Matchbox: Ice Cream Sandwich

Josh


A divine dessert can be found right in the heart of Rockville, MD on the pike at Matchbox.  A very trendy and popular pick at the moment, Matchbox is huge with a large outdoor seating area for the summer months. While perhaps a good dessert choice for that time, I chose to jump the gun a little a sample the ice cream sandwich mid-winter, and I was not disappointed.

First and foremost, the cookies were tremendous.  Whether they were freshly baked in house or not, they certainly tasted it.  Large, with ample chocolate chip rations, they maintained their warm softness despite the coffee ice cream's valiant effort to expose that wondrous element.  Chocolate sauce lined the plate in a very ornate and fancy way, but didn't really affect the taste too drastically. Fairly substantial in size, one could certainly share this delight with a significant other, however, I will warn you, it is good enough to incite hoarding. 

In addition to the cookie sandwich, we also got lucky in that on Tuesdays at Matchbox, they offer you a taste of their donut dessert as a thank you for your patronage. I found them to be quite tasty, but certainly no comparison to the cookie sandwich to my palate.  The donuts are part of the regular menu, so don't fret if you can't stop in on a Tuesday. All in all, Matchbox is a great place to grab a quality dessert.

1699 Rockville Pike at Congressional Plaza
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 816-0369

Also:

Chinatown                             

713 H St. NW
Washington, DC  20001

(202) 289-4441 

521 8th St. SE

Washington, DC 20003

(202) 548-0369

Yelp (3.5/5)

Open Table (4/5)

metromix (4/5)

Washington Post

Gazette

Washington Business Journal

La Tasca Rockville: Tartita de Café and Arroz con Leche

Josh


Tartita de Café.  This is another chocolate mousse option, distinguished by its cappuccino highlights.  My most telling comment on this dessert lies with its presentation.  It has an unusual shape to say the least.  If your taste buds love coffee, perhaps this should be your choice.  Good. 

Arroz con Leche.  It had been many moons since I had a good rice pudding. This is it! I went after it hard and often. To me, rice pudding is always a good choice, and this was as well, it was especially satisfying in an apropos-themed restaurant.  Divine. 

 141 Gibbs Street #305

Rockville, MD 20850

(301) 279-7011

Google map

Open Table (3.8/5)

Washington Post (Reader: 2/4)

Yelp (2.5/5)

TripAdvisor (3/5)

La Tasca Rockville: Mousse de Chocolate, Apple Pie, Tres Leches Cake, & Churros con Chocolate

Josh


Mousse de Chocolate
Dark chocolate mousse over top of what proved to be a very good brownie. To my colleague Bill's dismay, this particular dish contains hazelnuts, a definite negative strike in his book, but this dessert was quite good, and I recommend it for brownie lovers.  Great. 

Back to the Basics Apple Pie 
Not something this particular restaurant does exceptionally well... Its a Spanish restaurant... don't order Apple Pie! Enough said!  Skip.

Tres Leches Cake
A sponge cake dipped in milk and covered in frosting... I like this dessert actually more than I thought.  Presents like a birthday cake, but has the sponge cake taste... Once again, not a typical order for someone like myself, but if sponge cake is your thing... Have at it!  Good.

Churros con Chocolate
Quite simply this one was awesome. I have always thought of Churros as being a Mexican dish, and for those who are unaware, it is in essence fried dough covered in cinnamon. This dish came along with a chocolate dipping sauce which was great.  I hit this dessert up very hard, and definitely took more than my allotted share!  Divine.

141 Gibbs Street #305

Rockville, MD 20850

(301) 279-7011

Google map

Open Table (3.8/5)

Washington Post (Reader: 2/4)

Yelp (2.5/5)

TripAdvisor (3/5)

La Tasca: Flan de Huevo

Josh

La Tasca is an international chain of Spanish tapas restaurants with four locations in the DC area.  On a recent Saturday, I went to the Rockville branch with a number of friends, which enabled us to accrue a large amount of dishes from the tasting menus.  Food seemingly came out in droves over the course of the evening.  There were several very good meat options, as well as a great calamari dish, however, basic faire is not why anyone is reading this particular blog, so I digress. 

At the time, the tastings came a dessert option, in which every ten dollars spent yielded a free dessert.  This allowed our big group to sample a lot of different options.  In fact, we chose with DCDesserts in mind, and grabbed everything possible.  This is the first of eight reviews of La Tasca’s desserts.

The flan de heuvo is a vanilla-bean flan with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  Obviously, if there were one dessert that a Spanish restaurant does well, it would be this one.  However, my novice palate in terms of Spanish-style desserts, especially flan, hinders my ability to give an accurate account of this particular dish.  It’s not typically something I order, but a co-patron at my table, an avid flan consumer, said he was very impressed. Hopefully that helps!

141 Gibbs Street #305

Rockville, MD 20850

(301) 279-7011

Google map

Open Table (3.8/5)

Washington Post (Reader: 2/4)

Yelp (2.5/5)

TripAdvisor (3/5)