The Web Says Bon Chon Chicken Will Open Next To The Columbia Mall; Who Knows The Plans?

Bon Chon fried chicken -- with the udon soup

Bon Chon Chicken has two websites describing a new location in Columbia, and I want to know where that chicken is going to land.

Bon Chon is a Korean chain that does superb fried chicken -- along with other really good Korean dishes.  The Ellicott City location is a HowChow favorite.  Lil' Chow loves chicken tenders, and he slurps down the udon noodle soup.  I have loved the bi bim bap -- the bottom rice crisped by a super-hot bowl -- on nights when I want something lighter.

But I go for the chicken.  Crunchy crust around juicy meat.  At first, I was obsessed with the wings.  But Lil' Chow has brought me around to chicken strips.  (Plus, there were a few meals where I ordered both wings and strips and then ate way too much because it was just me and a toddler.)

I split my orders between the two flavors -- a soy-garlic and a spicy.  Spicy has real heat.  Delicious, but I limit myself to maybe three spicy and seven soy-garlic.  Once before Lil' Chow spoke, I inadvertently let him touch a spicy wing.  Finger ended up in mouth.  Tears poured down his face.  I cringed and figured that everyone was staring, but really people were probably just engaged with their chicken and beer.

So is that all coming to Columbia?  It makes sense because they've opened a mess of other locations.

Mark Siegel tweeted me about a "coming soon" Columbia location.  Bon Chon's website does have a page that says "Columbia, MD -- Coming Soon."   Plus, someone created a Facebook page in February for a Bon Chon Columbia with a real Bon Chon phone number and an address of 10000 Town Center Avenue.  That's one of the new apartment buildings across from the Columbia Mall.  I think it already has Mod Pizza and other restaurants on the first floor.  Maybe in the building next door?

Who knows the details?

I absolutely recommend the Bon Chon in Ellicott City.  It's just off Rte 40 west of 29.  I'm not worry about addresses anymore because people can find them on-line so easily.  Bon Chon is basically behind Jason's Liquors.  You turn south onto Plumtree Drive, then make an immediate left into a parking lot that serves Bon Chon, Chef Paulino, and a Zumba studio.  That's where I taught Lil' Chow that two guys can't stand at the glass window of a Zumba studio and stare inside.  "Move along!"

Second Bon Chon Chicken Coming to Arundel Mill

A new Bon Chon is coming to Arundel Mills with the Korean fried chicken fun that you already get at their Ellicott City location.

Josiah stopped the "coming soon" sign in a stand-alone building across from the Arundel Mills mall.  Neither of us knows the timeline, so I'd love to hear if anyone knows when the fryers go hot at this location.

Until then, check out all my posts about Bon Chon.  This is one of my favorite places.  The best fried chicken.  Some great Korean dishes, including the noodle dish chapchae.  But mostly, it's fun casual place where I've grabbed takeout, sat with Lil' Chow or chowed down with an entire group.  I can't recommend it enough.

Thanks Josiah.  Thanks to anyone else who could tell us a timeline for the new Bon Chon.

Noodles And Fried Chicken: Pair Chapchae With Spicy Wings At Rte 40's Bon Chon Chicken

Chapchae at Bon Chon

Lil' Chow dances for noodles.  Thick noodles.  Thin noodles.  Fetticine with tomato sauce.  Udon with sesame oil.

That how we discovered the chapchae at Bon Chon Chicken, where we normally just ordered fried chicken and called it a day.

Bon Chon is the local outpost of a Korean chain that does amazing fried chicken -- crisp and crunchy  shell around moist and delicious meat.  We have left satisfied many times after nothing more than chicken and beer.

Fried chicken -- still amazing

But chapchae is a Korean noodle dish -- glassy sweet potato noodles stirfried with vegetables and sometimes meat.  I've recommended them as a vegetarian option at Shin Chon Garden, and I needed them for a boy who will sit patiently through dinner if you keep filling his plate with noodles.

