Leelyn's Makes The Unmanly Chef Sing About His Supper; His E.C. Spot For Soup, Salad, More

The "Seasonal Salad"

The Unmanly Chef cooks up a storm on his own blog -- including a great series of "Five Lunches, Five Days" where he recommends a recipe you can cook Sunday and then pack good food all week.

But the Chef is a Howard County local, and he graciously offered to write up a joint that we haven't visited in years.  Leelynn's is an Ellicott City spot just off Rte 108.  It's an American kitchen with a menu that changes and offers everything from drinks to small plates to big entrees.  As I remember, they have some nice outdoor seating, which will just get more cozy as we move into fall.

The Chef has lived in Howard County for 27 years, so he remembers Lee Stumpf back from the years at G.L. Shacks, a local hangout.  Once they parted ways, Stumpf opened Leelyn's, and the Chef said it quickly became of his family's "go to" spots:

There are so many things that I like about Leelynn’s, but I’ll rattle a few off before I get to my review.

The first -- and I think most important -- is the sense of community you feel when you go there.  I dare you to go and not recognize someone.  You feel at home or like the Cheers theme song said,”You wanna go where everybody knows your name.” 

The pork belly

Second, it lacks any sort of pretentious, over the top salesmanship which I can’t stand. Their staff knows the menu well enough to give recommendations but they’re not going to hit you over the head with the menu, which I like. Finally, Leelynn’s has an adventurous kitchen which has always been fearless to try new menu items.

A menu feature that I love about Leelynn’s is that they have a small plates menu.  For the crowd that doesn’t want a huge plate of food, this is a great feature.  This is the portion of the menu that changes often, so it’s hard to get sick of an item.  I am sad that they don’t do mac & cheese anymore, because it was unreal. Their chips are made in house and are stellar.

They have unreal cream of crab soup.  It’s one of my favorites in Maryland.  I’ve eaten this soup all over the state, and Leelynn's tastes just as good as the soup at the Inn at Perry Cabin, one of the highest rated restaurants in the state.  It has plenty of jumbo lump crab meat to go long with a great cream soup.

Link: LeeLyn's on HoCo Rising

HoCo Rising posted about how he and his wife enjoyed the small plates at LeeLyn's in Ellicott City -- particularly the potato chips and the satay.  It's hasn't captivated me, but they'll go back to check out more stuff.  It's definitely a popular place.

Trolling: Trattoria de Enrico's Pizza, A Trifecta of Frozen Yogurt, And Homemade Potato Chips

Sherri and her fiance have just moved deeper into Columbia from King's Contrivance into Hickory Ridge.   She submitted the first "trolling and pimping" post, and she started it off simply with her favorite pizza, her favorite dessert, and a spot for homemade potato chips and her favorite beer.  These "trolling" posts are meant to give you opinions other than my own, although I am linking to my prior posts if you want more.

The pizza at Trattoria de Enrico in Columbia: As a couple from a little farther north, it's tough to find pizza that reminds us of home, but the pizza at Trattoria de Enrico really makes us happy. The crust is crisp and chewy in all the right places, the way my mom always said they can only make in New York City because of the city's public water.  (She may be making that up, but it's my mom, I have to believe her . . .)  The sauce isn't too sweet, and the amount of cheese is juuuust right. The trip is more than a 30-second drive now, but it's more than worth the seven minutes to King's Contrivance.  I haven't had pizza this good since I was a kid!

Dessert at Tutti Frutti: I cannot get enough of this stuff, not the yogurt, not the mochi. I mix a trifecta of green tea, original tart and death by chocolate. I don't really like when my flavors interact, but I manage to eat the stuff so fast that they don't really have the opportunity to mingle too much. I top the chocolate with almonds, I top the tart and the green tea with mochi and more mochi. It's a good thing this place is "all the way" in Ellicott City because I've been there three times in 10 days. If it was closer, I'd have to buy new pants.

