Market Table Bistro, Chef Jason Lage and GM Rebecca Dudley in Lovettsville

[Joe H]

http://www.markettab...t-us/our-staff/

Has anyone been?

From their website about the chef:

In his travels through France, Lage studied and worked at Michel Bras in Laguiole, France (Michelin 3 Stars) as well as Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, France (Michelin 3 Stars). Upon returning to the States, Lage was the featured chef at the James Beard House for three consecutive years.

[petercarrjones]

I've heard that this place is great. Also, that is no longer the hidden gem that it was a year ago.

[Joe H]

We went to the Market Table Bistro last night. Excellent including a Great dish, "Spring Garden," which is shown at the top of their website. http://www.markettablebistro.com/ Serious. A Great Dish worthy of a three Michelin star restaurant including the two that the chef owner once worked in. Also, an outstanding dessert which is essentially a large, thick chocolate chip cookie individually baked in a small blackened cast iron skillet, topped with ice cream and served with a glass of milk. Shrimp and grits was interesting as was their thin but flavorful Cuban black bean soup, filet had a great deal of flavor, very good deviled eggs-all in all a very worthwhile stop while exploring the northern edge of the Blueridge wine country.

April, the server, was a superb ambassador for the restaurant. She would be outstanding in anyone's front of the house. Sooner or later someone will discover her-we wish her well. She has the talent of making each individual person feel special while passionately presenting the restaurant and the chef's efforts.

Much of the cooking rivalled the old Four and Twenty Blackbirds although the design of the interior of the room felt more "coffee shop" and less country destination. For myself this was a knock against it although there is a back room with wood beamed ceilings.

FWIW we had lunch at the Maple Avenue Restaurant in Vienna today. Interesting to visit both farm to table efforts within 18 hours. Maple Avenue has character in its once Tastee Freeze/Anita's room which serves it well. Market Table is a step up on the plate.

[1000yregg]

I went there last spring with some friends who live out there. I also had a good experience. Here's my post with pics.

[Genevieve]

Well, thanks to this board and you posters, we had a really lovely Father's Day brunch here on Sunday. My husband decided on the spur of the moment that it would be nice to get out of the city and go to one of the little towns in the 'country' part of VA, so I hopped on the board and looked at what Don had listed for Virginia. Lovettsville sounded good, and the Market Table Bistro reviews sounded like just what we were looking for (delicious but casual, with lots of fresh local ingredients). Couldn't reach them to be sure that we could get a table (got a recording, left a message - they have an online reservation system that involves sending an email but we weren't sure they'd see it in time) so we drove down, figuring if they were full we'd go to a barbecue place. But they had room, and it was terrific.

Outdoor seating, shaded, with lots of plants around (and their herb garden in back with everything labelled, including one I'd never heard of, burnet). Very good service, attentive and very friendly. They started us off with house-made strawberry bread that was just delectable -- very moist, rich, with fresh strawberry taste. When we said how much we liked it, they brought us another serving.

Husband and kiddo started off with mac and cheese appetizer (the pasta was "ricosso," new to me, like a much larger and shorter penne), with several cheeses, ham and herbs. They liked it very much and none was left behind. I had a field green salad with Cherry Glen goat cheese, citrus vinaigrette, and shaved pear - I asked for it to be lightly dressed and it was just right, and the dressing was unusual and tangy and great. A lovely salad.

Main courses: the guys split chorizo, scrambled eggs, tortillas, grits, black beans and corn. The kiddo found the chorizo too spicy but loved the eggs (they were luscious, I had a bite). Husband liked it all. I had pasta (thick ribbons) with parmesan and local greens and mushrooms -- incredibly good. There were five or six kinds of mushrooms, including beech, and while the server said it included portobello and button mushrooms, I saw nothing so ordinary in my dish. There were huge, meaty, rich mushrooms, and the dish was packed with them. The sauce was lovely and the pasta was excellent (tasted house-made, don't know if it was).

For dessert, husband had a root beer float (Maine Root beer - I love their ginger ale which is spicy with lots of ginger), son had warm ganache cake with vanilla ice cream (I had a bite - tasty), and I had blueberry lemon pound cake, which was baked into a little crock, with loads of blueberries, and lemon curd and blueberry compote on the side. Tender and fresh tasting and not heavy.

Most definitely recommended!