Bon Chon's chapchae was exceptional.  Noodles with a terrific chewy texture.  The mild flavor of a sauce made with sesame oil and soy sauce and a generous mix of vegetables and thin-sliced beef.  Lil' Chow chowed and flirted with the waitresses.  I actually ate some chapchae because it was delicious enough to forgo even a few pieces of that great chicken.  Easily as good as Shin Chon Garden, our standard in Howard County where Lil' Chow had chapchae as recently as Sunday night.

Don't get me wrong.  You can go to Bon Chon just for the chicken and beer -- or the "Chi Mec" as it is known for the first syllable of the Korean work for beer.  But the chapchae makes a great pair if your group wants to try several flavors.  You could also order it vegetarian if your carnivore friends drag you to Bon Chon for dinner.

If you go to Bon Chon, definitely check out Shilla Bakery for dessert.  Bon Chon is in a shopping center that is parallel to Rte 40, but set back from the main road.  You actually enter from Plum Tree Road.  Shilla is in the shopping center that separates Bon Chon from Rte 40, and it has great coffees, pastries, cakes and other sweets.

New parenthood definitely makes blogging tough.  We are still learning to be efficient enough to have any free moments.  So I'm writing short posts this weeks on the theme of two items that you could buy at a single stop.

A Detail At Bon Chon: Go For Delicious Fried Chicken, But Ask For The Hot Corn Tea

Corn tea at Bon Chon Chicken

Go to Bon Chon Chicken for the fried chicken, but check out the corn tea when you sit down.

Ask for the tea.  Customers who look Korean often receive hot tea in restaurants.  Other folks often get ice water, but you're welcome to ask for the tea.  It's complimentary.

You can get barley tea at Shin Chon Garden and Lighthouse Tofu.  At Bon Chon, you can get corn tea.  It's a mild earthy flavor with a clear aftertaste of sweet corn.  Great for warming.  Refreshing.  It doesn't cool down the fire of Bon Chon's spicy chicken, but it's a fun diversion.

Try The Best BYOB In Howard County Before It Disappears (And I Hope That It Will)

Wings from the kitchen, beer carried from home

The best BYOB in Howard County could disappear next week if Bon Chon Chicken gets it liquor license.

I hope Bon Chon gets approved at its January 14 hearing before the county liquor board.  That's a great little restaurant just off Rte 40, and you will have a great time there eating fried chicken and beer.  There is a wall-sized projection screen for football.

But until they fill their own bar, you should rush to take advantage of the best BYOB option in the county.  Park outside Bon Chon.  Send one person into the restaurant to get a table and order up the Korean fried chicken.  Send another person to walk 50 feet to Rte 40 and then down the shopping center to Jason's Wine & Spirits to pick out your own wine or beer.

Because Bon Chon opened without a liquor license, they have been very cool about letting people carry their own.  We have picked from Jason's enormous selection.  I also once brought a soft cooler full of beer and cider.  Mike and I drank a selection while his son drank apple juice.  You have to love a two-year-old who chows on spicy chicken and hangs out in the booth.

Seriously, Bon Chon is worth the visit any time.  But the BYOB window should close soon.

Does anyone else know good BYOB options in Howard County?  It's a standard option in Philadelphia, where there are many great restaurants that don't have a liquor license.  Alcohol isn't my biggest draw, but I'd love to know if there are other BYOB options around here.

(Update: I may have been wrong about the "best" BYOB.  Check out the comments for a bunch of interesting places where you can bring your own beer or wine.)

Check out that liquor board agenda to see other food news coming to Howard County.  Seasons 52 is coming to the Columbia Mall.  Curry & Kabob in Columbia appears to be getting a liquor license.  And there is Jailbreak Brewery, which I still need to write about! 

What I Did This Summer #3: Tamales, Fried Chicken, And More Great Restaurant Questions

Corn tamale at Huajicori in Catonsville

We did a little bit of old and new this summer -- hitting up comforting standbys and stepping outside our regulars.

