HowChow: What I Learned

Showing posts with label What I Learned - Shopping. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2009

Asian Grocery Stores in Howard County

Asian grocery stores are one of the great food innovations of the past 20 years.

From Howard County, a short drive will let you buy spectacular vegetables, fruit, fish and Asian or Latin groceries. Low prices. Incredible selections. Specialty offerings at a price that lets you try out that Asian pepper, unusual spice or the fruit that you have never seen before.

My top choices are the H Mart off Rte 40 in Catonsville or the Super Grand south of Rte 198 on Rte 197 in Laurel. You can also shop at Lotte in Ellicott City. I have posted about various aspects of these stores that I'll summarize below, but nothing beats an hour exploring the aisles. You want to go because you'll do this week's grocery shopping and get to add a little adventure to your life at the same time. Nothing lose; a world of flavor to gain.

(Update: A huge Lotte opened in Catonsville in December 2012. Search for posts about that grocery as well.)

Let's start with the guaranteed finds. In my post about "my favorite place for food," I wrote that Asian ingredients don't even make my Top 5 reasons to visit H Mart. They're ideal. I love the wonton wrappers, the coconut milk, the Asian pears, and the aisles of rice, tofu and sauces. These should be your first stops if you're trying to cook anything from Korean to Chinese to Thai, but you'll find far more than soy sauce and seaweed at H Mart, Lotte or Super Grand:

Fruit -- The fruit lasts longer than items from anyone else. In-season fruit comes at spectacular selections like a dozen varieties pears, and there are unusual selections like Koran melons or lychees. Try a box of Asian pears when they're in season. A luxury suddenly becomes something that you can share and enjoy day after day.
Frozen Food -- The frozen aisle is full of convenience items. Dumplings. Shu Mai. Red bean ice cream. Bags of edamame. Even a brief scouting trip will send you home with some great frozen items and inspire you to return.
Mexican Food -- No joke, everything you need for a Rick Bayless cookbook. Hispanic vegetables like plantains, jicama and chayote prove the worldliness of the market owners. They serve up Latin cheeses, chorizos, and spices. They have entire aisles of Goya beans, sauces and rice, and Super Grand has even more than Lotte or H Mart.
Vegetables -- The vegetables make Asian markets worthy of a pilgrimage for any cook. As I wrote in the post about vegetable shopping, you get low prices, great selections, and produce that just lasts longer in the fridge. It is rarely organic. But the Asian markets are my favorite place because you get variety along with some unique items like all the Asian greens and cabbages.
Fish -- These are the places to experiment with fish. As simple as fillets. As exotic as live tillapia or squid. Great prices on clams that let me cook an entire vat of chowder last winter. All the markets sell whole fish, and the fishmongers will gut, skin or cut up the fish into a bunch of styles that they list on signs over their heads.

One day, I would love to write an organized tour of these Asian markets. But I taught myself by just pulling stuff off the shelves. As I often note, the ingredients are always in English, so you can guess at most anyth

ing. Employees try to be helpful, but my advice (especially outside the produce section) is that you question a fellow shopper if you want to know more. The woman buying seaweed will know more than the guy stocking the shelves. Generally, people have been happy to share -- although I have approached people who turned out to be just as clueless as me. ("I have no idea. My family is Korean, and I'm looking for Vietnamese fish sauce for a recipe from the food section.")

Last year, I knocked off a list of 10 items that were easy to just grab off the shelf. No cooking to eat refrigerated kimchi or the frozen dumplings. A little assembly to create seaweed wrappers with rice and tuna fish. Since then, I keep finding new items by just reaching out and reading the package:

Make quick pickles with Yoricho cooking vinegar. Slice vegetables, pour on that vingegar and water. You have pickles in 20 minutes.
Create a unique dessert by buying sweet rice cakes. They're a fine hand-held snack. But I jazzed them up by slicing two into eight pieces, then serving that plate next to a fruit salad.
Buy a great takeout dinner by grabbing soup or ready-to-grill meat. Then, sample any of the "panchan" -- prepared vegetables, fish cakes, tofu and other Korean side dish -- that the store sells by the pound. Lotte has a great selection of panchan that you can buy in bulk (or in tiny tasters). Lotte isn't my favorite market, but the prepared foods are terrific.

(Update: See other ideas in the comments below like lumpia or frozen banana leaves.)

If you're interested in exploring, check out my review of Kimiko Barber's cookbooks. The Japanese Kitchen and The Chopstick Diet are great guides to the Japanese aisles and offer delicious, accessible ways to cook the noodles, seaweeds, vegetables and fish offered at the Asian grocery stores.

