Seoul Soondae - Wheaton

For the second time this fall, I got sick. So unfair!! So on a nice, sunny Sunday afternoon, I took a nap, and woke up stuffy and hungry. It seemed appropriate to have hot and spicy soup to open up the sinuses in true Korean fashion. The only Korean restaurants I've been to have been in Annandale and I was in no shape to drive that far, so I searched for one in Silver Spring, and found Seoul Soondae. My parents and sister know that I'm a huge fan of soondae, which is a Korean blood sausage filled with rice noodles and delicious spices. It's hard to find, and I've only had good ones in Texas at places that my parents know. Oh, and in Korea.

I took my bloated and sniffly self to Wheaton, with my beloved Chronicles of Amber book under my arm. at 5:15pm, I was the only one in the restaurant, which was fine with me, I could read in peace. I ordered the soondae soup with a side of soondae. First came the banchan (small side dishes), there were about 8 of them and they were all pretty good, kimchi was a bit on the sweet side though. Then came the soondae side, and I was so impressed that it came with a small portion of liver, lung, and whatever other innards it came with (and I love them, especially liver!). Generally, in the US, they don't serve soondae with the other parts - I'm guessing because it's too high maintenance. It's not the best I've ever had, but that could be due to the fact that my ability to taste was hindered by my inability to breathe through my nose. Then came the soup. MMMMMMMMM. It came in a stone pot, which kept it super hot for a long while, not to mention it just looks cool. The soup came with a generous dollop of chili paste and lots of cooked down leafy greens (mystery to me what it was), soondae and innards, and a nice bowl of steamed rice. Engrossed in the strange land of Amber and its shadows (I know, I'm a nerd), and a pot of fantastically spicy hot soup, I think I sat for almost an hour eating and blowing my nose.

By the time I was finished eating, and I almost ate the whole pot of soup and the side of soondae (I was hungry, did I mention?), the restaurant had filled up with a lot of people eating what I had. And why wouldn't they? It was a lot of yummy food for $13! I was happy and full, and wondered why I had never been here before. The service was quick and very friendly - the server wanted to make sure I knew what I was ordering before she wrote it down on her pad, and was ready to answer any questions I had. I would love to go back again when I'm not sick and my taste buds are alive again. Tasty tasty!!!

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Negril - Silver Spring

For months I've been hearing about a Jamaican restaurant in Silver Spring called Negril, usually really good things about their jerk chicken sandwich and the homemade fruit punch. So one evening, as I was heading home, starving and knowing there nothing edible in the fridge, I headed to Negril. It's hard to miss with its large yellow sign with red letters.

It's definitely a carry out sort of place, even though there are a couple of tables in the room where you order the food at a counter, and a room on the side with many more tables - I don't think they have wait staff service though. So I headed up to the person at the counter and asked for a recommendation as I had never been there. He said that the beef patties or the coco bread would be good as appetizers and if I wanted something more filling, the jerk chicken sandwich, curried chicken, or goat roti are popular. So, being famished, I ordered the beef patty, coco bread, and curried chicken to go (obviously, my eyes were bigger than my stomach). Service was pretty quick, I received my food in about 5 minutes, during which I looked around the place and noticed that the beef patties were being sold in frozen packs, to be microwaved at home. Hmmmm...I don't know how I feel about that.

Once I received the food, I rushed home and took at bite of the beef patty. It wasn't magnificent, but it wasn't awful - the crust was flaky and the beef filling was pasty but had enough seasoning to be not gross or boring. The coco bread was DELISH, it's soft and moist and fluffy and sweet and buttery...mmmmmmmm. I would have it for breakfast with butter and coffee...maybe a dab of good strawberry preserves. Drool. Uh, where was I? Right, moving on to the curried chicken, um...it was disappointing. I grew up with really good chicken curry from India, so I expected lots of spices and heat. Well, spices and heat, I definitely didn't get. Instead I got mediocre chicken with mediocre sauce with a side of very dry rice and beans and a heaping mound of really blah steamed cabbage. Note to self: when getting an entree, always choose the salad over cabbage.

