Spotluck to host beer garden at Taste of Bethesda

Local dining app startup Spotluck will host a beer garden on Norfolk Avenue between Woodmont and Wisconsin Avenues this Saturday during the Taste of Bethesda. Assuming the event goes forward despite the heavy rains expected, stop by the Spotluck tent near Tastee Diner for $5 beers from local brewery Jailbreak.

All proceeds will benefit The Children's Inn at NIH. If you've been to a Spotluck party before, you know there'll be games and prizes as well. If you haven't, Saturday, October 3 is your chance, from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Dining app Spotluck celebrates one year of success in Bethesda (Photos)

Montgomery County's moribund economy, failure to attract a single major corporation in over 10 years, and its elected officials' failure to understand the significance of tech firms like Uber and Airbnb make it a challenging place to start a business. So one has to turn to start-ups like Bethesda-based Spotluck to find a spark of entrepreneurial energy.

Their spin-the-wheel-for-deals dining app is one year old, and Spotluck threw a party to celebrate yesterday at Redwood on Bethesda Lane. Since its debut with a launch group of Woodmont Triangle restaurants, Spotluck has expanded its reach not only to Bethesda Row, but to Silver Spring, Rockville, Frederick, and many neighborhoods in Northern Virginia and the District. In Bethesda, the app recently added two new Robert Wiedmaier restaurants, Urban Heights and Villain & Saint.

Here are some photos from yesterday's event:

Attendees get their wristbands

Guests spin the wheel for
a chance at winning an
Apple Watch 

There was a long line
to get in

Bethesda Lane was appropriately
decorated for the occasion

Yep, that line stretched
back to bluemercury

Hey, who's that?

It's Mr. Spins working
the crowd

It's hard to get this
guy to stand still

SPOTLUCK ADDS BETHESDA ROW RESTAURANTS TO ITS HYPERLOCAL DEALS APP

Remember the Spotluck app for iPhone and Android I reported on a few weeks back? As promised, it has added more restaurants in the Bethesda Row area to its database. New restaurants include: Newton’s Table, Redwood, Tyber Bierhaus, Pitzze, Markham’s, Parker’s, Mussel Bar, Cesco Osteria, and Lebanese Taverna.

Spotluck is simple to use, but also has complex algorithms behind the screens. For example, it calculates how low the discount needs to be to attract diners out to restaurants on a rainy Tuesday night.

NEW APP OFFERING RANDOM SAVINGS AT BETHESDA RESTAURANTS

A new mobile app arrived in town last night to save you money at Bethesda restaurants. Spotluck is the latest discount service to follow the mercurial path of pioneers Groupon and LivingSocial. The new twist with Spotluck is that your savings are random, based on the results of one spin per day on the app.

Restaurants on Spotluck now include 4935 Bar and Kitchen, Brickside Food & Drink, Flanagan's Harp & Fiddle, Freddy's Lobster and Clams, Grapeseed, La Panetteria, MOMO Chicken + Jazz, Passage to India, Roof, and Yamas Mediterranean Grill. The company says Bethesda Row restaurants will be added to the app soon.

Attracting attention to the app in the Woodmont Triangle last night was a green visitor. Not a man from outer space, but a robot from Google. Spotluck is available on iPhone, and on the green guy's phone (Android), too.