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Steak & Main
107 S. Main St, North East, MD 21901 401 287 3512 To kick off the New Year, my friends decided to celebrate the New Year getting together for the old year to bring in the New Year. One of my buddies recommended this place. I heard of this place before but never went there. It's a steakhouse with many varieties of seafood. My kind of place. Yes, it's moderately expensive but between being a chauffeur to my lovely daughter, it was going to be a well-deserved meal. The restaurant is located on Main Street, North East, MD. Never would have though such a nice restaurant located there. The entrance leads to a full bar and seats and it was very crowded for a Saturday night. The atmosphere was mild, not too over the top, but what made this restaurant great was the service. Our staff that served us was very polite, accommodating and very friendly. The menu contained both A La Carte dishes consisting of different types of steaks and seafood and if you wanted to add a side you could. The regular dishes included a carbohydrate and vegetable with the main entree as a protein. I wanted to start with a fresh mozzarella with fresh tomatoes and a balsamic reduction and olive oil. It was so delicious, flavorful and fresh. At the same time, I saw an appetizer featuring Escargot (snails), not the traditional way of enjoying escargot in the shell. It was without the shell and mixed with a Spring array of select veggies with a nice combination of a little crunch, but whatever was added it was a great flavor combination with the escargot. Both of these appetizers were excellent. Then I saw on the menu Grouper. I love grouper. Predominately caught near Florida, the Gulf Strem and all over the Caribbean. I had to order the Grouper. I was a little hesitant since, fish as expensive as it is, some establishments give a very thin slice. Well, I was pleasantly surprised that when my grouper arrived, it was a huge plump piece of grouper. It wasn't over cooked, cooked to perfection and the sauce didn't overwhelm the mild flavor of the grouper. Last but not least, dessert. my wife was excited to see Creme Brulee and I loved cheesecake and they were both wonderful. My cheesecake was very smooth creamy and a nice piece was served. The Creme Brulee was according to my wife perfect. So, I enjoyed this fine meal immensely. On my scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, I give Steak & Min a "100." It's not often do we have the opportunity for great meal served professionally with the freshest ingredients. Yes, Your paying for all that but this establishment didn't skimp on anything, so I will be visiting them again. #steakandmain, #excellentsteakhouse, #noskimpingforanexpensiverestaurant, ##chefwoocanandsteakandmain, #excellentsteakhousemd Chef Woo Can Chefwoocan.com Thai Spice Restaurant
Bel Air, MD (Festival Shopping Center Yesterday my daughter wanted to have lunch together and she wanted to go to this Thai restaurant at Bel Air Festival. Covid has basically converted the restaurant into 1/2. One side was catering to carry out orders and pickup orders and the other half was for in house dining. At around 3 pm, the restaurant was empty for a Friday afternoon. Now, I remember when this restaurant opened up when the entire restaurant was in house dining. The waiter brought us to a booth and the immediate area smelled like amonia and bleach used to clean the bathroom. It was disgusting. If your going to do the bathrooms, that a chore that should be done at closing, not during business hours. The booth seat according to the wife was very uncomfortable and requested we change to another booth location. The waiter provided the menus and utensils and upon my review of the menu, prices were astronomical. There was an item that featured Tilapia fish and vegetables for $ 19 bucks, duck with vegetables for $ 19 bucks, the average price was over $15 bucks. Now, you need to know that I cook Asian at the Harford Community College and Frederick Community College, so I know the unit cost of most ingredients. But my daughter wanted to go here, so we ended up here. I like duck with vegetables and string beans in a Thai sweet sauce. The duck was going to be fried, so I expected a nice portion of duck. My wife had a rice noodle dish with a special sauce and my darling daughter had a Thai Tom Yum Soup bowl with noodles. Cosnider the restaurant was empty, maybe