Brick Ridge - Owner Todd Bricken's Roadside Regional American on Ridge Road North of Mount Airy

[jayandstacey]

So, I live pretty far away from the beltway now and I'm not sure if this should be in the Washington DC or Baltimore forum (it is just on the Carroll side of the Frederick/Carroll county line). 

Brick Ridge is a quaint little roadside restaurant that does much better than you'd expect on the way to Westminster.   They've been there since 2000 and have been cycling through the 50 states, offering specials from that state, one different state each week during the year, for many years.   Yes, this sounds gimmicky and risky but I've enjoyed it. 

I've been 4 times maybe as I now live very close.  I'm not going to comment on particular dishes but will give an overall sense of the place.   I would put it on a par, or maybe better, with Monocacy Crossing, which is to say it is food prepared by a kitchen that knows how to cook well.  I'd say the dining rooms are nicer/brighter at Brick Ridge.   The menu will typically have 10 or 15 standards that stick around (duck, steak, etc) that include safe options and a few more adventurous dishes.  Then each week they offer a handful of dishes from that week's chosen state - so for instance, here's this week's Montana specials menu:

• Custer’s Last Stand - $7.00 - Rum, Vodka, Tequila, Triple Sec and Blackberry Liqueur Served Over Ice
• Potato and Spring Pea Soup - $4.95 - Chicken Broth Based Soup with Potato, Spring Peas and Carrots with Sourdough Croutons
• Lamb Patties - $10.95 - Ground Lamb and Green Onion Patties with a Lemon and Mint Aioli
• Bison Ribeye - $28.00 - A Grilled Ten-Ounce Bison Ribeye ~ Chipotle Pepper Glaze
• Wild Steelhead Trout - $24.00 - Flat Iron Grilled Fillet of Wild Trout ~ Blackberry-Merlot Butter
• Big Sky Blackberry Crème Brume Brule - $6.00

The owner Todd Bricken is ever-present and the staff is very experienced and always helpful.

Given that each week they are changing gears on some items, taking some risks and such...I'd expect that they occasionally serve an off dish.   I'm glad to be close by though and would recommend this place...given the mix of safe and adventurous, quality and comfort...to anyone. 

[DonRocks]

21 hours ago, jayandstacey said:

So, I live pretty far away from the beltway now and I'm not sure if this should be in the Washington DC or Baltimore forum (it is just on the Carroll side of the Frederick/Carroll county line).

Mount Airy is the bain of my existence (as is the word "bane"), as the Frederick and Carroll County lines go right through the city, and in our Dining Guides, Frederick County is in the Washington, DC forum, and Carroll County is in the Baltimore and Annapolis forum. If I had half a brain - even a quarter of a brane - I would just pick one or the other, and include Mount Airy in its entirety, but noooooo, my OCD has to kick in and take control of me. Well, at least I *acknowledge* that I'm a whack job - that's perhaps the first step to recovery.

I'm torn about Monocacy Crossing - I've had some really pleasant meals there, and then I've had food that was just awful. The chef-owner's name, btw, is Ron Regan.

As an aside, has anyone besides me noticed some *seriously* nasty accidents on Ridge Road? I think I've seen more overturned cars there than on any other road in the area - I can be driving at night on a completely empty, isolated patch of road, and come up on a fire truck and ambulance next to an upside-down car, then I keep driving and see nothing but emptiness.

That is very cool about the State Specials at Brick Ridge, and I'll bet the chef has great fun with it - I've never heard of another restaurant attempting such a thing. America Eats Tavern does a subset of this, at least in theory, but I don't think they've ever gone state-by-state; Mitsitam Cafe divides Native America up into several regions. And I'll bet this is the first time in history that someone has mentioned Brick Ridge, America Eats Tavern, and Mitsitam Cafe in the same sentence.

Black Ankle Winery, btw, is listed as one of their Friends and Partners.

[jayandstacey]

7 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Mount Airy is the bain of my existence (as is the word "bane"), as the Frederick and Carroll County lines go right through the city, and in our Dining Guides, Frederick County is in the Washington, DC forum, and Carroll County is in the Baltimore and Annapolis forum. If I had half a brain - even a quarter of a brane - I would just pick one or the other, and include Mount Airy in its entirety, but noooooo, my OCD has to kick in and take control of me. Well, at least I *acknowledge* that I'm a whack job - that's perhaps the first step to recovery.

Sometimes you have to draw a line somewhere!

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I'm torn about Monocacy Crossing - I've had some really pleasant meals there, and then I've had food that was just awful. The chef-owner's name, btw, is Ron Regan.

That's partly why I compared Brick Ridge to Monocacy Crossing...I don't have the culinary expertise to compare it to some universally well-regarded place, and each time I've been to Brick Ridge I've decidedly not eaten critically, rather I've just sat back and enjoyed.   It is certainly comparable to Monocacy Crossing in that it just sits curiously on a treed two-lane road, more like eating in Vermont than Maryland.  Maybe someone else can better review the dishes.  I'd judge that it would get decent marks, though I don't think it tries to be on a par with someplace like Patowmack Farm.

