Howard County Restaurant Week Feb 23rd-March 8th

Just an FYI that Howard County is having their own Restaurant Week right now from Feb 23rd-March 8th.

Here is the website: http://www.howardcountymd.gov/HCT/HCT_Restaurant_Week.htm

And information from the website is as follows:

Get in on the Best Deals in Dining Out!
Howard County’s Winter Restaurant Weeks Features NEW Prixe Fix Menus From $10.09 To $40.09 - Savor The Savings!

Enjoy the warm hospitality and delicious creativity of Howard County’s finest chefs during Howard County’s Winter Restaurant Weeks February 23 to March 8, 2009. Participating restaurants will offer prixe fix menus from $10.09 to $40.09 (beverages, tax, gratuity not included;promotions and menus vary).

Enjoy this amazing opportunity to visit your favorite spot or sample something new as you discover the unique dining options close to home!

Visit our list of participating restaurants and make your reservations now – and don’t forget to pick up a Frequent Diners Passport Card. Have it validated at each restaurant you visit during Restaurant Weeks and enter to win a $100 dining gift certificate from the Restaurant Association of Maryland. (Visit at least 6 restaurants to be eligible, and return the card to the Howard County Tourism Welcome Center: 8267 Main St., Ellicott City, MD 21043.)

Questions/ Comments?
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Participating Restaurants:

* AIDA BISTRO WINE BAR
* ALEXANDRA'S at Turf Valley Resort
* BELMONT MANOR
* BISTRO BLANC
* CACAO LANE
* CAFE de PARIS
* COPELAND'S
* CRAB SHANTY
* DIAMONDBACK TAVERN
* DONNAS CAFE
* ELKRIDGE FURNACE INN
* GREYSTONE GRILL
* JORDAN'S STEAKHOUSE
* THE KING'S CONTRIVANCE
* THE MELTING POT
* MORGAN'S GRILLE at the Hilton Columbia
* OZ CHOPHOUSE
* RAMS HEAD TAVERN at Savage Mill
* RANAZUL
* THE RUMOR MILL
* STAINED GLASS PUB
* TERSIGUEL'S FRENCH COUNTRY RESTAURANT
* TOBY'S DINNER THEATRE in Columbia
* VICTORIA GASTRO PUB

Personally, I've always wanted to try Aida Bistro Wine Bar and Cafe de Paris.

The Dogwood Cafe located in The Woman's Industrial Exchange

UPDATE: THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED :(

I have found a new lunch spot heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Dogwood Cafe, brother to The Dogwood Deli and The Dogwood in Hampden.

This place is FAN-freaking-tastic. It's a small cafeteria in the Woman's Industrial Exchange building, but it still manages to be charming. The food is not only local, but it is outstanding. I ate a delicious sandwich made with a pumpkin butter spread, apple, brie and farm-raised chicken. Can a sandwich be a gateway to heaven? I think this one can. I LOVED the pumpkin butter, which is a little less sweeter than apple butter and which paired perfectly with the brie and apple.

Oh, and then I also had a pumpkin cookie with brown butter icing- oh so yummy!!!!!!

There were soooo many good looking treats at this place, and I can't wait to go back and try them all, especially the Mango Curry Chicken Sandwich with a slice of carrot cake to top it all off!

All in all, my sandwich and cookie came to about $8.60 which is a normal price for the downtown area. So excited to go back!!!!



333 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: (410) 685-4388

The Natural Market, Timonium

You know what's worse than being cheated out of your money? Watching it happen in progress.

I went to The Natural Market, which is located in the random strip mall in front of the Fairgrounds, just to check it out. I am convinced that it can't be doing too well in its current location, but surprisingly there were a decent amount of people shopping in this tiny store. I went to the Juice and Deli bar because I LOVE smoothies, and wanted to see what amazingness they could concoct for me. I have high hopes for a place called The Natural Market.

Well I was pissed. I ordered the banana smoothie for $4.50 (16 0z) and it was just some bottle of organic juice from their shelf and some banana. That's it. Seriously. Most smoothie places at least TRY and add stuff to their smoothies to make the customer feel good about their purchase, but not this place. The smoothie itself was OK, I mean it was just juice and bananas.

EDIT: I am excited that this place got mentioned in Baltimore Magazine. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to judge! I would be happy to go back and try one of their salads.

