Bistro Blanc - Glenelg

 Bistro Blanc is a restaurant and wine bar located in the Glenelg area of Howard County. The restaurant specializes in Modern American cuisine served "tapas" style. 

All of their dishes are rooted in local and seasonal farm fresh ingredients. 

It has a very cozy atmosphere with dim lights and comfortable chairs

Although our parents been several times to Bistro Blanc, this was our first visit. So, we went on a Wednesday night  - half priced burger night (beef or lamb).  

honey bay leaf butter, fig mustard dip, and
olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip

Artisanal Bread basket 

 We started by ordering the bread plate - a basket of warm homemade artisanal breads accompanied by three dips. 

 My brother and I both ordered the T. L.V. Farm’s Beef Burger with homemade rosemary parmigiano garlic frites. These garlic fries just blew me away. They were crisp, soft, delectable and had just the right amount of garlic.

 The beef, from Glenelg's Triadelphia Lake View Farm, was tender, flavorful
juicy meat cooked just right. The burger was topped with caramelized onions, melted gruyère cheese encased in a homemade brioche bun with a smear of peppercorn aioli sauce.

Bistro Blanc definitely lived up to its reputation about using local, farm fresh ingredients.  Everything we tasted was pure delicious - felt homemade for sure

- Charles

hocofood @@@ 

Celebrating our birthdays

Charles's homemade strawberry shortcake birthday cake

Charles and I are now 14 and 16 years old. We celebrated our birthdays in two different, but fun food-filled ways.

Charles recently had a sleepover birthday party this month. He invited his friends out to Tokyo Seafood Buffet for dinner. Afterwords, Charles and his friends ate strawberry shortcake at our house courtesy of my Grandma, who always makes great cakes for our birthdays. My brother said that Grandma's home-made cake was fantastic, and the best part was that the 3-layer cake was huge! Even in the morning, his friends were still trying to finish off the gargantuan cake.

Grandma's Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Coincidentally, my 14th birthday fell upon the same date as my Cousin Olivia's First Holy Communion. So I decided to celebrate my birthday by going up North to see her First Holy Communion with my family.












After the Communion ceremony, my Cousin's parents held a reception back at their house. I had a blast visiting my New York family and eating great tasting food! Who could ask for anything more?

 Cousin Olivia at her 1st Holy Communion 

 When they brought out the desserts, I thought it was more food to celebrate Olivia's big day. However, to my surprise, they had a whole cassata cake to commemorate my birthday. They all sang me happy birthday too.

A cassata cake is a traditional Sicilian sweet, found in most Italian bakeries, and used in many Italian family celebrations. Cassata cakes have cannoli cream filling and are frosted with a sweet cream and decorated with sliced almonds. 

-Thomas

hoco @@@

The Food Trucks r coming .....

We just received an email from the Monarch Mills community about a Food Truck Meetup in Columbia this weekend, Saturday, June 1st from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Monarch Mills Community Apartment Complex  7600 Monarch Mills Way (off of Columbia Road). 

Five food trucks will be participating in the HoCo Chow Down - Smokey Meadows Grill, La Pearl Waffles, Savannah’s Jamaican Kitchen, Karlita’s Latin American Food Truck, and Bennett’s Five Star Caribbean Grill.

The trucks are part of a Monarch Mills community Spring celebration that will support the Animal Welfare Soceity of Howard County.  In fact, the organization will be at the event sharing information about its mission and vet services -  and they will bring animals who are looking for homes.  

Monarch Mills representatives will also offer tours during the event to people interested in the new apartments in the community. 

We are definitely checking out the food trucks. If you see us there, say hello and let us know what you think of the food. 

Visit the HoCo Chow Down website here. 

- Charles 
Hoco food @@@ 

Red, Hot and Blue Memphis BBQ - Laurel

Red Hot & Blue is a Memphis style BBQ joint in Laurel, Maryland.



My grandfather loves this place and says it has consistently good food.

For starters we ordered the house nachos - a choice of chili, pulled chicken or pulled pork topped with a crazy amount of jack & cheddar cheeses, green onions, tomatoes and jalapeños. There wasn't a single spot that was not covered in cheese, plus the flour tortilla chips were sturdy and held up nice & crispy under the weigh of the cheese. 

While my grandparents, brother Charles and mom looked over the menu, the restaurant played some pretty cool jazz over the speaker system.

We choose to put three of the toppings on the side instead of adding them to the
nachos cheesy mix. That way each of us could take a little or a lot on each bite. 

The weekday lunch special was the best buy at $6.99 that includes a variety of lunch size sandwiches, salad and soup entrees. However, since Charles and I both wanted to try the pulled pork sandwich and ribs, we ordered the Ribwich Combo  - a choice of any BBQ sandwich (beef, chicken or pork) and two St. Louis -style served wet, sweet, or dry. 

We choose the BBQ pulled pork sandwich and wet ribs with a side of hush puppies. The wet ribs, slathered mile-high in their mojo mild sauce, were fall off the bone delicious. Although the pulled pork was tender and juicy, we added extra sauce from the containers on the table - MoJo Mild just to kick it up a notch. They also had Hard Luck Vinegar flavored sauced, but we didn't try it.

 I'm a pickle guy, so I espcially loved their dill pickle spear.  It's a huge pickle ad I wouldn't have minded two more.

Next time, we'd probably order the french fries as a side instead of hush puppies. They were a bit dry and okay tasting.  

Sauces

My grandma got french fries with her pulled
pork sandwich lunch special.  We all tried some - they were seasoned with something that tasted good. Not spicy just tasty.