This is part of the "What I Learned" series of posts. They're organized in rings. See below to continue on the ring about shopping in Howard County. Or click to switch to the posts about different cuisines or posts about areas and ideas.

PREVIOUS: Ethnic Shopping in Howard County
NEXT:

H Mart
800 N. Rolling Road
Catonsville, MD 21228
443-612-9020

NEAR: Rte 40 just west of I-695. If you are driving from HoCo, you'll see a Starbucks and a FedEx at the end of the shopping center. Turn right immediately after the Starbucks. If you miss it, just turn right at the next intersection.

Super Grand
13600 Laurel Bowie Road (Rte 197)
Laurel, MD 20708
301-362-5572

NEAR: This is on Rte 197 about a half-mile south of Rte 198. It's right off the BW Parkway, so it's an easy drive from I-95 or U.S. 1 via Rte 198.

Lotte Market
8801 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-750-9656

NEAR: On Rte 40, just east of Rte 29. From Columbia, you go north on Rte 29 and take the Rte 40 East exit. Stay in the left lane on the exit ramp. That takes you into the shopping center.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Ethnic Groceries in Howard County

You can buy the entire world in Howard County if you can just figure out how to drive around the damn town.

Ethnic groceries sell authentic food from countries from Korean through North Africa, from Mexico through South American, from Jamaica back to West Africa. Some produce. Lots of packaged goods. All the spices that inspired people to sail great oceans in small boats in order to carry flavor home to their shores. At Food Cravings, you can even buy Indian interpretations of Chinese sauces.

But then, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The key to ethnic shopping in Howard County is a basic map. Nothing is obvious. Very little is advertised. I started HowChow, in part, because it had taken me months to piece together where to buy food when I moved from Virginia. The only players with a large presence are Asian supermarkets -- and I'm going to write a separate overview of H Mart in Catonsville, Lotte in Ellicott City and Grand Mart in Laurel. They're spectacular for Asian products, produce, fish and Mexican food, including cheeses, tortillas and packaged goods.

For other cuisines, the markets are small. They're not on main roads. But they're all reliable with employees who speak English and who have routinely been happy to answer questions. These stores are as modern as anywhere else you shop. You can go for the ingredients that you need to cook these cuisines from "scratch" like corn meal, lentils, and spices, or you can check out convenience foods like frozen samosas, jars of curry sauce, and cans of stuffed grape leaves . You can search my posts by cuisine or by market in the links in the right column, but below is a list of the markets that I recommend:

For Indian, you have four choices for spices, Indian sauces, frozen naan, boxed Indian lunches, and other ingredients. Check out the candied fennel seeds or buy the basics for pani puri. Mostly, the stores sell Indian or U.S. "import" brands -- from tea to spices to Ching's Red Chili sauce straight from Bombay. The one real advantage is Eastern Market, which has more produce than the others. The four: Food Cravings in Columbia, Desi Market in Columbia, Eastern Bazar in Laurel, and Apna Bazar in Laurel. (Update: In comments below, Hal and anonymous recommend a fifth and sixth: Ganesh Brothers on Rte 40 in the Normany Plaza just east of Rte 29 and Patel Brothers on Rte 40 in Catonsville.) (I have also heard that Food Cravings might be expanding to Elkridge.)
For Middle Eastern, you drive to Caezar International Market in Elkridge or Aladdin Market on Main Street in Laurel. Both stores sell breads, spices, cheeses like feta or Kashkaval, and packaged basics like lentils, tahini, chick peas and bulgar. Caezar is the larger, expanding at its Elkridge location (with a Persian restaurant next door) after 13 years in Columbia as Sizar's. It moved in 2009 to expand and offer a halal butcher. If you go to Caezar, please try the pistachio nougat.
For Latin American, you should start at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia and also consider the Panam Supermarket in Laurel if you want produce or a full butcher. Lily's sits off Dobbin Road. It has a small butcher, a takeout-taco counter, freshly-made corn tortillas, cheeses, dried peppers, and all the packaged goods that you need to cook Mexican food. Not much produce, but the easy exotic fun of cactus for nopales tacos. Panam is off U.S. 1 at Rte 198. This is a supermarket, not a grocery, and it sells all those basics -- along with a huge butcher and a full produce section.
For West African and Jamaican food, you should check out Afia International in Jessup or Accra Foods in Laurel. Both stores appear to sell Ghanaian and Jamaican brands. I don't know these cuisines, and my explorations have not been successful. I would love any comments if you have suggestions. (Another market -- Julie's International in Elkridge -- closed in 2009.)

