The Other Side Of The Tracks: Why You Need To Check Out Sykesville (And We Should Annex)

Crepe-making.  That's the balsamic glaze going on.

This post begins my plan to annex Sykesville.

The little town just across the railroad tracks in Carroll County is a terrific excursion, especially as a side trip on the way home from picking some fruit Larriland Farm.  It's half an hour from most of Howard County, and it's a cool place to explore and get some good food.

Jeff from Southern Skies Coffee turned me on to Sykesville -- and specifically emailed last month to tout the French Twist Cafe:

I wanted you to know about a really special place that just opened. It's a coffee shop just over the Carroll County line in downtown Sykesville.  Hélène, the owner, grew up in France and makes authentic crepes (both sweet and savory) and ridiculously good coffee drinks. She trained at the American Barista & Coffee School in Portland and obviously took the training to heart, as evidenced by her perfect cappuccinos. 

The crepes are made with buckwheat flour, which in spite of its name, contains no wheat and is gluten free. I've had the ham and cheese crepe and the nutella and banana crepe and both were stellar. 

The shop itself is located in a charming house with a big front porch that's perfect for lingering. If you make it up this way, please let me know and we can have coffee.

Everything that Jeff said was true, which is why we need to roll into town and annex the place.  Once Ulman is lieutenant government, Carroll County won't be able to stop us.

Crepe folded to eat

Mrs. HowChow and I stopped last weekend after picking cherries at Larriland.  I'll admit that I've followed emails into some shady joints, and Mrs. HowChow has followed me loyally into every one.  So she was pretty psyched when the French Twist Cafe turned out to be charming counter offering a superb lunch.

Crepe made to order.  The chef working two special griddles with a bottle of crepe batter and a long metal tool.  The crepes are impossibly pliable, yet crisp.  For savory one, they cover half the circle with a mix of cheese and vegetables.  Warm it through with the perfect amount of oil and balsamic glaze to dress the greens.

I lost a bet on that dressing.  The crepes come folded into fourths -- a really portable sandwich.  That made it way more fun to eat than a fussy knife and fork.  We got a Greek one -- a generous serving of greens, olives, and feta.  A light flavor from the buckwheat crepe.  The rich payoff of really good ingredients and crunch from some onion and green peppers.

Mrs. HowChow figured out that they'd added dressing.  That really brought the sandwich together, and the whole meal was light and exciting.  Crepes are exotic fun worth the drive, but the menu is completely accessible -- ranging from breakfast versions with eggs to savory items like basic ham, our Greek or a fancy crab meat.  And, of course, there are sweet crepes hyped up by butter, chocolate, Nutella, fruit and more.

Jeff's coffee shot

Remember that Jeff talked up the coffees.  Jeff roasts his own coffee, so you should listen when he says they serve a perfect cappuccino.

Overall, French Twist is a cool place to check out.  I was impressed with the quality of the ingredients.  It makes all the difference, and it means you could get all kinds of fun.  Coffee and breakfast.  A relaxed lunch.  A break on a bike ride.  A chocolate crepe to entertain some kids on an afternoon.

Notice that they start with breakfast service and cook into the late afternoon or early evening most days.  Check their hours.  Remember they're making the crepes to order.  Expect to wait a bit.  We lounged at a porch table in perfect weather, so we were content.

Up tomorrow:  The chocolate, wine and food store around the corner on Main Street that lets you turn a Sykesville trip into a full food excursion.

Can anyone tell me about the model train museum in Sykesville?  There is an old railroad car parked across from the French Twist.  As far as I can tell from the Web, it's a model train display run by a volunteer club and open on the first Sunday afternoon of every month.

French Twist Cafe
732 Oklahoma Avenue
Sykesville, MD 21784
(443) 920-3151

NEAR:  Sykesville is literally across a railroad track from northern Howard County.  From Howard County, you take Rte 32 north across I-70, then turn left onto West Friendship Road.  That curves across the border and turns into Main Street as it enters Sykesville.  Turn left at Oklahoma Avenue, but the French Twist will be on your right across from the railroad car.

Cafe Mezcla Opened In Hickory Ridge With Waffles And Crepes, Sweet And Savory

A new cafe opened in the Hickory Ridge village center in Columbia -- bringing a menu of crepes, waffles and more to Columbia, reported several people who commented over the past week.