My mom ordered the Smokehouse Salad - a chopped mixed greens, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, roasted corn, beets, black-eyed peas, hard-boiled eggs, red onion and cheddar & jack cheeses for $9.99. It comes with pulled chicken and beef brisket but she was able to substitute grilled chicken. 

She LOVED this salad.  The chicken was tender, moist and had a charcoal fired favor. It tasted great with the honey mustard sauce. It was so large that she couldn't finish it but I made sure nothing went to waste. 

Here's great news - Red, Hot and Blue caters.  We noticed their trucks in the parking lot behind the restaurant.

Also, you can get this amazing BBQ when traveling around the country.  The restaurant has locations in Texas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey, and of course in Maryland.

- Thomas

BGR offers $5 all day burgers tomorrow 5/6/13

Happy 5th Birthday

to the Columbia, Maryland store 

Tomorrow, May 6, 2013 several Burger Joint (BGR) stores are turning 5 years old.

To celebrate the momentous occasion, all metro DC locations including the Columbia store are offering customers $5 all day burgers (including beef, turkey and veggie) .

We LOVE BGR!  

Not only do they have awesome big, juicy tasty burgers...

 - an award winning blend of prime, dry-aged, all natural, hormone free, grain-fed beef, in addition to lamb, pork, and veggies variations - 

but each burger is cooked to order and served on a fresh, buttery-toasted brioche bun 

that is baked daily. 

Simply put -  it's a custom made burger. Read our BGR blog post here.

Don't forget - BGR has a burger and shake of the month.  For May 2013, the flavors are - 

In Guac We Rock 

(a nod to Cinco de Mayo) 

a burger topped with guacamole, crispy tortilla slivers and a farm fresh beefsteak tomato

Blueberry Shake 

farm fresh blueberries paired with vanilla ice cream

We tried the March burger and shake of the month: The Reuben and The Bailey's Irish Cream  - both were amazing combinations that didn't disappoint.  The shake was creamy, thick and full of malted milk like flavor.  We substituted a slice of ham for the corned beef in the Reuben burger and enjoyed it all the same.  

 

- Charles

hocofood @@@

Cuba de Ayer - Burtonsville

Looking for authentic Cuban food? Try Cuba de Ayer Restaurant in Burtonsville.

Both my grandfather and my Godfather have eaten here and thought it was worth a return trip. The latter is of Cuban descent and grew up in Miami.  So, he knows good Cuban food.

Cuba de Ayer is located in a busy strip shopping center that can be a little tricky to find on a street crowded with business and signs.  Here's a google map to help you find it. 

The restaurant's decor made me feel like I was dining in Cuba.  As soon as I opened the door, I was met by fast beat Cuban music. It was nice background music but not too loud to interfere with our conversation. In addition, Cuban pictures and art decorated the walls.

 For appetizers, my grandfather ordered two dishes for us to share.  The Sandwich Cubano and the Croquetas de Jamon
(left). The croquetas were crispy on the outside and field with a tasty ham and mashed potato mixture. Melt in your mouth delicious.  I knew I would love the Sandwich Cubano because it has some of my favorite foods combined- roast pork, baked ham, swiss cheese, mustard and thin sliced pickle all on a hot pressed baguette. I was not disappointed. Yum! 

Sandwich Cubano 

Many of the entrees come with plantains (banana like fruit) and black beans.  We had the choice of  either sweet plananos maduros (sweet plantains) or tostones (fried green plantains) and black beans on the side in a separate bowl or mixed in with the rice. We choose sweet plantains and a bowl of black beans on the side.

My mom's entree was masitas de puerco fritas (fried morsels of pork). This is one of her favorite dishes to order at Cuban restaurants, so she's had it many times. She thought the seasoned pork was moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. I tasted it too and agree. 

I ordered the arroz con pollo (yellow rice, sweet plantains, dark meat chicken served on the bone). This dish also comes in a white meat version. The chicken was crazy moist, fall off the bone tender - just how I like it. The seasoned yellow rice was also tender with a mild spicy taste to complement the chicken. The sweet plantains were soft and a bit sweet. I would have liked the plantains a little sweeter. 

My grandfather selected the Picadillo (Cuban style seasoned ground beef cooked with green olives, raisins, potatoes, and non-spicy spices).

This is one of my Grandfather's favorite Cuban dishes. His best friend growing up in New York was a Cuban boy who's mom was a fantastic cook. So, he's been eating variations of this dish for about 40 years. He thought this Picadillo was very tasty but needed a touch more seasoning. He agreed with me that the plantains could have been a bit sweeter. 

We were so full we didn't order dessert, but the menus had some items I'd like to try the next time we return  including flan and tres leches.

Note - We ate here for lunch on a Saturday.  The menu gives both lunch and dinner prices.  Our waiter didn't tell us that the lunch prices are only for the weekday.  So, it was a big surprise to find out when we got our bill. Ask your waiter before you order which prices apply. 

Cuba de Ayer is located at 15446 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville, Maryland 20866,  (301) 476-9622.

- Thomas 

Thomas makes news!

My brother Thomas in the news! 

Thomas's teachers Ms. Lavender and Madame Lanz are two of the coolest teachers at Thomas's middle school.  

When they found out Thomas and I were food bloggers, they thought it would be of interest to My-Say.org,  the Maryland on-line newspaper for middle school students.  

The newspaper liked the idea and asked Thomas to write about our blog.  Click here to read the story. 

Way to go Thomas! 

- Charles

hocofood @@@