201 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, 301/589-3500
HOURS: Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday; buffet brunch 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
PRICES: Appetizers $4 to $14 (lunch), $6 to $14 (dinner); main courses $11 to $20 (lunch), $22 to $38 (dinner); brunch $30
CREDIT CARDS: All major cards
PARKING: Complimentary parking lot
ACCESS: Wheelchair accessible
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