The craze for fresh, organic, locally grown food isn’t necessarily new to Annapolis. We have a wealth of restaurants, farmers markets, and little cafes popping up all over the city that source local ingredients. There are even events that educate about going green and businesses that take food scraps and turn them into compost for local use. Lucky for us, there’s one more great place at which to grab an Amish egg omelet or a fresh bison slider on a wheat bun: Metro Silver Diner Café. We visited the café on the corner of Annapolis Towne Centre for lunch but what we got was more than just mouthfuls of health.
The style of the interior exists somewhere between retro and modern, thanks to huge graphic art on the walls and chic lighting hanging over booths and tables. The design colors are warm and inviting and ironically match the food colors. Guests order at one end of the counter, are given a number, and wait patiently at the table of their choice. Various wines by the bottle sit on the counter too, and you can see the kitchen staff in the back hard at work. For technology enthusiasts, the fountain dispenser is one of the most interesting features. The drink machine is touch-screen–very up-to-date for such a simple device. After choosing a drink, guests can then decide between indoor and outdoor seating. Shortly after, the food arrives.
Metro is adamant about getting their green, fresh message across. You can see it on the menu, above the ordering counter, on their Website, and even on the large pieces of art decorating the walls.
The café serves brunch, lunch, and dinner. An important feature is the all-day breakfast, which is most certainly an ode to our favorite childhood diners. Brunch features egg dishes from an Amish farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; pancakes; variations of French toast; and even bison with eggs. All the brunch options cost under $12. Lunch/dinner comes just as fresh as the brunch does, complete with mixed greens salads, tomato basil soup, flavorful tacos, and hearty burgers. Lunch also features a section of the menu under 600 calories. Some of what we tried wowed us: chicken pesto panini with an Asian-slaw side salad and a smoked turkey and avocado sandwich with veggie chips. These two options, like the majority of the lunch/dinner menu, come in around $10. Kids can order off the lunch/dinner menu or choose from the kids menu that’s surprisingly precocious with options like salmon sliders and turkey sandwiches.
In true diner fashion, Metro serves up velvety milkshakes in a range of flavors: coffee bean, peppermint patty, low-fat strawberry, and of course, chocolate and vanilla. Adults can also get in on the milkshake action with spiked shakes: mudslides, “Vietnamese Coffee,” and lattes with Kahlua. These drinks cost $6-9. Freshly baked desserts are available for extra indulgence.
Metro sources its ingredients locally, but how locally, you ask? Some of the baked goods are from Uptown Bakers in Hyattsville, Maryland; the bison is from a farm in Monkton, Maryland; the cheeses stem from Firefly Farms in Maryland; the in-season tomatoes come from Ridgely, Maryland; the milk comes from an all-natural farm in Pennsylvania; and the eggs are shipped from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania. The beef is marketed as grass-fed, antibiotic and hormone-free beef; the bacon is free of nitrates; and the produce is sourced as possible from local farms. It’s truly a community effort to get you the best, most natural food at Metro. Annapolis is lucky to have the one and only Metro Café.
Of course, what is more fun than eating healthy? If you ask a child, many things are more entertaining. This is the reason Metro established Kids Night every Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. These family-friendly nights blend together good food with good fun–live music, good causes, and themed-nights. The Kids Nights start on Wednesday, September 5 and cost nothing extra.
You can visit Metro on the Web at www.metrosilverdiner.com, but it’s much more satisfying to visit their location at 216 Harker Place, at Parole. Metro’s hours of operation are: Sunday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
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