A very Clarksville Commons lunch
More food, because the dam of "no restaurants for a year and a half" has broken, and I'm making up for lost time.
In Clarksville's Common Kitchen one of the most delightful inhabitans is a tireless enterpreneur who has opened my favorite poke joint, Blowfish Poke, first there and now in a pair of standalone locations that also serve Hawaiian . I have been promising myself to hit up the Commons and eat other things, but the siren call of poke has won since the moment it's been available. Until today, when that same enterpreneur opened her newest venture, an annex that serves mochi donuts.
(I did have fantastic ice cream and delightful grilled cheese there in the Before times; the Indian street food was a bit too spicy for me, and neither the empanadas nor the Egyptian koshary ever won the contest.)
Anyway, having sampled mochi donuts in Over Rice in Ellicott City, I had to try them here too. And, true to my resolve, I finally sampled Slurpin Ramen (which I think might be that same enterpreneur's side venture) and the Anh-Mazing Bahn Mi.
At the ramen shop we were seduced by the chicken karagge donbury bowl rather than the noodles, and it was fine - the chicken crispy and delicious, the egg and the pickled radish supplementing it nicely, but it did not quite come together as a cohesive dish for me. Bahn Mi, on the other hand, might have been the best I've ever sampled, even tastier than my ideal memory of the dish I've been trying to recapture since I've first sampled it somewhere in Montreal.
The donuts may well have benefitted from being eaten at lunchtime rather than after dinner like we'd done with Over Rice's entries; I thought they balanced better.
We also lucked into a little farmers' market in the commons, which included a winery and a pair of distilleries sampling their wares.
I was a bit disappointed by Ellicott City Distillery - a few of their things were fine, but none I'd rush out to stock up on. Urban Winery was likewise ok - they had a delightfully floral rose, but a $25 rose is more than I'm likely to splurge on.
On the other hand, Twin Valley Distillery of Rockville was an old favorite we were delightful to re-encounter. We'd had a fantastic time sampling their wares BeforeTimes, and they were equally exciting now. I scored a peanut butter rye whiskey and Spouse got a cold-brew coffee liqueur.
On a semi-related note last week I revisited Ellicott City's Umi Sushi for a weeknight dinner. Getting there at 5 we had a choice of tables, but were herded into the enclosed outdoor section, outside heaters not being run. I found it a bit cramped and loud and not comfortable enough for CovidTimes. But my chirashi bowl was the most artistic example of one I've ever encountered, a large container of chipped ice adorned with enormous abalone shells and a frosted jar with a blue LED in it. I am looking forward to revisiting it again, but I think not until spring. Originally posted at https://leiacat.dreamwidth.org/353741.html. Please comment either there using OpenID or right here. I read both with the same distracted semi-frequency.
In Clarksville's Common Kitchen one of the most delightful inhabitans is a tireless enterpreneur who has opened my favorite poke joint, Blowfish Poke, first there and now in a pair of standalone locations that also serve Hawaiian . I have been promising myself to hit up the Commons and eat other things, but the siren call of poke has won since the moment it's been available. Until today, when that same enterpreneur opened her newest venture, an annex that serves mochi donuts.
(I did have fantastic ice cream and delightful grilled cheese there in the Before times; the Indian street food was a bit too spicy for me, and neither the empanadas nor the Egyptian koshary ever won the contest.)
Anyway, having sampled mochi donuts in Over Rice in Ellicott City, I had to try them here too. And, true to my resolve, I finally sampled Slurpin Ramen (which I think might be that same enterpreneur's side venture) and the Anh-Mazing Bahn Mi.
At the ramen shop we were seduced by the chicken karagge donbury bowl rather than the noodles, and it was fine - the chicken crispy and delicious, the egg and the pickled radish supplementing it nicely, but it did not quite come together as a cohesive dish for me. Bahn Mi, on the other hand, might have been the best I've ever sampled, even tastier than my ideal memory of the dish I've been trying to recapture since I've first sampled it somewhere in Montreal.
The donuts may well have benefitted from being eaten at lunchtime rather than after dinner like we'd done with Over Rice's entries; I thought they balanced better.
We also lucked into a little farmers' market in the commons, which included a winery and a pair of distilleries sampling their wares.
I was a bit disappointed by Ellicott City Distillery - a few of their things were fine, but none I'd rush out to stock up on. Urban Winery was likewise ok - they had a delightfully floral rose, but a $25 rose is more than I'm likely to splurge on.
On the other hand, Twin Valley Distillery of Rockville was an old favorite we were delightful to re-encounter. We'd had a fantastic time sampling their wares BeforeTimes, and they were equally exciting now. I scored a peanut butter rye whiskey and Spouse got a cold-brew coffee liqueur.
On a semi-related note last week I revisited Ellicott City's Umi Sushi for a weeknight dinner. Getting there at 5 we had a choice of tables, but were herded into the enclosed outdoor section, outside heaters not being run. I found it a bit cramped and loud and not comfortable enough for CovidTimes. But my chirashi bowl was the most artistic example of one I've ever encountered, a large container of chipped ice adorned with enormous abalone shells and a frosted jar with a blue LED in it. I am looking forward to revisiting it again, but I think not until spring. Originally posted at https://leiacat.dreamwidth.org/353741.html. Please comment either there using OpenID or right here. I read both with the same distracted semi-frequency.