Gadsby's Bar American - Columbia, Maryland

Gadsby's Chef Robert Gadsby featured in southernliving.com (at Bedford, his former Huston, Texas restaurant) 

Open kitchen 

This weekend, HowChow wrote about his visit to the new Gadsby's Bar American (located in the former Greystone Grill), so my family thought we'd give it a try too. 

We were literally the only people in the restaurant for a late Sunday lunch.  Since it was their first weekend lunch service and the word is still getting out about the new restaurant, we know this will be the last time we don't need a reservation. The restaurant is soon going to be stuffed with hungry customers.

The decor is still all Greystone Grill (including the sign outside), but it was always a cool, modern restaurant. Check out the open kitchen and large stone water fountain. 

What's changed?  The lunch menu is all Gadsby's  - soon to be followed by the dinner menu after the holidays. 

Although there were plenty of places to sit - 2 large dinning rooms - we choose the bar area to watch the Raven's game on a big flat screen TV. 

We each decided to try a different sandwich on the menu, which all came with a side of Idaho fries.

Thomas ordered the Herbed Chicken - grilled chicken, roasted peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, pepper Jack mayo on a sesame seed bun. At Thomas's request the server put the avocado on the side. He didn't think he would like the roasted peppers but they added a sweet touch to the grilled chicken. The lettuce was cold romaine - just the way he likes it crisp and plentiful.

Herbed Chicken

 













I ordered the Smoked Turkey - grilled smoked turkey breast, honey mustard, lettuce and tomatoes. The honey mustard sauce was the bomb - the sweet and savory sauce complimented the smokey flavors in turkey. I only wish the honey mustard sauce was a little thicker.

Smoked Turkey

My dad ordered the Pit Beef - roast beef, horse radish, onions, toasted bun and Idaho fries. He doesn't normally order this type of sandwich, but he was glad he did. He said "the tender and well seasoned meat combined with the horse radish dressing was interesting and delicious."

Pit Beef

Texas Road Side Burger 

My mom couldn't decide between the "V" Burger  (eggplant, mushrooms, dirty rice, kale, tomatoes, and BBQ sauce)  or the Texas Road Side Burger (black angus beef, onion marmalade, honey glazed bacon, lettuce and tomatoes). She choose the latter and wasn't disappointed. She said it is now one of her top 10 favorite burgers. The honey glazed bacon was the deal breaker.

After we finished our meal, we met Chef Robert Gadsby, the former kick-boxer turned world-class & celebrity chef and Food Network's American Iron Chef competitor, who is a very cool dude in his own right. This British-born chef, has traveled the globe and studied cooking under some of the world's top chefs.

We had a really nice conversation about food with him. He told us about an experience he had with singer Stevie Wonder when the celebrity interviewed him to cook for a big party he was hosting after an awards show. During the interview taste tasting,  Stevie was able to correctly identify all the  ingredients in the food the chef prepared - and express how the tastes complimented each other.

He told us the encounter changed the way he cooked. The chef focused his cooking "as if people were eating food with their sense of taste first." This meant adding "depth of flavor" but only subtle hints that would not overpower the main ingredient's natural flavors.

Right after he told us the Stevie Wonder story, Chef Gadsby invited us to come back for a taste testing of some of his new creations.  What a lunch!!! We can't wait to go back. Stay tuned for another Gadsby's Bar American post soon.

Gadsby's Bar American - 8850 Columbia 100 Pkwy, Columbia, MD 21045, 410-715-4739.

 - Charles

 

This is BIG, really BIG!

By far, this has been the most exciting week since we started our blog over two years ago.

On October 31, Howard Magazine printed a four-page story about our 2 Dudes blog. Click here for the story. It includes pictures of us from a photo shoot at Lee Lynn's Restaurant (one of our favorites) and from our time as judges at the Howard County Iron Chef Competition.  Plus, the Howard Magazine reporter Cheryl Clemens was extremely nice and patient with us when she conducted our first big interview at our house.  

