Asian Court

My oil was low today.  I stopped at the Midas to get it changed, and headed along Route 40 to find something to eat.  I didn't want to spend too much, but the promise of dim sum drew me in to Asian Court.  It's tucked away from the Baltimore National Pike so you have to know where to find it - namely, somewhere in the Giant shopping center.

Apparently, I am the last food blogger in the area to have found out about this place.  No worries.  I know about it now.

No menu is posted, but you will be filled up on about $15 of dim sum.  The warm colored dining room is covered with murals that evoke China, excepting the bar which has a flat screen TV playing Chinese telenovelas (when I was there anyway).  The place was pretty busy, and filled mostly with Chinese-American diners, a sign that this is probably a good place to be.  There wasn't a whole lot of room for the wait staff to navigate around the tables with their dim sum carts.  The first waitress to come to me had to stop across from my table, and I needed to get up to choose my plates (small ones are $3, with higher prices ranging from $4 for medium plates to $8 for the largest ones).

I don't remember exactly what I ordered, but the waitress was very keen on recommending the rice (I've had better, especially with the thin and chewy prawns, but it was still flavorful and I ate most of it).  I also got some fried pork dumplings (very tasty - my favorite thing), another type of steamed dumpling whose contents I can't quite place (also tasty, though I came back to this plate less often) and a set of taro dumplings with a delicious and delicately crispy fried batter on the outside.  They were just beautiful but difficult to pick up with a set of chopsticks - easier to cut in half with them, and then pick up each half.  By the time the second cart had come around with shu mai - my most favorite type of dim sum - I was regretting having ordered so much.  They will let you take home the leftovers, however, so if you order too much you won't be wasting it.  I was going to be adventurous and order the chicken feet, but with so much food in front of me, I needed to conserve what was in my bank account and not stuff myself.

With all that dim sum plus a pot of piping hot jasmine tea, my total came to $17.50, a pricier lunch than I had planned to get today, but about right for all the food that I got.

Honey Pig

My friends Eric & Alan and I finally hit up the Honey Pig! No, it's not what you think: it's the restaurant in Ellicott City.*** We were quite impressed and I am sure we will head back there again some time. We did it this past weekend, making the long slog from Hampden out to Rte 40 on a pleasant Sunday evening. The place is busy and dizzying, and it's clearly not "homey" and "cozy" like the restaurants you find in Little Korea. Everything is shiny and industrial, with metal siding on the walls all covered with adverts about their sale items and area Korean businesses. I have generally enjoyed all the Korean BBQ experiences I have had as of late, so some comparisons and contrasts are the easiest way to talk about Honey Pig:

• The selection is quite large at all of these places, but Honey Pig's menu is rather streamlined, so you can easily find what you want. I ignored the many signs all over the walls.
• The prices were amazingly reasonable, considering how much we ordered and ate: three types of BBQ (spicy pork belly, beef, and chicken, each about $12-$15), pajeon (didn't catch the price) and a large bottle of Hite beer for each of us. This all totaled a mere $65 for the three of us (about $21 per person). We threw in a generous tip, and we still all put in less than $30.

• The BBQ was on par with what I have had elsewhere, though they cook it with propane and not the wood and charcoal you may find at some places.
  
• What was better (in my mind) than the Little Korea restaurants? The pajeon, definitely. It was crispier and not too falling apart with scallions and seafood. I could actually pick up a piece and eat it without little pieces dropping everywhere. Much of the pajeon I have eaten before is also very greasy. My friends also noted that Suzie (of Suzie's Soba) usually puts a lot more seafood into hers.
• Perhaps there are Korean reality shows going on in the background at Joong Kak, but I didn't notice. Difficult not to notice at Honey Pig, even with all that's going on.
  

Final assessment: it's far (for me) so I won't be going there often, but I will be going back. In the meantime, I will still happily go to Joong Kak and the other Little Korea restaurants.

*** Oh wait, that is what you think? Okay, um... forget that last thought.

MORE Sonics heading to Maryland!

What a way to play catch-up, y'all.

