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Full On, "Craft Eats & Drinks" on Norbeck Road in Olney


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Just another sandwich shop

Any details?

You wish that these "About" paragraphs didn't read so generically, although they do say that each sandwich is hand-carved - it looks like it aspires to be an Earl's Sandwiches- or SUNdeVICH-type place, and there's certainly room for that in Olney.

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While the location is not within the City of Rockville it is still considered Rockville. Olney is almost 3 miles north.

Rockville is the mailing address, but anyone who has lived near there considers Olney Regional Park (where I won the Montgomery County Men's Open Singles Championships, he says, longing for those days), the intersection of Muncaster Mill and Norbeck, Leisure World, Manor Country Club. Norbeck Memorial Park, etc., Olney - even though the intersection of Route 97 and Route 108 (extending east to Olney Theatre and Olney Ale House) is considered the traditional "tenderloin" of Olney (*). Anything south of these places would be considered Aspen Hill which includes Gate of Heaven Cemetery where my mom and dad rest - it's the "east-ness," i.e., Georgia Avenue instead of Rockville Pike, that makes it so. That said, this knowledge is *all* pre-ICC, and the Intercounty Connector may have changed the way people view things. It's funny, you got me thinking ... driving northbound up Georgia Avenue from the beltway, I, as a driver, get the vague impression that I'm going through, in order, Silver Spring(-ish), Wheaton, Glenmont, Aspen Hill, Olney, Brookville ("U.S. Capital for a day!"), Sunshine (really), Tridelphia, and then onward up into Howard County, I-70, and eventually Westminster, all this with a nagging voice saying "Kemp Mill is on the right, Kensington is on the left, Rockville is on the left, Laytonsville is on the left, etc." I wonder if the Rockville zip code crosses Georgia Avenue in any spots. dinwiddie would know the "feel" for these places as well as anyone, as he's pretty much our Mayor of Olney.

(*) Incidentally, Derek Brown got his start here at B.J. Pumpernickel's.

I grew up in White Oak, and used to have this "thing" I would do for people. "If you head north on New Hampshire Avenue," I would say, "and just keep going and going without making any turns, where will we end up?" Nobody knew, but when I told them, "Georgetown," they thought I had a screw loose, but it was true. This isn't long after New Hampshire Avenue was still a two-lane road in White Oak (yes, it's true), and going for a drive in this area was an absolute pleasure. Sometimes I wonder if, in the year 2100, this entire area will consist of skyscrapers, and getting from White Oak to Alexandria would make about as much sense as getting from Brooklyn to Newark (I once suggested the "Don Rockwell Overpass" - a one-lane highway, arching over all of Washington, DC, going from Silver Spring to Alexandria, and available only to me. I think it would be a fine use of taxpayers' dollars, given that I must cover a large geographical area to stay current on restaurants, and it has become difficult in recent years.)

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That said, this knowledge is *all* pre-ICC, and the Intercounty Connector may have changed the way people view things.

Interesting point. We've lived in Manor Woods for about 6 years now (a few years prior to the ICC opening, and a few years since its opening), and I have always thought that north of the ICC going up Georgia Ave. is Olney, south of the ICC on Georgia Ave. is Rockville (based on mailing address) or Silver Spring (based on some vague notion), but only until Bel Pre Rd., where it becomes Aspen Hill.

Back to topic though: Full On is closed on Sundays for the time being, as they work out their kinks. We stopped by yesterday to enjoy a sandwich (and a beer!) and found that out. We'll likely try them out this week; the parking in that little isolated strip mall is horrendous, and if Full On and Big Greek Cafe are both busy, that will be a problem, I think. Nonetheless, we hope for the best for this place--it's got a decent beer list, and it's close to our house (I can ride my bike there!).

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I grew up less than a half a mile from there and I have never heard anyone refer to that area as Olney.  Silo Inn was generally considered the start of Olney. Another way to look at it is that most kids from Olney go to Sherwood (some to Magruder) all of the kids in that area in question go to Rockville.

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I grew up less than a half a mile from there and I have never heard anyone refer to that area as Olney.  Silo Inn was generally considered the start of Olney. Another way to look at it is that most kids from Olney go to Sherwood (some to Magruder) all of the kids in that area in question go to Rockville.

Fair enough. I was hardly a student of geography when I was in high school - I'd take Norbeck Road to Georgia Avenue, and assume I was in Olney. Maybe it's because I *didn't* live there that I thought this.

Now that I'm thinking about this, I used to consider Flower Valley Rockville, so I guess I've been using Muncaster Mill Road as my mental cutoff point. Is this place in that little shopping center between Muncaster Mill and Georgia?