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

As an aside, has anyone besides me noticed some *seriously* nasty accidents on Ridge Road? I think I've seen more overturned cars there than on any other road in the area - I can be driving at night on a completely empty, isolated patch of road, and come up on a fire truck and ambulance next to an upside-down car, then I keep driving and see nothing but emptiness.

Holy Shit - you have no idea.

I was just reading the other day that rural roads are 5x more likely to have accidents, and they will be deadlier, even accounting for their reduced traffic.  My wife works at the high school along 27 and there hasn't been a year that's gone by in the last 15 years or so where a student wasn't killed on 27 or in the roads around Damascus/Mt. Airy.   Every year, one or more kids, all either students or recent former students.   This year...hell, this week...was no exception and 3 boys didn't make graduation.

About 6 months ago my car's engine died while heading up rte 27 - all power lost suddenly.  Luckily I was able to drive it into someone's yard and get it just off the road - but had that happened 1/4 mile ahead or behind - I would have been a sitting duck.   (the lawsuits are in progress over that one...)

That road is insane.  I get that for much of the rest of the country that may be the norm, but it is different from the rest of MoCo and the DC area.   And a bad different. 

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

That is very cool about the State Specials at Brick Ridge, and I'll bet the chef has great fun with it - I've never heard of another restaurant attempting such a thing. America Eats Tavern does a subset of this, at least in theory, but I don't think they've ever gone state-by-state; Mitsitam Cafe divides Native America up into several regions. And I'll bet this is the first time in history that someone has mentioned Brick Ridge, America Eats Tavern, and Mitsitam Cafe in the same sentence.

No doubt the first time.  No doubt.  circle the calendar

As they've done this for (I think) all 16 years they've been there, and the specials are limited and the ownership has been consistent, I'd also imagine they've had a chance to reduce the risk that comes with this method...supply risk, execution risk, etc.   I love it because no matter when I go I know there will be a few things I've never seen offered before.  I'll leave it to others to determine how successful this is; it works for me. 

I do, however, know enough to ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEE it is better then the America restaurant that used to be Union Station. 

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Black Ankle Winery, btw, is listed as one of their Friends and Partners.

Cool - I live down the road from Black Ankle (next to Talbot Run stables).  Cool place, I'm just not into wine, though my wife is.  So we'll have to go back up and pay Jen a visit!

BTW, you have "roadside diner" as a tag...I guess that's accurate on some level, but this is a white tablecloth, wine glasses and slacks kind of place, I think 'diner' misses the mark a little bit, but it also doesn't look like the tag has been applied anywhere else so maybe not!

[jayandstacey]

9 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Mount Airy is the bain of my existence (as is the word "bane"), as the Frederick and Carroll County lines go right through the city, and in our Dining Guides, Frederick County is in the Washington, DC forum, and Carroll County is in the Baltimore and Annapolis forum. If I had half a brain - even a quarter of a brane - I would just pick one or the other, and include Mount Airy in its entirety, but noooooo, my OCD has to kick in and take control of me. Well, at least I *acknowledge* that I'm a whack job - that's perhaps the first step to recovery.

You know, looking at a map...

Maybe a clean cut would be to use Rte 32 - it seems to be just about where you have the line currently in the Columbia/Laurel area.   (is it?  What do you use along I-95?)  It extends above I-70 and is kind of shaped like an outer beltway for Baltimore.  

That would move your line to where it would split Eldersburg - but - I wouldn't fret over that one.  Eldersburg has Liberatore's Italian food, Oscar's Alehouse, J&Y sushi, Nora's Kabobs, Franks pizza and a slew of fast food joints on the Baltimore side of rte 32, and really only Salerno's Crabs on west side.   All of the Sykesville restaurants are on the west side, including Baldwin Station, French Twist crepes and E.W. Becks Pub (which I went to twice in two weeks - both for brunch.  The first time was terrific, and the next was oddly different and not in a good way - changed menu, no specials, couldn't make the drinks we had two weeks before...very odd...)   It's a pretty clean cut up there. 

Besides, as I drive through that part of MD toward Baltimore, it feels like crossing the Liberty Reservoir area is the point where I'm entering greater Baltimore.  But maybe that's just me.  

Maybe this suggestion only shifts your problem to the East about 10 miles - but maybe it also keeps you from getting out the magnifying glass to see if the Carroll county line goes behind the restaurant's dumpster or in front of their door.  :) 

Further edit -  Brick Ridge is a few miles north of Mt. Airy Proper - so if you took your plan (to just include all Mt. Airy in either Carroll or Frederick) where would THAT line be drawn?   (any answer is ok so long as it isn't near any restaurants!)

Edited June 12, 2016 by jayandstacey
embetterment