Roy’s Place (Gaithersburg, MD)

Roy’s Place

(Update: Roy’s served their last sandwich in March 2013, after a period of weakening sales, and continuing drama with their liquor license)

My current business trip brought me to Greenbelt, MD (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), which was also a good excuse to get together with some of my MD peeps for dinner.

As a destination, we picked “Roy’s Place” in Gaithersburg, MD (a bit of a haul from my hotel in College Park, but I was given a ride). Roy’s is a Gaithersburg institution, a nice, dimly lit saloon featuring a long list of sandwiches.

Indeed, it’s not just a long list of sandwiches. It’s a truly exhaustive list of sandwiches, with over 200 different sandwiches, ranging from the simple (#62, The Welsh and Tennery, cheese and bacon with tomato) to the elaborate (#42, The Teddy Roosevelt, with knockwurst, broiled American cheese, cole slaw, Russian dressing, tomatoes, raw onions and 4 fried oysters) to the truly over-the-top (#82, the Fred Ward, Lobster salad, crab salad, ham, chicken, lettuce, tomato on a four-decker club with three different mayonnaises), to the bizarre joke sandwiches (#7, the good cold sandwich, which is an ice cube on a bun). They’ve also got a lot of specialty sauces available, both as sandwich condiments and as dipping sauces, including garlic mayo, chili mayo, and the infamous sauce Barbara (sour cream, chili sauce, mayonnaise & horseradish, a good combo).

Chester A. Chester

It’s really a case study in cognitive dissonance, since you can spend forever just figuring out what you want to eat. I ended up going with the simple approach of asking one of my fellow diners for a recommendation, and ended up with #121, the Chester A. Chester, which was brisket with sharp cheese & tomatoes, spread with our own chili mayonnaise and topped with onions). This was indeed a good sandwich. The brisket was nicely cooked, tender, and flavorful. The cheese was nice and sharp, and was also complemented nicely by the spicy chili mayo. Adding a side of fries with a very strong garlic mayo, and this was a solidly good dinner.

I’ve had better sandwiches, but the wide selection and the nice slightly Moes Tavern-style ambiance make this a good “sandwich joint”