After two days cooped up inside (we're both HoCo teachers), Ron and I realized that we needed a dinner out to give us our sanity back. Ever since last year's snow-craziness, I really hate that feeling of being snowed in.
We waited for our association contractor to clear our court and we were off to Kloby's Smokehouse. We both love BBQ, but we hadn't yet made it to Kloby's despite it being seven minutes down the road. Tonight was the night. We called to make sure they were open (Urban BBQ in Olney was not...) I expected the place to be empty, but when we pulled into the parking lot, i was shocked at how full it was. The place was packed!
We were seated at one of only two open tables. We got sweet tea and ordered our meals. Ron had a two meat platter with brisket, pulled pork, baked beans, and collards. He loved it and finished all but one bite of brisket, which I sampled for myself. So tender! The baked beans were sweeter that I expected, but I really enjoyed their flavor.
I got a one-meat platter with pulled pork, mac and cheese, and collards. The pulled pork was very tender, with almost no gristle, and the spicy sauce that topped it had the perfect amount of heat. The mac and cheese was okay--I like Famous Dave's and Urban BBQ's better, and the collards were very salty and somewhat bitter. I don't normally order collard greens because they can be inconsistent from place to place. When we go back (and we certainly will) I'll be sure to get the baked beans that Ron had and try the slaw as well. The corn bread that came with the platter was very moist and creamy; I was a big fan! I should have gotten a glass of Strongbow Cider (hard to find on tap), because the sweet tea was too sweet (if that's possible).
We'll definitely be back, as this was a very good reason for an excursion in the snow.This is part of a week of guest posts highlighting finds that other people have found around Howard County.
As soon as I arrived, I realized that the restaurant's performance would be sorely tested during Restaurant Week. The abnormal cold plus the prix fixe menu resulted in a packed restaurant and a half-hour delay between our reservation and the time we were seated. However, although Portalli's could have benefited from having more people on staff that night, it was absolutely worth the wait. The hostess took us up the stairs to a dining room which I hasn't known existed. A little more than a year ago, we had eat on Portalli's ground floor, which is very cozy but gives no hint to the huge space on the second floor.
Honestly, the only complaint we had (which was relatively minor) was the service was a little slow for drinks to arrive and for our server to provide menus and take our orders. Indeed, by the time the menus were put in front of us, we were inspired enough by other dishes that nobody in our party picked the Restaurant Week menu.
We started by sharing two appetizers -- baked mozzarella and calamari. The baked mozzarella was delicious - very fresh mozzarella and a dollop of tomato sauce on top of crusty bread. The calamari also was prepared well -- the squid itself was very fresh and the batter was very light.
I finally got my kaffir lime tree from Mr. Pong at his Fulton orchard. I'm going to use the uniquely-flavored double leaf in some Southeast Asian recipes.
Mr. Pong has a couple heated outbuildings where his citrus trees live in the cold weather. There were dozens of different trees, and a lot had fruit on them in various stages of ripening. He gave me half a satsuma tangerine off one of the trees. It was quite the treat eating it outside in the cold air with the setting sun.
Mr. Pong figured out I was somehow associated with a nice blog. He wanted the blog to write about his go-to Chinese restaurant in Fulton -- Hunan China. He's especially fond of the chow foon, Singapore noodles and dumplings. I've had all those dishes from there, but it's been years since I've been. I'll have to check it out again.
If someone wants to visit the orchard, I would email asianpearmd@verizon.net or call him at (301) 854-9969 to arrange a time to meet.(Update: I fixed the reference to Hunan China above. Kyle had heard Mr. Pong say Hunan Manor, then we thought it might be Hunan House. But Al Pong confirmed in the comments that it's Hunan China. Check out his comment for his contact information and for more details about the types of trees that you can buy. Thanks for the fix.)
Today at Costco I' found more Asian surprises than the usual sushi trays, Kokuho Rose white rice, and frozen dumplings.
The Japanese snack giants Meiji and Morinaga are packaging their products for the US markets! Earlier, I've found Hello Panda, a chocolate creme filled cookie, by Meiji at Costco. Today, I saw HK style sausages, small envelopes of seaweed snacks in a bucket (from China), Hi Chew fruit chews similar to Starburst by Morinaga, and Chocorooms (mushroom shaped cookies dipped in chocolate) and Yan Yan (cookie sticks in chocolate), by Meiji.
