What Does Gambrill Have That We Don't Have? Pretty Great Chicken By A South African Chain

Nando's Peri-Peri in Gambrills

Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken is coming to Gambrills, and I have to admit that I'm jealous.

Nando's is a chain from South Africa that sells spectacular chicken.  Really great wings.  Huge,  meaty wings grilled perfectly and offered up with sauces that run from mild to screaming-hot.  They do full chickens, salads, sandwiches and wraps (and great olives), but the 10 whole wings has been a major treat when I meet people for lunch in Gallery Place.  They rank equal to my favorites at Kloby's -- and they're grilled, not fried.

Now Nando's is coming to Baltimore with one spot on Baltimore Street and a spot opening today . . . wait for it . . . in Gambrills.

I know a bunch of people commute over to Anne Arundel County, so I heartily recommend eating at Nando's.  I'll drive 30 minutes to Gambrills for those wings one evening soon.  (The Nando's folks turned me away from a soft open yesterday because they were quite reasonably feeding just people who had made reservations.)  That food makes a worthy lunch if you work anywhere nearby.

But I must admit some jealousy because I don't know why Nando's would bypass our fair county for Gambrills.  In the past week, I have driven twice along Rte 3, and it makes Rte 175 look cosmopolitan.  The Nando's PR folks are lovely, and even they can't find Gambrills.  They write that they're opening the restaurant in "Waugh Chapel."

Waugh Chapel is a big shopping center with a Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, Joseph A. Banks and Five Below.  Hello?  Sound horribly familiar?  If you travelled from South Africa in search of that kind of shopping, Howard County is your type of town!  Nando's and Lebanese Taverna -- those are the chains that I'm rooting will roost around here.

Nano's Peri-Peri
1417 Main Chapel Way
Gambrills, MD 21054

NEAR:  This is actually easy to find -- and easy to reach just east of Odenton and 30 minutes from most of Howard County.  Go east on Rte 32.  Take Rte 3 south.  Then get off on Main Chapel Way and look for the Waugh Chapel shopping center.  If you go, mention loudly that you're from Howard County.  We want to get a Nando's in the second wave.