Thai Sauces -- Lemongrass! -- Inspire My Shopping At The Saturday Farmers Market In Fulton

I thought that I would be good at CSAs and farmers markets, but I have never found myself making really good decisions about purchases or menus.

I buy stuff, but I lose the energy and end up with something lost and rotting in the back of the produce drawer.  As I typed this, I remembered a clutch of Love Dove Farms carrots that I need to pickle today because we haven't touched them for 10 days.

At my last visit to the new Fulton farmers market, I found my inspiration in a jar.  A jar of lemongrass sauce sold by Thai Spices, a stand run by some folks who I think also run a Thai restaurant in Baltimore.

The mason jar of sauce came packed with flavor and ideas.  You could have picked any number of sauces, including a "sweet n sour" or rad pik.  Either way, the sauce became the key to my shopping.  Carrots, tomatoes, potatoes and green beans from Love Dove and TLV Tree farms.  Then chicken breasts from TLV.

I made two soups.  Slight variations where I made stock, then added tablespoons of lemongrass sauce. Poached one chopped chicken breast.  Then removed the meat and cooked the vegetables.  First the stiff ones like carrots, potatoes and chard.  Adding a little more sauce until the flavor was strong.  Then the soft vegetables like tomatoes and green beans with the chicken to reheat.

We got six bowls of soup from that chicken and sauce.  We even have some leftover sauce that could go into a stirfry.  I'm also inspired to try this again.

Check out the Thai Spices stand.  They were also selling takeout packages of spring rolls and mango sticky rice.  That could make a nice snack as you walk around or that you carry home for lunch.

The Fulton farmers market runs every other Saturday.  Check out the spicy pepper jelly and all my posts about the Howard County farmers markets.  For the real writing about seasonal cooking, check out the CSA and recipe reports on blogs like AnnRie Unplugged or Kitchen Scribble or  Three Beans On A String or Howard County Cook.

Back To Bangkok Delight: Thai That Was One Of The Places That Tied Me To Howard County

The tingle on my tongue makes me remember Thailand and remember that Bangkok Delight still stands out.

The Columbia restaurant was one of the first restaurants that I visited in Howard County.  Mrs. HowChow lived off Rte 108, and she knew Jesse Wong's Asean Bistro and Bangkok Delight when we went on early dates.

At one point, I thought this was one of the best restaurants in Howard County.  It won't make that list when I run my annual "Best Restaurants" post next week, but Bangkok Delight's kitchen does put out fresh, flavorful food that make it worth driving past most of the Chinese places around.

We have always loved the curry dishes.  Green curry is bright and spicy.  On our most-recent visit, brown curry was slightly sweet and deeply rich.  It has little "hot pepper" spice, but it thick with the flavors of our honeymoon in Thailand.  Sliced chicken comes with potatoes, raw peanuts, and carrot.  I always cherish some extra rice -- or some rice cooked fresh with leftovers -- to soak up the curry sauce.

Mango sticky rice

In contrast, the special eggplant had a real spicy kick from slivered hot peppers.  It left that tingling tongue.  This isn't as aggressive as Bon Chon's spicy fried chicken.  It's the talented touch where spiciness complements crunchy baby corn, earthy mushrooms and eggplant cooked to that perfect point where it is fork-tender, but not mushy.

Save room for dessert if you like mango.  The mango sticky rice comes warm and sweet -- almost like risotto of rice and sweet coconut milk.  Sliced mango adds sweet tanginess, and you have the dish that made me first notice how much Mrs. HowChow loves dessert.  One early take-out evening, I brought home two mango sticky rices.  That may have been when she decided that I was a keeper.

Bangkok Delight has a cute look with paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling.  I assume they do a big takeout business because I have never seen it full.  Crowds of Indian folks in House of India and Mango Grove always make me feel confident that the food meets the standards of native palates.  But Bangkok Delight does a good job for me.

If you like Thai, you should also check out Bangkok Garden in Oakland Mills in Columbia. We also need to try Thai Aroma in Ellicott City which I always think about when we're walking into Shin Chon Garden or Tian Chinese Cuisine in the same shopping center.  They're wonderful for Korean (ie. barbecue, rice bowls, etc.) and Korean-Chinese (black bean noodles), respectively.

Bangkok Delight
8825 Centre Park Drive #A
Columbia, MD 21045
410-730-0032

NEAR: The Giant off Rte 108 just west of Howard High School and east of Rte 29. Bangkok Delight is in the shopping area just north of Giant. Look for the Burger King on the corner.

New Lunch Buffet At Bangkok Delight

Bangkok Delight now offers a weekday lunch buffet

A new lunch option comes under the spotlight thanks to David Hobby, the local behind the Strobist Web site.