LeeLynn's in Columbia: When my book club meets at LeeLynn's near Dorsey's Search, my first order is the homemade potato chips. They're crunchy kettle style chips tossed with herbs and served with a chipotle ranch sauce. I follow that up with the chicken satay, an inexpensive yet filling five skewers of chicken doused in the best peanut sauce I've ever had. LeeLynn's is also one of the few places that has Rising Moon, Blue Moon's spring seasonal, and my favorite beer, on tap in the spring.

Trolling on Tuesday is my attempt at a series where readers would share three things with other HowChow readers -- favorite restaurant dishes, food to buy, food experiences, etc.  Click here for all the Trolling posts.  Click here for the explanation and the rules.  Anyone can submit.  

LeeLyn's in Ellicott City

I ate delicious macaroni and cheese at LeeLyn's Dining Room in Ellicott City, but I wish that I had had something more.

There is nothing more exciting or ephemeral than the trend of "small plate" restaurants. They're not just for tapas anymore, and little dishes -- with smaller prices and the chance for imagination, simplicity or surprise -- invite you to make your own magic dinner.

LeeLyn's offers itself up as our local upscale "small plate" joint, and we started strong with mac and cheese was really delicious. Creamy and thick without grease. That's fun eating, but the magic never picked up again. We ate the crab dip. The pretzel bread was interesting. But we didn't finish the salad -- something that got lost when the greens acquired the Latin touch of corn, onions and beans, the almost-Asian topping of almost-crisp noodles (tortilla strips?), and a drench of creamy dressing.

I had sat down with high hopes and really wanted to order something more. But we were $30 invested already, and Mrs. HowChow pointed out that the menu wasn't "small plates." It was appetizers. Good appetizers, maybe. But nothing more than wings, crab dip, tuna, tempura vegetables, and on. I almost split a crab cake because other folks seemed to be enjoying the special. Instead, we sat back and realized that no one goes home hungry after mac and cheese and crab dip. We paid and left.

Some people really like LeeLyn's, which made BillZ's well-reasoned "Nearly Best" list in the Live in Howard blog. But I have been to Woodberry Kitchen. Everyone can't match that place, but the "small plate" magic comes from freedom. If I'm picking a bunch of plates, the kitchen is free to offer dishes that are simple or seasonal or electrically unique. A roasted pear with salt and honey. A flat bread with blue cheese and mustard cream. I smile just writing out the names.

Iron Bridge Wine Company pulls off that imagination. Mrs. HowChow still talks about a "burger, fries and shake" of bite-sized meat and the perfect burst of strawberry. LeeLyn's doesn't charge any less than Woodberry or Iron Bridge, and it serves up some good food like the salad's chicken topping -- somehow blackened, still juicy, and sliced beautifully thin. I'm just not sure why the menu had a dozen pub favorites, but nothing seasonal and nothing that I hadn't eaten somewhere else.

Take my disappointment in context. I'm disappointed, in part, because LeeLyn's offers itself up as special and because it's a charming place with some cozy spots and a patio. I'm sort of echoing BillZ's "wishes" for 2009 when he talked about the opportunity for places to serve small plates that aren't a huge investment. Creating an imaginative menu is certainly beyond my skills, but I hope that someone will come along and give it a try.

If you're looking for small plates, definitely try Iron Bridge Wine Co. in Columbia or Ranazul in Fulton, where you want to end the meal with sopapias. (Update: BillZ also reminds me in the comments below that Bistro Blanc serves small plates.) And you can't go wrong driving into Baltimore to Woodberry Kitchen, one of my favorite places in recent years.

LeeLyn's Dining Room
9495 Old Annapolis Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042
410-715-8500

NEAR: LeeLyn's is actually very easy to reach. It's right off Rte 108 just west of Rte 29. You turn north at the light for Columbia Road. (Right if you're going west from Rte 29.) Turn right on Old Annapolis Road and go to the end. LeeLyn's is built into a building with a liquor store. The entrance sort of faces Rte 108. We wandered around the patio for a while because we parked in the back.