Bon Chon fried chicken is one of the happiest places to return -- although their missing "local options" make it harder to return that often.

Bon Chon chicken

Bon Chon is a pleasure.  Their chicken comes incredibly crisp, and there is skill in everything from that chicken to the coleslaw.  It can just be really, really hot.  Well, it's either garlic-soy or spicy hot.  Just two flavors of chicken.  One is a bit mild, and the other starts at fiery delicious, then becomes just too much to handle.

My advice is order half-and-half or even one-quarter spicy (if they'll do that).  My other advice is to ask for the pickled radish side dish because crunching radish cubes can cool down your mouth.  The Rte 40 restaurant offered "Old Bay" and "honey-hot" flavors for a few weeks this summer, but those are gone now.  I get the idea that the franchise got heat from the central Bon Chon company.

But what about new places this summer?  How about Catonsville?

We had a light lunch at Huajicori, a casual Mexican place that replaced the El Nayar on Frederick Road.  We went with our vegetarian niece, and we discovered a terrific tamale.  Straight corn flavor steamed in a leaf.  Mrs. HowChow learned tamales at LA farmers' markets, and she thought the Huajicori dish measured up.  Between our snack and good salsa, it seems like a place worth checking out again.

We also ate at Catonsville Gourmet.  We both had good fish there, and it seems like a nice place if you want something classy without driving into a city.  But it's priced like the city, which always makes me ask the "Woodberry Kitchen question" like I did in 2010.  For $50-75 per couple, the best local restaurants need to compete with kitchens in two cities.  Since we eat like that only a few weekends a year, we often find ourselves willing to drive into town.

What places are good enough to draw you out for high-end meals?  We have Aida Bistro, Bistro Blanc, Tersiguel's, Portalli's and many other options.  The Highland Inn is supposed to open soon -- at least according to its Web site.  What do you recommend?  What makes your special dinner near home?  What do you know about the Highland Inn?

Last Night For The New Bon Chon Flavors!

Bon Chon's new flavors will be old news!

Arghhhhhhhhhh!

Bon Chon is ending the new chicken flavors -- Old Bay and honey-hot.

Today is the last day for them, reports Amber who sent the photo above.  That's a bummer.  The Ellicott City joint does great fried chicken -- along with some other Korean food.  They always had a hot and a soy-garlic, and they had added the two new tastes.

Now the menu says that the new flavors were just temporary.  They're ending today!

Bon Chon Kicks Fried Chicken Up Two Notches With New Old Bay And Honey-Hot Wings

Old Bay and Honey-Hot chicken at Bon Chon

Bon Chon brought Korean fried chicken to Ellicott City, and it has added a taste of Baltimore to the international treat.

We love Bon Chon's fried chicken  It's pricey by the piece -- like $1 per half wing or white-meat tender -- but it's exceptional chicken.  Incredibly crisp without being greasy.  Perfectly paired with the crunchy pickled radish that comes with every order.

Now, Bon Chon has doubled the flavor options.  They started with soy garlic and hot.  That original hot was really spicy.  Our friend MrDrCardio loves spicy food, and he can't get enough.  But it's so hot that Mrs. HowChow couldn't really enjoy that chicken.  Now, there are two options in the middle -- a honey-hot and an Old Bay.

That's right.  It's marriage made in Baltimore.  Seoul's double-fried chicken with a crunchy shell around piping meat.  The local Old Bay tricked up with lime and other favors.  So different, but not the simple "sprinkle with red powder" that you can get with "Old Bay" fries or other dishes.  So good that the Old Bay wings -- salty and zesty -- became Mrs. HowChow's favorite before we even finished our platter.

