Silver & Sons to Open First Brick and Mortar

One of the DMV area’s favorite food trucks is staking its permanent claim in Bethesda later this year. Silver & Sons, famous for its Jewish and Mediterranean inspired fare, will be opening its first brick and mortar in the Westbard Square development, reports local media outlet Washingtonian.

The eatery will be occupying an 800 square foot building located at 5320 Zenith Overlook. Chef and founder Jarrad Silver spoke with What Now DC about bringing his fan favorite barbecue to Bethesda, an area he knows well. “I actually grew up just a couple miles down the road from this shopping center and it was the one I went to regularly,” he explains. “I had a lot of kids’ birthdays at the bowling alley across the street. I knew they were trying to do a redevelopment there for awhile and I thought it would be cool to do something there. When I knew I was doing the first brick and mortar I reached out and our timelines ended up matching perfectly.”

Silver explains that in addition to the restaurant, Silver & Sons will be opening a commissary kitchen, allowing the brand greater room for prep. “As a mobile unit you have to have a base of operations. I knew I wanted us to have our own base of operations, so I knew that I needed enough space to do production for the food trucks. I also knew if we had enough space in a brick and mortar to do prep, we were going to be looking at 3,000 plus square feet so I started looking at commercial real estate and we signed a lease last April for a facility up in Rockville. That is our catering kitchen and it is currently under construction.”

The abundant success of Silver & Sons’ food truck gave Silver the confidence to pursue a permanent home for his delicious barbecue. “We opened the first food truck in 2022 and things went very well from pretty much the day we opened.” he says. “We added a lot of new neighborhoods and went to a lot of breweries and wineries. We opened up the second food trailer last year. I knew the next 2 pieces were going to be very ambitious but I thought they were really going to point us in the right direction.”

Silver & Sons makes all of its cuisine from scratch. Fans of the food truck can look forward to enjoying their favorites, while savoring new and exciting dishes. Silver explains: “Our mobile units are our brand ambassadors-they have our core menu. People can look forward to an expanded menu. We’re going to have specialty sandwiches and a little more of the made-to-order variety of sandwiches. I’m looking forward to doing smoked turkey and then we can take the leftovers and make a sliced deli turkey sandwich. We’re going to expand on the sides, and we’re also going to have some grab-and-go options.”

The Silver & Sons food truck will continue to operate as the brand moves towards a permanent home. In fact, it will begin parking in the Westbard location on weekends, allowing locals to get a taste for its signature barbecue. Those hungry for the eatery’s cuisine can’t do better than the short rib pastrami or pulled lamb shoulder, states Silver. “They’re incredibly unique to the kind of barbecue we’re doing. The lamb shoulder-instead of doing pulled pork we do pulled lamb. We coat the outside and then cook it until it just shreds and falls off the bone. All served with barbecue sauce we make by ourselves. We make our own challah bread, and pickled vegetables come with everything.”

Silver is hoping to begin serving customers before the year is out. “We’re finishing up design.” he says. “We should be submitting permits in the next couple of weeks. We’re expecting about a 16 week construction phase. We’re really optimistic about opening before the end of the year.”  

Silver is looking forward to bringing a wholly unique barbecue experience to Bethesda. He states: “We’re looking to make a warm and inviting environment, not cold, dark, loud-the rock and roll feel you get with more celebrity chef restaurants. We’re not looking for really over the top bright, colorful…I want people to feel very comfortable in the setting we have.”