A Tale of Two Fishies (and Chips)

Last weekend I had the pleasure of eating two very different types of fish and chips, one pretty haute and one pretty hearty.

For the first one, I found myself in Fells Point, ready for a weekend of rooting for those Ravens, hons (RAVENS IN THE SUPER BOWL W000000000T!).  My original intention was to head to my favorite Irish soccer bar Sláinte, where I knew they had a fascinating blueberry "Ravens" cheesecake.  But I got sidewinded first as I passed by Bond Street Social, whose warmth and large, inviting bar drew my attention.  Bond Street Social has an interesting selection of draft beers, including some of my favorites (Dogfishes and Heavy Seases), not to mention the cocktails, sangrías and wines.  I ordered myself a 90 Minute and considered ordering some food.  The stomach won over and I pored over the menu. The menu of somewhat pricey food.  Pricey food that I knew would likely be in sorta small haute cuisine portions.  After much deliberation, I settled on the Social Fish and Chips ($18!!!) which consisted of four tender large fish nuggets in crispy, delicious batter, each nestled on top of an "Old Bay tater tot" (that's the chip), with lovely crispy globs of "salt and vinegar slaw" between them.  The food overall was lovely in flavor, texture and presentation.  That said, while I am not the kind of person who demands big portions, I was kind of hungry when it was all done.  So know that you are paying for a delicious, high quality and smallish portion of fish and tater tots.

I needed some of that Sláinte cheesecake.  It went fast, especially with that Loose Cannon to wash it down.

The next day I headed to Arundel Mills, and after a day of shopping for some clothes and window shopping for kitchen items, I stopped in the DuClaw for a little lunch and a little beer.  I mean little in only the most cursory way, as the Venom and Chips ($14) I ordered - named for the Venom light amber ale they have on tap - was so massive that the couple seated at the bar table next to me had to comment on its size.  They probably saw my buggy eyes when I got it.  I paired that with their extra hoppy Serum Double IPA.

But back to the fish: two humongous pieces of cod in tempura batter, extra crispy and crunchy - so much so that it easily slid off the hot, slippery cod.  This wasn't such a problem since the breading was a meal in itself.  And these fries were actual fries - not bad, but seriously playing second fiddle to that fish.  Likewise, this was paired with a sweet and tasty cole slaw, though again it's the fish that stood out.  They also brought out some Old Bay per my request.

I did not leave hungry.

While I would eat each again, which of the two would I seek out first?  I have to confess it is DuClaw's.  The crunchiness of the fillet won me over, despite all else.  I will have to order this again, with a Serum Double IPA.

Chipotle Gourmet Burritos and Tacos

I gotta hand it to Chipotle. For a fast food place they do have a tasty menu. Though I'm not exactly sure just how authentically Mexican their fajita-style burrito is (meat with peppers and onion instead of beans), it's still quite good. I'm eating one now (take-out, from the one at Arundel Mills) with pork, rice, green peppers, onion, hot tomatillo-red salsa, sour cream, corn with red onion bits, and guacamole on the side. And I know I'm not going to finish this thing tonight. Way too much food for my stomach. Very yummy. And funny thing, too: like the UK's Pret-a-Manger, Chipotle is also affiliated with Micky D's

One thing I am not fond of? Their website's "mystery meat" navigation. I hate it when people get all pretentious and/or cute with their Flash-based web pages. If you want to find out about their food, click the flashing thing at the top of the circle that pops up on your screen. Confused? You will be!

And what's up with that Chiapas-meets-Ikea motif they've got going in their restaurant? Ah, screw it. it's still a good burrito.


Photo taken from http://eastontowncenter.com, website from the Easton Town Center, Columbus, Ohio (It's the only photo I could find that showed what I'm talking about. Look for the wall decoration on the left wall.)

Loss of Willpower at the Mall?

Just got back from Arundel Mills, buying a Ravens hat for a "spirit day" at work to celebrate the Ravens-Colts match-up this Sunday (Guess whom I'm rooting for? Give up? Ah, silly reader, you should know it's not the Colts!)

