Taylor Gourmet Arrives in Bethesda

We here at DMV Dining have been highly anticipating the opening of Taylor Gourmet Deli’s Bethesda location for quite awhile. Rachel and I frequent their H Street location several times (especially following late nights at Little Miss Whiskey’s) and we’ve always left satisfied.

So when we heard the news that Taylor would be opening up a spot in Downtown Bethesda, we knew we had to check it out the very first day it opened.  And so of course, we did just that.

The space itself is gorgeous and is much more open and airy than their Atlas District location. Instead of long, narrow corridors, the area features high ceilings and funky lighting fixtures. Fortunately, it still features the trademark garage door/window which offers visitors faux-outdoor dining.

The staff we encountered were very friendly and clearly demonstrated an effort to ensure that their customers were being taken care of.

We started our dinner off with Rocky’s Risotto Balls and we knew we couldn’t go wrong after having our first bite. They were prepared with the perfect blend of rice and cheese and were fried just right.  For $4.50, it’s quite a bargain as the order comes with six risotto balls.

As for our sandwiches, I went with the almighty Pattison Avenue. DC Foodies has already gone into vivid detail why this sandwich is the tits, but man, the combination of the roasted pork, garlicky broccoli rabe, and sharp provolone is honestly hard to top.

The only minor quibble I had while wolfing this glorious hoagie down was the bread. Although it was served warm and fresh, it’s not the easiest thing to bite into. It took plenty of time to chew it, but then again, it definitely assisted in soaking in the juice from the pork and rabe without it becoming soggy whatsoever.

Rachel opted to try the JFK Boulevard which consisted of grilled chicken, portabella mushrooms, and goat cheese. The meat was seasoned to perfection while the combination of the mushrooms and goat cheese was incredibly flavorful.

Since we couldn’t stop thinking about how good the sandwiches were after our first visit, Rachel decided to head back over this past Tuesday and order a couple sandwiches to go to take with us to the Nationals game.

She went with the Arch Street this time around (house-smoked turkey, roasted red peppers, aged provolone, lettuce, and onions) and ordered the Spruce Street for me (essentially the Pattison but substitute the pork with grilled chicken).

We each had half of one and, once again, found both to be solid choices. In fact, Rachel thought the bread seemed softer and fresher this time around as opposed to opening night. Coupled with some Herr’s kettle chips, our ballpark dinner proved to be a much better meal than your typical hot dog and soft pretzel combo.

I’m not saying I bought a soft pretzel after I finished the Spruce Street, but I’ll just leave it at that.

Overall, Taylor is a welcome addition to the Bethesda scene and should prove to be a successful venture given its unique combination of sandwich ingredients as well as its prime downtown location.

Before I left, I asked one of the employees if they plan to have late night hours a la their H Street shop. The dude I talked to said they plan to incorporate it down the road but are just going to be operating on regular business hours for the first few months or so.

But don’t worry, we’ll keep you posted on when we’ll be able to begin our post-midnight Pattison Avenue fixes.