Last summer, I tried a variety of flavors of Hi Chews in Asia: lychee, kiwi, blueberries and egg custard, to name a few. Here you get flavors of mango, lemon, green apple, strawberry, and orange in a whole pack. One other nice surprise today was the buckets of Taiwanese-made Japanese-style Mochi -- mango, strawberry, or red bean fillings, each wrapped individually. At Costco, you gotta get the exotic stuff fast while you can. I've missed the short offering of Kimchi last year that my Korean friend raved about; today I brought a Mochi bucket home!As a bonus, Min says that her friend recommends the rice cakes at Yetnal Asian Food Service, the mystery spot near Bethany Lane that I mentioned in my post about Korean spots on Rte 40. Min's friend says her church members often order trays of Honey Rice Cakes (rice cakes with honey sesame fillings, appx. $25 each) for refreshment. She heard the food is good too, and the most memorable is Soon Dooboo.
I am now on a mission to get HowChow to understand why I love Great Harvest so much. Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not that HowChow doesn’t like Great Harvest. It’s just that I have sensed that he doesn’t share my intense enthusiasm for their breads.
My mission started back in the fall when the HowChows and several other friends were over for dinner. I served two loafs of Great Harvard challah -- one plain and one raisin -- that got compliments. Of course, this prompted me to tell everyone about Great Harvest breads. In addition to the challah, which I pick up almost every Friday, some of my other favorite loaves are Apple Crunch, Honey Whole Wheat and Cinnamon Swirl.
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| Veggie Kimbob |
For our first time at Kim Bob Na Ra, my wife and I went was a Sunday at lunch. We were the only non-Koreans in a dining room that filled rapidly and eventually overflowed. People were coming in and leaving due to lack of tables. Even though I had read the howchow pages and comments faithfully, I was not prepared for the all-Korean world. There was no English anywhere except some badly translated words on the menu. So I ordered the best I could and ended up with a cold noodle dish (Jjol Myun - thick noodle, egg, and spicy pepper sauce) on a cold winter day, and a boring soup (DDuk Gook - sliced rice cake soup).
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| DDuk Bok yi |
My perfect order was the kimbob -- Korean ingredients wrapped in rice then seaweed. Nothing raw about kimbob so don't call it sushi. It's longer and thicker than your normal Japanese sushi roll and no wasabi or ginger anywhere. Instead you have a bottle of soy sauce and rice vinegar next to a shaker of Korean red chile powder which I mixed all together in the small bowl supplied. The kimbob worked. It was fresh, crunchy and good. We got 2 banchan dishes of kimchi and yellow picked radish. Everyone in the restaurant got some kind of kimbob. The other popular dish was sliced rice cake and other stuff in a orange red sauce, DDuk Bok Yi - stir-fried rice cakes in spicy sauce.
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| The Wellington w/onion rings |
Once you reach the front of the line, they have a chalk board with several burgers to chose from or you could "make your own." The description of the burgers are listed in the menus scattered throughout the establishment. Every week they have a featured burger, one that is not on the menu.
The burgers themselves are prepared to your order. They're the juiciest burgers I have ever tried. Thick patties, delicious buttery brioche buns and fresh toppings. I personally have only ever tried two burgers. One time I "made my own" and every other time I have ordered The Wellington. This burger is made with onions, mushrooms, garlic, blue cheese and mojo sauce. It is quite rich but so delicious. I have quite an appetite and always order an extra patty for $2. There are never survivors. Order it medium done, and the juices will burst out in every bite. Definitely the best burger I have ever had.
The sides. The Yukon gold fries are my favorite. They're thicker and similar to Wendy's fries. The sweet potato fries are also quite tasty, but the one time I got them, they were small. The onion rings are colossal (as you can see in my picture). Very good as onion rings go, but they may fill up a small stomach. They also offer asparagus which I have yet to try but am intrigued by. Finally, milkshakes. They are rather expensive, a little too expensive for me to enjoy every visit but still very high quality. The vanilla is heavenly and the strawberry has small chunks of strawberry in it. They are excellent.Okay. Between Jason and Icolithic's comment on a prior post, I'm getting expectations that I need to tamp down. Don't want to get too excited!
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| Our Oyster Master |
Watch Kloby's for Super Bowl news. Kloby's plans a pig roast tailgate. Something like $25 will buy you a seat for the game, and Kloby's will offer up a buffet and a portable pig roast out in the parking lot. 
The Cuban sandwich at Cuba de Ayer is the rare sandwich that makes me want to look past a menu.