Of all these places, Lily's and Caezar's are my favorites. They're pretty comprehensive for someone who needs basic foods. The people have always been helpful, and the butcher and produce make them quite useful. I recommend a visit to any of these markets to anyone interested in trying new food. Federal law requires every bottle and box to list the ingredients, so you can know what you're eating even if the original label isn't in English. Plus, people have been gracious and helpful every time that I had a question to ask.

PREVIOUS: Organic Shopping in Howard County
NEXT: Asian Grocery Stores in Howard County

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Butchers and Meat Markets in Howard County

Choice is the key to a great butcher or meat market. You can buy steaks at any supermarket, so you should only drive to a butcher if you can choose some cut, some quality, some flavor outside the everyday.

There are four Howard County -- or close -- meat markets that come to mind. They're all old-fashioned places, selling simplicity rather than the Whole Foods style of organics and name brands.

For me, they're each worth the trip just for thick-cut bacon and home-made sausage. Those are my weak points, and they're great to buy in a special place. Better six slices of thick-cut, pepper-edged bacon than an entire pound of plastic-wrapped fat. Better meaty sausage at the base of a stew than all the Egg McMuffins that I ate in high school.

I've eaten some great steak from these joints. I particularly remember a filet from JW Treuth that seemed perfect -- tender, but real beef flavor. But I'm no expert at meat, and the truth is that I pay attention when I make a special trip for beef. I buy something nice. I find a good recipe. A few hours of anticipation make almost everything taste more delicious.

So I never know if I'm getting anything super-different than what I could get at Giant or the Bloom. If anything, I'd love a little education from one of these butchers. Sometimes, I ask questions, but I've never gotten an answer much more than, "The filet is good" or "A porterhouse would be good on the grill."

Beiler's Meats at the Dutch Country Farmers Market in Laurel (formerly in Burtonsville). These folks sell regular and organic beef from a Missouri company. They're part of the Amish market that is currently on Rte 198 just east of U.S. 1. The market is a fun trip and open Thursday through Saturday. HowICook seconds my love of bacon and sausage, and he and Ho.Co.Po both said in the comments that they're huge fans of Beiler's.

Boarman's Meat Market in Highland. This country market at Rte 108 and Rte 216 serves up meats -- along with housemade sausages and even crab cakes. The sausage is a real draw, a nice Italian link for sandwiches or a breakfast sausage to make your own patties. Boarman's is due south of Roots in Clarksville, so it's a convenient place if you're on the road shopping for a special meal.

JW Treuth and Sons in Oella. This is the one place where I can personally vouch that you get something special. This company near downtown Ellicott City butchers its own meat. My steaks have been absolutely delicious, and the Chesapeake sausage was enormous and tasty. The Baltimore Beer Guy said in the comments that he is a sucker for the Delmonico steak and the liverwurst, which he spreads on triscuits.

Laurel Meat Market in downtown Laurel. I want this place to be terrific because I drive past every night coming home from the MARC. It's very good. I made a nice steak recently, and ground chuck has become a staple for burgers, pasta sauces, etc. They also serve tasty shrimp that they say are almost-always wild shrimp from the US. And I always like the bacon. A few slices of bacon are priceless when I want to cook at home. (It's also a place where you can get special cuts like the seven-rib roast that my friend used for Christmas Eve 2010.)

Columbia Halal Meat in Elkridge. For Muslims, this can be an essential spot on Rte 108 because they -- along with Ceazar International Market -- sell halal chicken, lamb and goat. But I think it's a general resource for anyone looking for lamb or goat -- especially for large cuts like the whole goats -- or for personal service from the butchers who will trim and cut your order however you want.

(Nazar Market in Columbia. The newest halal butcher fits the same space as Columbia Halal and Ceazar, and they give really friendly, helpful service with similar cuts. The ground lamb became a regular part of my shopping in 2010 when I learned to grill kabobs, and you can use it for meatballs, sauces, etc. They grind the meat personally for each order, so you know that it's fresh. They also sell tiny lamb chops, chicken hearts and other unusual cuts.)

I'd love any suggestions about what you buy from these butchers. Special cuts? Special orders? Or is there something special at one of the supermarkets that you love?

PREVIOUS: Vegetable Shopping in Howard County
NEXT: Organic Shopping in Howard County

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Vegetable Shopping in Howard County

You say to-may-to, I say to-ma-to, but we both know that no two tomatoes are alike.

