Last night, after I made my reservation for today’s lunch at Family Meal—our second visit to Chef Bryan Voltaggio’s new restaurant In Frederick, Maryland—I discovered that my post about our first visit had been picked up by Eater, which had gathered the early reviews from the restaurant’s first month of operation. Each of the excerpts was given a header, and mine was “The Rave,” which indeed it was.

My report on our second visit won’t be quite as positive, though in a bifurcated way, because it’s almost as if Irene and I had eaten in different restaurants.

Technically, we were eating in different restaurants, because we arrived a few minutes before our 11:30 reservation, and breakfast service stops and the lunch menu takes over at exactly 11:30 a.m. But because Irene was interested in breakfast, and I was interested in lunch, and we were on the cusp, we were allowed to order from both menus.

Irene ordered waffles, without the blueberries or syrup they usually came with, wanting only butter and honey, plus biscuits and a glass of milk. I’ll get the bad news out of the way first, by stating that her two plates arrived without the honey, and the server had to go back to the kitchen to retrieve some, plus, even though at the time the order was taken Irene was asked whether she wanted the milk then or when the meal came and she replied that she wanted the milk with the meal, the meal came without the milk, and so Irene had to sit for a few minutes waiting for the milk to be brought to her. Those may sound like small things, but any time you have to wait to dig in, that does damage the experience.

And it gets worse … even though the biscuits we’d had with our fried chicken during our previous visit were a light golden color and dense but delicate, Irene’s biscuits this time were a dark brown, and crusty, and hard. Oh, sure, they were still made from wonderful ingredients, but they were rock-like, and she felt she could have used one as a weapon.

When our plates were being cleared, Irene mentioned to the busboy that she’d need a box to take away the “pathetic” biscuits—which she was taking with us because she was still able to make them edible with a heavy dose of honey and butter to soften them—and he explained that what had likely happened was that, because the biscuits had been coming out undercooked, the kitchen had started cooking them longer.

Not a good idea! When Irene makes biscuits at home, they come out of the oven the moment they start to color up, so as to keep them light and tender. Irene felt these were the worst-cooked biscuits that had ever been put in front of her. Considering how much we enjoyed the biscuits last time, I’m hoping this is but an aberration. But if we do order biscuits again, I’ll make sure to mention how I want them cooked!

Put the service and the biscuits together, and you’ll understand why (even though she enjoyed the waffles) Irene was not pleased with her meal.

But as I wrote above, we had completely different dining experiences.

I wasn’t in the mood for an entree, instead making my meal out of three appetizers.

deviled eggs smoked trout roe, bacon, chives

I enjoyed the four deviled eggs, but I guess I was expecting that each would be completely different, instead of being four eggs with identical fillings, differing only in the toppings. For one person attempting to make a meal out of it, the sameness meant there was a surfeit of deviled egg. Only to be ordered if you’re sharing, I think, because one or two would have been enough.

fried green tomatoes buttermilk, pecan bacon candy

The fried green tomatoes were excellent, thin and crispy with just the right amount of bite. And the bacon made a perfect contrast. I’d definitely order these again.

chicken pot pie fritters

When I bit into my first chicken pot pie fritter, hoping to show Irene what it looked like inside, it exploded in my mouth—in a good way! The thumb-sized fritters were filled with chicken and gravy, but as the filling was quite liquid, there was no way I could cut one in half to show Irene what was what. So I just popped them onto my tongue, and let their warmth explode. A good comfort food.

smith island cake coffee heath bar, cinnamon

Our meal ended with the Maryland State dessert (and who knew Maryland even HAD a state dessert?), Smith Island Cake. Since neither of us had ever had nor even heard of a Smith Island Cake, we had no way of comparing it to the Platonic ideal of what such a thing should be, but even so, it’s hard to believe there could have been one better.

As we were leaving, I saw one of the chefs slicing the slightly ragged edges of an uncut cake to form a giant rectangle from which triangles such as the one in the above picture would be carved, and I asked what became of the trimmings. I was told that, oh, sometimes the staff save and deep fries them. Be still, my heart!

Even with our differing experiences, we both agreed, regardless of the biscuits misfire, that we’d return to Family Meal. I don’t know about Irene, but I’m looking forward to the braised chard, pork trimmings, crisp garlic and frog legs, spiced watermelon radish, crouton!