Zinnia, a modern American restaurant and bar with brunch, dinner and late-night offerings, won an award Sunday evening for the Beer Program of the Year from the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington.
Each year, the association honors restaurants, chefs and culinary concepts and services from around the region with its RAMMY awards. Zinnia was nominated for the association’s beer category in April.
The Silver Spring restaurant and bar is at 9201 Colesville Road near downtown Silver Spring and is one of several establishments owned by local restaurateur Chris Brown in partnership with chef Danny Wells.
Zinnia opened in the former Mrs. K’s Toll House property in October 2021. The venerable restaurant closed after 90 years in business at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and was put on the market in December that year. A month later, Brown signed a lease for the property.
The property boasts a beer garden, tavern and café.
Of the beers available at Zinnia, several are from Maryland breweries, including, Silver Branch Brewing Co. in Silver Spring, Union Craft Brewing and Peabody Heights Brewery in Baltimore and Jailbreak Brewing Co. in Laurel.
According to the association’s awards website, the winner of the beer category is “distinguished by the quality, diversity, clarity and value of its beer program.” Restaurants and breweries that are nominated for the program “break new ground in the education” of its staff and the nominees are judged on the “diversity and quality of their craft beer.”
Other finalists were Atlas Brew Works, Red Bear Brewing Co., TallBoy and Midland’s Beer Garden, which are all based in Washington, D.C.
Awards winners receive an engraved award to display. There are no monetary prizes for finalists or winners.
Zinnia was the winner of Bethesda Magazine’s Best of Bethesda “Best Restaurant in Silver Spring” in 2023.
Brown did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s request for comment Monday morning.
Other MoCo winners
The restauranteurs behind The Salt Line in Bethesda, Kyle Bailey, Jon Ball, Jeremy Carman, Gavin Coleman and Paul Holder, who are part of Longshot Hospitality, were also honored with the Restauranteur of the Year award Sunday.
Longshot Hospitality owns and manages five restaurants, including The Salt Line, which has a seafood outpost at 7284 Woodmont Ave.
Another MoCo winner was Colada Shop, which has four shops in the Washington, D.C. region, including in Potomac. The Cuban fare restaurant was named the Hottest Sandwich Shop at this year’s awards and was selected by public vote.
Colada Shop in Potomac, located at 7993 Tuckerman Lane, offers Cuban sandwiches for both meat eaters and vegetarians as well as a Guava BBQ Pollo sandwich and Sofrito Chicken Wrap.