Good produce -- or at least the best they can afford to sell -- is the key for a supermarket. Packaged goods don't change store to store, but I'll drive right past a place that tried to foist limp or dried out vegetables on me. Hard tomatoes? You can keep them.

Giant and Safeway have improved, but you can find better vegetables if you'll invest time, money or flexibility --

If you can drive a little farther, you are not going to beat the Korean markets -- namely the H Mart in Catonsville. Spectacular variety. Spectacular prices. Spectacular quality. H Mart sells American, Asian and Latin American vegetables. They last forever in the fridge, and they're generally delicious and cheap enough to buy more or to experiment with something new. The bonus at either the H Mart or the new Super Grand market in Laurel is that the vegetables come with great fish, Asian groceries and Latin American ones as well.

In contrast, I can't recommend Lotte in Ellicott City. Bottom line: Lotte's vegetables aren't as fresh or good-looking. Slightly limp. Slightly dried. I'd hate for someone to shop there and give up on Korean markets. H Mart -- cleaner, bigger and better -- is just down Rte 40. I'd also hate for someone's first interaction to be with Lotte's employees, who unfailingly are fine for a couple visits and then do something aloof or rude. I catch myself and think, "Maybe that was just a cultural ." But I stopped going to Lotte when I realized that no one acts that way to the H Mart. (I still go to Lotte for packaged goods and especially for takeout meats, soups and panchan.)

If you can spend a little more for organic, your best bet is Roots, David's Natural Market or MOM's Organic Market (formerly My Organic Market). My real experience is with Roots in Clarksville and MOM's in Jessup. They're both small enough that sometimes they don't have everything on my list. (No red peppers today?) They're both pricey. (Thank heavens, I couldn't afford $5.99 for a pound of red peppers anyway.) But your money buys beautiful produce, and I often see items -- like gorgeous chard -- that I pick up on impulse just because I know it'll be delicious. It's also organic if that matters to you.

If you can satisfy yourself with what's in season, you should try out the farmers markets. In 2008, they were Thursday in at the East Columbia library, Saturday at Glenwood Library and Sunday at Oakland Mills. The produce varies, but it runs in seasons from greens in May through apples in October and November. Nothing is cheap, but everything has been great fun. Homestead Farm sells at the Sunday market, and I experimented with its seaweed and greens and lived large on old standards like tomatoes and eggplants. More than any store, the markets can be fun just to wander. The Sunday market has Bonaparte breads and pastries. The Saturday one has milk and more from the South Mountain Creamery.

On top of these options, the regular supermarkets have really improved, and the new Harris Teeter in Columbia puts out a nice display -- including some organics. You can also buy produce at some ethnic grocery stores, although the only ones where I regularly shop are Food Cravings, which vegetables for Indian food, and Lily's Mexican Market, which has basics like hot peppers and onions but also some exotics like fresh cactus.

This is part of the "What I Learned" series of posts. They're organized in rings. See below to continue on the ring about shopping in Howard County. Or click to switch to the posts about different cuisines or posts about areas and ideas.

PREVIOUS: Seafood Markets in Howard County
NEXT: Butchers and Meat Markets in Howard County

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Seafood Markets in Howard County

Seafood was a key to this region for centuries, and there are still great options now that seafood has gone global.

For now, I have three options for seafood: The H Mart in Catonsville, the Today's Catch market in Columbia, and Frank's Seafood in the wholesale market in Jessup. They're all good. They all sell fresh fish, and you can find something delicious at each. In the end, I'd suggest that you try the one closest to you and then wander to the others when you have time.

The H Mart can't be beat. This is a Korean supermarket with an enormous, recently-renovated fish section in the back. Whole fish. Fillets. Clams. Live crabs. Everything that I ever wanted is laying on the ice at the H Mart, and the prices -- and the high quality -- let me experiment. Last winter, I made an enormous pot of clam chowder because it was a favorite of my friend's fiance. I couldn't afford dozens of clams at even the regular supermarket, but I bought bags at H Mart.

Today's Catch is super-convenient for Columbia. The store in the Wilde Lake center near the mall is the smallest of my three, and they may only have a few of each species on display. But the fish is delicious, and the workers are eager to answer questions and help. I loved the "dry" scallops, which were delicious after tasteless scallops that I have bought elsewhere. Also Today's Catch sells frozen fish heads for soup and often sells mixed chunks cut off fillets for about $10/pound -- great for fish tacos and soup.