Despite the disappointment, I was willing to give it a second try because I wanted to like it. I really wanted to like it. This time I went for the jerk chicken sandwich - it can't get any more Jamaican than that, right? Then as a last minute impulse, I ordered the fish cakes appetizer also. Oh man, I was even more disappointed than before. The fish cakes - there are 3 huge puffs of them - were so gross, it didn't taste like fish and certainly didn't look like fish, it was like a sticky sponge. I took a bite and then was forced by my brain to throw them out. Even doused in the strange sweet sauce and I tried hot sauce also, it was inedible. EW. As I prepared to bite into the jerk sandwich I said a silent prayer that it would be good. It was ok, but I didn't know what was Jamaican or jerk about it. It tasted like a pulled chicken sandwich with a honey mustard and lettuce. My understanding was that jerk seasoning is hot and spicy and generally the chicken is grilled or smoked...I don't think it met any of those requirements. The best thing about it was the coco bread.

Would I go back to Negril? Probably not. For the mediocre entrees, it's way overpriced - I think I paid $11 for the lame curried chicken. The sandwich though, is a really good deal if you're not really looking for a jerk chicken sandwich at about $4. Oh no, I'm lying. I would go back to get the coco bread but probably not anything else. If you like delicious bread, I suggest you try it for sure! Tasty tasty!

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www.negrileats.com

Angelo's

Angelo's is another beloved Ann Arbor institution. It even has a song (you can hear it on the website)! If you ask someone where to go for breakfast/brunch/lunch, you'll probably hear "Angelo's".

Warning: Angelo's is very popular, but also a little on the small side, and the two together aren't necessarily a great combination. While it makes for a very local, casual atmosphere, it also makes for horrible parking and sometimes a long wait. They have two parking lots, one behind the restaurant and one across the street, but they're both on the small side. There are parking structures and street parking in the area, but that doesn't mean you're going to find a spot on the first go. As Angelo's is located just off the University of Michigan medical campus, the parking structures are reserved for cars with permits (e.g. staff); and as Angelo's is also located near a residential rea which also houses a university research building, the nursing school, and two dental offices, open street parking is often hard to find. Moral of that story being - set aside time to find parking if you're planning on meeting someone there.

On two out three visits that I remember, I've been lucky not to have a wait ahead of me to be seated. Another time there was a bit of a wait. If you're someone who's just in the mood for something quick like breakfast pastries and coffee or soup or a sandwich to go, Angelo's on the Side - a branch of the restaurant next door - is at your service. Here, you can pick up baked goods, coffee, and takeout orders. The actual Angelo's has kind of a homey, diner-y feel to it. There's some great Michigan football art on the wall which I hear is painted by one of the staff. That aside, let's get to the important stuff - the food!

Angelo's is only open for breakfast and lunch, and you can get breakfast all day. BT and I went last Friday and again this Friday, this time joined two friends. Last week, we were insanely hungry, a bit overwhelmed by particular items on the menu, and took much longer than necessary to put in our order. BT had her heart set on breakfast food, I had my heart set on any food. The first thing that caught my eye was an item on the breakfast specials menu, the crab cake benedict. I love crab cakes, and I love eggs benedict. Naturally, this should be double love. We kind of had our orders set... then saw a server bring over a plate to a table next to us that made our jaws drop. A huge mountain of some sort of breakfasty goodness under a mound of fruit and whipped cream. After asking our server, we learned that it was deep fried French toast with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream, and he recommended going with our other options over the deep fried French toast. And then we saw that Friday's special is fish and chips. Oh my goshhh, I think the last time I had really good fish and chips was in Saudi a very very long time ago. After much internal conflict, I went with my initial crab cake benedict and BT had pancakes (I think?) and a bowl of fruit. I didn't get a taste of the pancakes, but my crab cake benedict was awesome. Two big crab cakes served on two pieces of toast topped with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. I was really happy with it, and I don't think it was just because I was hungry. Either the toast or the crab cake was drier than ideal, but the overall effect was more than satisfactory. I would definitely order it again. As for BT's order, my position is that pancakes are always good, and the fruit bowl gives you pretty much every fruit you could ask for at brunch - strawberries, blueberries, bananas, honeydew, and pineapple.

