It shines through in their caprese sandwich, seafood pasta marinara and porcini risotto. “That’s what I order when I come here on my days off.” “Who doesn’t like a good lomo?” Mark says with a laugh, noting that the chicken version, with the ceviche appetizer, is a personal favorite. Most popular is the lomo, a saucy steak-and-veggie stir-fry served over yuca fries with jasmine rice. It’s a food culture with influences from China, France, Spain and Africa blended with indigenous cuisine. Self-described “foodsters,” the Fuster family’s Peruvian heritage asserts itself in several dishes. “I probably went through 50 different recipes for inspiration.” “We tried classic beer-battered fish and chips, but wound up liking a Peruvian interpretation, which is lightly floured and served with yucca fries and an onion sauce.” The house rub is a take on Montreal-style seasoning. “We compared multiple recipes for empanadas, coconut shrimp, mashed potatoes, every single thing on the menu,” says Mark. Family and friends, including sous chef Ramon Lara and another of Mark’s uncles, George Fuster, former owner of Rico and Rico in Gaithersburg, gathered to help with taste tests.
Formerly populated with typical bar fare, it now features house-cut USDA choice steaks and international dishes that consistently garner raves from patrons. At max, the establishment fits approximately 75 guests.
Another nod to nostalgia, a patron’s graffiti remains carved into a support beam, circa 1963. Unique metal wall art features pictures from the dragway’s heyday. The décor is spare, pairing rich accents of burgundy against natural wood.
The side room, once filled with pool tables and live music, is now a dining room with a dozen or so tables. New additions to the bar area are understated upgrades, such as the granite bar top and a wrought-iron wine rack. Its character remains, as well as some of the high tables, sport-themed stools and dark paneling. “It felt wrong to change it.”įrom the front door, it’s easy to envision the decades Wilcom’s Inn spent as a cozy, smoke-filled watering hole, loved by locals.
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“I have memories as a kid of driving by with my dad, seeing the lot full of trucks and bikes.” The Fusters kept the vintage exterior and focused on giving the inside a facelift. “I’ve known the building my whole life,” says Mark, a long-time Damascus resident. The building lay dark until the Fuster family leased it in May 2015, taking full ownership last November. Wilcom’s Inn shuttered about the same time. The dragway first closed in 2005, but rallied back between 2009-2013, thanks to public support. Fans could pack a picnic or partake of concession stand chili dogs, then mosey to the adjacent inn for socializing, pool, music and drinks. Operating as Maryland’s oldest dragstrip, it featured both 1/8-mile and 1/4-mile tracks.
For generations, local families and regional racing aficionados turned out in the thousands each night to watch the spectacle of smoking tires and roaring engines. Over the next five decades, his sons, William and Jerome, turned this little corner of the county into a hub of activity. It snuggles back-to-back with the beloved-but-fading ruins of its sibling, the 75-80 Dragway.īoth properties were part of Charles Wilcom’s farm before 1960. It is a lone outpost amid farmland and pastures that dates back to 1943, perched at the intersection of Green Valley and Fingerboard roads in Monrovia. They reopened the restaurant as an international steakhouse and sports bar in March 2016, breathing new life into the peachy adobe-finished building with the stepped façade. He’s the chef and co-owner, along with his uncle, Oscar Fuster, of the iconic Wilcom’s Inn. Cornfields and fine dining are rarely mentioned in the same breath, but Mark Fuster is working on making it happen.