Friday, January 4, 2013

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:
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?

13 comments:

  1. As a recent HowCo-to-MoCo transplant, I can tell you that Roy Rogers is open!! (Although I haven't tried it yet!)

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  2. We've been to Columbia Ale house, we went while they were still repairing the floor from some sort of plumbing issue. It was packed and it was loud, we saw several people come in, be seated only to get up and leave because of the noise. The beer was really good which I think is important for an Ale House! The Ale House chopped salad was huge so we split that. The turkey burger was moist and tasty and I'm picky about my turkey burgers. Husband got the Ale House burger said it was good, nice flavor. Our only complaint and when the manager stopped by to ask how things were we told him that our food wasn't served hot. So the fries had that sort of sat out too long thing going on and while our burgers flavors were good it seemed like they had been sitting for a while. That is my #1 pet peeve, because it says to me there is some chaos going on in the kitchen if you don't have food runners getting that hot food out to the customers. He apologized, offered up some beers said he appreciated the feedback and that he hoped we'd come back. They don't have their Growlers license yet, which is a shame because the Pagan Porter would have so gone home with me, or maybe the Bishops Breakfast! In any case we will be back!

    Oh and on the Kobe topic, most places will tell you it isn't Kobe Beef but Kobe style beef if you ask.

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  3. On your recommendation, we tried the Honey Pig dumplings and they were really good. The word is out, because the place was jamming.

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  4. We've been invited to an 11-course Chinese banquet at the Asian Court this Saturday afternoon. I can't wait!

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  5. Since true Kobe beef is so rare and most of us will have few if any chances to try it it may not matter that what the Alehouse and Victoria's are using is Waygu breed from the US. I have always found I prefer Victoria's standard grind to the Snake River waygu. Although I have ordered wonderful steaks from Snake Rive. I'm unfamiliar with Morgan Ranch but will try to order some of their steaks to compare to Snake River.

    What I don't like is the explanation from the Ale House. There is no dishonor in admitting that the beef is in fact Waygu from the US from a quality farm, starting a definitive semantic fight this early only feeds into my opinion that the place has a very corporate and inflated feeling that I hope they will work on.

    BTW their standard Bacon Cheeseburger is quite good perhaps the only thing I've really enjoyed there.

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  6. FYI: Ale House was rolling out their brunch menu when we were there on New Years Day. I did not get something from that menu but it was the typical brunch stuff. A friend had the waffles which looked OK and my wife had an omelet, which also looked OK, but neither seemed to hold a candle to the brunch items at my favorite brunch spot, Victoria Gastro Pub, and their Banana French Toast...

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  7. My husband and I also went to the Ale house one evening for Dinner. They accepted a call ahead reservation which was nice since we only had to wait about 5-10 minutes for our table on a packed night. We were seated and waited about 5-10 minutes before we were asked if we had been approached by a server. Once they showed up, service was good, it just got off to a slow start. A table next to ours got fed up and left. As for our food, my husband and I really enjoyed the grilled honey sriracha wings. The grilled flavor and sweet sauce was delicious and a nice change of pace from your normal buffalo wing. For our entrees, he tried the marinated ribeye and I had the ribs. I think that we were both disappointed in the lack of seasoning on the entrees. I typically like a rubbed rib and these featured only bbq sauce. He felt the beer marinade wasn't adequate to flavor the steak. We also tried a few of their house labeled beers and their house made root beer. The root beer was just ehhh. I think I would prefer an Abita root beer from perfect pour over what I tried that night. However, husband loved their brews and I was really impressed at some of the choices they had available. I would go back, because I think alot of the issues we encountered may stem from it being a new operation. I do, however, think I would stick to the more casual dining food items (wings, burgers, etc...) after my experience with what we ordered on our first visit.

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  8. Where to start...
    Roy Rogers is open. The Double R Bar burger is my favorite and they have really good fried chicken.

    Daughter went to the Ale House and really liked it. Said the food was good but the place would be more noisy than we like.

    Daniels' (yes the "biker" joint) in Elkridge has phenomenal burgers. The Crabby Patty is to die for! Daniels' is a gem that even "little ol' ladies" enjoy. Don't let the outside fool you.

    Went to Bon Chon chicken and was disappointed. I thought it was highly over priced for what you get. Also, it takes 30 minutes to get your chicken wings! Give me Royal Farms fried chicken anyday.

    Had dinner at Mirchi Wok (Mango Grove) and was very pleased. Had the Butter Chicken and it was delicious. One caution, "mild" to them still made my wife sweat! They also need new music as the same song played the whole time we were there.

    We received a gift card to the Melting Pot for Christmas. Had never been there due to preconceived notions. We were pleasantly surprised. The food was delicious and plentiful and service was friendly and attentive. Once again, its pretty pricey, but good.

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  9. Where to start...
    Roy Rogers is open. The Double R Bar burger is my favorite and they have really good fried chicken.

    Daughter went to the Ale House and really liked it. Said the food was good but the place would be more noisy than we like.

    Daniels' (yes the "biker" joint) in Elkridge has phenomenal burgers. The Crabby Patty is to die for! Daniels' is a gem that even "little ol' ladies" enjoy. Don't let the outside fool you.

    Went to Bon Chon chicken and was disappointed. I thought it was highly over priced for what you get. Also, it takes 30 minutes to get your chicken wings! Give me Royal Farms fried chicken anyday.

    Had dinner at Mirchi Wok (Mango Grove) and was very pleased. Had the Butter Chicken and it was delicious. One caution, "mild" to them still made my wife sweat! They also need new music as the same song played the whole time we were there.

    We received a gift card to the Melting Pot for Christmas. Had never been there due to preconceived notions. We were pleasantly surprised. The food was delicious and plentiful and service was friendly and attentive. Once again, its pretty pricey, but good.

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  10. Roy Rogers is great, but service is soooooo slow. We waited 40 minutes in the drive through line. A friend waited 30 min in store. Unacceptable for fast food.

    Bonchon is great, when you get a good day. I've had days were the food isn't the best and a little old tasting, but other days its been outstanding. The wait shouldn't be a issue because they make a point of saying it takes that long.

    Alewife is good, but the service has been iffy the few times ive been there.

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  11. Can someone explain or take a picture of a half eaten dumpling at honey pig I want to see what it looks like inside! Is it soupy like xiao long bao

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  12. We split a single dumpling, but it wasn't soupy. Steamed interior, but a filling not a soup.

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  13. I need to try some of the other stuff at BP. Subs are pretty good, haven't tried anything else.

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I love comments -- especially comments that specifically recommend dishes or items to buy. Tell people what you like and why. If you can, please don't leave it as "anonymous." Just choose "name/URL" below, type in a nickname and leave the URL part blank. I like following people's comments even if I don't know your name.