the cook was doing the carry out orders and take out but for the size of the restaurant I had to believe that that there is more than one cooking station in the kitchen. We waited for our food for a good 15 minutes, I was wondering if they were chasing the duck in the kitchen to slaughter for my order! Finally, the dishes came out. You know when you go to a fancy restaurant like La Cirque in Manhattan, fancy French food, they serve a large serving plate with a handful of the entree and that is all you get. Well, we weren't in a freakin fancy restaurant at the festival, and we didn't expect a fancy dish, all we wanted was a dish that was enough to satisfy my stomach in terms of value for the money. My daughter got the bowl of soup noodles, no complaints but I can tell you they probably opened a jar of the soup base sauce, added chicken broth and noodles and some vegetables. Don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that everything in a restaurant is premade when delivered. I know this because I have a jar of the Tom Yum soup base and its like $ 2 dollars. My wife ordered a special noodle dish. Get this, the noodle dish came out and the little noodles given was swimming in the gravy sauce. There was barely any rice noodles. We had to search the dish to find some noodles and when we found it, I felt guilty eating one strand. Rice noodles cost barely anything. and the finale was my duck. I'm not even sure if it was duck that I was ingesting. Imagine a duck breast, take 1/4 of a skinny duck breast slice it thin and dip it in a batter and deep fry it. Then add vegetables and a very sweet sauce over it. The amount of the so call duck didn't even have a duck flavor. It was hidden behind the deep fried batter and the sweet sauce. The amount given was a appetizer amount. I'm sure and convinced I wasn't given duck. 3 people and the final bill was $ 60+ tip. But if you want to enjoy an afternoon with family, its best not to go to Thai Spice. On Chef Woo Can's scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, I give Thai Spice a -1,000,000. It was horrible, terrible, smelly. I don't foresee this place lasting longer than another 6 months. It's very expensive and no value to any of the dishes. There are plenty of reputable food establishments out there, let me know and I'll review them for you at pearlwoo17@gmail.com. PS: Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to pay higher prices but at least give me good value for the amount that I ordered. This establishment must rely on repeat customers, and the way their going the customers are going one way out. If you guys love Thai food, I have the sites where you can buy the ingredients and instructions on how to make it. Let me know, I can help or enroll in my Asian Cooking class "A Taste of Asia" at Harford Community College for January classes. You can enroll now. #MDharfordcountythairestaurantreviewthaispice #chefwoocanrestaurantcritic Aloha Chef Woo can chefwoocan.com Sizzling Bombay Again!
Bel Air, MD Never let it be known that Chef Woo Can never gave an establishment a second chance for redemption. I used to love Sizzling Bombay, Bel Air, MD, they gave good value for the money and the food is just delicious. However, my last visit there I ordered my favorite dish, Lamb Korma. It's chunks, literally chunks of lamb in a cashew creamy sauce but it was served with pieces of lamb, scraps hidden in a thick cashew cream sauce. Let's just say when the dish was served, there was not one piece of lamb that surfaced above the gravy sauce. I swore I wouldn't go back, but a buddy of mind says let's get together and he choose Sizzling Bombay. I said sure and I decided to order another dish. I order curry chicken thinking that I might get a better dish. Well, the curry chicken came out and the sauce was totally diluted, watered down. The waitress had a tough time bringing it to our table without spilling it. Ridiculous! I have never gone to an Idian restaurant where the sauce was watered down or diluted. Well, that was the straw on the camels back. Never again. I think I try Indian Garden at the Festival. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, I give Sizzling Bombay a -100. Get your act together Sizzling Bombay! #indianrestaurantreviewharfordcountymdsizzlingbombay #chefwoocanrestaurantcritic Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/Creationsbywoo I haven't Frequented Many Eating Establishments!
