Delicious: Corned beef sandwich at Produce Galore

I'm neutral on the produce at Produce Galore, but I can't get enough of the corned beef sandwich.

Produce Galore is a small grocery/gourmet shop in the Wilde Lake Village Center. Nice fruits and vegetables. An array of gourmet packaged goods like chocolates, cookies, oils, etc., although those kinds of items are always expensive for my tastes. A dessert section and a salad bar that would be great if you drove past on the way home from work.

But go for the corned beef and a lemonade. The deli counter is far in the back past the salad bars. Tasty corned beef with real flavor, but not too much fat. Sliced when you order. Served up with lettuce and spicy mustard on soft rye bread. It is a $6 sandwich that matches any deli sandwich outside New York. I grabbed one on the way to an evening class, and I ate it right from the wrapper as I drove. They display the beef right next to roast beef, pastrami and a bunch of special sandwiches that I will certainly try when I stop being infatuated by the corned beef.

And grab a lemonade to go. Most restaurant lemonade is just soda without bubbles -- artificial flavor with some sweeter combined. Produce Galore says this is lemon juice, water, and sugar, and it tasted that way to me. Perfect with a sandwich. It'll be even better in the summertime.

(And they sell everything by the pound, so it makes a great hot, open-faced sandwich at home!)

UPDATE -- PRODUCE GALORE CLOSED.

Produce Galore
5430 Lynx Lane
Columbia, MD 21044
410-730-1937

NEAR: Columbia Mall, Wilde Lake High School

Why the blog?

When I find came to Columbia, I couldn't find anything, and then I found that no one else could either.

The village centers are a cute idea, but it really matters that you can't see anything from the road. I knew where to find Target for a plastic trash can, but only luck led me to Produce Galore. I went looking for a seafood market on the Internet, and even after I found the address, I ended up lost in the Wilde Lake Village Center. Thank heavens because that was how I stumbled on Produce Galore across the parking lot.  (UPDATE:  Produce Galore closed.)

I read the WPost and Baltimore Magazine, and they're always commending a new restaurant in Rockville (finally, a specialist in Southern Ethiopian) or an organic grocery store in McLean (finally, a place that only sells vegetables grown with distilled water). I'm jealous because we don't have the exotic array of places that you can find near the cities. But we have great places, maybe just one of each. I want to find those places and enjoy them.

This blog is a game. I'll find good places and remind myself how much I enjoy them. And maybe someone will stumble across it when they move to Columbia and want to know what is nearby.