This past Friday gave us a little more variety and a second chance at the items we only got to dream about last week. Melanie started with a cup of hot chocolate (as per usual) and got the eggs benedict, Amanda had a cup of clam chowder, BT got the fish and chips (served with tartar sauce and a side of coleslaw), and I had the deep fried French toast. Eggs benedict are a little hard to share across the table reaching over a napkin holder, so I didn't have a taste of that. The eggs benedict comes with canadian bacon and green pepper (surprise!) on their homemade toast topped with hollandaise. I haven't met an egg I didn't like, and I enjoyed the hollandaise on my benny last week. Combine that with the salty kick of canadian bacon and the crunch of green pepper, and it can't fail. The clam chowder and fish and chips were more accessible to me, so I did get a taste of those. The clam chowder was really quite good, and Amanda was happy with it as well. It was creamy, had just the right amount of garlic, and was zesty, which I enjoyed as soup can sometimes be boring. The only fault is there was no actual clam in the chowder. Clam flavor, but no clam. Deceiving? Maybe they should advertise it as clam flavored chowder? Or maybe they should just throw some clam in it and call it a day. I can forgive them for skimping on the clam because it was good, and I would order it for myself next time. The fish and chips had me salivating before BT's order even came to the table. That's because the man right behind me ordered it as well and the smell wafted over and invited itself right up my nose and into the pleasure center of my brain. After BT had her fill, I snagged the leftovers. This might be a strange comment, but I really liked the tartar sauce. It wasn't too mayonnaise-y (which is gross) and not too pickly (the crunch was actually more reminiscent of straight up cucumber than pickle, so I was confused... was it even pickle?), it was just right. As for the actual fish, it wasn't bad, but I don't feel it was anything to write home about. It was good, not fabulous. It was probably better when it was hot, so it was potentially slightly better than good. Now... the moment you've been waiting for. Deep fried raisin toast with strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. So... sigh... ok. It didn't blow my pants off. First of all, I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the fruit and whipped cream piled on top of the toast last week, not set on the side in tiny cups (tiny cups = poor fruit/w.c. to toast ratio), the mouth-watering sight having stimulated that pleasure-center of my brain (it gets a lot of action, apparently). So I was a little disheartened right off the bat. Wow, disheartened is a little strong, so whatever word means that to a lesser degree. I arranged my fruit across the toast (which came with a very sad shower of powdered sugar. I'm sure I could have asked for more but I don't want to be that annoying customer) and then laid across the whipped cream. The fruit was just fruit. I expected it to be syrupy from being drenched in sugar, like at IHOP. 'Twas not the case. I took my first bite and decided I needed maple syrup. I poured some maple syrup over it, took another taste, decided I needed more maple syrup. The toast was dense, the fruit was not sweet, and I was basically disappointed. Maybe this is what my server last week was disguisedly (yes, that is a real word, look it up) warning me of. I couldn't finish it all - firstly because it was too heavy, and secondly because it didn't live up to my expectations, leaving me full but not satisfied. Maybe it someone else would have thought it was good, but I had my standards set to high and was didn't allow myself to enjoy it, I'm not sure.

I have to be up in 4 hours, so, though I have at least 4 more restaurants to write up, I'll leave you with this for now and call it a night. And by "call it a night", I mean catch up on last week's episodes of Conan and get 1.5 hours of sleep. I apologize for ending on a sour note with that deep fried French toast, and I hate to say anything bad about Angelo's. So let's me end by saying that Angelo's is an Ann Arbor legacy that you must try - just pass on the deep fried French toast :) I'll go back again to bring you more positive reviews like the crab cake benny and clam chowder. Yummers!!

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www.angelosa2.com

Wasem Fruit Farm

Happy October!! Fall is here, and in Michigan that means hot donuts and spiced cider. It also means a very happy Nari :)

Very very happy! This weekend was both unexpectedly and unusually cold. The past week, actually, has been uncharacteristically chilly and rainy. If memory serves me correctly, it's not usually this cold in October. Good news is, temps are expected to go back up for the rest of the month. And thus ends the weather forecast portion of this entry. Despite the cold, it was a gorgeous and sunny day, and every day is a perfect 80 when you're in good company (partly cheesy, part clichely, 100% true).

