7750 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda (301) 652-5525

Addie’s is easy to overlook. I don’t mean that literally, although that’s true, too. As you’re trolling the corporate canyon that is Rockville Pike, you can zip right past that persimmon-colored house as readily as Next Day Blinds. But Addie’s is also easy to take for granted because it’s so neighborly. Its menu, in the name of pleasing its many regulars, doesn’t change much and its offerings are more comforting than cutting-edge. But sometimes comfort, a friendly face, and damn fine rib-eye are all that you want from a restaurant. Under Nate Waugaman, former executive sous at Black’s, Addie’s feels invigorated, as if the new chef has adopted the restaurant’s clientele as his own flesh and blood. Waugaman’s pushing them a little, too, by adding a line of house-made charcuterie, but it’s the chef’s attention to detail and his stubborn insistence on freshness that make me want to drop by regularly.

Addie's, 11120 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md., (301) 881-0081

Maybe I'm just paying more attention these days to how restaurants cut costs while still trying to provide a modicum of originality, but recently I've noticed a mini-trend of house-made potato chips.
I first spotted these fried snacks at Hank's Tavern & Eats in Hyattsville, where Chef Geoff's team serves a fairly tame basket of barbecued chips.

But during the holiday break, I ordered a plate of waffle-cut potato chips from the Corner Bistro in McLean, which, despite its name, is a kindly neighborhood wine bar that mixes tapas with a smattering of French country dishes. Don't ask me why such a place serves potato chips, or even why I ordered them, but they do and I did. I regretted it. The chips (pictured above) looked undeniably mouthwatering when the waiter dropped them off, but they were oily, soggy, and under-salted. They had all the crunch of wet cardboard.

A few days later, a friend ordered a barbecue chicken sandwich at Black's Bar and Kitchen in Bethesda, which came with house-made potato chips. The fried potato slices were everything you'd want from a chip: thin, crispy, spuddy, and salty. They were, in fact, far better than the gloppy sandwich, which I have to admit induced a gag reflex on first bite. I won't gross you out with the details on that one.

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"I was shocked. I was floored," Wiss says. "You don't expect that kind of thing to happen" right before the holidays.

Wiss says he was never given any indication that his management style clashed with Black Restaurant Group philosophies. Nor did he get any indication that management disliked his cooking. When I asked Wiss if he thought the economic excuse was legitimate, he said the weekly numbers were "definitely down, but not to the point where you take an ax and start cutting people."

"At the end of the day, if they didn't want me there, that's fine," Wiss adds.

When reached by phone, Black denied Wiss' depiction of events. Black admits that economics played a role, but not in the way that Wiss describes. Wiss' salary, in fact, was smaller than that of Black's previous toque, Mallory Buford. The main problem, Black says, was that Wiss ran his food costs in the 38-40 percent range, when 33-34 is the norm for Black's. The owner says his former chef also ran higher labor costs, employing extra personnel on garde manger and pastry.

Black says he tried to talk to Wiss about lower food and labor costs, but, "for whatever reason, [he] didn't want to follow them."

Hence, Black says, the parting of ways.

In the meantime, Wiss says he'll "hang low" for a while, before aggressively looking for another chef gig. "It's pretty dry out there now," he says.

The Problem: Revenues are all over the place at Black's, says co-owner and chef Jeff Black. One week was slow "to the point I was feeling it," Black says, but another week was $4,000 higher than a year ago. Overall, though, business is "down a little bit" at Black's. The owner can't quite pin it all on the poor economy, especially when the other operations in the Black Restaurant Group are actually doing better than last year (BlackSalt and Black Market Bistro) or holding steady (Addie's). Black blames part of the fluctuations on Bethesda's burgeoning dining scene, which now includes such newbies as Redwood, Assaggi Mozzarella Bar, and Lebanese Taverna. Of course, part of the issue may be that Black's own kitchen has been in flux, the reverberations of which have been felt both in the dining room and the kitchen itself.

The Solution: More marketing. Unlike a lot of restaurateurs who cut advertising at the first sight of economic trouble, Black believes in the power of marketing to attract diners. He typically hires PR firms for special occasions only, like when he reopened the renovated Black's in 2006. But Black recently hired Linda Roth Associates to, among other things, promote Black's weekend brunch and its happy hours. "We're trying to do more to point out what we do well," Black says.

"We just had philosophical differences in the ways to manage a business and manage a staff," Black says. "It was nothing personal. Todd was a very good cook...I told him, 'I don't have any problem with the way you cook.'"

The difference boiled down to control. BRG, as a rule, likes to nurture its staff, both front and back of the house, and move them into positions of greater authority as they gain experience. The company, Black says, also likes to seek ideas from anyone within BRG, even if that person is far down in the pecking order. Wiss, the owner says, was more from a "corporate" environment where the mentality is, "You do what I say."

Wiss was not immediately available for comment.

in the meantime, Black's executive sous chef Nate Waugaman is running the kitchen and developing menus, in consultation with the owner. Waugaman, along with Arra Lawson, chef de cuisine at Addie's in Rockville, are both in the running to replace Wiss, Black confirms. One other person, also in-house at BRG, is in the hunt.

Lawson "has done a great job," says Black about the former toque at Daniel O’Connell’s in Old Town. "He's on the short list of names."