Jessica posted at her Examiner page (H/T HowChow) that two more Sonics are planned for the Baltimore Metro area in addition to the one opening in Reiserstown by September. One will be in Ellicott City and a second Baltimore County location in Lansdowne (yes, that makes three total, in addition to the lonely little Sonic in Easton, Talbot County, over on the Eastern Shore). That last one is extremely convenient to me, as most of my immediate family lives in Lansdowne. So I will have ample opportunities to visit.

She also notes that other locations may be popping up in Anne Arundel and Carroll Counties, as well as additional spots in Howard and Baltimore Counties.

I feel almost like one of those Chick-Fil-Aniacs who get giddy whenever they hear about a new CFA opening up somewhere in North America. Though not as obsessive as they are, Sonic was a place I visited often when I went to Oklahoma a few years ago (they are everywhere there). You cannot tell how much I am looking forward to this.

I would like to ask the folks over at Sonic, as well as the various county executives, what the hell took them so damn long to get to Maryland anyway?

Next on my wish list: how about a Del Taco or two opening up around here? Or a Wagamama?

Sweets, Sausages and Old Bay along Frederick Road

I had to run a few errands last week, and found myself passing through Catonsville and Ellicott City more than a handful of times while doing it. So when my errands were done, Frederick Road seemed like a good place to stop for something to eat.

Along the way to Ellicott City, I stopped in the small community of Oella. I got wind of an out-of-the-way deli from this year-old post from the How Chow blog. The no-nonsense JW Treuth has good fresh meats and fishes, including the too-intriguing Chesapeake Bay Sausage, with Old Bay in place of the Italian seasoning ($3.49 per lb). I am fixing it up right now with onions and peppers. This is a wonderful sausage for the hard core Old Bay fan, with a subtle but unmistakable Old Bay flavor.

I really need a new camera.

Once across the county line and into Ellicott City, I made a beeline to Sweet - a Bakery and Café, where I experienced a little bit of their bakery and a little bit of their café, all the while watching a bride-to-be swear that she just could not fit raspberry filled wedding cake samples into her stomach right now, but that it sounded so good. I was not there for the wedding cake, of course. Instead I ordered some chocolate top cookies and a red velvet cupcake. The cookies were soft - both the cookie part and the chocolate part - and were okay. The cupcake was one of the moistest and delicious red velvet cupcakes I have had in ages. Perhaps I was swung by the vanilla buttercream frosting on top - not soft, but slightly hard on the outside, like a good buttercream ought to be. Cream cheese frosting may be the normal way to go with red velvet cake, but I am a sucker for vanilla buttercream and will take that over cream cheese any day. The cupcake was about $1.50. I can't recall the price of the cookies.

Ain't it Sweet?

For the café part, I went for crepe. My goal was to get a breakfast crepe (served all day), but for $1 more (total $7) I got the cheese lunch crepe, which came with a side order of cantaloupe. What can I say? It was a simple buckwheat crepe filled with satisfying Swiss cheese. It was a pleasant and delicious lunch. That and I got an iced tea. Total spent at Sweet: $12, most of which was for the crepe.

I thought I was done, but was wrong, as the Sweet Cascades candy shop showed promise in my never-ending quest to find dessert applications for Old Bay. Theirs was a very simple crab-shaped candy - dark or milk chocolate - with Old Bay in it. That's it. $1.50 each. And they taste about how you would imagine, but don't shirk them because what you're imagining will actually taste quite nice - all sweet, salty and spicy at once.

UPDATE: Apparently my proofreading skills have gone far, faaar away.

Rebuilding the Enchanted Forest

I gotta confess: this past week has not been a great one. I'm in the middle of a job hunt, AND my laptop no longer lets me install anything. And trying to fix it just makes it worse! Plus my car that I just got fixed feels like the transmission is trying to change gears itself. Geez, when it rains it pours...

So I was feeling pretty down on myself last week after I drove out to Ellicott City to drop off a CV and application. On the way back I drove by a farm that had a curiously pasty, white castle entrance set a ways back from the road. Further inspection revealed what I had suspected all along: this is the famous Clark's Elioak Farm that is salvaging and painstakingly restoring the ancient relics of the Enchanted Forest.

