Trolling: Pepperoni Pizza Kolache, Soboru Bread, And Einstein Bagels -- A Tour Down Rte 40

Pepperoni pizza kolache

Adam is one of the weekend warriors who run and bike on Rte 40 and Rte 144 west from Ellicott City.  He offered a guest post with his perfect adventure route to get his carbophile on.  This is a "trolling" post about places to catch a snack on the go during a run or to recover afterwards -- options west of the Rte 29 split.

• If you’ve never been to Kolache Kreations than you are missing out. Not only do they have hand-dipped Hershey’s ice cream in indulgent flavors like Oatmeal Raisin Cookie (not to mention soft-serve, sundaes, and shakes), but their baked goods are enough to make you consider moving to Texas and the heart of their namesake pastry.  Kolaches aren’t just for breakfast either. I recently picked up their new pepperoni pizza kolache.  Man, this thing is good.  The goo factor on the mozzarella is the stuff New York pizza places aim to achieve, while the kick of the thick pepperoni slices and sweet sauce just come together classically within the sweet, doughy pastry.  Think a Hot Pocket that actually tastes good.  Like really good.

• If you’re more inclined for something crunchy rather than gooey, just head a quarter mile down the road to Bon Appetit Bakery. I might not be able to pronounce half the baked goods, but I recently discovered soboru bread.  For just a buck, you can get these spongy and rich sweet rolls with a variety of flavor combinations.  Try the one with a peanut topping.  The taste is rich and sweet and bright, with notes of butter and cream.  Yet there’s a surprisingly airy nature within the dough, and the peanut topping provides plenty of textural contrast.  In an odd way, it reminds me of a Marco Polo bagel from Wegmans.

• Speaking of bagels, I really don’t think there’s a better place in Howard County for bagels than Einstein Brothers on Route 40.  Sure it’s a chain, but so what?  Dennis, one of the mangers, is a great guy who has been keeping people coming back for years (along with the bottomless coffee and iced coffee!)  It’s a great place to grab breakfast or lunch on summer days now that they have a shaded patio space.  I’m partial to the cinnamon sugar bagel for a post run treat.  It’s got all the sweet cinnamon taste of a donut, but that addictive and guilty pleasure buttery taste to glaze it over.  So good, you won’t even need one of there signature schmears!

Trolling on Tuesday is my attempt at a series where readers would share three things with other HowChow readers -- favorite restaurant dishes, food to buy, food experiences, etc. Click here for all the Trolling posts. Click here for the explanation and the rules. Anyone can submit.

Nikki's Picks: Diamondback's Corned Beef, Portalli's Cioppino, And A Fight For Dessert

Irish Dip sandwich at Diamond Tavern

Nikki moved to Howard County two years ago from Northern Virginia.  Like me, she and her family remember that as the land of great restaurants -- and delivery.  They're slowly eating through the area, and they're happy with their new culinary universe.  In particular, they're becoming regulars at the Diamondback Tavern in Ellicott City for its food, service, prices and the kids menu where kids eat free on Tuesdays.

"It helps," she says, "that they've made the effort to learn our names, and start pouring my sangria when I walk in the door."

Nikki is helping to revive the HowChow "Trolling" posts.  Like Crunch Daddy last month, Nikki has offered up three paragraphs -- three places or dishes or experiences that she recommends.  This is a way  talk about places where we haven't eaten and talk about dishes that might not be my first choice.  You can find lots of great food in Howard County, and I'm open to suggestions if you'll email three paragraphs, a photo, and a disclosure if you're connected to any of the joints.  Click here for the rules.

But back to Nikki:

I'm not a food blogger, or any type of blogger, yet.  But I am an eater.  A picky one.  Unfortunately, being picky and being unable to tolerate the texture of certain foods (sushi...beans...) can be limiting.  That doesn't mean I don't have favorites.  I'll start with the Irish Dip sandwich at the Diamondback Tavern.  Tender and generous slabs of in-house corned beef on a buttered and grilled hoagie roll dolloped with grainy mustard, swiss cheese melted on top.  It's served with a small crock of french onion soup, an inspired au jus, for dipping.  I get it with their huge and crispy onion rings, instead of fries and I'm happy for days.  I'm sure a great beer would be the best drink to go along with this - but I'm a fan of their fragrant, spicy sangria - and drink it with whatever I order. 

Next, with the same owners, is the cioppino over linguini at Portalli's on Main Street in Ellicott City.  Portalli is very, very picky about their seafood and it is obvious with this plate.  Lump crab, tender scallops and perfectly done shrimp over velvety linguine - in a fancy white wine sauce.  It is rich and decadent, but still feels light. I haven't had it for almost a year (two kids and a budget keep us from 'fancy' food on a regular basis), and I still think about it.  I love that portions are small, letting us eat a multi-course meal and walk away feeling full but not stuffed.  It gives us a chance to try more of their menu when we go, and every item has been fantastic and fresh.  

