Cafe Deluxe, Bethesda

Happy hour with friends tonight at Cafe Deluxe, the kind of place that thrives in Bethesda but probably wouldn’t make it in Wheaton, but might in ten years. Certainly thriving tonight, it was packed just like most of the other restaurants in the Woodmont-Elm-Bethesda Avenue area. Cafe Deluxe is a small local chain, good service, not too loud, excellent happy hour specials — lots of dishes for $4, Sierra Nevada for $, martinis for $6.  The chef had a pepper obsession tonight, everyone’s food was peppery, but not in a bad way.  Clam chowder was pretty good, and mac’n’cheese with prosciutto was excellent although really more like a carbonara sauce, similar to the one I had at Luciana in Buenos Aires. And if there’s prosciutto, it can’t be bad…