Featuring a brick oven centerpiece cooking up delicious made-from-scratch Italian fare, Red Tomato Café has been a neighborhood favorite for over 15 years.

I'm not sure when the trend started to reverse, but these days the suburbs are no longer sprawling. In fact, after walking just a few blocks from the Metro to a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood in Bethesda to visit Red Tomato Café, I'd say the suburbs can actually be quite cozy, like that baby blankie you still have tucked away in the back of your closet (don't lie). That warm and fuzzy feeling is also the same one I got when I stepped into this family-owned restaurant which has been serving up brick oven pizza and other made-from-scratch Italian fare for nearly two decades now. "We were the original brick-oven pizzeria," said owner Faye Namin, who fell in love with Italian cuisine as a kid. It helps when the rest of your family is into it as well. Most of the recipes come straight from her and her brothers' kitchen experiments which have resulted in some extremely tasty pizzas, pastas, sandwiches and salads. Those are the four staple categories here, not counting the impressively sized appetizers like the Tomato Bruschetta that features roasted tomatoes (obviously), red onions, garlic, parmesan and balsamic. Made pretty much in front of you in the glowing brick oven that's the centerpiece of the décor, it's served piping hot. I paired it with a glass bottle of wine and proceeded to discover the key to happiness, at least in my belly.

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Menu Highlights:
Tomato Bruschetta, $7 (lunch), $8 (dinner)
Red Beet Salad, $10, $12
Linguine Seafood, $15, $18
Margherita Pizza, $10, $11
Grilled Portobella Sandwich, $9

Hours:
Sunday: 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Monday: 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. + 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday - Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. + 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday - Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. + 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.