Last, something sweet.  I am honestly torn between a fresh twisted donut at Bon Appetit bakery and the "coffee crazy" cupcake at Cooks 'n Cakes -- both on Rte 40 in Ellicott City.  The cupcake is devil's food with a cinnamon-espresso buttercream that has enough of a bitter coffee bite to make a grown-up treat.  The donut, when fresh and still a little warm, is amazing -- crispy crumbs on the outside, tender yeasty goodness on the inside.  Luckily, we live just minutes away because, after a few hours, they are still good, but not amazing.  The cupcake, on the other hand, stands up to the test of time, so I'll have to go with that one. 

Homemade Popsicles At Bon Appetit Bakery

Fruit and red bean popsicles at Bon Appetit in Ellicott City

Homemade popsicles should be part of your summer if you are running around with kids or acting like a kid yourself.

Check out the "Icebar" freezer at Bon Appetit Bakery on Rte 40 in Ellicott City.  The Korean bakery does all kinds of cakes, pastries and cookies.  Now, they're making popsicles in house, and the fruity, creamy treats are well-worth the visit.

Coffee popsicles at Bon Appetit

On Saturday, I grabbed a mango popsicle.  It's the fresh taste of fruit with a creamy consistency.  They're making the right mix, getting a mango flavor and a slightly softer feel than the juice popsicles that I still enjoy out of our Zoku machine.  I should have grabbed more napkins.  I ended up with drips down my shirt as we drove down Rte 40.

Bon Appetit also sells popsicles in coffee, red bean, green apple, grape, and "milky."  They're a perfect treat for $1.75.  Fun if you're looking for something to do with some kids -- although I might eat them sitting at the bakery's tables.  Or fun if you're on Rte 40 and just need to cool down yourself.

Lost In Translation: Bingsoo In February

I'd like to say that I thought that ice would be less frigid in Korean.

The truth is that I wasn't thinking at all.

We ate Chinese-Korean for dinner on Saturday night.  (More on that another day.)  We saved room for frozen yogurt, but when we walked outside, we knew it was too cold.  So we headed to Bon Appetit Bakery on Rte 40 for something that wasn't ice cream.

Somehow, I ended up with a bowl of ice.

We grabbed a bag of cookies to take home.  For dessert on the spot, we looked at all the cakes.  Then I got overly excited and remembered that Bon Appetit serves bingsoo.  Bingsoo is a Korean dessert made with shaved ice, milk, and fruit.  I ordered my first red bean bingsoo without really thinking, and we ended up at a table waiting for our dessert.

I got a bowl of ice bigger than the dinner that I had just eaten.  The young woman delivered it with two spoons and a quizzical look.  She poured a little chocolate sauce.  When we started to spoon up raw ice with chocolate powder, she suggested that everything be mixed together.  (Duh!!)  You mix from the botton, and up comes mochi, red beans, a syrup, fruit, ice and milk.

Within minutes, I had basically a sweet soup.  The flavor was sweet like chocolate. The texture was a big more exotic.  It's actually red beans, ice, mochi and canned fruit.  Nothing weird, but not exactly a banana split.  You get the chocolate flavor with the chewy mochi and shaved ice.  Canned fruit isn't my favorite, but it worked.  One bingsoo would serve two or three people.

Within minutes, it had me shivering in my chair.  Bon Appetit sells beautiful cakes, and the room filled with people eating cake and drinking hot coffee.  Coffee because it was a late February night.  Everyone in the room had a cup of coffee.  I was spooning ice into my mouth.

About this point, we started to laugh.  We imagined the young woman wondering why we'd ordered bingsoo in the cold and why we didn't know to mix it up.  We imagined these guys sipping coffee wondering why I was eating a summer dessert.  It seemed rude to leave a half-full dessert, so I kept eating.  We kept giggling.  It was only afterwards that I checked Wikipedia:

Patbingsu or patbingsoo (팥빙수) is a very popular snack/dessert in South Korea, especially during the sweltering and humid summer season.

"Sweltering and humid summer season."  Read that again?  Put Bon Appetit on your summer calendar to try your own bingsoo.

Salty Sticks At Bon Appetit Bakery

Sweets are inspiring many comments from people about the new Bon Appetit bakery in Ellicott City, but don't overlook the salty sticks.

These are bread sticks -- thin, crisp and dusted with salt.  They'd impress people at a dinner party or just class up a bowl of soup.  They're not cheap at $4 a bag, but they're competitive with the bread sticks that we loved at Volt in Frederick.  That's high praise.

Don't pass up on the rice donuts at Bon Appetit.  I love red bean donuts, and comments on my prior Bon Appetit post have talked up sweets from the eclair to the yule log to the strawberry shortcake.

Bon Appetit Bakery & Cafe In Ellicott City

Bon Appetit Bakery & Cafe has burst on the scene with sweets, bread and sandwiches, although it is all but hidden from Rte 40 in Ellicott City.

The new bakery offers up a Korean-tinged variety accessible to anyone.  Sweets for a snack.  Cakes for a special occasions. Sandwiches for breakfast or lunch.

