Comments About The New Ale House, Shave Ice, Dumplings, Belgian Waffles, And The Best WIngs

Steamed dumpling from Honey Pig

You need to keep returning to HowChow posts because people leave great ideas and observations as the comments run along.

The great recent example has been several weeks of feedback about the new Ale House Columbia on Dobbin Road.  Dzoey, Alicyn, K8teebug, Rick B. and others t alked about the food, and they seemed to be generally having fun -- except with the parking.

As an email, I got an interesting thought from Mike, who noted that a comment to the original post cited Kobe sliders.  Mike linked to a Forbes article that pointed out that Japanese beef wasn't even imported until just recently and that most meat marketed as "Kobe" was all hat, no cattle:

I haven't been to the Ale House yet, but I think they ought to be called out for their "Kobe" sliders.  I doubt it is really Kobe beef or likely even Japanese-sourced beef.  Dishonest labeling/marketing would not a good way to draw clientele. Kobe, and the (relatively) more common Wagyu, beef is such a fractional presence in the market that using it for ground beef is very unlikely. 

From the link above: "In 2009, the last year Japanese beef was legally, we bought 72 tons of it. That may sound like a lot but in that same year we ate about 13.5 million tons of beef, according to the USDA. The imports from Japan did not even represent a significant fraction of one percent of our beef."

That said, I will still stop in to try it out, primarily for the beer selection and the novelty of a new restaurant that isn't a max-chain.

(Update: The Ale House tweeted about their beef.  (Or check their main page for two tweets around 10 am.)  We're really talking about the meaing of "Kobe."  The Ale House tweets that it's getting fresh, Kobe beef and that "Wagyu lineage" cows are available in the United States.  I'm not sure that actually satisfies folks like Mike.  In the end, I'm warned that I'm not getting Japanese beef, so the sliders -- like all sliders -- need to stand on the beef and bun.  Personally, I'd rather restaurants explain what they think the name brand beef adds.  In my experience, places that do great burgers called "Kobe" also do great with their regular grind -- probably because they're talented kitchens and demand premium beef in their regular burgers like Victoria Gastro Pub.)

You can get eat at all kinds of places that aren't max chains.  You can learn to cook your own food at classes by Ben Tehranian, reports Anonymous.  Or you can check around the comments to find new spots to enjoy:

• K8teebug says that the Judge's Bench has the best wings anywhere.
• Kevlar51 reported on the tacos at Tere's Latin Market.  Bmorecupcake provided more detailed observations about the offerings at The Breadery in Oella -- croissants have gone away, but scones are back.
• AIPal3 wants you to eat at the BP in Maple Lawn -- fried chicken, lo mein, bulgogi subs, etc. 
• AnnieRie, Brian and others suggested local places to buy Hawaiian shave ice next summer.  It's so good that I might even try this summer.  We saw a sweets shop that claims to have a shave ice machine in the Catonsville shopping center with the new Lotte.



Is there local shave ice??

• Sabrina also enjoyed the steamed buns at the new Honey Pig dumpling stand inside that Lotte -- and Bmorecupcake talked about what to check out in the store.  (More from me about Lotte soon.)
• Balancing Act, MarkM, Zevonista and others made suggestions for Chinese food -- talking about Jesse Wong's, Hunan Taste, Noodles Corner and others.
• Sandra Davis raved about the Belgian waffles at the La Pearl Waffle Truck.
• Lintman recommended places to eat along Rte 108.  He also wrote about a trip to Waffee, a new coffee and waffles place in Ellicott City.  Dzoey and others described their visits on a different post.
• Emma recommended the pizza dough and breads at One Dish Cuisine Cafe that has been catering to a gluten-free audience.
• Anonymous votes for fried chicken at Bon Chon or Tian Chinese Cuisine over the ToreOre at the H Mart.  Anonymous also voted for the original Maiwand Kabob location over the new one near Target.
• Adam - who talked up Kolache Korner on his own blog -- and others seconded the rave for the pit beef at Smokin' Hot in Glenwood.  In the same comments, Penny talked up the pulled pork at the Bar-B-Que House in Laurel -- where I loved the onion rings a few years ago.
• Amelia even thanked another commenter for recommending the sausage at Binkerts in Baltimore.

And finally, I might have to hit up a chain.  Rob posted that they're building a Roy Rogers in the parking lot at the new Giant in Burtonsville.  I haven't eaten at a Roy Rogers in 25+ years, but I can still taste the pickles from the fixin' bar.  Is that open yet?