Bangkok Delight in Columbia is a casual Thai spot that was one of our regular when we lived off Rte 108.  We keep forgetting the place when we are planning dinner.  We really need to go back.  I miss the green curry.

But you should hit the place for lunch because David reports they're introduced a Thai buffet -- $9.50 for six or so entrees, including curries, lo mein, pad thai chicken, etc.  Plus, you get salad, rice, wonton soup, and vegetarian spring rolls with a cherry/chili sauce that David recommends:

It's pretty much a buffet of many of the lunch specials they have always offered, so you can choose as you go. The food is very good, IMO.

The addition of pad thai is nice, as that is almost never on the lunch special menu. The lunch specials are still there. That's nice if you normally have them and bring home a doggie bag, which you obviously can't do from a buffet. 

But HoCo now has fast, decent Thai food for people who do not have much time for lunch. And being two blocks from a Rte. 100 on-ramp will make it convenient for many. 

The attendant said not a lot of people know about it, so they kind of let it wind itself down after 2pm to avoid wasting lots of food. She suggested getting there between 12p and 1p for best quality and selection.

Bangkok Delight
8825 Centre Park Drive #A
Columbia, MD 21045
410-730-0032

NEAR: Bangkok Delight is just up from the Giant off Rte 108 west of Howard High School and east of Rte 29. Bangkok Delight is in the shopping area just north of Giant. Look for the Burger King on the corner.  Centre Park Drive connects to Rte 100, so this is really easy to reach.

Asian Palace Fusion in Columbia

Roti canai at Asian Palace Fusion

I'm the last guy who should be writing, "We were shocked to find such an interesting restaurant in a shopping center," but I have to admit that it's the truth.

Asian Palace Fusion is a new restaurant tucked into an office building near Howard County Hospital.  It's a stretch to say "city restaurant," but it's a sleek and modern layout with a sushi bar, cascading water, and the sparkly look of neon, metallic cloths and cool lights.

It's not exactly a fusion restaurant.  They're not rethinking one cuisine in light of another.  Instead, they're creating the pan-Asian menu that seems more and more popular these days -- sushi, Chinese, and a touch of southeast Asia.  In this case, the touch seems heavily Thai.

Asian Palace played to the HowChow by offering an appetizer that we had never seen before -- roti canai, a Malaysian or Indonesian flatbread with Indian influences.  The flaky, fried bread was interesting, but the curry dipping sauce made this a must-try.  Maybe coconut?  It's a rich, strong flavor, and I wouldn't let them clear the bowl.  I poured another serving on white rice with the main courses.

Our main courses were split like the menu -- one sushi roll and one Thai stirfry.

On the Thai side, we tried the Bangkok basil with chicken.  It's a winner.  Long slices of white meat served with a strong taste of basil and tender vegetables.  Thick slices of onion, zucchini, and pepper weren't popped frozen from some food service pack.  They're fresh vegetables cooked through, but still crunchy.  A thin brown sauce brought the dish together.  I have no idea if this is authentic somewhere, but it's delicious.

On the sushi side, we went with the naruto roll.  We're fans of big multi-ingredient rolls, and Asian Palace enticed us by wrapping three kinds of fish and avocado in slices of cucumber.  It's pricey at $13 for five pieces, but it's beautiful and unique.  The cucumber is an integral part of the roll, slices thin enough to bend but thick enough to crunch.  They balanced the fish, and they gave a contrasting texture -- a crispness like tempura but fresh and light instead of fried.

In the end, Asian Palace is worth a drive even past your local Chinese joint.  Asian Palace aspires to be more than a neighborhood place, and it has the decor and the menu to be something special like Jesse Wong's Asean Bistro.  I'm eager to try some of the Thai dishes like penang or green curry.  There are also dozens of sushi rolls ranging from basics through multi-ingredient monsters.

Asian Palace is especially worth a drive for a group of people who want different foods.  A bunch of you could split sushi while the outlier enjoys a Thai dish.

Has anyone tried the lunches?  Asian Palace is just south of the hospital and Rte 175.  This is pretty convenient for people who work near the hospital or the Columbia Mall.

Asian Palace Fusion
10801 Hickory Ridge Rd 
Columbia, MD 21044
410-772-8888

NEAR:  Asian Palace is in the first floor of a commercial building at Hickory Ridge Road and Cedar Lane.  We get there by turning off Cedar Lane.  It's the same building as Mad City Coffee.

Samosa Week Goes To Thailand: Chicken Curry Puffs With Cucumber Sauce At Bangkok Garden

When all the contestants are fried, the dipping sauce can carry the day.

