We ended up at Buddha’s Belly, a lively Pan Asian restaurant with good food and moderate prices. I often get the 7 oz. filet mignon wok-tossed with peppercorn sauce, served with broccolini and smashed roast kabocha pumpkin for $15.95, but the Japanese-Style Baked Alaskan Black Cod
(saikyo miso marinade, edamame sushi rice, cucumber salad and broccoli) for $16.50 is a favorite as well.

If you don’t want to spend that much, the noodles and rice dishes are under 10 bucks. I like the Thai Green Curry Chicken and Jasmine Rice (chicken breast, Japanese eggplant, Thai-style spicy coconut green curry sauce and cilantro) for $8.50.

Keep an eye on the waiters and waitresses. They’re clearly aspiring actors, and you may see them again on the big screen in a couple of years.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

With all my good intentions, yesterday was so hectic I didn't buy any food for my trip in advance. Then I remembered Alan's post -- Alan, tell me you don't work for BWI...

Alan listed every food outlet on every concourse, including the Chesapeake Roasting Company, which I couldn't remember even though I got a latte there until I went back and reread his post (under Plane Food).

When I got through security I headed for Quiznos, which I remembered he said was good if you wanted something healthy. What I hadn't counted on was that at 6 p.m. the line was going to be down the hall. Ditto for McDonald's. I grabbed a latte and headed for my gate, noting that a Greene Turtle will be opening on concourse D soon.

So. My first paid-for meal on an airplane. The six choices listed in Hemisphere Magazine sounded enticing. (I can dream.) What was on offer last night was a turkey and cheese wrap or a Chinatown Sesame Chicken Salad, which I would have had except the picture showed it featured a little pile of bright green previously frozen peas. I really don't like cold frozen peas in a salad.

The wrap (tightly wrapped in plastic) was ice cold, so I decided to let it warm up while I ate the Sun Chips it came with and drank a cheap -- actually not so cheap at $5 -- Chardonnay (rounded pear notes with a plastic cup finish). The sandwich label said it was made by Trader Vic's for United. After awhile I opened and ate it: smoked turkey and processed orange cheddar cheese with asparagus and roasted red tomatoes (I didn't get those) and spinach cream cheese spread. That was MIA too. Nothing a few packets of mayo grabbed from Quiznos wouldn't have fixed.

My seatmate had the right idea. (The middle seat was empty. My lucky day.) She order two mini bottles of red wine and ate expensive Belgian chocolates for dinner.

Food: **, service: ***, atmosphere: *

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Any suggestions/comments for the birthday boy? I just got this e-mail...

We are going to have a B-Day dinner in a Japanese steakhouse. The ideal choice would have been Nichi Bei Kai on York, we had a lot of celebrations we all enjoyed greatly at that place.

On the other hand we have only been once to Ginza at the Valley Village, around same time you wrote your review and the experience was not that much fun. I can’t remember the specifics, but the memory is unpleasant and fuzzy. My wife is insisting on Ginza, there are too many logistical reasons to bother you with: kids, parents, schedules of working adults – relatives, etc.

The favor: If you dined at the Ginza more recently, since the article – how was the experience? And if not is there an alternative you may recommend, no pressure, just a suggestion.

Thanks a lot

Victor

The Birthday Boy

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I told Tom Sietsma, the Washington Post restaurant critic, that I was heading for LA tonight and hoped to...

stop in at Cut , Wolfgang Puck's latest restaurant, in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. I know I can't afford it, so I wasn't going to eat there, but I've heard it's great looking.

I got this e-mail back from him:

In Los Angeles, forget CUT and run, run, run to Pizza Mozza. It's fabulous, everyone's going there -- and it won't break anyone's budget.

Luckily, I had already made a reservation because one of the owners of Pizzeria Mozza also owns Campanile and, more importantly, La Brea Bakery. I LOVE La Brea's sourdough bread, and, no, it doesn't taste anything like what you get here under that name.

