Burger Heaven
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5566 Norbeck Rd, Rockville
301-460-0050
www.eataturban.com
Open: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Free parking. All major credit cards. Smoking at outdoor tables only. Prices: appetizers $4 to $8, entrees $5.50 to $7. Full meal with soda, tax and tip about $15 per person.
* Stoney's
1433 P St. NW
202-234-1818
Open: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Street parking. Metro: Dupont Circle. V, MC, AE, D. No smoking. Prices: appetizers $5.50 to $8.50, entrees $5 to $19.95. Full meal with beer, tax and tip about $20 per person.
DAVID CALKINS AND LEE HOWARD have done it again. The 30-somethings behind the popular Urban Bar-B-Que Company in Rockville have opened a restaurant celebrating another American standard -- hamburgers -- and infused the place with the kind of charm that you'd love to find at the Golden Arches (or even at Five Guys) but seldom do.
If there's a friendlier fast-food joint than the Urban Burger Company, it's not on my radar. The virtual pats on the back start as soon as you walk through the doors and stroll to the self-service counter, where a bright-eyed cashier (likely a student from Rockville High School) takes your requests. A sign on the counter explains that cops, firefighters, postal workers, teachers, senior citizens -- why, just about everybody but restaurant critics -- get a 10 percent discount on their meals.
"We owe the community a lot" for the success of three-year-old Urban Bar-B-Que, says Calkins, who also put up two bulletin boards for his customers to communicate with one another. Young families are embraced with a playroom for kids, which is enclosed in glass and wood so as not to disrupt other diners, and offers two TVs, one tuned to the Cartoon Network. Ever-present at their new work site, which opened late last year, Calkins and Howard are a two-man Chamber of Commerce.
