Jessica trolls Howard County with her fiancee and talks up the good and bad. Her inspiration for emailing me was a lunch at Frisco Grille & Cantina where she heard that the plan to move down Dobbin Road been slightly delayed. Permit issues. Now, they're thinking that the new location will open in late October or early November at the earliest.
That means that Jessica will have a few more beer and enchilada meals at the original Frisco. She won't be going back to Cazbar. I liked the lamb donor, but Jessica didn't like her vegetarian meal. Thin bread, off flavors, slow service, and hummus that tasted to her just like chick peas that had been boiled and blended. "I've made better hummus at home, and I'm not the world's best cook," she says. Bummer for Cazbar because Jessica is learning Tukish food from her fiancee's family. She says she'll drive to Arlington for Atilla's. But when she wants local food, she starts out on Stanford Boulevard in Columbia:
The cheese enchilada grilled spicy at Frisco's with a good hefeweizen (or Resurrection, if there is no hefe on the menu that week). I like to mix my genres, in this case with Mexican food and German beer. The outside of the enchiladas are always grilled perfectly- not soggy but never overcooked and rubbery. The inside is a warm, gooey, cheesy delight, and when grilled spicy it has just the right amount of kick. It comes with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and shredded lettuce, and I clean the plate every single time. I've never had a bad meal at Frisco Grille, but once I tried the cheese enchiladas, I have never had a desire to order anything else. And of course a refreshing hefeweizen just helps balance out the intense heat from the sriracha sauce.
Regardless of what anyone else thinks of it, Hanamura in Columbia is my favorite HoCo sushi joint mostly for one reason: the spicy tuna rolls. I'm boring and like to go with the standard rolls, and Hanamura makes the best. The spicy tuna roll has the perfect ratio of salty, tender fish to mildly sweet rice to icky-but-necessary seaweed, and unlike at Sushi King, it's actually SPICY. There's definitely a theme running through this post: I like my food to be almost unbearably spicy, or as my friend puts it, unbearably awesome. And these spicy tuna rolls qualify. Plus the service at Hanamura is better than at Sushi King (never been to Sushi Sono), it's cheaper, and there's never a wait for a table. Three thumbs up in my book.
And to prove that I occasionally eat somewhere other than Stanford Blvd. (and something other than spicy food), I'll talk for a moment about Touche Touchet in Columbia. I had learned of this bakery and Oh What a Cake from HowChow. I tried Oh What a Cake a few months ago and was completely underwhelmed. I finally had an occasion to try Touche Touchet a few weeks ago, and the story was completely different. The key lime cupcake (with key lime filling, no less) was light, fluffy, and moist all at the same time, with a tart flavor from the frosting and filling that gave my face just the right amount of pucker. It was also the perfect size- big enough for multiple heavenly bites, but not so big that you're sick of eating it when you're only halfway through it. And not so big that I would feel compelled to share one with my fiancee. I wish I could say I would go back and try something different, but that key lime cupcake would be hard to top.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.
(Update: Check out the link below that Ocelots provided to a Touche Touchet birthday cake. That's terrific.)
I have a new girlfriend -- a neighborhood gal with less flash, but just as much ambition as the stylish chicks I have been seeing.