Samosa Week went to Thailand for Bangkok Garden's curry puff appetizer, and the first note was the sweet, cucumber-flavored sauce.  The sauce, which comes with chopped onion and sliced jalepeno, certainly distinguishes the Columbia restaurant from Indian joints.

But the curry puff actually makes the "best samosa" list on its own.  The filing was a puree of chicken, potato and herbs.  That's as much flavor as an Indian samosa with the same profile of spiced, but not spicy.  Even more impressive, the pastry was perfect.  Crunchy and thick like an Indian samosa, but dry to the touch.  There is so little grease that it almost looks baked.

The Thai samosa is not a crazy pick.  I was surprised when I first read about curry puffs on Good for the Palate, but Bangkok Garden delivers on all three dimensions -- filing, pastry and sauce -- and contrasts the fried puffs nicely with fresh, lighter stirfries.  It's a new kitchen since the place was sold earlier this year, and definitely one worth visiting.

This is part of the Samosa Week -- a celebration of savory pastries from India and beyond.  We're highlighting the best of Howard County's fried appetizers in all kinds of flavors.

Bangkok Garden 9 in Columbia

Choo-Chee Goong and Pad-Mah-Kuer-Jae

Bangkok Garden 9 can serve food delicious enough that it's worth make sure that they get things right.

The Columbia restaurant has been a local attraction for years, and we have gone twice since it was sold earlier this year and added the lucky "9" to its name.  Thai food makes for happy evenings -- in no small part because it was part of our early dates and our honeymoon.

Bangkok Garden can deliver.  When it's on, the food is light and punchy.  The sauces are so delicious that I wanted extra rice to spoon it all up.  We have wiped out an appetizer and two large plates of food because it's just too much fun to box up.

Sharing a bunch of courses is important because you can sample so many different flavors in a Thai meal.  You could start with larb -- the cold salad made with minced chicken, lime juice, fish sauce, and herbs.  Or you could flip around to curry puffs -- a fried, flaky pastry like a samosa, stuffed with pureed chicken and pastry and served hot with a cucumber sauce.

Bangkok Garden Sold, But Not To Tara Thai

Bangkok Garden has been sold to folks who will take over the Columbia restaurant and change the name, but not to "Tara Thai," according to a comment from Vida.

First the bad news. I've confirmed that the Columbia branch of Bangkok Garden has been sold. I went to the Bethesda location for dinner this evening and spoke with the owners. I was told that the new owners of the Columbia location are Tarin Thai, (not Tara Thai- sorry about that), out of Virginia. According to the previous owners, the new owners have been granted the right to use the Bangkok Garden name for about 6 months; after that time, they will have to change the restaurant's name. 

 Now for the good news. Bethesda isn't that far away. . . .

Anyone know more details?  I see a reference to a Tarin Thai on Yelp, but that Herndon restaurant is described as closed.  When people were reviewing, they focused on a Thai buffet.  Thanks to Vida for the update.

Bangkok Garden and the Thai New Year

Bangkok Garden in Columbia is the only local entry in a "Thai Restaurant Week" sponsored by the Royal Thai Embassy from April 13 to 19, 2009, according to the WPost.  The article says restaurants will serve special menus of holiday foods, and they'll offer free samples of fresh Thai fruit like mangoes, litchis, rambutans, etc.

See this Chowhound post for more information about Thai New Year festivities.

Thai Aroma in Ellicott City

I don't think I could ever eat too much Thai food.  Mrs. HowChow and I flew to Thailand for our honeymoon, and it was the first long trip that I reached the end without wishing once for a some meal from home.

Thai Aroma delivers this salty-sour-spicy cuisine on Rte 40 in Ellicott City.  The menu serves all the classics: tom yum soups, larb, pork and chicken stirfries and the beautifully colorful curries -- red, green, yellow, panang . . .  The kitchen delivers as well.  I came out of a frigid afternoon and warmed up with tom yum shrimp soup and panang pork.  The soup was delicious with the undertone of sour that takes a steady hand to do right and with fresh-tasting tomato diced into the broth.  

The curry was good.  Its hard to judge because I have a soft spot for Bangkok Delight so I don't want to dismiss Thai Aroma.  I enjoyed lunch, and, although its a little dark inside, it felt like a friendly place.  (It felt extra friendly when the waitress chased me down in the parking lot with the credit card I left behind.  Should have tipped a dollar more)  The food was good, and it deserves its accolades from fans on Live in Howard County.  Definitely a worthy place, although maybe a step below Bangkok Delight -- a place that, some days, I think is the best restaurant around.  The Columbia restaurant just puts some extra crisp to the vegetables, some extra bite to the curry.