Almost any born and bred Baltimorean 30 years old and above will remember The Enchanted Forest, that kitschy local amusement park that fell on hard times around the late 80's and finally closed down for good, after some transformations, in 1997. Many of the attractions that people remember, however, were left neglected from 1990 on, and have been sitting, decaying, ever since.

The folks at nearby Clarks Elioak Farm have taken to carting many of these rotting amusement park relics back to their farm with the intention of restoring them and letting the public come back to see them - and for just $4.50 you can get in to see it! (It's less for children, I think.) I had planned to stop in for a short visit, just to see, and wound up staying for an hour or two. If you remember the Enchanted Forest, see how many of these things you remember:

It always got me down that the Enchanted Forest only rented out for birthday parties from April to October - because my birthday is in March. This is the closest I have ever gotten to that fabled "Happy Birthday" Cake.

The super-colorful Goldilocks and the Three Bears house, restored to its former glory. I could never figure out what the hell that pouchy thing was on top of the green roof, but it was supposed to symbolize "Mama Bear". A few other photos from the house...

Papa Bear and trophy

You can run, Blondie, but you can't hide...

Jack and Jill go tumbling down the hill, humiliated as ever. As a child, I would've mentioned that Jill's bloomers were showin'.

No, that was an accident. But, like, since they're all mushrooms, man, it's trippy and far out...

The crooked house, crooked cat and crooked man.

I don't recall whose house this was. Must be their next big repair project.

Anyone remember this boat? The big face with no eyes always freaked me out, but not enough that I showed it. Only enough to silently disturb me. The whale was fun though. One of my favorite parts of Enchanted Forest was that whole area outside of the main "fairy tale" section, with the mammoth white mountain slide, the "fishin' hole" and the safari ride. I especially loved the slide - it was THE best thing about an amusement park filled with great stuff. For a kid of 10, that is.

Damn, that is colorful!

I have no idea what to say here. This is probably another restoration section. Wasn't that sombrero painted in fancier colors than, er, off-white?

Super big-ass mega-cupcake

Who could forget the Old Woman's Shoe? Apparently one woman who came that day with her sister. The woman could not remember much of anything about the Enchanted Forest, but her younger sister could for some reason. More photos of that shoe...

Doesn't every shoe have a slide? Seriously...

My day at Clark's was the first time I ever realized that the Old Woman had a hippie son sitting on top of her shoe house.

Uh, guys, a little help here...

This had to have been part of a ride of some sort, but I don't recall if was just to truck people around the amusement park or what.

Is it just me, or did the Enchanted Forest kind sorta engage in a little harmless copyright infringement? I mean watch the movie. Not EVERY telling of the "Snow White" story had a dwarf named "Dopey"...

"Could you get out of my room, please?"

Props from Cinderella's Castle, sitting in the pumpkin coach that trucked people to the castle. Of course, you could always walk to the castle, but who wanted to do that?

Another link in the train. All of the mouse cars are now picnic table seating (a good idea)

One of the Three Little Pigs. Most retellings always make the piggies male. I had never remembered that the Enchanted Forest made little girl pigs. Here's straw house pig getting blown over.

And here's Gladys, the most successful pig builder, coming out of her well-constructed chimney.

And we finish with a displaced stepsister from Cinderella 's Castle. The dress has actually held up well. So has her hair. She's standing on top of an old but well-preserved carriage that was not part of the Enchanted Forest.

I also got to see the animals on the farm - horses, cows, sheep, chickens, roosters (several of whom roamed freely), an emu (!) and goats. One kid got her head caught in the fencing and it took two of the farm employees to get her out. She wasn't old enough to figure out that she needed to turn her head sideways. A few of us patrons stood there and tried to calm her down (she was not enjoying this). As soon as she was freed she got the hell away from that fence.

In all, I had much more fun than that goat. The Enchanted Forest was a nice distraction from the problems I have been having lately, as was the Good Humor ice cream sandwich I bought afterwards in the store for $1.50. That was one big ice cream sandwich. I'll need to go back again soon!

