Quarry House Tavern Plans Return to Original Silver Spring Location

Owner says once the restaurant's fire-ravaged basement space is rebuilt, it will return-possibly in the next six months

By Andrew Metcalf

The closed Quarry House Tavern location on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring. Andrew Metcalf

Even a fire—and a new temporary location—can’t stop Quarry House Tavern from returning to its long-time basement location in Silver Spring.

The restaurant’s owner, Jackie Greenbaum, said in an email Monday that could happen as soon as the next six months.

After a March fire closed its location at the corner of Bonifant Street and Georgia Avenue, Quarry House moved to the former Piratz Tavern location across the street.

It reopened about a month after the fire as “Quarry House Temporary.” But if you’ve been inside the new space over the past few months, it doesn’t seem like a pop-up shop. There are crowds on the weekends and trivia night is packed. The back patio, a feature that came with the temporary location, is often filled with guests swilling beer or sipping whiskey.

Despite its popularity at the new location, the restaurant will return to the basement setting where it has operated since the 1930s, according to Greenbaum.

“Piratz is strictly temporary and we have no plans to remain when the old Quarry House is reopened,” Greenbaum wrote in an email Monday. She said while the timeline is up in the air, the move is likely going to happen before the restaurant’s one-year lease at the Piratz space is up.

Greenbaum said in the email she guesses they’re about six months from returning to the basement location, but it’s hard to know as the landlord is in the initial stages of rebuilding the space.

The building’s landlord, Abbe Levin, wasn’t immediately available for comment Monday morning.

The March fire was concentrated in the Bombay Gaylord Indian restaurant , which is located on the floor above Quarry House’s original space. The tavern suffered significant smoke and water damage in the fire, while the Bombay Gaylord was completely destroyed.

Greenbaum wrote she’s looking forward to returning the restaurant to its historical location.

“As far as what the old space has that the new space doesn’t,” Greenbaum wrote. “Why, EVERYTHING. I mean I know it’s an old, low-ceilinged, somewhat dingy basement space, but that’s what we love about it. It’s character and history is irreplaceable and it’s simply home to us. The new space is just fine, the kitchen is way larger, the back patio is great, but it’s just not our old, wonderful Quarry House…”