To top things off, our story appears in the magazine's Best of Dining 2013 publication which is one of their most popular and well read editions.

When it seemed like the week could not get any better, it did.

2 Dudes blog was nominated for a Mobbie (Maryland's Outstanding Blogs Award) in the Best Food Blog category.

  Guess who nominated us? None other than the veteran HoCo food blogger HowChow.  That's right, HowChow nominated us for a Mobbie award.  Mr. HowChow has been our long time supporter and "Blog"father.  He nominated us even though his own food blog is in the same category as ours.

 This just blew us away.  He definitely gets our vote for  the "Coolest Dude" award  - and we think he'll get (and deserves) a Mobbie award too.

Then our teacher Mrs. Doff, who follows our blog, wrote on our Facebook page that she voted for us.  And my school newspaper teacher Mr. VW, who has his own Rus VanWestervelt blog nominated for a Mobbie, voted for us. 

This has been a really crazy good week.  

We are very grateful for all the support we have gotten from our community, teachers, mentors,  family and readers. 

Voting for the Mobbies started this week and will continue until November 14.  Please consider voting for us, HowChow and our blogger friends such as Village Green/Town Squared, and  The Baltimore Diner. 

Click here to vote.

Check out a list of HoCo blogs here 

- Charles 

Halloween BOOrito - Chipotle restaurants nationwide

Here's an awesome Halloween deal. 

Run don't walk to your nearest Chipotle restaurant on Halloween, from 4 pm to close, for $3 meals - burrito, bowl, salad or tacos.  Yes, only $3.  But there's a catch. You have to be dressed in a costume. 

Here's even better news - ALL the proceeds for the Halloween promotion (up to a $1 million) will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. 

The Foundation funds initiatives that support sustainable agriculture, family farming and culinary education. Chipotle has parented with some cool foundation for these intiatives such as Jamie Oliver, VeggieU, and Farm Aid.  

Here's Thomas and I on our 1st Halloween together. We are definitely stopping by our local Chipotle restaurant but don't worry we're not wearing these costumes. 

- Charles

hocofood@@@

Grilled Cheese and Co. - Catonsville, Maryland.

Who doesn't like a grilled Cheese sandwich, right? That's why we decided to try Grilled Cheese & Co. in Catonsville with our family.











The cool thing about the restaurant is that when you walk in, the menu is prominently painted on the wall.

The restaurant's interior consists of about nine small tables and a counter to place your orders. Although the inside of the restaurant is small, don't let it fool you.  Great things come out of the kitchen.

The ordering counter

Cream of tomato basil soup  

While there were soup and salad options, the majority of our family ordered the Grill Cheese and Co.  namesake that comes in more than 10 varieties including the Crabby Melt (the most popular), Smashed Meatballs, Blue Ox and Sweetest Thing.

However, my grandfather ordered a cup of the home-made cream of tomato basil soup as an appetizer. The soup was presented with a mountain of parmesan cheese and crouton toppings which made an excellent presentation. My grandfather liked the soup, especially the heavy hint of basil.

We ordered a variety of sandwiches, each one was a large portion and grilled to a light brown crisp.  

Veggie Delight 

The Fresco

My grandmother enjoyed the Fresco -  fresh mozzarella, provolone cheese, fire roasted red peppers, basil pesto & finished with balsamic glaze.

Kick'n BBQ Chicken 

White and sweet potato shoestring fries were 
terrific 

I'm a big fan of BBQ, so I tried the Kick'n BBQ
 chicken grilled cheese.  I didn't disappoint. All the
gooey goodness of the pepper jack cheese,
diced onions and sweet BBQ sauce. It was
Kick'n ...good.

Cordon Blue Swiss 

The veggie delight sandwich has havarti cheese with a medley of roasted veggies, olive tapenade finished with a rosemary black pepper aioli grilled up on harvest whole grain bread.

My mom said it was packed with flavor. She loved the way the  roasted veggies infused with the black pepper aioli.

