Explore Eat & Enjoy
Restaurant Critic & Food Blogger
Dim Sum Palace
6600 Baltimore National Pike, Catonsville, MD For whatever reason, eating out has been very disappointing with the prices that are being charged these days. I am so fed up going to a quote on quote nice restaurant, I can expect to pay through the nose. Chinese food is no different but compared to Western style food its a bargain if you go to a traditional Chinese restaurant. Such is the case of Dim Sum Palace located in Catonsville, MD. My family loves Dim Sum and in Maryland, the only places that have a good Dim Sum places from where we live is about an hour away. In my contant quest looking for Dim Sum, this place came up and we decided to try it out. For a Sunday at around 12 pm, the wait time was about 15 minutes. I will mention that the prices for Dim Sum were a little higher than the average price. One look at the establishment was that it was contemporary in design and very clean. They had enough staff to take care of the little things that matter to the customers. Constantly offering napkins, free refill with drinks and hot tea and multiple carts of food strolling by. We ordered our favorite Dim Sum with Har Gow as my favorite and I noticed that they were slightly bigger than the average size Har Gow. Then we order Siu Mei which is a combination of ground pork and shrimp stuffed into a mini wonton wrapper, steamed spareribs with black bean, steamed roast pork bun, stuffed shrimp in pepper, sticky rice, fried stuffed taro, sesame ball with red bean inside and dried tofu wrapped around seasoned pork steamed. To top it off we had Beef Chow Fun but to me it was obvious that when this dish was made it was without stir frying the beef because it had no flavor at all, just precooked and tossed in the stir fry noodles. It was a very pleasurable, filling lunch, time to take a nap but for all that we ordered, it was worth it. What was missing was the small orders of vegetables, roast pork, roast duck, or fried squid but I understand the price for those items are very expensive. On a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being excellent, I give Dim Sum Palace a 100. It was that good, well organized, fresh food that was perfect and service was very professional. You gotta try it. Chef Woo can www.chefwoocan.com YouTube: Chef Woo Can #chefwoocan, #dimsumpalance, #dimsumincatonsvillemd, # Chinesebrunch, #hargow, # siumei, #roastporkbun, #spareibwithblackbean, #beefchowfun Island Spice Grill
2120 Emmorton Park Rd Edgewood, MD 21040 Island Spice Grill is a Jamaican restaurant specializing in all things Jamaican, from the meat patties to their delicious ox tail. The last time I was there was about seven years ago. A lot has changed since I last went. My buddy wanted to try something different and he mentioned this place, now when I was there last I had a very favorable impression of the restaurant. No reservations about service or the food. Well, can I take those statements back? I started with Jerk wings and when they came out it was pretty apparent that the jerk sauce was poured over the wings. The lighting wasn't so good so it looked like the jerk sauce was black. I took a bite of the wings, and the wings may have been deep fried hours ago. The wing meat was stringy and not even crunchy. I could get better wings with jerk sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings, or CR Wings in Bel Air. I ordered the Pineapple Ginger Chicken which was grilled chicken sauteed in pineapple ginger sauce. The sauce was tasty but the chicken was probably deep fried earlier in the day because the chicken breast was also stringy and tough. Now, I know during the weekends alot of restaurants have to prep for a busy weekend, but if your going to prep your food, you need to understand the mechanics of the ingredients your prepping. Chicken breast is naturally tough when cooked and if your frying it with a batter it will dry even more and be tougher so you need to marinate chicken breast correctly which they didn't do. As for the wings, that should be made fresh per order. Wings cannot be deep fried and set aside in the warmer try. I invite them to go to CR Wings of Bel Air to try their wings versus theirs. Plantains that came with the chicken should have been diagonally sliced. At least that's the way it's served at other Caribbean restaurants and the cabbage came with the order thinly shredded. It was noticeable that the cabbage was shredded by machine which is mostly hand sliced for authenticity and more flavorful. I know the Island Spice Grill opened a restaurant by the Avenue in White Marsh and I think they opened another one some place else but it seems to me their focus is controlling expenses and allowing it to interfere with the quality of their product. One of their signature dishes is Oxtail, now I had their oxtail a long time ago and it ranks up there as one of the best tasting but for $ 29.00, you gotta be kidding? I was shopping at Lotte Supermarket in Catonsville, MD and saw a package of 1 lb oxtail for $ 12.00. If they cut each piece of oxtail in half, that entire package would probably be 1 1/2 orders. Go figure, you can blame inflation for higher prices but $ 29.00 is a little high. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being excellent I give Island Spice Grill a negative 100. It's very disappointing. Sometimes when you successful as one restaurant, maybe expansion may ruin the reputation but cutting back. Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com YouTube: Chef Woo Can #jamaicanfood, #islandspicegrill, #oxtail, # Caribbeanfoodinharfordmd, #caribbeanfoodinmd, Mi Sabor Peruana
525 Pulaski Highway Joppatown, MC 21085 I formed a guys supper club where once a month on the first Friday of the month, my friends and I choose a restaurant that seems interesting. Some of our choices were disappointing but there were a few that offered good value and fantastic taste. Mi Sabor Peruana is a Peruvian restaurant located in Joppatown. The mere mention that their food is Peruvian got my interest. The usual time we get together is around 530 pm and its right near Pulaski Highway. On Friday night it seemed kind of empty but maybe there is a lot of take out but the only way to find out was to go in. There is a bar and was told that they are awaiting their liquor license, the waitress was very friendly and provided the menus. The menu was interesting as there were so many Peruvian dishes, we had no idea where to start. We asked the waitress for assistance and she directed us to order a couple of dishes as appetizers. She asked if we were interested in drinks and she mentioned a cola by the name of Inca Kola that had a slight banana flavor, very sweet but quenched my thirst. She mentioned another beverage called Chicha Morada which was made from purple corn, to me it tasted like a spiced grape juice. Both beverages were very tasty. If your interested in challenging your palate, this is the place to try. We started with Jalea Mixtra which is breaded seafood served with fried Yucca and Peruvian corn. It was excellent. Papa Rellena: Boiled potatoes filled with steak, then Chicharron De Puerco: fried chicken and fried pork served with yucca and a special sauce. The final dish was a well season chicken with a skewer of shrimp and 3 slices of the most seasoned beef, it was tasty and delicious. The overall experience was great. Being exposed to foods we would never ever encounter was quite an experience. The only drawback is how the dishes are presented on the menu. The category of appetizers wasn't shown and you had to skip over the menu a couple of times for the categories. If you don't mind jumping around then go for it. I never had Peruvian food but I'll definitely go back again. The total bill each for 5 guys was $ 28/per person. We were full, food was great, taste delicious and very fresh. They could use a little advertising and once they get their liquor license I'm sure customer traffic will increase. This is a little gem in Joppatown. On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being excellent, I give Mi Sabor Peruana at 100. It was that good. Chef Woo Can www.chefwoocan.com YouTube: Chef Woo Can #peruvianfoodinmaryland, peruvianfoodinharfordcountymd, #latinfood, #authenticperuvianfood, #chefwoocanperuvianfood, # |
Archives
December 2024
Categories |