Even two weeks ago the only reservation I could get at Mozza was Monday at 5 p.m. That was OK with me, because it gives me a chance to get a nap in after dinner before I get on the red eye back to Baltimore. Amazingly, when my brother decided to join us last weekend, we couldn't change the reservation from two people to three at 5 p.m. It's that hot.

I'll be posting about some of my meals in LA. Why should you care? Because whatever's happening there will be making its way east soon enough. I still remember in the early '90s being told by a venture capitalist that the hot new thing in California was wraps, and they would hit Baltimore one day.

I just laughed at him.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Don't forget to send me your suggestions (or just post below) for pet peeves when eating out for next week's Top Ten Tuesday...

My husband asked me this morning why it had to be ten every week. Apart from the obvious alliteration (I guess I could have called it Fab Five Fridays), I like the challenge. It was easy to come up, for instance, with my first three or four favorite seafood restaurants this week. After that it was tricky.

Plus I'm hoping it will inspire others to help out. For instance, if only Ann Pogglioni had posted the comment about SeaSide in Glen Burnie before I made up my list. I didn't think there was a restaurant in the Baltimore area that I hadn't at least heard of, but she proved me wrong.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
Categories: Pet Peeves
        

I have to admit I'm not overly concerned about calories -- isn't hollandaise one of the four basic food groups? -- but I do love...

the CalorieKing website. What's great about it is you can get nutritional information about chain restaurant food as well as more generic stuff.

I was reminded of it when RvnGrl posted a recommendation for a burrito from Chipotle as a dinner to take on a plane. It sounded good to me.

Anyway, the nutritionist I work with on my Make Over My Meal series, Robin Spence, once described a delicious Chipotle burrito she had had for lunch earlier (and to be healthful she had left off the sour cream). But she couldn't figure out why she felt so full hours later.

She went to CalorieKing.com and found that her one burrito contained 690 calories.

A post from Kevin said he got reliable carryout from Pei Wei, an Asian chain I had never tried, so yesterday I stopped by the one on York Road for lunch and had the Vietnamese chicken salad roll: shredded chicken, lettuce, mint, carrot, peanuts, lime vinaigrette, rice noodles, wrapped in rice paper for $6.25. Pretty good, but the same thing. I felt full for several hours, which was puzzling because it didn't seem caloric.

Indeed, when I went to CalorieKing.com just now, I found the chicken salad roll had only 280 calories. Maybe it was the 3 grams of protein that filled me up. Or, OK, the sweet dipping sauce (70 calories for two ounces). And maybe I had a fortune cookie (30 calories) or two.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I'm heading to LA for a long weekend this Thursday. It's a 7 p.m. flight, and whenever I do this I take dinner with me. ...

The problem is that I don't want to buy something at BWI and I don't want to fix my own at home. It has to be something that can be out of the fridge for a couple of hours as well.

I'm leaving from work, so it has to be something I can pick up at a place downtown.

For a while I was getting a dragon roll (vegetable sushi) covered with avocado slices from Whole Foods, but by the time I had opened the soy sauce and the wasabi and was eating it with either chopsticks or fingers, I could tell I was making my seatmates uncomfortable. Plus it seemed a little, I don't know, pretentious.

I tried a roasted vegetable salad from Donna's a couple of times, but it was too nervewracking going through security with it because the balsamic dressing was in a little separate container and I kept expecting them to make me throw it out.

It has to be something that will seem like a treat. Any suggestions?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

This week's top ten: Best Seafood Restaurants. The problem: Some of these restaurants I haven't visited recently. The solution: I'm going to pretend that...

