Argh, me hardies. Get me some grog and some grub and be quick about it. An international breeze -- along with a host of bad pirate jokes -- will sweep through downtown Silver Spring next month with the opening of Piratz Tavern on Georgia Avenue and Bonifant Street.

Piratz’s high-tech website beckons: “Escape the Ordinary.” It features soothing ocean sounds and one crazy parrot squawking “Hello” when you roll over it with your cursor. The restaurant promises dishes made using recipes plundered from the 17th and 18th centuries and from a wide range of cultures. Is that good? We don’t know, but, according to co-owner Tracy Morgado, that means smoked turkey legs, steak on a stone, Indian curry, African stew and Portuguese codfish. Sadly, there will be no sea biscuits on the menu.

The idea for the restaurant grew out of the popular annual Halloween parties Morgado and her Portugese husband Joaquin, also a co-owner, threw for their friends -- several of whom begged them the Morgados to make their decorating and cooking more than a once-a-year thing. Much to their dismay, the Morgados were unable to coordinate the opening of Piratz Tavern with the highly lucrative but critically panned debut of Johnny Depp’s new pirate movie this month. But no worries -- the Morgados currently run a local graphic design firm, so we get the feeling they'll have no problems on the advertising front.

The tavern will serve lunch, drinks and dinner in a renovated space that was once a modest deli. It will feature fountains both inside and out, and colorful walls evoking the fanciful silks, silver and glass lanterns, and shining gold of our pirate booty dreams. Chef Simon -- who like Prince and Brazilian soccer players -- prefers one name only. He was born in the Canary Islands, and so probably spent much of his childhood hunting for buried treasure. He is new to the area, and we hope he wears a sexy eyepatch.

But what stands to be the best thing about Piratz Tavern? It will be open until 2 a.m. on weekends, offering suburbanites the same opportunities as citydwellers to stay up way too late, eating and drinking. It will also serve up live music and local wines (we hope that the Morgados are extremely selective) and beckon both families and barhoppers with its cool Caribbean terrace.

So, brush up on your pirate speak with the help of these guys and climb aboard.

Piratz Tavern
8402 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, Md.
(301) 588-9001

Photo by flickr user Earl - What I Saw 2.0 and used under a Creative Commons license.