I'd love to hear from other people who can compare.  People swear by Bangkok Delight and by Bangkok Garden, also in Columbia.  But then, I could never have too much Thai food! 

If you are near Thai Aroma, definitely check out Shin Chon Garden Korean restaurant and La Boulangerie bakery, which are in the same shopping center with the Lotte grocery store.  There is also a Korean-style Chinese restaurant, but I haven't tried that yet.

Thai Aroma

8815 Baltimore National Pike (Rte 40)

Ellicott City, MD  21043

410-480-5100

NEAR:  Thai Aroma is across from the Lotte grocery store in the shopping center just east of Rte 29 on Rte 40.  It is next to La Boulangerie bakery.

Bangkok Delight: Today's Best Restaurant in Howard County

Today, I think the best restaurant in Howard County is Bangkok Delight just off Rte 108 in Columbia.

I already posted that I normally can't even rank my Top 10. But Wednesday night Mrs. HowChow and I drove to Bangkok Delight for dinner, and I ordered three entrees because I honestly couldn't pick just two. The Malaysian brown curry with chicken. The drunken noodles with tofu. And the special eggplant vegetarian stirfry, which was pricey for vegetables at $17 but absolutely delivered.

Bangkok Delight qualifies as a best restaurant because the food is beautifully cooked and because it is subtle and wide-ranging enough to compete with any other kitchen around. The vegetables were exquisite. Stirfried with a light sauce, but they were mostly delicious because someone cooked them perfectly -- cooked through, but still firm. Eggplant. Zucchini. Onion. A few hot peppers that really carried a wallop.

This isn't mere shopping center food. Thai hot peppers are disaster in unskilled hands, but Bangkok Delight serves up just enough for zip and flavor and serves them on pretty plates with a carved-vegetable flower decoration. That skill crosses a broad menu -- laab with its minced chicken and lime flavor, soups that balance lemon grass and coconut milk, stirfries, noodles and curries. Bangkok Delight serves five curries, and they're each unique. This week's brown curry tastes of coriander, cinnamon and cloves in a sauced tinged with coconut milk and peanuts. At the other end, the green curry leads with hot peppers that bring the perfect fire -- except for the few times that it has actually been too hot for me. This kitchen shares the skill and range of places like Iron Bridge Wine Company -- a yardstick for great dining around here.

On top of all that, it's pretty with paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling. This isn't the gravity of Jordan's Steakhouse or even the decor of Jesse Wong's Asean Bistro. But it's pretty enough for a date, and it's perfect for a night out or to please visitors who love food. All at prices below almost every other great restaurant around. (We spent $50 on a dinner that would have fed three at least.)

In the end, I blew the budget Wednesday because I couldn't pick just one dinner. The eggplant was a special. I wanted a curry. I was amused by a wing appetizer, enticed by some duck options, and finally couldn't leave without

noodles. But pad thai or drunken noodles? We ordered three entrees, then packed a meal's worth of leftovers into containers so that we would still have room for the mango sticky rice. Mrs. HowChow has it every time. Like the kheer at Akbar, Bangkok Delight's sticky rice converts humble grains into a rich, sweet pudding. Simple, normal enough to please even someone without an adventurous palate. And the perfect way to end the best meal in Howard County this week.

(Update:  In 2010, I wouldn't say this is the best restaurant.  We had a few less-perfect meals.  It's nice, but it didn't make my Best Restaurants list for 2009.)

If you like Thai, you should also check out Bangkok Garden in Oakland Mills in Columbia. If you want other Asian, try Korean at Shin Chon Garden or Mirocjo. Click here for my take on the best restaurants in Howard County. Click here for my prior post about Bangkok Delight and how it captures the authentic flavor of Thailand.

Bangkok Delight
8825 Centre Park Drive #A
Columbia, MD 21045
410-730-0032
http://www.bangkokdelight.com/

NEAR: The Giant off Rte 108 just west of Howard High School and east of Rte 29. Bangkok Delight is in the shopping area just north of Giant. Look for the Burger King on the corner.

Bangkok Garden in Columbia

Because I already have a Thai restaurant on my favorites list, Bangkok Garden had to pass a test with me. It did. This casual Columbia place captures the flavor of Thailand, and I'll go back to taste some more.

(Update: Bangkok Garden was sold in 2011.  It appears to be a totally new management, and the name will change during the spring or summer.)

Next time, I'll pass on the larb, which didn't have the flavor of the appetizer at my favorite Bangkok Delight. But I'll drive for the massaman shrimp curry -- an orange-tinged curry made with coconut, peanut and the delicious spices that make Thai food so delicious. We ate shrimp and chunks of avocado, then asked for extra rice to just cover with curry and spoon up.