The Natural Market
2149 York Rd.
Timonium, MD 21093
410-560-3133
www.thenaturalmkt.com

Ashland Cafe, Cockeysville Part Deux

I read somewhere that the Ashland Cafe has wonderful Greek menu items, so I put my usual hankering for bison burgers aside and chose the lamb gyro platter. For about $10 it came with a greek salad, fries, pita bread and the usual gyro fixings (tomato, lettuce, onions) and tzatziki sauce. This was a DELICIOUS alternative to my burger. The gyro was perfectly seasoned

Ashland Cafe
10810 York Road
Cockeysville, MD 21030
410-666-3838

Caribou Coffee, Hunt Valley (and elsewhere)

I love going to Caribou Coffee during the wintertime because I feel like I'm in a warm log cabin on a mountain. But not only is the ambiance so inviting, the coffees are great too. My signature mocha latte costs $3.20 for a small. It also smells like hot chocolate rather than mocha. Overall, it's your regular chain coffee store-- but perhaps it will make you feel warm and toasty in the winter months to come.


Caribou Coffee
www.cariboucoffee.com
110 Shawan Rd, Cockeysville
410-229-0112

Weekend Trip: Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

I LOVE Colonial Williamsburg, it makes me so happy being there. I like the magic of it all- pretending to be in another time and place. It’s the same sort of feeling I get when I’m at the World Showcase part of Epcot Center.

Christmas time in Colonial Williamsburg is also very special. All the houses are decorated with natural wreaths- and even have a competition for the best wreath. They have a Grand Illumination on the Sunday of the first full weekend of December. They have fireworks, a parade and caroling. They also place candles in the windows of the buildings. I’ve heard that it’s their most crowded time of the year and all the hotels are usually double the price and/or booked up. The second weekend after the Grand Illumination is still pretty busy, which is when we went. I wouldn’t have wanted it any busier because then it’s less fun. I enjoy going into all the different buildings to see the trades and re-enactments of daily life in Colonial times, and those buildings are small and can get crowded with only a couple of people. Also, at night time on Saturdays they still have a parade and caroling. I LOVED caroling and was bummed that we had to leave before it finished for our dinner reservations.

Which comes to the most important part. The food. I LOVE the food. The Raleigh bakery is usually my first stop when I get to the main street. I love the Queen’s cake which is a lemon pound cake with currants. I also love to walk around with some hot apple cider. Oh there’s something so wonderfully festive about being in Williamsburg during December.

One thing that any visitor should do is visit a tavern within the historical district. There are many yummy restaurants and cafés in Merchant Square, just out of the historical district in between there and William and Mary (which is GORGEOUS and makes me jealous for any student there), especially the Cheese Shop. However, going to the taverns is something special. The more upscale taverns are the Kings Arm Tavern, known for it’s meat dishes and Christiana Campbell’s tavern, known for its seafood. I’ve eaten at the Christiana Campbell tavern twice now and have NEVER been disappointed. The food is delicious, seafood or meat (I got their tenderloin which was excellent). They also serve mini sweet potato muffins as starters—how amazing is that! Please make reservations WELL in advance.

This is a WONDERFUL trip that takes about 3 hours. It’s great for families and for couples. I’m not going to lie, this isn’t a nightlife oriented place- so tire yourself out during the day so that you can get up early and enjoy more in historical Williamsburg as well as close by Jamestown and Yorktowne. Oh yes, and Williamsburg Winery is just around the corner J

Weekend Trip: New York City, New York

New York is so close to Baltimore, but sometimes it seems so much longer than a 3.5hour trip since there is usually always traffic, stops and the occasional wrong turn (not to mention the GPS gets foiled by all the tall buildings- so always bring a map if you’re driving). However, I still like to go every once in a while and so my husband surprised me with a weekend trip to the city for our 6 month anniversary of getting married (he is SUPER!).

I won’t bore you with the details of what we ate (hot dogs are one of them), but I must say, as much lure as there is surrounding New York City during Christmastime—it was INCREDIBLY crowded. All the places that you would want to see such as Rockefeller center and 5th avenue are so heavily packed with people that it quickly becomes sucky. Dan and I instead walked around Union Square, Soho and unfortunately a very crowded Chinatown as well.

However, we saw the 2008 Tony award winning play for best Musical- In the Heights. It was BRILLIANT! We BOTH loved every minute of it. I would totally recommend it. The next day we went to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art since we had never been there either. That was quite a treat, but we found ourselves sort of burnt out from the older pieces of art since we saw so many similar paintings in Europe a couple of months ago.