Then I started getting hungry. Now, I had been sort of good for lunch, eating a Lean Cuisine. Hey, that salmon in lemon dill sauce is tasty, and you can get 5 for $10 at SuperFresh this week - and no, you don't have to buy 5 to get the sale price. Then I had two Little Debbie caramel crispy cookies. Okay, so that wasn't so good. So I wanted to hold off until dinner. Of course, any mall worth its salt provides ample temptation for the conscientious eater.

Walked past the candy store. No temptation there.

Walked past the Auntie Anne's pretzel place. Felt drawn but avoided it. Okay then!

Walked past the Ben & Jerry's. Hey, this is getting easier...

Walked past the Johnny Rockets burger joint. Who wants to pay that much for a quick bite, anyway?

Good work so far, Johnnyboy! I feel strong! I feel invincible!!

I feel a delicious cupcake cookie with a large blob of white sugary frosting on top at Mrs. Field's for only $2.09.

D'oh!

Chevy's

I like Chevy's. Yes, a chain restaurant is no more authentic "Mexican" than Outback is authentic "Australian." But Chevy's is definitely closer to the real thing than, say, Taco Bell (eww). And Chevy's was the place that my sister and I wound up last night amid a glut of Christmas shopping.

After just a 15 minute wait (DuClaws had its typical 50 minute wait) we got seated and started to peruse the menu. Each of us went for fajitas! My sister got the lime-tequila chicken - yum! - and I got the carne asada with chile relleno. Again, yum - or at least, were I able to actually bit into the meat. I don't remember carne asada being so tough! It wasn't uniformly tough, mind you, but tough in a few spots. Still tasty, though. But I was very satisfied with their sweet corn cake and plentiful sides - the rice and black beans, the sour cream, salsa fresca and guacamole (Mmmmm, guacamole), the tortillas on-request. The main dish was tasty, if tough. And the onions on the side were also goo, too. I did notice that the meat was more tender (okay, tender) under the chile relleno (again, spicy and yummy).

We avoided dessert - just no more room! But a Negra Modelo with a wedge of lime tided me over. All in all, a good dinner.

Blue Star Grill

Blue Star Grill, in Arundel Mills Mall, offered me a mixed bag. Though I had a pleasant experience, I can't honestly say that everything I had there was, well, edible.

My evening started after buying tickets for the almost Twilight Zone-y, innovatively average Will Ferrell flick Stranger than Fiction (see it - it's interesting; but don't see it more than once). I stopped at Blue Star Grill and decided I wanted Mexican food instead. So I headed over to Chevy's, literally 1 minute away. Thirty-five minute wait!? So I crossed to the humongous DuClaw Brewing Company, "a restaurant/brewpub offering a dizzying variety of delicious American eclectic cuisine and Maryland's finest handcrafted beer" according to the Arundel Mills website. I've eaten there before, and the line didn't look as long as at Chevy's, so... FORTY-FIVE minute wait!? One other option was the Johnny Rockets, a place I had once eaten at visiting my sister in Phoenix several years ago (she's back in Bawlmer now). But the wait is almost always long - both before and after you get a table - and you have to be careful the servers don't start singing at the drop of a paper hat - one reason why I'd rather put a gun in my mouth than work at Johnny Rockets. Those people are crazy!

So Blue Star Grill it was. Very short wait. Guess I got there just in time, before all the other disgruntled people waiting standing around for the better part of an hour, trying to squeeze a 15 minute dinner in between their seating and whichever movie they were about to see. After a not-so-long wait, the waitress gave me a menu and I perused it, to find some conventional and not-so conventional American dishes. I almost chose the hamburger, but decided to try something a little more innovative. It was easy to find. In their "Homemade Entrées" section is the Spicy Pork Fusilli, a dish they describe as "tender pulled pork sauteed in fusilli pasta topped with habanero pesto and sour cream." Southern and Italian with a dash of heat and a dollop of sour cream? It sounded disgusting, but oddly intriguing, so I thought "What the hell?" I ordered a Sam Adams draft (after all the Guinness I've drunk lately, the Sam Adams tasted oddly like liquid bread) and waited.

