Thursday, January 9, 2014

Comments About Hawaiian Food, New Peruvian, Grille 620, "Fat Friar" Cookies, And More

An October photo of the new Nichi Bei Kei 
Steffi made my day with a comment on the post about the new Hawaiian restaurant Taste of Aloha.  I love hearing that people use HowChow to find something that they enjoy.  That powers me through when the hobby sometimes seems like freaky way to spend time.

As I have said many times, the comments include lots of great information from HowChow readers.  Check out all the folks making recommendations about Taste of Aloha and even a bakery nearby.  They have loco moco.  The mac salad is great.  Etc.

Patapsco Mike provided some other options for folks who want an oyster knife.  I still love the cast-iron knife that I bought mail order, but Mike has specific knives that you can buy for under $10.  Jeffery emailed me months ago about Salazon Chocolate Co. in Sykesville.  Has anyone been there for local cheese, wine and chocolate?

Anonymous asked whether anyone knows when the Buffalo Wild Wings will open.  The Target shopping center has that under construction and a space that used to be Chicken Out.  Does anyone know the plan there?

Does anyone know the timetable on the new Nicki Bei Kei on Sterrett Place?  Chuck sent me the photo above months ago.  I hope they'll open soon.  What about a new breakfast/coffee place in the Hichory Ridge village center that Anonymous mentioned.  While we're at it, how about the restaurant that used to be Turkshish Kebab or Kabob House -- the little place off Little Patuxent Parkway near Princeton Sports?  David noticed in November that it was closed, and neither of us knew if that was permanent or if anything was replacing it.

As always, there are many good local food voices if you look around.  We have a new food blog called My Soup For You with recipes (including a "bacon bowl").  You can find all the local food blogs on HoCoBlogs -- or look in the comments on HowChow like this sampling from recent notes:
The half-sandwich and soup for $10.95 seemed (and to a certain extent, still seems) like a good deal, while the service was attentive and outgoing, albeit on a very slow Christmas Eve lunch service.  
I got the Maryland Crab soup and "Not So Cuban" Sandwich. I wasn't crazy about either. I am not naturally a huge fan of pork belly, but the roasted pork belly just seemed flat flavor-wise. Don't get me wrong there is a ton of it, but it lacked smoke flavor and that crispy sweetness one gets from bacon. It also seemed too fatty given the other ingredients. My father thought it was overly salty. The baguette was soaked in butter -- a must for most toasted sandwiches - but not to the point where the butter taste should overpower. I hate to say it, but the sandwich tasted like an expensive butter, pickle, and mustard sandwich with some chewy stuff in between. 
Crab soup was plentiful, but too briny. The crabmeat tasted canned.  Fries were very good. I liked the garlic parmesan seasoning and shoestring cut, but they would have been over-the-top had they crisped up just a minute or two longer.  I might try their lunch again, but I'd try a different sandwich first and ask them to go light on the butter toast.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I and my family were very disappointed in Grille 620. First off, the atmosphere when you first walk in looks like a sports bar, and in the dining room the tables are way too close together. Service was terrible - we had to keep flagging down other waiters for water, etc. as ours disappared after serving the entrees and never checked back. Soups were cold. Two of our four entrees were cold. Crabcakes were pretty mediocre with too much filler and not much flavor. Seabass was over-cooked and dry. Not likely to try again.

Adam said...

Something else to watch. This looks awsome!

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/BricknFire-Pizza-Company/1411573149081338

Marcia said...

I stopped in Salazar chocolate a couple months ago. It is a small place and I thought their selection was a bit limited, nothing caught my eye. But then I shop at Breezy Willow for local cheese, and other similar places, so I have other sources. The chocolate is all salted, which is just not my thing. If you like that combination, you might want to stop in. The owner was quite nice.

Marcia said...

I forgot to add, if you go to Sykesville check out Beck's Pub for lunch. We really enjoyed our lunch there -- they have a great beer selection, the sandwiches are interesting and tasty, and the service was great.

Paula said...

Hi! Thanks for pointing out my blog! I hope everyone enjoys it. There's a nice variety of fast, fun recipes that even your kids can make.

Anonymous said...

I decided to get takeout from Taste of Aloha last week after reading about it on this blog. My boyfriend was stationed in Hawaii for a few years and I lived there for one, and we both miss our kalua pork (among other things you can only really get there)! We didn't expect much, and were not surprised to find it wasn't all that good, in fact was a bit dry. Also I didn't think the portions were all that large. I ended up making some this past weekend in a crock pot and it turned out much better. But the mac salad was ono. I don't expect I'll be returning.

Megan said...

I've been getting Salazon chocolate at MOM's for a few years now. I didn't realize they had a shop nearby! I love the salted chocolate -- when I'm having a rough day, I'll throw a bar in the cart and have a piece or two when I get home and it's a really nice treat. I like the sea salt & sugar or the sea salt & pepper. All of them except the caramel are dairy-free as well, last time I checked, which is awesome.

azeka http://www.azekashoppingcenter.comshopping perfect said...

What a perfect restaurant for a family vacation. The foods are delicious I wanna try to eat those kinds of foods. I hope that foods are affordable so that I can try to eat all those foods with my family. Thanks for this blog. I read the whole blog and I learned a lot from this blog. I hope you post more blogs for us.

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