All in all, New York city is always a great weekend trip from Baltimore. It’s a great place to be tempted by food and love everything you eat. Be weary of places that guidebooks recommend—they are usually always overcrowded. But perhaps that’s just a theme of New York during the Holidays—CROWDS. Next time, we’ll be going in the spring or fall to be sure.

Mari Luna Mexican Grill, Pikesville

Yay! We finally went to Mari Luna!!! I've been really excited about trying this place ever since I got the recommendation from my favorite wine owners- Austin and James from Swirl Wine (see here). I love Mexican food and have been searching for a delicious place near me (no, Dan, Chili's does NOT count!!!!).

First of all, let me quickly point out that they have a new sister restaurant called Mari Luna Latin Grille right down the street from this place, so don't confuse them! The Mexican Grill is where we went!

I ordered the Barbacoa (lamb) taco ($3), a chicken gordita ($3.50), and a side of fried plantains ($3). My plate also came with sour cream, salsa, guacamole and lettuce. Everything was EXCELLENT. I LOVED the barbacoa taco. The way the lamb was cooked was succulent and moist. It was really perfect. The gordita was soooo yummy. It's a handmade corn tortilla stuffed with the meat so there were bits of corn in there too. The plantains were yummy as always, but they hardly got touched because I was so happy with my two entrees. I REALLY wished I had ordered the beef chalupa because it looked excellent. Next time. Definitely next time.

Next up was dessert. Oh sweet amazing desserts!!!! I ordered the Tres Leches Cake(A spanish sponge cake soaked in three types of milk) for $4, which came topped with bananas and whipped cream. HEAVENLY. Soooo heavenly. The cake was really moist and paired perfectly with the bananas. In fact, if there were no bananas, I probably wouldn't have loved it as much! Dan ordered the sopapilla (fried flour tortilla with caramel and powder sugar topping) which was really good, but too plain for my liking. The fried ice cream was good too, but again, not what I wanted. What I REALLY wanted was the Crispy Napolean ($6) which wasn't on the menu! Our waiter told us about it and it was incredible. It's a mix between flan and creme brulee with these crispy bits of sugar in between. OK, my description doesn't explain it well, but come on...let's think about this: Flan AND Creme Brulee. It was SO YUMMY LALALALALALALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to come back here again. A lot. It was really yummy and reasonable!!!

p.s. They don't have a liqour license, so don't plan on getting margaritas like we were!!!!!

Baltimore Coffee & Tea Company, Part DEUX

I popped in here to get some coffee when I was hungry, and I happily remembered that they serve food! I ordered their Eastern Shore Chicken Salad which came on Foccacia bread. The chicken salad had walnuts and cranberries. The chicken salad was really yummy, but I would definitely switch the bread. The focaccia was thick so it was hard to eat, plus it made the sandwich very dry. Not that it wasn't a pleasant sandwich, it was actually really delicious and very satisfying. I usually don't like getting chicken salad with walnuts in it, because sometimes I can't tell whether I am eating a walnut or some gristle. Gross, I know. The sandwich was about $6ish.

I would definitely go there to eat again. But maybe it's because I love that place so much I don't mind staying longer.

Oh! You can purchase all sorts of items from their website-- give it a look!

www.baltcoffee.com
9 W Aylesbury Rd
Timonium, MD 21093
(410) 561-1080

Outback Steakhouse, Everywhere USA

What is it with me and Chains lately? I slightly hate myself for going to so many in such a short period of time. I have a huge list of restaurants in my Google Documents of places I want to go to and I end up.....here. Unfortunately, there is a perfectly good reason to that-- most of the places listed are expensive. Oh well....one day I'll finish my list.

OK. self loathing over....let me continue with the review.

I was still sickly when I went here so I decided to take it easy and chose the French Onion Soup and the Queensland Salad (Fresh chicken breast salad on a bed of mixed greens with Monterey Jack and Cheddar, diced egg, tomatoes and toasted almonds). It basically tasted like the crispy chicken salad from Friendly's that I used to love with all of my heart (until I realized that Friendly's is kind of gross). The French Onion soup was actually rich and flavorful. Probably not the best I've ever had, but from a Chain "Australian" restaurant...I was happy with it. The salad was good- you can't really go wrong with a salad like that, but I do have to say that all the ingredients were fresh. Probably not local though.

My choices in food probably don't reflect what most people come here for, but I still thought I should blog!

Outback Steakhouse
134 Shawan Rd
Hunt Valley MD 21031
(410) 527-1540
www.outback.com