Brookside Gardens Tour and Lunch

We'll start with a walk around Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, followed by lunch at Irene's Pupusas III. Links with info are posted below. Here's the plan: We'll meet at the gardens at 11:00, wander around a bit, then head off to lunch around 12:45. The restaurant is about 1.5 miles from the gardens. If you can't make it to the gardens, join us for lunch at the restaurant (and indicate "lunch only" in your RSVP, please!). Irene's Pupusas III is one of Washingtonian Magazine's 100 Best Bargain Restaurants. If you've never had a pupusa, here's your chance to try one of the best around! Metro Station: Wheaton (Red Line) -The entrance to Brookside Gardens is 2.2 miles from the Metro Station. Check the BG website for directions by bus. Google Maps now has walking directions, too. You can also post a note in your RSVP ("Need a ride from Metro"). Someone should be able to give you a lift. -Irene's Pupusas is about 1 block from the Wheaton station, at the intersection of Georgia and Ennalls Avenues - near University Blvd. Event fee: $1.00 payable at event. Brookside Gardens Brookside Gardens is Montgomery County's incomparable, award-winning 50-acre public display garden situated within Wheaton Regional Park. Included in the gardens are several distinct areas; azalea garden, rose garden, children's garden, formal garden, fragrance garden, Japanese style garden and trial garden. The garden also features two conservatories for year-round enjoyment. A horticultural reference library is located in the airy Visitors Center. Admission is free. Link to Brookside Gardens website Irene's Pupusas III For more than two decades, Irene Cuevas has reigned as the areaÂ’s pupusa queen, cranking out thick griddle corn cakes oozing with cheese and sided with the peppery cabbage slaw curtido for street carts, diners, and now this, her only full-service restaurant and bar. While Cuevas has sold the restaurant to her grandson and his wife, the Salvadoran kitchen is still cooking with heart. What to get: Bean-and-cheese, pork-and-cheese, and loroco pupusas, the latter made of a flower bud that tastes grassy and fresh; sopa di pollo, as comforting a chicken soup as any; creamy, pork-fattened beans; a sweet-corn tamale de elote, steamed and served with a dollop of crema; tacos de lengua, with hunks of braised tongue spilling from two-ply corn tortillas; baleadas, a Honduran-style burrito stuffed with beef, avocado, beans, and cheese. Irene's Pupusas III 11300-B Georgia Ave. Wheaton MD 301.933.2118 Metered street parking is available near the restaurant. See the Washingtonian Magazine article on how pupusas are made at Irene's: Link to "The Pupusa Queen" article Contact me if you have any questions (click on "email me" under my lovely photo). -Caryn