Salvation comes to Colesville

When you think of fine dining, Colesville does not come to mind that often. The whole New Hampshire Avenue strip from the beltway out to Cloverly leaves much to be desired as far as good eats go. When we moved to Hillandale 25 years ago it was so bad that we were unable to get pizza delivery to our home. With the passing of time and the addition of the FDA White Oak campus the availability of eating choices has improved but that does not mean that the situation is that great. Your choices seem to range from the good, the bad and the ugly and most recent additions tend to be franchises and fast food restaurants. There are a few exceptions-usually ethnic restaurants. Most of the better new restaurants are located close-in, around the White Oak and Hillandale shopping centers. However, there is a great new Mexican Restaurant located in the lowly Colesville Shopping Center at the intersection of Randolph Rd. and New Hampshire Ave.

I discovered Pollo Mex about four months ago although they have been in their location for about a year. They are in a store front that has seen a few failed eateries come and go over the past decade but I think this one is a keeper and will be there to stay for a while. There are plenty of Hispanic restaurants in the area but not so many in Colesville. But it is not just the Hispanic menu that is drawing crowds but the excellent quality of the food and service to be found there. The place is a notch about the competition both in ambiance and taste. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful-mostly because it is the new owners waiting tables. Service is slower than you would expect but that is fine when you are getting the right service and food.

My favorite menu item is the Mexican Tacos made with pork, and fresh red onions. Marinated in lime juice and coming with three types of sauce, these things are just heaven. It is not on the menu but if you ask they will make you fresh lemonade or limeade, served without ice. Don't be bashful about asking them to make it for you. It is worth it. You had better give this place a try soon. It is getting noticed and the crowds are starting to get large.

Capitol View Park-Not sure about this one.

I was driving on Metropolitan Avenue in historic Capitol View Park the other day and noticed that somebody had built this contemporary home there in the past few months. I sort of like modern design in homes but this one just does not do it for me. I question whether it is just ugly or just out of place in Capitol View. To me, something is just not right about it. What do you think?

There are a number of Goodman contemporary homes in the area. My neighborhood (Hillandale) has some and you can find them sprinkled all over the region. Charles Goodman was a famous local architect who rejected the notion of the typical brick colonial and cape homes found in the area and built instead affordable cutting edges modernistic homes using a great deal of wood and glass. Two decades ago his style was not very popular and it was tough to sell his homes. Most were not very energy efficient. But now there has been a resurgence in appreciation for his homes and any Realtor worth his/her salt will make sure the Goodman name is very well publicized when selling a Goodman home.

Spring in Hillandale

This is a great time of year in my community. My wife and I have the job of going through the neighborhood and selecting the winners of the Hillandale Home and Garden Awards-which we do three times a year. We are assisted by some able judges who are all long term residents of Hillandale. We find it fun to do as the neighborhood is full of azaleas and flowering trees. Everything just looks beautiful this time of year. Old Hillandale is the show piece and is well worth a drive through but the rest of the neighborhood looks lovely as well. There is a lot of pride of ownership in Hillandale and spring brings out the best.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

A recent article in the Washington Post indicated that the Washington area is one of the few metropolitan areas in the country where home prices have not declined over the past year. According to the Post, Montgomery County saw about a 2% increase in sales prices over the same period last year. Well, it is not bad news but must be taken with a grain of salt. The housing market is still very soft and prices are very low. In Montgomery County there is a wide gulf between the west portion of the county vs the eastern portion. The west which includes Bethesda, Chevy Chase and Potomac currently has a very strong market and I would say it is there where we have seen the price of home increase over the year. The east part of the county continues to suffer from an overabundance of listings with many distressed properties dragging the overall market down. I have not see any price increases in the east county. If anything the average price of a home has dropped over the past year. However, all is not doom and gloom. A recent survey of my neighborhood (Hillandale) shows that there is about 23-25 homes on the market but almost 40% of those are under contract pending sales. Some of these are short sale contracts and I would say about half of those fail to settle but still, that is an overall healthy percentage. An indicator that the market is turning. We shall see....

FDA at White Oak Continues to Grow

The growing FDA campus at White Oak has passed the projected halfway mark. There are now about 5,400 employees located on campus out of a projected total of around 9,000. Construction and planning continues on the project that is not slated to be completed for a few years yet. There was a lot of controversy over this project but in the end, it has proved to be a good thing overall for the East County and Hillandale area in general. Yes, traffic is heavier on New Hampshire Ave, but we have seen a influx of new businesses-especially restaurants over the past few years. Those who have lived here for a long time know just what a wasteland for good dining this area has been. The FDA has worked hard to be good neighbors and for the most part I don't have much to complain about.

Doves and weddings

Recently, we have had two visitors in our Hillandale neighborhood. For about two weeks now two lovely snow white pigeons had taken up residence on our street. One of them is very fancy with small flanged wings on his feet. They mostly hang out together around our neighbor's bird feeder. Watching them got me interested and my wife did a little research on them.

Apparently, it has gotten to be a big summer wedding experience to release white doves (pigeons) during the ceremony. It is a big time business and can cost quite a lot of money. But of course, weddings are supposed to be silly and extravagant so why not release some birds and piss some more money away. There are legitimate companies that use white pigeons that are trained to "home" back to their roost and I suppose that this is not too bad of an idea but not all of them make it back. Also, there are a lot of fly-by-night operations that actually release white doves (not able to home) and don't care where they go afterwards because they charge enough up front to write off the bird. Then you have your really cheap yahoos who go out and buy doves to release at the wedding on their own.

The problem with white doves and pigeons (who are not smart enough to make it home) is that they are not equipped to survive in the wild. First and foremost is the white color which is just about the worst thing that an animal in the wild can be wearing. It is like a soldier in Iraq wearing day glow orange. Even the occasional white wild animals do not last long in the wild as predators can spot them too easy. (Darwin knew of what he spoke.) Aside from the lack of camouflage, domestically raised doves and pigeons do not have the built in survival skills. They don't fly very well and have no "street" sense. Once on their own they are bound to become table fare for hawks, dogs, cats and anything else in the mind for a slow, pretty meal.

So, in short, don't do this. If you are getting married why not just skip the dove thing altogether. Use the money you save to buy some more of those silver and white almonds wrapped up in ribbons and mesh that everybody throws in the trash afterwards and spare the doves....