Cafe Mezcla opened last weekend next to Meadows Custard, according to reports from folks including Elizabeth of the Bare Midriff blog was the early reporter.  This sounds like a place for meals or dessert. They do crepes with goat cheese and mushrooms and waffles with bananas Foster.

I have been out of commission for weeks with travel and illness. I'm trying to start up again, and I'll do a bunch of short posts about news that happened when I was home. This way, people will be able to find the posts if they're looking for a specific restaurant. Check them all out by clicking on Reset May 2014.

Le Comptoir: Every Sweet Is Among The Best Desserts In Howard County, Every County

Cookies! Even the cookies are exceptional.

Petit Louis is certainly a sweet spot, and they're still working hard to hit the sweet spot in every aspect.

I can't talk enough about the desserts -- both in the restaurant and at its casual counter Le Comptoir.  We have eaten almost everything that they offer.  Probably a dozen trips in a single month -- mostly to carry out a box of cookies or pastries.

I think that I'm being even-keeled when I say that I have eaten 15 different cookies, eclairs and pastries and every one ranks among the best desserts around.  Just last month, I emphasized how many great sweets are available in Howard County.  But Petit Louis and Le Comptoir immediately leapt up to the absolute top tier, and you can't check it out fast enough.

Macarons with a changing run of imaginative flavors.  Eclairs and financiers that shame regular pastries.  Tiny fruit gels that are brilliant $1 bites.  Cookies that even taste exceptional.  Mrs. HowChow almost passed on the chocolate cookie after we walked around the lake.  How special can a cookie be?  It turns out that they can be amazing with a crisp exterior and a soft inside, rich with chocolate and perfect with coffee (and with a second cookie like the rosemary-scented heart-shaped one).

And don't get me started about the macarons.  These trendy French pastries are basically sandwich cookies with merengues on the outside and a flavored filling.  We have been infatuated for several years.  I have carried macarons home from New York City.  But I have never had better ones that Le Comptoir.  The merengues are perfectly dry without cracking.  The flavors are fresh and intense, strong with banana, peanut butter, pistachio-grapefruit, etc.  They're the symbol of what I love about Petit Louis' sweets -- simple desserts that are so clearly not simple to create.

Now, a friend told me that he thinks Petit Louis became Howard County's best restaurant as soon as it opened.  I'm excited if that is true.  It may have been a mistake for us to eat there on a Monday night, but we were celebrating that day.  Five occupied tables couldn't fill the room with any energy, and we got a waiter who was growing into the role.

As it was, we unintentionally ordered two fried dishes.  I asked if the beignet was like the doughy fritter that you'd see in New Orleans.  Now, I realize that the waiter's nod was probably based on politeness, not agreement.  I got shrimp and vegetable tempura.  Terrific tempura, but that wasn't what I had wanted.  Then we got surprised again when Mrs. HowChow's desire for fresh fish got her fried cod.  Again, real skill to fry that perfectly.  Just not what she was looking for.  I remember servers at other Foreman-Wolf restaurants, and I think they would have led us to dishes that we wanted.

Of course, the entire meal leads you to dessert, so you go out on a bang without any risk of translation.  We went with Gateau Aux Fruits Exotiques and Pot de Creme Au Chocolat.  They're intense flavors, rich but light enough that we walked out smiling and bubbly.  Honestly, the fruits aren't that exotic -- passion fruit, coconut and pineapple.  It's talent that intensifies the flavors in layers of cake and cream.

As I'm sitting here trying to explain why we're au septieme ciel over Petit Louis' sweets, my best explanation is that they don't taste of butter and sugar.  You can always win over a table with dessert heavy with cream or sharp with sweetness.  Each Petit Louis dessert leads with a flavor -- a fruit, an herb, that chocolate.  They run from crunchy to creamy to gelled, but they each taste fresh and unique.

Seriously, you need to go check this out.  Petit Louis serves high end French dinners, and the Foreman-Wolf team have been spectacular to offer you smaller options -- maybe just dessert in the restaurant, definitely sandwiches, quiche, coffee and sweets as takeout or sit down at the casual Le Comptoir next door.

A bunch of new restaurants have opened over the past two months.  Practically, it will take a while for us to try them all.  But I'm also being slow because I want these places to get up and running.  I'm confident that the Petit Louis folks want Columbia to rival the Baltimore location, and I think that lakefront dining room will be a very special place.  One meal shouldn't define any of the new endeavors.

