O'Donnell's Sea Grill, Owner Bill Edelblut's Third-Generation Family-Owned Gaithersburg Restaurant Open Since 1922 - Closed

[Pat]

O'Donnell's (seafood... and those great rum buns they give you)

Closed, after 90 years.

[ol_ironstomach]

Friday night, the waiting list grew to 2.5-3 hours inside, and about 1.5 hrs outside, with lots of people trying to cram in one last taste before they closed.  Saturday was apparently reservations-only, and had been booked up long in advance.  Looking around at the other tables, there were a fair number of three- and four-generation parties who had grown up with the place.

Bill Edelblut apparently has plans to work on an O'Donnell's cookbook, and to keep the website alive for the time being before deciding what he's going to do next.  I hope he does, lest the Norfolk sampler (and basket of rum buns) vanish forever from the face of the earth.

In retrospect, it's a bit weird that ever since they shuttered the Bethesda location shortly after Bish Thompson's closed, the icons of Bethesda seafood would have to be Tako Grill, Matuba, and the Bethesda Crab House, with Freddie's representing the new vanguard.

[jdc]

I think we all missed this one - reopening as a market in Rockville with some signature dishes.

[pras]

I think we all missed this one - reopening as a market in Rockville with some signature dishes.

I started a thread in the shopping category.

[jdc]

I started a thread in the shopping category.  

Okay, well then I missed that thread!