Exits 16A-B - I-70 (to Frederick)

Unless you're going to the Park and Ride off Exit 16B, you have to drive a ways to find food off of I-70. But you don't have to go all the way to Carroll or Frederick Counties. Sure, Westminster and Frederick have good enough food. but if you want food, like, now, just stop off the Route 29 exit (towards Columbia, not Washington), leading ultimately to Route 40 and Ellicott City. And yes, you could go to the Historic District (which is always fun), but again, you don't have to go that far either. I went as far as the Normandy Shopping Center for grub this Sunday. I found a lot - enough to have to make a second trip.

Normandy is somewhere between Route 40 and the former Enchanted Forest. The biggest part of the shopping center is a Safeway. Ignore it (supermarkets are a dime a dozen) and head instead for Ganesh Brothers (map). A somewhat nicer Indian grocery store than most I have found. Many Indian grocery stores, oddly, have a wide selection of dusty boxes and cans; at Ganesh, there's not a lot of dust. I found a dizzying array of ready-made spice mixes, frozen foods, flours of all kinds, jars of pickles, bottles of rose syrup, and of course, bags and bags of basmati rice. Apparently the good stuff comes from India; I got a bag of cheaper basmati from Pakistan for $6. Add to that a little box of Shan brand Achaar Gosht (Meat in Pickling Spices) Mix for $1 and I walked out with groceries I hadn't even realized I needed (though I had wanted them, to be sure). The guy before me bought some pretty tasty-looking Indian sweets, but I didn't feel like getting out of line to find them too.

A bevy of restaurants caught my eye for lunch - a very late lunch. Next to Ganesh was Niko Japanese Restaurant (map), but I didn't have the cash for sushi. (I left my card at home, in an ironic attempt to not spend much money. It's worked.) Further down the parking lot was Kelsey's Irish Restaurant and Pub (map). I catalogued it for the possible Hungover Gourmet fish & chips crawl and continued on. I finally settled on Nora Cafe (map), which looked quite promising. Until I found out that the door was locked. You see, I got there about an hour after they closed (3 pm on Sundays). So no Nora Cafe today - have to save it for another time as well.

After passing a nondescript little Chinese place in the same plaza I finally settled on the Ledo's Pizza (map) at the other end of the strip from the Irish place. I don't normally review chains in this Beltway series - and at 80 restaurants this is definitely a chain - but it looks like a local chain. Scattered below the Mason-Dixon Line (as far south as Florida), 50 of the locations are in Maryland - the first Ledo was in Adelphi - and most of the rest are in Virginia. And here's a fun fact - they are a sponsor of the Mid-Atlantic Skateboard Series (not that I know much of anything about skateboarding - I don't know anything about it actually).

I sought out the cheapest item on the menu. Originally I set my sights on a nice calzone, but my stomach gave way to a small personal pizza. I got the small Hawaiian pizza ($6.25), but added anchovies (another 75 cents - yes, I am an anchovy person). About 15 minutes later it was done. I took it home to eat.

This Ledo pizza was square - this I knew, because the girl behind the counter showed it to me to make sure they got it right. It was also a little greasy, but so are all American pizzas. It was a tasty pizza, and I'd eat it again, but I've had better. It's easy to do pineapple on a pizza right, and Ledo didn't disappoint, though it had an irritating habit of falling off each slice that I picked up. The ham was sufficiently melted into the cheese, and the anchovies just popped out from the cheese too. For what it's worth, I ate five of the nine pieces they cut it into, and saved the rest for lunch the next day.

Places I visited:

Ganesh Brothers (grocery store - Indian / South Asian) - 8450 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21043; Phone: (410) 203-2525

• Would I shop there again? Certainly
• Would I go out of my way to shop there again? Again, yes.

Ledo Pizza (pizza / Italian) - 8480 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, MD 21043; Phone: (410) 750-7087

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? No
  

Places to look up later:

Kelsey's Irish Pub (Irish / pub) - 8480 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, Maryland 21043; Phone: (410) 418-9076

Niko Japanese Restaurant (Japanese) -8450 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, MD; Phone: (410) 418-8400

Nora Cafe (American) - 8450 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, MD; Phone: (410) 461-6902