Drop What You're Doing! Go Have Coffee And Pastries At Le Comptoir, The New Walk Up

"Cinnamon bun," chocolate croissants, croissants

Petit Louis hasn't even opened, but the small walk-up counter next door has already kicked off a brand new experience for Howard County food.

Le Comptoir is a casual counter service area next to the space that will open next week as the latest Foreman-Wolf restaurant.  You can get casual lunch items, but it's worth dropping whatever you're doing right now to just get coffee and pastries.

The best croissant Mrs. HowChow has ever had.  Lemon poppy cakes.  A chocolate-pistachio pastry.  Two flavors of macarons.    Something described as a cinnamon bun, which I carried out and is waiting to be eaten as a little snack.

Everything that we ate was perfect.  A small, crispy croissant that was simultaneously light and flaky, but left a luscious impression of butter on my tongue.  A cake moist with a strong lemon flavor and a slight crunchy crust for contrast.  You know that I love the local bakeries, but you can't beat these pastries overlooking the lake.  We split a French press of coffee, and we had the best time.

Even before the coffee rush, I was pretty hyped up for this group's first restaurant in Howard County.  I can't say that I dream of French dining, but the Foreman-Wolf restaurants have this amazing feeling where people are obviously serious about the food, but not about themselves.  They're so nice.  The flavors and the people make me want to go back immediately.

At Le Comptoir, you can take out or sit at one of the cafe tables overlooking the Columbia lakefront.  Gorgeous now -- and great to get out of our house after these frigid weeks.  I can imagine that it will be even better in five to seven months when you could eat outside, walk around the lake, and let little feet run on the grass.

Petit Louis appears to be opening next week.  They're doing "friends and family" meals to work out the kinks and hosting a few charity lunches and dinners this week.

Check with Le Comptoir about their hours this week.  Eventually, they're planning on breakfast and lunch.  Maybe into the night.  But the restaurant is still opening, so I don't know their hours this week.  Hat tip to Clayton who stopped for an espresso and croissant on the first day Saturday.

Le Comptoir (inside Le Petit Louis)
10215 Wincopin Circle
Columbia, MD 21044
410-964-9999

NEAR:  This is on the Columbia lakefront next to Sushi Sono and just down from the Tomato Palace and Clyde's.  You park in the parking garage fronting Little Patuxent Parkway, then walk down to the lakefront.

The Pork Sandwich At Tersiguel's

The "croque monsieur" at Tersiguel's

Four ingredients -- one great sandwich.

The proof of Tersiguel's talents are in its variation of the croque monsieur where my brain was surprised that there was no barbecue sauce at all.

The sandwich -- a variation because it isn't the grilled, cheesy version most restaurants would serve -- comes at lunch with slow-cooked pork, creamed cabbage and an alioli.  Four ingredients if you add the bread, almost plain-looking for a $12 plate.

But those ingredients sing.  Moist pork with a subtle, but strong flavor that paid perfectly with the fresh taste of cabbage.  I don't normally want creaminess in slaw, but I loved it on the Tersiguel's sandwich.  And the bread.  The bread!  Tersiguel's bakes beautiful bread -- a crisp crust, an airy interior -- for both your bread basket and for the sandwich.  The roll was soft, yet held up to the moist fillings even as I ate slowly to savor our fancy lunch.

My brain expected meat so moist and flavorful to be covered in sauce.  Tersiguel's has basically created a pulled pork sandwich, but they have the skill to bring everything out of the pork with just the simplest support.  That's the fun of a pro kitchen.

Lunch at Tersiguel's is a less-expensive way to try Howard County's most famous restaurant.  I chose between the sandwich and several crepes that looked equally delicious.  If you can catch a pretty afternoon, it's perfect to eat and then window shop along Main Street or walk downhill for a coffee at the Bean Hollow.

Tersiguel's
8293 Main Street
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-465-4004

NEAR:  Tersiguel's is in downtown Ellicott City.  It's on Main Street right next to the large public parking lot.  That's just up the hill from the light at Old Columbia Pike.

Macarons Have Come To Howard County -- Spotted At The New Linda's Bakery In Columbia

Macarons from Linda's Bakery

We're getting on trend now in Howard County with French-style macarons offered up in Columbia even as these bakeries pop in places like DC and Bethesda.

The new Linda's Bakery that opened on Snowden River Parkway this month offers several flavors of macarons.  These are basically sandwich cookies made with meringues connected with a cream or other filing.