The spicy pork fusilli was better than I had pictured in my head. The pulled pork and fusilli - curly hollow tube pasta - were well-blended together, but the pesto and sour cream were plopped on top in a very out-of-place crown. In the end I was glad they put it this way, because the pesto I could only take a little at a time. That habanero pesto was hot in places (that's the habanero pepper for ya). I love heat, but even I have trouble with habanero. But it was good, mixing it into the pasta and pork in small quantities. Swirling it all in a little sour cream made it taste even better, and took a little of the heat away. I would definitely order this stuff again!

I almost didn't order dessert, but I went for it, ordering the apple crisp. Now if anything could be considered a waste of money, it is the apple crisp at Blue Star Grill. It was all but inedible. With my first few bites, I just pictured the reactions of the Top Chef judges, Tom Coliccio railing against this. Inedible. Why? Well it wasn't the flavor, but the texture. Two very disjointed textures - the soft, cinammony apples, which by themselves would have been a good base for an actual apple crisp, and the rolled oats on top. Lots and lots of rolled oats, flavored in some sort of sweet, sticky coating of which there was desperately too little. It was like eating a poorly made "breakfast dessert" made in a real hurry. "Oh, super quick apple crisp! Let's just bury apples in oats!" That's about the size of it. No care in this dish. I finished about a fifth of this stuff before I just shoved it away. Bleeeaahhh.

The price wasn't so bad. The pork and pesto pasta (Say that five times fast; I just did!) was a modest $10.50, while the Sam Adams (not my favorite beer, I now admit) was $4.50. The apple crisp was $4.95, relatively expensive considering how good it wasn't.

I must comment that the waitress was very attentive, as was the maitre'd. And from my seat, I could reach out and literally swat at the mall goers if I wanted, as it was like sitting on a terrace or porch. Bathroom was clean enough for me (I am very picky about that.) I'd recommend it, but please avoid the apple crisp!

Grub at Arundel Mills

Never got to the Greek Festival today, unfortunately. I did wander down to Arundel Mills - a super-mega-outlet mall, but more LIKE a mall than many "groups of outlet stores" I have seen. After buying a shirt I satisfied my craving for candy at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. They had some delicious-sounding flavors of fudge! Since I love fudge, I ordered a pound for me and the family. I got a quarter pound each of vanilla (my 2nd favorite flavor, behind brown sugar / penuche) and maple fudge, and a half pound of the intriguing "tiger butter" - a mix of milk chocolate and white chocolate.

Then I got it home. And let me tell you, I've had more exciting fudge than this. It's not bad - it's certainly edible. I probably just wouldn't spend $13 for a pound, because it's nothing special. The tiger butter flavor was okay (I gave some to my mother, she seemed to love it). I have had better vanilla, but it tasted odd at first, I can't explain. It tasted better as I ate more. Out of the three, it was probably the best. The maple was just a total waste of money. If you must get fudge, get it somewhere else. And if you must get it at RMCF, don't get the maple. It's boring - very boring.

I also ordered a "S'more on a Stick" - marshmallows dipped in milk chocolate, and rolled in graham crackers. Again, nothing special - don't waste your money.

I had a better eating experience from the Baja Fresh on the outskirts of Arundel Mills Blvd. I was glad to find out that it had opened, as I ate there a few times when I lived in California, and for a chain it served pretty good Mexican food (again, for a chain). This particular Baja Fresh is closer than most Marylanders will ever get to real Mexican cooking, unless they bother to go downtown to the flourishing Latino neighborhoods near Baltimore's Eastern Avenue (Fells Point's Tortillería Sinaloa on Eastern Avenue, for example, is raved about by many locals). Compared to their tacos, Baja Fresh is adequate. Take the local restaurants and tortillerías out of the picture, and it's quite good. I'd recommend the taco combos - I got the carnitas tacos with black beans, rice and an extra order of guacamole, plus several different salsas, some lime wedges and cilantro at a self-serve condiment bar. This was all about $6.50. Pretty reasonable, though I did wind up finishing everything - not usual for me, as I am used to having food left over. But tasty indeed.