Why? It's not worth it to me. My feeling is I work very hard to earn some income and there are times I'd like o go out to eat but the value I get today, to me is substandard. I don't mind paying a little more for good value but really what's on the menu of fast foods or family style restaurants is food that is treated with all kinds of chemicals, deep fried laden with sweet sauces and lots of French fries and sweet drinks and lots of high calorie desserts. This is our western diet. I rather shop for fresh ingredients that I pick out, use little sauce, steam or stir fry and I avoid jasmine rice. Staying away from rice was like taking heroin away from an attack. Asian cooking always goes with jasmine rice. But I had to do it since I'm a diabetic. I have to watch my blood sugar and that almighty A1C every 3 months. I had to adapt and change my food life style. The Western diet is full of carbohydrates, a buttered bun, pancakes or waffle, pasta, rice, burger buns, hot dog buns, potatoes, is enough to kills us and the sweet desserts, how can we resist, but we have to. The end result is I've lost 24 pounds and maintained it by eating healthy and using common sense. I the beginning its tough, trial and error but when you finally get the program, its easy but I'm tempted all the time, whether its a food commercial or its the fumes coming out of Burger KIng or the pizza, it tough. I'd say going for a good meal will cost alot right now and with inflation, prices are going up and up, so take the low road and learn to eat at home. NOT with the redi delivery service, not with the frozen food ection but from scratch. You'll appreciate the true natural favlors that we somehow drowned out of our lives. Chef Woo Can chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbywoo Sizzling Bombay, Bel Air, MD There comes a time when we just want to dine out and enjoy a good meal. The concern is that this Covid 19, inflation has hammered the restaurant industry. They've had to reduce their menus and eliminate dishes that aren't as popular, and purchase items at the cheapest price or substitute alternatives that are just as good or buy cheaper cuts of meats. The prices has skyrocketed. and of course they pass on these increases to us. So what are we suppose to do. We know the meal is going to be expensive, that's a given but reducing the quantity for the price is darn right obscene. I love Sizzling Bombay, I know there are 2 other Indian restaurants in the area but I enjoy the quality of food. My favorite has always been Lamb Korma. It's made with yogurt and cashews and its so creamy served with chunks of tender lamb along with a serving of Basmatic Rice. I usually order the garlic naan and an oder of samosa. Well, what I received were sraps of lamb with fat on i. Don't get me wrong, a little fat is ok but the days of a chunk of tender lamb was not there. Literally these scraps were covered with the creamy korma sauce. I was a little disturbed but when I got the bill, it just wasn't fare. My view is either give the customer what they want and adjust the pricing but don't offer literally scraps of lamb and charge me full price. I'd rather pay more and have the lamb chunks than for you to save money and offer me scraps and charging the same price. I think you should be concerned for customers to come back or have them tell others of the great value you offer. I know you have the lunch buffet, frankly it's not very interesting, so, yes, it's a bargain to eat all you want but really not much of a selection. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, I give Sizzling Bombay and (-50) and get your act together. You underestimate the customer. They'll pay more for good value. They may not frequent your establishment as often but you'll have a dedicated and loyal customer. Chef Woo Can chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbywoo Anchor Bar, Frederick, MD
A funny thing happened on the way to my cooking class at Frederick Community College earlier this month. I was browsing on my phone about eating establishments in Frederick. MD. Usually after my cooking class I drop by Roy Rogers for some chicken and fixins so I can decompress. You don't realize that talking can be very exhausting. I needed a change and in my review of the Frederick area, low and behold I see Anchor Bar. Now to those that don't know who or what Anchor Bar is, well they are the original Buffalo Wings that originated in Buffalo, NY. I went there so many years ago and they had the best wings you could imagine. Nothing like Buffalo Wild Wings but better. I decided to visit them in Frederick, not sure if they had any relations to the original Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. Seated with lots of overhead flat screen TV's showing the college football games. Had to wait a little for service as it was pretty busy, understandable. My waiter took my order, I decided on 10 wings traditional with medium heat, a basket of onion rings and the day's special was mussels. I ordered the mussels too. Well, the meal came out hot and crispy, the blue cheese dressing was the ready made kind in a container but the winds were medium size, not too big and not too small, the onion rings were crispy and it was a real slice of real onion that was battered and the mussels came with the nice sauce along with 2 slices of garlic bread used for dipping and absorbing all the flavor. I asked the waiter if this is the Anchor Bar the same as the orogoinal from BUffalo and he said yes it is. Not sure why they opened in Frederick but just the same if Im in the area next month I'll be sure to visit them again. No fancy prep of the wings, just simple comfort food that pleases every time. On my scale of 1-to 5 with 5 being excellent, I give Anchor Bar in Frederick, MD a 100+. Perfect food and delicious. The tradition has stayed the same. You gotta try it, you'll be glad you did! Chef Woo Can chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbywoo Promenade Grill, Havre De Grace, MD