There are a LOT of cider mills and orchards anywhere in Michigan. The one we went to on Saturday is a called Wasem Fruit Farm in Milan (pronounced MY-len, therefore not the one in Italy... more like the conductive sheath of the axon of a neuron), just 20 minutes from Ann Arbor.

A line of eager customers starts outside the building. The setup is pretty interesting. When you hit the inside of the building, on your left you get to observe the donut-making process - from the batter being poured into the piping machine, the machine piping out the rings into the fryer, certain lucky donuts being cinnamon-sugared. Then you'll hit the display/ordering window. You get to pick from quite an array of donuts: plain, apple, and pumpkin; plain, glazed (vanilla, chocolate, maple), cinnamon sugar. You can order donuts by the [half] dozen. We ordered a dozen between the four of us, each getting three of our choice. I had cinnamon sugar apple, plain apple (why didn't I get plain pumpkin?), and chocolate glazed plain. SO GOOD. ALL OF THEM. So soft. Not too dense. Not too bland, not too sweet. Perfect. And no doubt all the other flavors are just as amazing. I think our turn to order was between batches, so the donuts weren't piping hot... so can you imagine how exponentially more heavenly that would be? I have to move on to something else before I drool all over my keyboard. This is also where you can order cups of cold cider, hot cider, or hot spiced cider. Further to the right you'll find a market area where you can buy [half] gallons of cider and fresh seasonal fruits. I didn't explore the rest of the building, but I imagine they also have butters/jams/jellies? Maybe pies? I'm sure this info is on the website. Or just go to the farm to find out! But for sure right now you can buy various apples and pears by the [half] peck and [half] bushel. This is still food talk... still salivating more than is natural. Change topic. Continuing with setup. Once you've picked up your vittles, work your way in reverse back out to the entrance where you'll pay at the register at a table on the porch.

There are a few picnic tables and benches outside so you can take in the nature around you while you tantalize your tastebuds with the tasty tushy-tender treats and warm your body (and the cockles of your heart) knowing that the trees behind you bear the treasure with which the cider steaming in your cup was made. Longest sentence ever. But hopefully you get the picture.

And if the kiddies are restless after filling up on these sweet goodies (or if you're just a kid at heart), there's a corn maze just a stone's throw away. We didn't do the corn maze that afternoon, but maybe one day... hmm...

After an exhaustive and exhausting Google search (I'm apparently into double-adjectives today), I found that there isn't a good place to find cider and donuts in the DC area. Most are deeper into Maryland or Virginia. I found one relatively close that has been given my approval in Baltimore. So anyone in the area, give Weber's Cider Mill a try.

Having grown up in Saudi Arabia and spent my high school years in Houston, I love fall in Michigan- a season you don't really get to experience in either Saudi or Texas. The spectrum of yellow to red trees, people bundled up in a light North Face and hat, and hot donuts and spiced cider will forever have a place in my heart lovingly labeled Michigan. And now I can look forward to moving on with fall having had my first taste of autumn :) Yummers!!!!

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www.wasemfruitfarm.com
www.talladayfarms.com
www.webersfarm.com

Tastee Diner - Silver Spring

Oh Tastee Diner - it's seen me at my worst, yet always there for me. I visit Tastee Diner after a long night of bartending for some chocolate chip pancakes, or most often, on Sundays after hardcore partying the night before and I need to eat something before I pass out from the vodka fumes being emitted from my mouth.

A couple of months ago, Nari was visiting, and in celebration of her 21st birthday, JC and I got her...hammered. The next day we ended up at Tastee Diner, where we had our breakfast and Nari vomited all over the floor at the table. Thank goodness we were sitting outside - nevertheless, it was embarrassing beyond belief.