They're light, often fruity sweets.  Perfect as a tiny treat.  Beautiful on dessert plate.  They're also a current post-cupcake trend among pastry shops and cookbooks.  The Sugar Baby cookbook caught Mrs. HowChow's eye because she had searched out macarons when we visited Manhattan.

Mrs. HowChow hasn't worked up to the complex recipe yet, but Linda's pops out macarons with raspberry, almond, coffee, and chocolate chip.  They're not the perfectly uniform pastries from New York's Macaron Cafe.  A few were so brittle that they shattered or had air spaces inside.  But they're light with the burst of intense flavor that makes macarons so special.

This is the kind of experimentation that makes me glad to see all the new bakeries.  Linda's could create a niche for this kind of pastry, which I haven't seen closer than Bethesda until now.

Café de Paris Fights The Big Boys And Scores Big WIth French Onion Soup, Tuna And Crepes

Café de Paris in Columbia made Richard Gorelick's list of the 50 Best in the Baltimore suburbs, and it also pleased DonkeyKong, a Howard County native who lives here with his wife and two kids.

A few weeks ago, he wanted a special weeknight dinner to celebrate his wife's birthday.  A sitter was near impossible, so they decided to go local, but try a high-end spot.

With a grandparent showing up to give us a few hours to go out, we opted to try Café Du Paris off Rte. 100 and Rte. 108. We’ve always wanted to try it, but honestly -- and maybe it’s the conditioned inferiority complex I have about Howard County’s restaurant scene -- we have reasoned, if we are going out to eat then “WE ARE GOING OUT TO EAT”. That means a $100 meal in DC or Baltimore to fill out the illusion of date night where the ambiance must match the drive, the sitter, and the brief escape from reality that dining out provides. 

Bonaparte French Bistro in Savage

My sandwich at the Bonaparte French Bistro was all about flavor -- a grainy bread, a few slices of roast beef, Swiss cheese, a few crunchy onion slices.

You need talent to create subtle and delicious food, and my sandwich pulled that together.  Each flavor was great, and they just improved when they were toasted together.  (The onion was just perfect contrast with the tangy cheese.)

Exceptional quality is par for the course at Bonaparte Bread, which has offered breads, pastries and a limited menu in its cafe at the Savage Mill.  In the fall, Bonaparte took over the cafe upstairs, and its bistro offers an expanded lunch menu of sandwiches, tartes, quiches and soups.  It's is a single page, but quite ambitious for a spot that seemed to be run by just two people with options that range from smoked salmon to chicken salad, fresh mozzarella sandwiches to crepes.  (My one critique: Pick salad over fries.  My fries came cold, and there just aren't frozen fries that can compete with Bonaparte's breads.  I bet the salad was delicious.)

Other people have noticed the unique offerings (for example, this Chowhound post), and the cafe built up a clientele while I ate my lunch.  But it's an unusual hybrid.  They're clearly investing in quality -- from the ingredients to the stylish, modern plates and flatware.  But they're still sitting in Savage Mill.  Will shoppers stay for lunch when a bowl of soup costs $7.50 and sandwiches are $9?  Will people drive from Columbia for a special meal when they're served staring into the Bead Store?  The Savage Mill Web site calls this "fast gourmet French food for slow eating enjoyment."  That cleverly captures the tension and the reason to visit.

To me, this is worth checking out.  If you like shopping at Savage Mill, it's a no-brainer.  But it is also a great place to drive to relax on the weekend -- and the perfect place to bring out-of-town guests in the cold -- a little classy, a little unique, and you can walk around Savage Mill for a while.  Check out the game store right next to the bistro.

(UPDATE:  See the February 2009 comment below that the bistro may be closed until April because winter crowds are smaller.)

Remember this is a lunch-only operation.  I'm not 100% sure that Bonaparte French Bistro is the official name.  That is what the Savage Mill Web site says, although its map calls it "Bonaparte Express."

Bonaparte French Bistro

8600 Foundry Street

Savage, MD 20763

240-568-3601

240-568-3602

NEAR:  The bistro is in the New Weave building at Savage Mill.  The mill is a renovated industrial site that is easy to reach from U.S. 1 just south of Rte 32.  Turn onto Gorman Road from U.S. 1, then turn right on Foundry Street when you see signs for the mill and the large bridge that sits next to it.  The New Weave building is on the far right as you walk from the parking lot towards the mill.