Sometimes we visit an establishment and leave with a very good impression. That is the case with the Promenade Grill in Havre De Grace, MD. Where can you find an eating establishment that provide a Promenade area where you can sit with your family and enjoy the bay. My wife suggested this place awhile ago and I order the beer batter fish and chips made with cod fillet. The special included 2 hush puppies, French fries and a dolop of butter and fresh tartar sauce. I mean fresh tartar sauce. Not the ready made kind that you peel off the lid and resembles tartar sauce. The batter on the cod was extra crispy and so golden in color. The fillet was flaky and very fresh and the price with inflation and all is a great value at $15.00+. Since last year the price has stayed steady. I went back a number of times and the establishment has maintained consistently a good product every time. No reduction in size of the cod, no substitute unless you want white fish and always piping hot when I receive it. It's worth the 1/2 drive. It's just a very relaxing place to dine. Fresh air, ocean breeze, quiet but make sure you go there Thursday to Sunday. Before I forget, they don't take Amex. So on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being excellent, I give Promenade Grill a "100", they are that good. They have ice cream, shakes, smoothies to boot. So before the end of the year, visit the Promenade Grill. You'll be glad you did! Chef Woo Can chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbywoo Diabetes "The Silent Killer"
First let me tell you I'm not a Docter or a Dietician, I'm Chef Woo Can and I enjoy cooking healthy Traditional and Asian American dishes. I need to let you know as I get older that this disease called Diabetes is dominating our life and what we're eating is contributing to poor health leading to Diabetes. When we were young our parents didn't really know about eating healthy. Everything we eat today is in some ways a reflection of what we ate when we were young but the difference is when we were young, we were outside, playing, running on the go all day burning calories, burning fat , e for the most part had a fast metabolism and it was ok to eat steak, potatoes, french fries. For me the weekends we had a treat when our dad drove to Wetson's Hamburger joint. That was a treat. A cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake and we were all happy. Now, as more research is done and social media, 24/7 news we find out so much. Didn't know family healthy history was so important, we believed in the food pyramid and we believed the marketing by food manufacturers, now the cost of food is so expensive, retailers under pressure to make more profit with repeat business. So, we now have a sedentary lifestyle, eat 24/7 all hours of the night, high fat, high sugar, more fast food, microwave fast food, prepackaged foods, STOP!!!!!!! Solution: 1.Gradually ween yourself off diet soda and sugar. 2. Family history of Diabetes? Believe and take action 3. Slowly ween yourself off of while pasta, rice and white bread. 4. Substitute with wholewheat but limit quantity. Sour Dough bread combats and stabilize blood sugar. Any breads with "Whole" on label is ok 5. Everyone has a smartphone so use it when shopping. Glysemic Index of 50+ is bad. 6. Exercise, not necessarily at gym, take a brisk walk with your dog, put headphones on and walk for 15 minutes a day. 7. Items with Fiber is much better that items without fiber. 8. Stay away from Orange juice, all sugar. 9. You can have some carbohydrate but try to have it with a protein during hrs of 8-6 pm. That means a hamburger with a small fry. The protein helps stabilize blood sugar. 10. Limit prepackaged food. Made with cheap ingredients and need additional flavor of sweetness and salt and oil. 11. Take cooking classes to eat healthier. 12. Avoid Asian take out. All fried, sugar and salty. 13.Use Monkfruit/ Splenda at your local supermarket. Moee natural than the artificial sugars. 14. Limit eating out or don't eat out for a week, cook at home and then go out and notice how salty the food is. 15 After 8 pm, have a fruit, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, papaya, yogurt, steel oats 16. Have fresh salad, pkg salads ok but made mostly of chopped cauliflower. 17. You can have pizza with cauliflower crust. I like what Aldi offers. 18. Pkg fresh fruit may be treated with salt and sugar, we don't know. 19. Have a Watermelon, lots of nutrients. 20. Looking for a crunch, have pistachio, cashews or walnuts You can cheat once in a while but always check. Avoif potato chips, Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos, but try Aldi chips, black bean toritos. Ice Cream? Coldstone Creamery has a chocolate Almond Milk dessert, not bad, but its the sugar as compared to regular ice cream with all that fatty cream. Start using olive oil, avoid, canola, vegetable, corn oil. Olive oil is more natural and better for you. Implement these changes gradually. Like diet books, it will have a drastic bad effect on your body and maintenance will be tough. The impact on the body is ovrwhelming. Chef Woo Can chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbywoo Red Lobster