...a rich uncle has come to town and is taking me to ten seafood restaurants, my choice, and in whatever order I want. Here are the ones where I want to have dinner:

1) The Black Olive in Fells Point. Elegantly simple seafood with a Greek accent. Yes, I know it's very expensive, but I've had meals that weren't half this good that were even more expensive.
2) Mama's on the Half Shell in Canton. Done up beautifully as an old-fashioned oyster house with food to match.(Thanks to Terri Bishoff for reminding me this is also a kid friendly place.)
3) O'Learys in Eastport. A white tablecloth Chesapeake seafood restaurant that has never disappointed me.
4) Mr. Bill's Terrace Inn in Essex. A classic Maryland crab house with great vibes. I know they serve other things, but have the monster steamed hard shells.
5) Blue Sea Grill next to Power Plant Live! Sometimes you want a hip setting with your seafood. I'd go for the raw bar, and the lobster mac 'n' cheese.
6) Schultz's in Essex. Love the old-fashioned atmosphere here -- knotty pine walls and stuffed marlin. Don't miss the lobster tail stuffed with crab imperial.
7) Robert Oliver Seafood in Mount Vernon. I've heard mixed things since my generally positive review (mostly complaints about service) but my mouth is watering for those oysters Oliver and the swordfish.
8) Kali's Court in Fells Point. The Mediterranean seafood was inconsistent last time I ate here, but the beautiful setting and good service make it well worth another visit.
9) Oceanaire Seafood Room in Inner Harbor East. It's the seafood equivalent of those upscale steakhouses. If you're not a snob about chains (and have a fat wallet) give it a try.
10) Pisces in the downtown Hyatt. I agonized that I didn't have one Inner Harbor restaurant on this list, and I finally picked this one for the view. Sometimes a great view of the water is what you want most.

OK, I know I left out as many good ones as I put on my list. What are your favorites?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I just got the final ballot for the James Beard Foundation restaurant and chefs awards....

Maryland is sadly underrepresented. In fact, no chef or restaurant made it to the final ballot.

If you want to try something nearby on the ballot you'll have to go to Vidalia or Palena in DC, whose chefs are among the final five of the Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic nominations. Of the five Oustanding Chef nominees (whose career has set national industry standards and who has served as an inspiration to other food professionals) the only one roughly in our area is Michel Richard of Citronelle. (Well, we had one of his restaurants in Baltimore once.)

The winners will be announced May 7.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I got this request from Patti, bemoaning the fact that you can't get good peppermint ice cream at the end of a Chinese meal anymore...

Recently I have been wondering what ever happened to peppermint ice cream similiar to the kind that they use to have at Howard Johnson's. It actually had peppermint candy in the ice cream itself. It was a soothing way to end a meal. Wondered if any of your readers knew anything or where to get some. Thanks

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

I had dinner at La Ferme in Chevy Chase Saturday night. Of course, it's always fun for me to eat out when I'm not working because I don't have to taste anyone else's food, and more important, I don't have to share....

I can order exactly what I want and not what the restaurant thinks is its specialty.

I recommend La Ferme if only for the beautiful covered porch where we ate.

It's a traditional French restaurant, from the sweet butter with baguette that begins the meal to the souffle that can end it. (I wasn't sure I could get that far so I didn't order it when you're supposed to, when you order your dinner.) The day's special, rack of lamb with green and white beans was great, and I also had a fine house salad; but if you're looking for innovative food this won't be the place for you. It's about a mile from Chevy Chase Circle in a charming residential district.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Recently I stopped by a nice sit-down restaurant on Charles street and got dinner to go. The menu described it as “fresh vegetable terrine with chickpeas, onions, red peppers and carrots, topped with a coconut curry sauce and served over spaghetti vegetables.” ...

When I got home and opened the Styrofoam I found a whole lot of highly spiced chickpeas, a few raisins and sliced dried apricots, some red pepper and onion over white rice. No coconut curry sauce and no spaghetti vegetables. (Granted I don’t know what spaghetti vegetables are. Tomatoes? Spaghetti squash? But I know they aren’t white rice.)
For $14.50 I deserved better. But my point is I don’t know why restaurants that agree to do carry out even if it isn’t their forte don’t treat it more seriously — and serve it up more attractively. So many people these days don’t have time to cook but want something more satisfying than takeout Chinese. I’m not naming the restaurant, by the way, because I’ve eaten there several times, and I think this was an aberration.
Anyway, I’d welcome any suggestions of places people don’t usually think of for nice carry out dinners that look appealing when you open the container and taste good. And where you get what you paid for.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Peg Feldman's post yesterday suggested that restaurants should offer mid-week, pre-priced meals with smaller, healthier portions for seniors. I think it's a good idea, and not just for seniors. I don't know why more restaurants don't, but I'm sure the reasons are economic.