I think I liked the honey-hot even more.  The chicken comes glazed and shiny.  First on the tongue, you get honey -- more complex than just sugar.  Real honey that warms up with the Korean hot spices.  It's spicy, but nothing like the fiery Bon Chon original hot.  With the four flavors, they have made the fried chicken an even-better treat.  You could make a spectacular platter by asking for a mix of flavors, then cycling through soy to Old Bay to honey-hot to hot.  Rinse with some pickled radish and repeat.

(Update: Bon Chon phased out the flavors on July 20.  Keep an eye out.  Maybe they'll bring them back.  And it's still a fun place to eat.)

For more about Bon Chon's chicken, check out my 2012 post that quotes Henry Hong.  For another option, try Tian Chinese Cuisine where you can get Korean fried chicken and the house-made noodes with black bean sauce.

Bon Chon Is Open: Korean Fried Chicken Soft Opens, Offers Up Crisp, Juicy, And Tons Of Fun

Fried chicken at Bon Chon

Bon Chon has fired up the fryers for chicken and Korean food, soft opening in Ellicott City and bringing a trend from Seoul to Howard County.

This is Korean fried chicken -- a real variation on even the great bird you can buy at Chick n' Friends.  Moist meat with a thin crust.  Crunchy, even after it's been coated in a salty or spicy sauce.  This is a treat -- or a diet cheat -- worth checking out.  Henry Hong nailed the description a few years ago, and I quote rather than plagiarize:

Its product is pretty typical, with an aroma that slaps you in the face with garlic (definitely powder and fresh, in my opinion); a glaze that possesses a pretty straightforward combo of salty, sweet, and in the case of the “spicy,” a fast-acting, mouth-filling heat; and an exterior that although is often described as “shatteringly crispy” is more accurately somewhere between crispy and crunchy, with just a tiny hint of chew. The meat itself is unseasoned, but extremely moist, protected from drying by its cornstarch cocoon.

The bottom line is that you need to go try this chicken now.  Don't wait for the "grand opening" in a few weeks.  We already had the Korean fried chicken at Tian Chinese Cuisine, which does great chicken and offers black bean noodles and other dishes.  Those house-made noodles pair beautifully with Tian's crunchy chicken.  But Bon Chon really kicks it up.

Bon Chon's chicken comes in spicy or a soy-garlic.  Order radishes and maybe white rice.  You'll get a bowl of pickled white radish cubes.  Pop one after a spicy bite.  The crunchy vegetable cools your mouth.  We ordered wings and "strips" -- which are thin slices of white meat.  Those are my favorite ratios of meat to crunch.

Bon Chon is a Korean chain with franchises in near New York, Boston and the Virginia suburbs.  Reading around the Web suggests some variation between locations.  On Yelp, Edward suggested the sauce was spicier and the servings were smaller than the Chantilly location.  We ordered two small orders, and we left stuffed.

The restaurant has a modern, clean design.  Most tables, some high tops, some seats at the bar.  At even the first dinner service, it was bouncing with a 20s crowd -- salted with a few tables of salt-and-pepper hair.  It's a casual vibe.  Noisy enough that kids are clearly welcome, and Bon Chon an enormous projector that will make this a spectacular spot for wings and Ravens games when fall Sundays come around.

On top of the chicken, they have a small menu of Korean dishes.  You could alternative chicken with bulgogi, bibimbob, or scallion-seafood pancakes.  We gorged on chicken on the first visit, so w can't report.  Expect an official grand opening in a few weeks.  But they're serving the full menu now so nothing should hold you back.

Do any Bon Chon regulars know if is it possible to get a middle sauce?  I loved both the spicy and the soy-garlic, but the hot was just too hot for Mrs. HowChow.  She likes the salty soy.  But she'd love a spicy option too.

Bon Chon
3419 Plum Tree Drive
Ellicott City, MD 21042
410-465-0515

NEAR: Bon Chon is a block south of Rte 40 and just west of Rte 29.  Turn south onto Plum Tree Drive, and Bon Chon is in a shopping center perpendicular to Plum Tree.  It is next to Serafino's.