---

ETA: Indeed it is. Google "Rockville" and you'll see that it doesn't come very close to Georgia Avenue, and there's nothing but houses on Norbeck between Muncaster Mill and Bel Pre Road (where Urban Burger is now an Urban BBQ), so this shopping center is essentially on Georgia (and housed the former Grand'Ma Cooking (which I had labeled as Rockville) and House of Gyro (which I had labeled as Olney), so you can see there's never been any real consistency here (which is what happens when you do things piecemeal which is how this dining guide evolved)). I would consider putting Full On in Aspen Hill before Rockville - Norbeck Road used to be my cutoff point (between Olney and Aspen Hill); now, I might make it the Intercounty Connector (which opened after this website did). That said, I need to give the entire Maryland Dining Guide a once-over in terms of location. Any volunteers? :)

Cheers,

Bob Marburg

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I grew up less than a half a mile from there and I have never heard anyone refer to that area as Olney.  Silo Inn was generally considered the start of Olney. Another way to look at it is that most kids from Olney go to Sherwood (some to Magruder) all of the kids in that area in question go to Rockville.

As an Olney native (I grew up there and my parents still live there), I think this distinction is about right - both colloquially among Olney residents and close to the zip code definition too. The odd thing about the mailing address is that Rockville extends (or at least used too) way into some of the SW areas that are adjacent to Olney.  One of the demarcation lines near my parent's house is actually the big electrical wires - which is why my elementary school was Olney, but 2 blocks away where Cashell elementary is, it was Rockville - both with different feeder middle and high schools.  Either way I don't get out to Olney as much these days, but when I do, we miss BJ's and have been enjoying the Big Greek Cafe for carryout.  Also, the Chinese place in the Leisure World shopping center (again not in, but on the way to Olney) was pretty good Chinese-American fare.  Never heard of this place Full On, but I'll post if we try it.

BTW - the center of Olney still is 108 and GA, right where the Olney Shopping Center is and which used to have a corner gazebo that was originally a blacksmith shop about 30+ years ago.

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enough about the location.  I have to talk about one helluva sandwich.  My husband and I got take-out from here this evening.  I had the Tex Salad which is Chopped romaine, slow roasted pulled chicken, roasted red peppers, avocado, black beans, cheddar, tomato, red onion, onion straws, and BBQ ranch dressing.  It was a good salad but nothing memorable.  My husband ordered the cauliflower sandwich with roasted cauliflower, black bean hummus, pickled peppers, pepperjack & smoky ranch on sourdough.  He left me one bite and all I could say was "whoa."  The pickled peppers really added depth of flavor, which didn't hit me immediately but took me by surprise seconds later.  I can't wait to go back and get a whole sandwich for myself.  What a welcome addition to the area!

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enough about the location.  I have to talk about one helluva sandwich.  My husband and I got take-out from here this evening.  I had the Tex Salad which is Chopped romaine, slow roasted pulled chicken, roasted red peppers, avocado, black beans, cheddar, tomato, red onion, onion straws, and BBQ ranch dressing.  It was a good salad but nothing memorable.  My husband ordered the cauliflower sandwich with roasted cauliflower, black bean hummus, pickled peppers, pepperjack & smoky ranch on sourdough.  He left me one bite and all I could say was "whoa."  The pickled peppers really added depth of flavor, which didn't hit me immediately but took me by surprise seconds later.  I can't wait to go back and get a whole sandwich for myself.  What a welcome addition to the area!

I second the cauliflower sandwich--really great! Many nicely blended flavors, good crunchy cauliflower, and nice sauce. The turkey sandwich was okay, nothing that really elevated it above the level of what we could do at home.

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You know what's funny? dinwiddie is basically our "Mayor of Olney" - he's started more Olney-based threads than anyone by far.

Okay! Rockville!

And yet, this was about the single worst first post I've ever seen! :lol:

And I don't live in Olney, I live on Norbeck Road!

That shopping strip, which is almost all restaurants, is in a tough position to name a place.  Is it Olney, Rockville, something else?  In essence, it is the land that once belonged to White's Hardware (which has been there since before Don Rockwell was a little boy).  Of course, White's calls itself White's Hardware of Olney, but has a Rockville address.  I guess I call that area Olney because it is just as easy to get to Olney from there as to Rockville Town Center.

Actually, I had a very much more detailed post that I deleted and edited out for reasons I won't go into.  Yes the sandwiches are good, and they have a fairly decent (for MoCo) selection of craft beers, but the parking is cramped, as is the restaurant.  There have been gliches in service that I found to be annoying, and as good as they are, there are places I would rather eat.  I hope they do well, but am not holding my breath, nothing seems to do well in that space.

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