Last Sunday, JC and I found ourselves at Tastee Diner again. As usual I ordered coffee and half a grapefruit, followed by pancakes and turkey sausage. JC had the same except she chose waffles instead of pancakes. At the last minute we added on an order of fries. The coffee isn't excellent, but it's not terrible - it's diner coffee. Grapefruit was precut and it was a good size. My favorite was the turkey sausage, they were sausage patties, nicely spiced with good texture. I like the pancakes at Tastee Diner, what's strange is this time, the pancakes had a grainy, cornmealy texture, which I had never gotten before - it was still tasty. JC's waffles was a little tragic, it looked perfectly good, but she put the butter on it and nothing happened - it was cold. She tried to eat it, but couldn't get it down, which was sad because she was hungry. Oh, and we never got our fries. :(

A few days later, I ended up there again for a midnight breakfast with my friend DC. I tried chocolate chip pancakes and turkey sausage. I loved the pancakes, I didn't even use syrup, just a lot of butter. I was expecting the sausage patties, except this time I got the sausage links, which were good, but not as good as the patties. DC had eggs, bacon, and grits - I think he enjoyed his food, couldn't be sure since he didn't finish eating (we had a few drinks before, which could have hindered the hunger sensors). As usual the service was quick and friendly and the server came by several times to make sure we didn't need anything else.

Tastee Diner is usually reliable with quick service at a very reasonable price. If I'm hungry for breakfast or unusually late, you'll find me there. Did I mention they're open 24 hours? Tasty tasty!!

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www.tasteediner.com

Spring Garden

I've been sick for almost a week and a half. What a bore, I say (try saying it with a British accent, Professor McGonagall style). I haven't stepped out of my apartment unless absolutely necessary, and feeding myself was easy enough with foodler.com at my fingertips. One of my favorite places to order from is Spring Garden in the strip mall at 16th St and Spring St in Silver Spring. They're consistently fast at delivery and their food is mostly decent.

I always get soup, and my favorite is sweet and sour - good flavor and lots of vegetables and tofu. The wonton soup is alright, but the broth is a bit bland. My second favorite soup is the egg drop soup - I know, it's so boring, but I love the tissue paper thin sheets of eggs floating about the gently viscous soup. I usually add a bit of soy sauce and just a touch of sesame oil to it and it makes a pretty good soup about 10 times better. Now, I ordered their seafood soup as an experiment one day, and it was blech, gross, ew. It had quite a bit of shrimp, scallops, imitation crab meat, and calamari, as well as water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, carrots, and celery. But the broth was so boring and no matter what kind of condiments I added to it, I couldn't make myself eat the damned thing.

Their lo mein is pretty good - I have tried their beef, chicken, and shrimp lo mein, and I think shrimp is the best. Overall good seasoning, not too oily and the noodles have a good texture. Hunan chicken's pretty good also - lots of veggies and chicken doesn't taste as fake as some other Chinese delivery places. I don't know if you know what I mean, sometimes the chicken seems synthetic in texture and flavor - same goes for beef. I wish the hunan chicken was a bit more spicy, but that can be amended with some red chili oil or sriracha. My favorite thing about their food is that their sauces don't have the thick, goopy texture of sauces that most Chinese delivery places have - one can almost convince oneself to believe that they don't come in a gigantic tub labeled "brown sauce."

They also have sushi on the menu, so I decided to try it. After browsing through a bunch of items that you can find everywhere, my eyes stopped at crazy roll. It was salmon, avocado, and cucumber rolled in nori and rice, tempura battered and fried, then cut into 8 pieces, and sprinkled with chopped scallions and tobiko. It looked pretty good, but it didn't taste so good. Actually, it was pretty nasty. It was squishy and mushy in texture and there was no flavor - the salmon was pretty flavorless, and the rice was too soft. Even after being dunked in way too much soy sauce it was bland. After 2 pieces, I was forced to throw it out. It's called crazy roll for a reason, you have to be crazy to eat it!!

The almond cookies that I got for dessert was quite good. Nice and crispy but not hard, and you can definitely taste the almonds. I love that it's not that sweet - it goes perfectly with a cup of coffee. There are 4 cookies in an order and out of tonight's order, it was my favorite item.

If you're ever looking for food to be delivered, check out foodler.com. And if you're looking for Chinese food in Silver Spring, definitely give Spring Garden a try, but stay away from crazy roll. Seriously. Do try the lo mein and the almond cookies. Tasty tasty!!

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www.foodler.com/MD/Silver-Spring/Chinese/Spring-Garden/1507.html