Both the massaman and the green curries tasted like authentic Bangkok. The vegetables in the green curry were spectacular. The chicken didn't add much, so try a vegetable curry to enjoy the perfectly-tender eggplant and bamboo shoots.

Bangkok Garden is a casual little place. Large glass windows. The decor is an 80s flashback that looks like the set for The Wedding Singer -- luminous black tables, jewel tones, and then strangely out-of-season tinsels and Christmas decorations. They offer karaoke with huge spotlights. A perfect place to go shine.

If you like Thai, definitely check out Bangkok Delight or click for a working list of the best restaurants in Howard County.

Bangkok Garden

5810 Robert Oliver Place

Columbia, MD 21045

410-992-9553

www.bkkgarden.com

NEAR: This is in the Oakland Mills village center. This is off Stevens Forest Road north of Broken Land and east of Rte 29.

Bangkok Delight: Thai in Columbia

This is the one place that I can actually say tastes authentic.

Our honeymoon in Thailand was the only trip in which I came home without craving some familiar American food. Bangkok Delight captures the feel of Thailand -- from the pretty paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling to the mango with sticky rice that we eat every time.

Start with chicken laab -- minced chicken dressed with lime juice, celery, red onion and herbs -- or one of the lemon grass ("tom yum") soups. Those capture the Thai flavor that balances salty, sweet and sour flavors and takes special advantage of lime, herbs and sometimes hot peppers. A first-time visitor will enjoy a chicken or pork satay -- skewers of meat served with a peanut sauce. The adventurous will savor spicy yum salads -- beef, chicken, squid other choices mixed again with lime, spices, celery and scallions.

Then order whatever entree looks good. You're choosing between noodles and rice dishes, picking different curries or stirfries, and deciding whether you want veggies, chicken, pork, fish, etc. Everything has been delicious, and there are specials that extend Bangkok Delight from a basic joint into a creative restaurant. Squash dishes, soft shell crabs and special curries. This kitchen wants to impress you, and entrees from $11 to $20 make it easy to come again and again. It's also great takeout, especially the noodles and curries -- most surprisingly the brown curry that we only tried recently because, well, it was called "brown" curry and "ruby," "red" or "green" sounded more appetizing.

Again, my post about the mango sticky rice.

(Update: My thoughts on Bangkok Delight have changed. For a while in 2008, I thought it was the best restaurant in Howard County. But I have been disappointed several times in 2009. There are comments below from The Minx, who was really disappointed in November 2009. I really don't know what has happened.)

If you like Thai food, go check out H Mart or check out (literally, from the library) "Thai Food and Cooking" -- the cookbook that I carry around the H Mart.

(If you want Thai, many other people -- including a handful who disparage Bangkok Delight -- swear by Bangkok Garden in the Oakland Mills Village Center. Check out a note and see the address is below.)

Bangkok Delight

8825 Centre Park Drive #A

Columbia, MD 21045

410-730-0032

http://www.bangkokdelight.com/

NEAR: The Giant off Rte 108 just west of Howard High School and east of Rte 29. Bangkok Delight is in the shopping area just north of Giant. Look for the Burger King on the corner.

(I promised myself that I wouldn't write many negative comments, but the Mexican restaurant next to Bangkok Delight is one of the worst that I have ever eaten. Eat at Burger King first.)

Bangkok Garden

5810 Robert Oliver Place

Columbia, MD 21045

410-992-9553

http://www.bkkgarden.com/

NEAR: They're in the Oakland Mills village center.

Delicious: Mango Sticky Rice at Bangkok Delight

The sweet taste of coconut milk, the dense texture of a pudding, and fruity bite of mango slices spread across the top.

Mango sticky rice is a wonderful dessert that you'll have after a great dinner if you order it at Bangkok Delight. It's sweet and delicious, exotic enough to be exciting but normal enough to please even someone without an adventurous palate. And light light enough to enjoy even if you gorged on Thai dinner.

And it travels well, so it's great for takeout. We have hosted several dinners where we served Bangkok Delight curries, then mango sticky rice. Don't refrigerate it because the rice gets hard.

Check here for a full post about Bangkok Delight or check out the H Mart for Thai ingredients and other eating spendors.

Bangkok Delight
8825 Centre Park Drive
Columbia, MD 21045
410-730-0032

NEAR: The Safeway on Rte 108 near the entrance to Rte 100. Bangkok Delight is in the strip shopping center up from the Safeway's center. Look next to the Burger King.

http://www.bangkokdelight.com/mainHome.html