Restaurants in Laurel

Resting in the heart of Old Italy for more than 25 years, La Panetteria features white stucco walls, ceramic-tile floor, and hanging baskets that make it resemble an Old World eatery. Guests seated in the restaurant's indoor atrium enjoy a sunlit dining atmosphere as they savor the freshly baked bread and northern and southern Italian dishes placed before them atop checkered tablecloths. The subjects of the restaurant's period paintings look on enviously as diners dig into homemade pastas, milk-fed veal cutlets, and piping-hot pizzas. All of La Panetteria's entrees are carefully prepared to order, with any dishes not meeting patron's exact instructions taken to the street and thrown into a passing convertible.

Head Chef Duarte Rebolo‘s career began on his native island of Maderia, where he cooked for tourists before embarking on a journey that saw him creating luxurious dinners on Celebrity Cruise Lines and working with world-renowned chefs at the Watergate. Today, Rebolo recreates the authentic tastes of Portugal with Tavira’s menu of fresh seafood, goat-cheese-stuffed peppers, and colorful pasta. Music from a live classical guitarist mingles with the scents of mussels, steaks, and warm apple tatins. Diners sip fine wine at the full-service bar, or dine on lunchtime sandwiches of marinated lamb or dinners of grilled chicken in spicy piri-piri sauce. The bill of fare celebrates Portugal’s rich maritime history with ample selections of salted cod, salmon, and shrimp, as well as a pop-up book insert detailing all the fish that got away from Prince Henry the Navigator.

Sculptures of simple wooden sailboats glide across the wall behind Sake House's sushi bar, where chefs bend intently over long filets of fresh fish. In front of them in the dining room, tables draped with tidy white tablecloths stand out against the dark, wooden walls, and platters littered with colorful sushi travel on the arms of servers. Behind the bar, bottles of chilled sake wear poetic labels such as "Bamboo Dew", "Soaring Cloud", and "Black River", and at hibachi tables, chefs deftly manipulate their knives across steaks and lobsters or carve their initials into broccoli trees.

When Lord Baltimore granted 370 acres of land to the Reverend James Macgill in 1730, he never imagined that a restaurant would be built there. Macgill and his descendants lived on the homestead for more than 200 years before selling it for restaurant development in the 1960s. Today, their stately columned mansion provides a pastoral backdrop for brunch, lunch, and dinner. Intimate candlelit dining rooms foster a romantic atmosphere, which has prompted frequent proposals inside the restaurant. Flickering lights illuminate plates of pan-seared filet mignon, roasted duck breast, veal, and sautéed shrimp, all selections on a traditional menu with hints of European and Asian influence. The knowledgeable staff can suggest the best wine to pair with any dish from the menu or a box of raisins brought from home.

Samantha's Restaurant melds a variety of Latin American culinary traditions into a single menu rife with fresh seafood, sizzling fajitas, and stuffed poblano peppers. Washingtonian magazine highlighted the masitas de puerco, a traditional Havana dish of bitter orange-marinated pork, as well as the "peppy mariachi soundtrack" that fosters a lively atmosphere. As appetizers of citrus-and-ginger-infused ceviche disappear like a repossessed magic kit, diners can turn their focus to mesquite-grilled fish or a refreshing cocktail from the fully stocked bar.

Le Vieux Logis mimics the Old-World charm of its namesake—a famously hospitable lodge in the Dordogne region of France—with rustic decorative touches such as copper pots hanging from timber walls. Cozy tables hold dishes of sautéed sea scallops, baked oysters, and roasted duckling as patrons clink glasses of wine and cocktails from the full bar. Outside, Le Vieux Logis's white façade sports rustic wooden shutters and murals of prosperous country folk overlooking al fresco diners. The heaps of live flowers that broadcast their colors in front of the restaurant helped earn it Bethesda Ever Green's Beauty Spot Award, and complimentary valet parking greets arriving diners.