Where Are We On New Restaurants? Anyone Know Timing For Bon Chon In Ellicott City?

The first rule of Restaurants That Haven't Opened Yet is never mention Restaurants That Haven't Opened Yet -- even to say it hasn't opened yet.

If you break this rule, you end up with a wife who says, "I really want Bon Chon.  You mentioned Bon Chon, and now I want fried chicken."

It looks like we have gotten the new Columbia locations for Maiwand Kabob and Yogi Castle, but there don't appear to be chickens in the fryers yet at the Korean fried chicken place coming to Plum Tree Drive just off Rte 40 in Ellicott City.  At least, the store's Facebook page hasn't been opened 


I assume the power outage slowed everyone's construction.  But Bon Chon's Facebook page had mentioned the first week of July so let me know if you hear anything more.


People are leaving comments about the new Maiwand on prior posts like this one.  We actually haven't stopped there yet.

Maiwand, Yogi Castle & Bon Chon Opening News

They're all still just internet mentions, but it looks like we have rough dates for a few of the new places coming to Howard County.

Maiwand Kabob's new Columbia location will open on Wednesday, according to their Facebook page.  (H/t to Mike.)

Yogi Castle's new Columbia shop will open on Saturday, June 23, reports Agilmut who says an email arrived with the announcement.

And Bon Chon hopes to be frying chicken in Ellicott City by the first week of July, they're saying on their Facebook page as well.  (H/t to MaybeKathy.)

Let me know if you know more or if you see any of these folks open up.  Click on the prior post to see the comments about these dates.

Bon Chon Fried Chichen Coming In June, But Without Liquor For Now, Reports Patch

The new Bon Chon fried chicken is aiming to open in early June, reports the Ellicott City Patch.

The Patch tweeted that news, and they had a link to Lisa Rossi's story about a liquor board meeting where they turned down Bon Chon's request for a license.

Bon Chon Day Of Reckoning: March 6

The folks behind the coming Bon Chon in Ellicott City will appear for their liquor license hearing on March 6.

Let's hope that will make us one step closer for the opening of the Korean fried chicken franchise on Plum Tree Drive off Rte 40.  Anyone know when this fryers may go hot?  Last I heard, it was late February or  so.  Until it opens, you'll need to just read my review from a New York Bon Chon or check out the hot fried chicken at Tian Chinese Cuisine or the ToreOre franchise inside H Mart.

Bon Chon Update: Fried Chicken In Late February Or Early March -- After A Month Of Training

Ellicott City will get its Bon Chon franchise in mid-winter -- after the new owner gets a month of training up in New York City.

That's the report in a comment on last month's post about the new Korean fried chicken spot scheduled to open next to Serafino on Plum Tree Road.  John Kim wrote in the comment that he is training now in NYC and aiming to open his Bon Chon in late February or early March with a full menu and full liquor license.

Check out that prior post for links about Tian Chinese Cuisine -- where you can get the double-fried-style now -- and about Bon Chon.

Bon Chon Korean Fried Chicken Coming To Ellicott City - Crunch Arrives As Soon As January

Bon Chon Korean fried chicken is coming to Ellicott CIty -- opening as early as January.

The news appears on a Facebook page that says the Bon Chon will open in "approximately" January 2012.  It's coming thanks to John Kim, who also brought Tutti Frutti to Rte 40.  The address says 3419 Plum Tree Toad.  That's also the address of Serafino's Italian Market.  Anyone know how this will work?

Tian Chinese Cuisine brought Korean fried chicken to Howard County earlier this year.  You can go there now for the double-fried crispness and the spicy sauces.  But people drive all the way to Annandale for the Bon Chon for the chain that helped start the craze.  There is room for all these options with chicken this much fun.

I posted a review of Bon Chon this summer after eating takeout from there in New York.  Check that out for the link to Henry Hong's review as well.  Thanks to Kimi for posting the news on my prior post.