Fryer’s Roadside is a pitstop worth making on New Hampshire Avenue in Silver Spring. Chef Edward Reavis and Jennifer Meltzer serve up Southern comfort foods including gluten-free and halal fried chicken, regional American barbecue, sides, milkshakes, sundaes, ice cream, and baked goods. The restaurant is a casual spot for walk-up ordering and carryout from Tuesday through Sunday.

This family-owned restaurant turns out Italian favorites like calzones, signature white- and red-sauced pizza, homemade meatballs, and more. Order the Napoli pizza (anchovies, black olives, and basil), Quattro Stagioni pizza (a four-in-one pie featuring mozzarella, salami and ham, mushrooms and tomatoes) and a Calabrese (salami and sausage) calzone for the table. Not to be missed is the dessert menu, which includes chocolate profiteroles, limoncello shortcake, and Nutella pizza. The team recently expanded to D.C. with a new Pacci’s on Capitol Hill.

The old Mrs. K’s Toll House transformed itself into an indoor tavern and outdoor garden bar with plenty of space to kick back and enjoy the natural beauty of this historic estate. Weekend brunch is a particularly good time to visit for essential dishes like a veggie shakshuka, challah French toast, and a Louisiana-style po’boy packed with Gulf shrimp.

This seafood-centric restaurant serves tasty lobster rolls, Maryland-style crab cakes, and an array of freshly shucked oysters. The top dish of the moment is the trout crab meuniere, a dish with a pan-seared filet topped with lemon butter crab and served on a bed of fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, and roasted cherry tomatoes.

Silver Spring restaurateur Jerry Hollinger recently rolled out a new steakhouse in an upscale setting with a raw bar and seafood platters. This includes fresh oysters and crabs sourced from the Chesapeake Bay watershed region and steaks raised on cattle farms in Texas for certified black Angus beef.

At this beloved Burmese restaurant, flavors of curry, ginger, and cilantro dominate. Kayann thee gyaw (eggplant fritters), let thoke sone (mixed noodles), and thinn bawthee thoke (green papaya salad) are just some of the delicious options offered. Close things out with brown sugar and coconut sticky rice, or coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell. Dine-in service made a long-awaited return this month.

Descend the 13 steps down to this basement dive bar and restaurant, which also happens to be one of the oldest taverns in Maryland. This place serves up juicy burgers, pages of whiskey options, and a craft beer list that shows love for several Montgomery County breweries.

Spice Street specializes in Indian street food from several different regions across the country. From paneers to chats, there are several veggie-friendly dishes to choose from, plus a warm and welcoming bar with a generous happy hour. Silver Spring’s 9-to-5 office crowd will also want to try the “Lunch Thali” special for $13.

Consistently ranked as one of the best Ethiopian restaurants in the D.C. region, Beteseb features a welcoming dining room with live music and plenty of injera to go along with the fun. Try the derek tibs with chunks of lean beef and sauteed with onion, tomato, and green pepper (served mild or spicy). Or sample one of several vegetarian and vegan dishes; the ever-popular veggie combo features five combinations of misir wot, kik alicha, atakilt wot, ye gomen wot, and shiro wot.

Denizens is where you can gather with friends, family, or pups to sip craft beers and hard seltzers made on-site. More recently, the beloved Maryland brewery partnered with Silver Spring’s All Set to bring a delicious, chef-driven menu to this indoor/outdoor beer garden.

This old-school seafood house might feel as if you’ve traveled to the real seaside town of Crisfield—about a three-hour drive east on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. You are required to try the crab cake platter that’s been on the menu since day one, going all the way back to 1945.