Red Lobster has been my go to seafood restaurant for years. Yes, I know the food is mainly frozen and seafood is sourced to the most reputable companies. This organization has maintained changes going on with new generations and life style changes. They maintained good value for your money considering inflation with price increases. Besides that I love the fact that the restaurant is always clean and staff is friendly and professional. That combination of good value food with excellent customer service is the perfect combination. I have never had a bad experience at Red Lobster and that goes a long way with brand reputation and customer loyalty. Last night I went there on a Thursday. Fairly empty but clean. My waiter wass very professional and courteous. I reviewed the menu and it has been streamlined considering the tough times in the marketplace. Place those dishes that are good sellers and make room for new ones. I order the Fried Coconut Shrimp, a Red Lobster tradition. Fried with a golden color, crispy and very fresh, not sitting around. The sauce was delicious and perfect balance of crushed pineapple and sweetness. Excellent. Appetizer had about 6 Coconut Shrimp, perfect and just enough. I ordered a small Caesar Salad. The only complaint was the Rommaine lettuce was somewhat wilted. Disappointing but can understand when its slow for a Thursday. 99% of times, the Caesar salad is fresh, and crisp. I ordered the Lobster Bisque. I tasted the Sherry flavor, not a creamy bisque but no Lobster pieces but I blame it on a slow Thursday night. Main entree was the platter of 1/2 lb of snow crab legs, small Maine Lobster tail, garlic shrimp and fried shrimp all excellent. I got my filled of seafood and very satisfied. If your looking for a seafood restaurant tahts reasonably priced, perfect atmosphere, clean and staffing is polite and professional then Red Lobster is the place for you. On the Chef Woo Can scale of 1-5 with 5 being ecellent, I give Red Lobster a 10. I have and always will go back. Chef Woo Can chefwoocan.com www.etsy.com/shop/creationsbywoo Growing up and the generation lifestyle has changed drastically. I'm a Baby Boomer. We were out and about with my buddies, playing stickball in the streets, playing hoops, fishing, bicycling and out the whole day until dinner. So, we were burning calories all day. Eating McDonalds, french fries, ice cream, soda. Our metabolism was at its highest.
Then we are active in school activities and at the time, the typical breakfast was bacon, sausage, pancakes, eggs, home fries and a glass of milk and orange juice. We're told milk builds strong bones and orange juice is good for you. If it's not broken why change!. While young the breakfast made sense. Baon, although nitrates and nitrites were used, we didn't know the effects of these chemicals. Now, as adults, we followed the same breakfast, why not but the truth is we've slowed down. Not as active, metabolism slows down, but we have kept the caloric content the same, then unfortunately our family history is impacting our health and we need to change our lifestyle. PLus the food manufacturing business has changed. Using more chemical additives to make cheap quality food taste good and maximize profits, shelf life needs to key to keep brands sold for a long time on shelves, therefore more chemicals in the processing. Then use hormones to get better yield of meat, bigger chickens, playing with genetics for bigger yields and large products, use of more salt and sugar to make things taste better. All these changes affected our health, now orange juice is now sugar and dangerous for those that are now diabetics, bacon or processed meats is bad, carbohydrates converted to sugar and bad. Biscuits and pancakes are a concern Steaks, beef, the saturated fat are a concern. Our lifestyles must change and when change is needed, no one is very happy about it but once you do, you'll feel so much better and live longer. Everyone heard of Inflammation and Gut Health All the bad things that we enjoy are actually bad for us, so keep that in mind. There's so much information so you'll need to be careful. My advice, anything with no fiber is bad, processed meats, processed packaged foods, soda, sugar products all bad. Fiber is what moderates our blood sugar and finally after 8 pm, no carbo snacks. A fruit, yogurt (no sugar), instead add monkfruit/ Stevia to fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries are all good for late night. A peach is good and everything in moderation is ok. If having a carbo, add a protein with it. Chef Woo Can |
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