And there are red bean donuts.  Oh, I love red bean sweets, and Bon Appetit's rice donuts are bulked-up donut holes -- a really nice balance between the filing and the surrounding fried dough.

Check out Bon Appetit because you can't go wrong.  The sweets are terrific.  Madelines, donuts, mnju, and three kinds of castella.  The last two are Japanese pastries, although I only learned that on Wikipedia.  Bon Appetit could use some explanations -- a few lines about each variety to tell you what you can buy.

The cakes are obvious.  An entire case is filled with formal-looking cakes and tortes.  I assume they're a Korean style because I have seen similar ones at La Boulangerie and the bakery at the front of H Mart.  Those would make a birthday or an office party.  Mrs. HowChow doesn't like cake, so I have never bought one yet.

But the rest of the place is definitely a chance to explore.  On Sunday, they were offering green tea donuts.  Not my favorites, but certainly something to try.  Much of the items are individually wrapped, so you can grab one to try.  This time, I tried lightly-salted bread sticks that were crisp and perfect with soup,  Next time, I'm going to get the cookies that look like smiley faces.

On top of all the sweets, you can also get sandwiches or bubble tea.   You can also get breakfast sandwiches, and the egg sandwiches were cheap.  From the effort put into the pastries, I assume that they're paying attention to all tose items as well.  I'd love to hear if you lunch there.

(Update:  Check out the comments below.  I have to be honest that you can go wrong with some of the savory breads.  They were tasting a "pizza baguette" that didn't thrill me.  Not terrible, but you should eat sweets at Bon Appetit and get your pizza elsewhere.)

(Update 2: In 2011, the Ellicott City Patch also wrote about Bon Appetit.)

If you're driving out to Bon Appetit, consider stopped by the Caspian Market on the same trip.  It's in the same shopping center as the Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt shop on the south side of Rte 40.  If you drive from Bon Appetit to Rte 29, you pass Caspian on the right.  Absolutely worth checking out for a range of Middle Eastern food.

Bon Appetit Bakery & Cafe 
10155 Baltimore National Pike 
Ellicott City, MD 21042-3669
(410) 203-2071 

NEAR:  Bon Appetit is in a brick building on the south side of Rte 40.  It's just west of Bethany Lane.  The building sits perpendicular to the main road.  You need to be driving eastbound to turn into the building so you need to go past and U-turn if you're coming from Rte 29.

Bon Appetit Bakery Opens in Ellicott City

The Bon Appetit bakery has opened on Rte 40 in Ellicott City after six months of waiting. The early reports sound like a mix of Asian and American pastries, and Treetop Tom sent in this report this morning:

I went to the long-awaited grand opening of Bon Appetit in Ellicott City yesterday and was very impressed. I got a sampling of various donuts, breads and cakes. The two stand-outs were the Soporo Bread (like a small coffee cake about the size of your palm) and the red bean donut (not sickeningly sweet like many others I've tried.) The baked goods are individually portioned and wrapped and run the whole gamut from the common (pound cake) to the exotic (green bean buns.) Nice selection, more diverse than the offerings at some of the other Asian bakeries around. Another fun touch - with every purchase on opening day you got to pick a fortune cookie that revealed another free goodie. The cafe side of the business was empty and dark - not sure if it was open yet or not and I didn't see any menus. The display cases had gorgeous cakes, tortes and gateauxs. Between this new bakery and Kolache Creations (which I still need to visit) at the old consignment shop at Kiwanis-Wallis ballfields it looks like my days of griping about the lack of quality local bakeries here in in my corner of EC may be over.

I love red bean donuts. In fact, I love all red bean desserts. I need to check out Bon Appetit on my next run on Rte 40. If you're looking for other bakeries, check out my 2009 post aboutbakeries in Howard County, which lists several other Korean bakeries in Ellicott City.

Thanks to Eric and everyone else who sent emails or left comments about the opening. Please add reports below and feel free to email me a photo.

Bon Appetit Bakery & Cafe
10155 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21042-3669
(410) 203-2071

NEAR: The bakery is on Rte 40 near the intersection with Bethany Lane.  This is west of Rte 29.

Anyone Know If The Bon Appetit Cafe Opened?

The Bon Appetit Cafe & Bakery on Rte 40 has been under construction since at least last spring.  Does anyone know if opened yet?  Know the story?

(Update:  It opened in November 2010.)

Bon Appetit Cafe & Bakery in Ellicott City

Looks like a new bakery on Rte 40 in Ellicott City -- or maybe one moving?

There are signs for Bon Appetit Cafe & Bakery on Rte 40 in the new plaza between the Arby's and Exxon, according to Adam from Grubgrade.  I think he is talking about the area near Bethany Lane.  He says there is a sign that says "coming soon," although nothing clear about when it would open.

(Update: Bon Appetit opened in November 2010.)

Anyone know more?  The WPost has a listing for Bon Appetit at 10155 Baltimore Avenue.  But nothing on Yelp as far as I can see.  (Update: See the comments below for some additional information.)