Frank's Seafood was my place for summer crabs. This is a full-scale market inside the wholesale seafood market in Jessup. Whole fish. Fillets on ice. Crab cakes. Huge, special-order lobsters. A bustling location that says the fish flies through their place, and I stood in line at New Years behind dozens of people stocking up on oysters and mussels. They also steam thousands of crabs. They have enormous wheeled cans that they fill with crustaceans and wheel into steaming rooms. They sell everything from jumbos to the "cold" specials (buy a dozen, get a dozen free of the crabs steamed yesterday). This is absolutely worth driving past the prison, then showing the license to get through the market's gates.

If you aren't in the mood to cook, consider the crab cake at Boarman's in Highland or just go for crab cakes at Timbuktu in Hanover just off Rte 100. You can also buy fish if you visit JW Treuth and Sons for steaks and sausages.

NEXT: Vegetable Shopping in Howard County

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Bakeries in Howard County

Bakeries can be many things, so there is no single "Best Bakery in Howard County."

Do you want bread? Cupcakes? A cozy place for coffee and a scone? A high-volume shop to pick up your red bean sweets? You may need to drive from Columbia or Ellicott City, but you can enjoy all those things.

For great bread in Howard County, start at Bonaparte Bread. Bonaparte sells a variety of loaves, although I love the baguettes for sandwiches and French toast. They have a store (and now a cafe) at the Savage Mill in Savage, and they also sell at the seasonal Sunday Farmer's Market in Columbia and the My Organic Market in Jessup. (I discovered this during the first attempt at a HowChow taste test, which was supposed to compare the Bonaparte baguette to the one sold at the farmers market. Whoops.) You should also check out The Breadery in Ellicott City for muffins, rolls and whole grain breads, and there is a comment below extolling some sweet-sounding breads at Great Harvest Bread Company in Columbia.

When you say "cozy" in HoCo, you mean downtown Ellicott City, and you can find several nice cozy spots at Old Mill Bakery Cafe and Sarah and Desmond's Gourmet Bakery & Cafe. The Old Mill has some nice breads, and it sells a variety of teas, sweets and other items. Sarah and Desmond's is the coffee shop that I wish were in my neighborhood. Great muffins and cupcakes. Sandwiches, soups and other savory fare. Plus, there are vegan baked goods if you're into that kind of thing.

I'd rather buy one great dessert than two average ones. My two local spots are Touche Touchet in Columbia and Bonaparte in Savage. Touche Touchet serves wonderful cupcakes, coffee cake, brownies and other sweets that look simple, but take talent. I actually learned about it from Deblynne who commented below on an earlier version of this post. The cupcakes alone are worth a visit -- flavorful, moist and not the sugary, cloying monsters that popped out elsewhere. Bonaparte seems to go slightly more complex. They bring chocolate croissants to the Farmer's Market, and they have rotating cases of tartes, opera cakes, and other pastries at the Savage shop. I also plan on checking out Sugerbakers in Catonsville, which the B More Sweet blog loved in June 2008, and The French Connection in Sandy Spring on Rte 108, which several folks have complimented in the comments.

For Korean sweets, you can try La Boulangarie in Ellicott City or the Momo Bakery inside the Super H in Catonsville. Both serve formal-looking cakes that would look right on a shelf at any French bakery. But they go beyond to sell Asian items like the packages of Korean sweets that I love, red bean donuts (Momo) and single-serving cakes and steamed buns (La Boulangarie).

On top of these, I recommend the bagels (and the challah) at the three Bagel Bins, and I have also had the cookies at the Nora Cafe & Bakery on Rte 40, and I trundle out into the cold to pick up bagels at the Bagel Bin. There was also a comment extolling Cakes Plus off Rte 198 in Laurel. Not Howard County, but not far either for an excellent cake!

(Thanks again to Deblynne who told me about Touche Touchet.)

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Guide to Howard County Restaurants and Food

Without much planning, HowChow has become a de facto guide to restaurants and food in Howard County. For me, this is an inspiration to check out new places. Much of what I learned has been mentioned before in reviews or blogs or Chowhound, but this is centralized enough that some people stumble on the site and click around to read more.

For several months in 2009, I'm writing a series of thematic posts about "What I Learned," linking back to prior profiles and trying to summarize little things that I have learned. Where is great Chinese food? Where can you find Mexican groceries? The best take-out tacos? The best bread? This builds on the Best Restaurants in Howard County post, which people seem to enjoy.

Help me! Occassionally, I'm asking for advice on the upcoming subjects. I'll even update existing posts to incorporate good advice. Click here to see where you can make suggestions. Or browse through the existing posts in the three planned "rings":

Ring One: What I Learned -- Restaurants