Family Meal

Continuing on our visit to Frederick, Maryland The Lovely Spouse and I had lunch at a restaurant called Family Meal.  Season 6 Top Chef Cheftestant Bryan Voltaggio opened this more casual restaurant in a former Nissan dealership following the success of his other restaurant Volt.  Long term readers may recall The Lovely Spouse and I visited Volt a couple years ago. Volt was a fantastic special occasion meal, however on this trip I was joined with family who wanted a casual dining experience.

We arrived without reservations and decided to sit the bar instead of waiting for a table. Immediately we were given filtered water and asked for our drink orders.  They had a small, but nice selection of craft beers in addition to some good top shelf liquors, as well as mulled wine and the standards of sodas, coffee, iced tea, etc.

Family Meal is most well known for its fried chicken so some in our group got that to share. It's half a fried chicken.  I was in the mood for a crabcake sandwich and The Lovely Spouse was in the mood for an omelet. We had to get the duck fat fries because...duck fat fries. And we got an order of mac and cheese to split with the group. 

One of the benefits to sitting at the bar is being able to see what goes on in the open kitchen. The deviled eggs are very popular. 

Fried chicken served in a chicken bowl.  It was good fried chicken - nice and moist and crispy.  

Omelet served with kitchen fries.  They were quite tasty. And very filling.

Duck fat fries served with 3 dipping sauces. One was a garlic sauce, an onion sauce and a siracha sauce.  Not quite enough duck fat flavor in the fries, but otherwise well preped fries.  I liked the siracha sauce. 

Crab cake sandwich. Not the typical Maryland style that everyone associates with G&M and Obryki's in Baltimore, but a good crab cake in its own right.  I was happy with it. Served with pickles. 

Mac and cheese.  Enough to serve several people.  Tasted good, but I was unable to eat much of it because it contained either garlic or onions (could taste it).

The main dining room.

In all our entire group enjoyed their lunch at Family Meal and will be likely to return.  It wasn't a cheap meal, but wasn't the special occasion splurge that Volt was. The prices were in line for what we had been seeing elsewhere for similar quality food in the area. The food was good and the service was friendly. And we enjoyed sitting at the bar. 

[Before anyone asks, no we did not see Bryan Voltaggio at the restaurant.  He now owns 3 restaurants and while I imagine he visits each to oversee operations, it would be impossible to be at all of them all the time.  We weren't expecting to see him.]