The overhead is the same whether you offer little meals at small prices or huge portions where you can justify much higher prices. As a restaurant owner you still have to pay the same rent and the same waiters' salaries. I'm sure that factors into it.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Randy Richardson in Carroll County posted a comment yesterday thanking me for not using "impeccably fresh" and "tender crisp" in every review. I immediately went to the Sun's computer archives, of course, to see just how often I had used them since 1992, which is as far back as the archives go...

I'm embarrassed to admit "tender crisp" came up 41 times. (Fewer times early in the '90s, maybe because restaurants were overcooking their vegetables more often then.) "Impeccably fresh" appeared 11 times, but only two times in this millennium and not at all in the past couple of years.

Still, it got me to thinking about how hard it is (and how important it is) to come up with new language to describe food qualities, especially when the restaurant isn't either thrilling or really awful. One of my favorite food writers, Calvin Trillin, once commented on high-falutin' restaurant criticism by saying something like BUT DID IT TASTE GOOD?

On the other hand, the editor of a former Live restaurant critic got so bored she had to order the freelancer not to use the word "good" to describe food. I hope I fall somewhere in between. I'm pretty good at avoiding Elegant Variation -- using mollusks to refer to oysters, for instance -- but I do have trouble sometimes figuring out a new way to say the fish is fresh or the vegetables aren't overcooked. And that's what people need to know.

Anybody have any other phrases they hate to see in restaurant criticism? Please post below.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Along with the good news of Dogwood opening, people are still sad that Mamie's, formerly in that space, has closed. I got this e-mail from a reader. If anyone knows anything more, let me know.

On a Sunday in January, 2006 I called Mamie's in Hampden to check on their hours. I heard a strange recording. A woman was speaking and crying at the same time. She said how sorry she was they closed at the end of the year,(2005) all the employees were there at the end, everyone so sad to be leaving. It was most puzzling, and after thinking about it and recalling that I had seen rehabbing in the area, I thought perhaps her rent had been raised and she could not afford to remain.
Then I heard she was relocating in a former police station not too far away. This building was also being refurbished. At the Hon Festival I spoke with a man who owns a shop on The Avenue. He said they were having problems with renovations; something about the ovens and possibly lead that had to be removed.

Mamie's had always been a favorite of ours, so I hope you can enlighten me as to if they are or will be opening and where.

Thank you.

Barbara Reiner

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

In a way, I’ve been writing a restaurant blog for my whole career as the Sun’s restaurant critic, only without the Web part. My reviews have been a personal journal of my adventures, and there have been quite a few. But I’m looking forward to having a little more room with this daily blog to talk about restaurant news and issues I don’t have room for in my Sunday review or my Table Talk column.

I also get a lot of reader feedback that I can now share. Feel free to send me your restaurant news and reviews and questions of general interest. Hey, I may even address the Dreaded Crab Cake Question.

Here are a couple of e-mails I got about the now-closed Szechuan Best...

We have a dinner group who regularly ate at this restaurant. We were there the last night it was open. The staff was very sad since they had been there for about 30 years. Our favorite waitress said they were closing and everyone was going their separate ways. It is a real shame, because the food was wonderful and the service excellent. Judy Bushong

...Bad news about Best. My family loved to go there for Three Cups Chicken and orders and orders of the steamed vegetable dumplings, which were by far the best dumplings in the area--maybe even the world! .... Wonder if you know of any place locally that makes dumplings that would be almost as good? Will

...I don't remember Szechuan Best's dumplings, so I can't compare, but the steamed vegetable dumplings I had recently at the new P. F. Chang's in the Inner Harbor were pretty darn good. The menu also features Peking dumplings with ground pork and shrimp dumplings. My review of this popular Chinese chain will appear on Sunday, April 29 in the Modern Life section. I know, I know, it's not a small, family-owned restaurant but...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)