One of the few good things about working out in Largo is that I am close to a fabulous Jamaican/Caribbean eatery called Negril. Now, I know that Negril is no secret, at least to those of us that have lived in DC for more than a year, but I figured I would write about it anyway for the few people out there who haven't tried it yet. Negril has been doing what they do for more than 18 years now and have four locations around the beltway. As a family owned business, they control the recipes and quality of the food served quite well.

Lunch is a must at Negril. If you're in a hurry, Negril might not be the place for you. The line can be kind of long and all of the food is made fresh to order. I've waited 20 minutes sometimes for my order, but it's definitely worth it. You wait in line, give your order and you'll get a number. The smart thing is to call ahead, and then pick up your order which you can then eat there or take back to the office. 

For a couple years now, I've been going to Negril for lunch and only ordering one thing, the jerk chicken sandwich. I know, that's extremely boring, but have you had the jerk chicken sandwich??!! Think of moist, tender, and spicy jerk chicken topped with a lemony poppyseed sauce and served on their warm, fluffy fresh-made coco bread. Why do they call it coco bread? I have no idea. It's surely not made with coconuts.

The sandwich is fairly large, so it's enough by itself for lunch. However, I'll add one of the meat, vegetable, or chicken vegetable patties on the side. If your appetite isn't as large as mine, a quick lunch is one of these patties, with an order or coco bread. At $1.35 - $2.25 for the patty and $1 for the coco bread, it's about the cheapest lunch that I can think of around here. Just open up the coco bread by tearing it in half, put the patty in the middle, and close it. Voila! A Jamaican patty sandwich.

Recently, I've branching out a bit and trying some of the other dishes at Negril. My current favorite is the chicken or goat roti. When I saw the word roti in the name of the dish, the first thing I thought of was an Indian whole wheat roti, and that's really what this is. Of course the roti is stuffed with a ton of tender shredded curried chicken, but for those of you who a scared of curry, don't let this scare you. It's NOT hot or overly spicy.  The next dish I want to try is the curried oxtail.

Negril is super cheap and you can get an incredible lunch for between $4 and $10 every time you go there. The portions are huge too, so you don't have to worry about needing a mid-afternoon snack. The only thing you do have to worry about is the afternoon food coma.

Negril
Gaithersburg
18509 N. Frederick Ave.
Gaithersburg, MD
(301) 926-7220
Map

Howard
2301-G Georgia Ave. NW
Washington, DC
(202) 332-3737
Map
    
Mitchellville
12116 Central Ave.
Mitchellville, MD
(301) 249-9101
Map

Silver Spring
965 Thayer Ave.
Silver Spring, MD
(301) 585-3000
Map

Five Guys is now in Largo!!! I've been waiting for this day for a while now. I used to work in Old-Town Alexandra and we would go to the Five Guys there all the time. Luckily, Magic Johnson is investing in PG County and we have the Largo Town Center. When I saw that Five Guys was moving in, I was sooooo excited. The people I work with even pulled an early April fools joke last week, telling me that Five Guys was open before it had actually opened. I had already eaten lunch, and I still almost grabbed my Jacket and ran out to get one of their burgers.

So what is so good about Five Guys burgers you ask? THE BEEF. I know this is not a good picture, but it is like the butcher is in the back room. FRESH, FRESH, FRESH.