Charles and my grandfather ordered the Cordon Bleu Swiss, smoked ham, swiss cheese & grilled chicken finished with dijon mustard sauce. This too was a clever combination that sent their taste buds on a one-way train to pleasure town. 

Grilled Cheese and Co. has three other locations - Federal Hill, Eldersburg, and Waugh Chapel. The parking lot in the Catonsville location mirrors the size of the restaurant, and it was hard for Charles, a new driver, to maneuver into a parking spot.

We'd definitely go back and try a few more grilled cheese sandwiches, especially their popular Crabby Melt.

- Thomas
hocofood@@@

Ravioli making - Little Italy, Baltimore

We learned how to make homemade ravioli from the experts at St. Leo's Church in Baltimore's Little Italy. Among the many experts was 95 year old Lucy Palmere Pompa who holds the title of "Ravioli Queen of Baltimore" (featured here in a City Paper story). By her own estimates, she's probably made 1 million ravioli in her lifetime.  

Thomas and I with our high school Italian Club friends and the Ravioli experts.  95 year old Lucy Palmere Pompa (far right) holds the title of "Ravioli Queen of Baltimore"  

The ravioli making event is the precursor to the St. Leo's annual ravioli and spaghetti dinner on Sunday, November 3 from noon to 6 pm, a bi-annual fundraiser that supports the church's many community service projects. 

Since the dinner requires almost 12,000 ravioli, volunteers are needed to make the pasta in the days prior to the event (meatball making is the day before the dinner). No experience necessary. The St. Leo ravioli experts are happy to share their knowledge. Charles and I organized a group of students from our high school Italian club to volunteer for this event which was held in the kitchen basement hall of the Sons of Italy lodge #2286.

The very first thing we did was wash our hands.  Then, we paired up with ravioli experts for some lessons then we started on our own ravioli making journey. 

Ms. Lucy carefully made the pasta dough in the
kitchen's oversize mixer. Then, the dough balls are cut in slices and put through the kneading machine where it spits out perfect size ribbons of pasta sheets. 

                         The pasta sheets were spread out on the tables. Then, very carefully, we put a spoonful of a seasoned ricotta cheese mixture. This may seem easy but it's not. Each cheese spoonful must be the same exact size and spaced exactly a few inches apart. Otherwise, when the dough is folded over the cheese, it will be too big or too small - this will lead to the ricotta leaking when its boiled.

Next, we folded one edge of the dough over over the cheese mixture to make what looks like a log with bumps. Then, we used a soft karate chop action to press down the dough around the scoops of filling to form a pocket. This gets all the air out of the ravioli.

Finally, we used a pasta cutter that looks like a funny rounded edged wheel to cut out each ravioli.  This too has to be precise because the goal is to have each ravioli uniform so each batch cooks at exactly the same amount of time. 

After cutting, a fork is used to make the details around the ravioli edges. 

The finished product is placed on a commercial size tray dusted with cornmeal each containing exactly 60 ravioli, six down and ten across. 4,839 ravioli were made the day we volunteered. 

 At the end of the ravioli making, all the volunteers were treated to a delicious spaghetti & meatball lunch courtesy of the event organizers.

 As we were finishing lunch, we were told WBAL TV (Baltimore Channel 11) had arrived to film a story about the ravioli making.  The organizers asked us to be part of the filming and interview.  It was such an honor to be standing next to the ravioli experts such as Mrs. Lucy.

When the TV story airs, we'll add the video here.

Don't forget - the ravioli & spaghetti fundraiser dinner is on Sunday, November 3. If you want more information, call St. Leo's church at 410-675-7275.  Click here to watch a video from WJZ TV Baltimore Channel 13 about last year's dinner.

GRAZIE to all the St. Leo and Sons of Italy ravioli experts who helped us learn the fine art of ravioli making. We really appreciated your patience and knowledge. We look forward to volunteering again. 

- Charles