Mexican Coca-Cola

I really want to try Coca-Cola from Mexico. I've heard great things about it. The big difference between Mexican Coca-Cola and American Coca-Cola lies in the taste Mexican Coke uses sugar from sugar cane instead of the normal high fructose corn syrup all American soda packs. Supposedly, it has a cleaner, sweeter taste and leaves a better mouth feel. The only problem is where can I find some of this Mexican Coca-Cola in Maryland.

Pho Dat Thanh Cafe: A Tasty Big Bowl

At Pho Dat Thanh Cafe in Columbia, you can get a huge and i mean a HUGE bowl of pho for a good price. Lots of people enjoy going to this restaurant for their Vietnamese dishes. I am one who has a thing for pho and here the pho is very good. There's only one thing I didn't like; Pho Dat Thanh Cafe does not provide slices of hot peppers to add into the bowl of Vietnamese beef noodle dish. When I ate there, I missed the spicy flavor I usually add to my bowl of pho. But even so, I enjoyed the dish; the broth is excellent and the beef is of good quality. And it comes in a huge serving, so you're getting your money's worth.

Pho Dat Thanh Cafe

9400 Snowden River Pkwy

Columbia, MD 21045

410-381-3839

Ikkyu's Tonkatsu and Udon Combo

I did a review earlier on this little shop but I didn't know the name of the shop at the time. So now I'm reviewing a different meal. The name of the shop is Ikkyu, which serves simple, fast Japanese cuisine. Each meal is numbered and has a corresponding picture indicating what the customer would get. There are 22 items on the menu and the cost range from $6 to $10. Each meal is bound to fill you up. I chose #7 which is a combination of a simple udon noodle soup and a small portion of tonkatsu. I say "a small portion" because I compared it with the full portion of the tonkatsu meal which is gigantic, but really one can be full from eating that "small portion". The tonkatsu is a nicely fried port cutlet. Ikkyu uses a thin slice pork and the end result is a moist pork cutlet with a very crispy breading. Along with the tonkatsu is the udon, which is a hot noodle soup in a mildly flavored broth. I like to add kimchi to the udon to spice up the flavors. Anyway, Ikkyu is a good place to go for a quick lunch.

Ikkyu

8801 Baltimore National Pike

Ellicott City, MD 21043

410-203-9919

Chinese Hot Pot

Today my family and I enjoyed a nice hot pot, or some would say Chinese fondue, for lunch. We only do this special meal every once in a while as it is not as efficient and takes a lot of preparation. Items needed to start a hot pot:

• portable butane stove
• butane fuel cans
• a large, wide, round pot
• chopsticks
• steel wire skimmers
  

My family uses a pot with a separator in the middle so we can have one side spicy and the other non-spicy. To get started, boil up some water in the hot pot.

We added a packet of hot pot flavoring to each section of the pot: spicy hot pot and pork based broth. Typical food cooked in the hot pot includes:

• thinly sliced meat
• leafy vegetables
• mushrooms
• wontons
• seafood

Today, we had shrimp, tofu, radish, beef, oysters, squid, a variety of fish balls, and several leafy greens. Each of us put in the item we want to eat into the water in the pot and watch it cook, taking in the flavors from the broth. When it's fully cooked, take it out, let it cool a bit, dip it into soy sauce mixed with a little sha cha sauce, and enjoy. After a while, the broth of the pot would be full of the yummy goodness taste from all the food that was put in there. We paired this broth with some noodles and we had the best homemade noodle soup ever.

Hot pot is a fun family meal. Everyone gathers around the table and has a part to cooking his/her own food. Just be careful with the stove as the fire and boiling water can be harmful if not careful. I have a blast every time my family does it.

Asian Court for Dim Sum

If you're looking for dim sum in the area, look no farther than Asian Court because there isn't many options around. Making the drive to Silver Spring would be a little too much for a light dim sum lunch. The food at Asian Court is decent and specializes in traditional Cantonese flavors. Today I picked out the dim sums that I want from a hot cart that one of the waitress push around the restaurant. I chose phoenix claws, shrimp dumplings, lotus leaf rice, and steamed barbecued pork buns. I like the taste of the phoenix claws with a little hot oil added, which Asian Court kindly supplies. Pork buns are always a special treat and here it is done just right! The shrimp dumplings are okay and the lotus leaf rice is enjoyable. Each dim sum usually come in small portions so eaters can ordered a variety of dishes at one sitting. If you visit here on Sunday, there will be a lot more hot delicious food to choose from and a lot more people, so expect to wait if arriving late. Without much competition, Asian Court is simply the place to go for dim sum in the greater Baltimore area.

Asian Court

9180 Baltimore National Pike

Ellicott City, Maryland 21042

410-461-8388

Umi Sake: Not So Good

Umi Sake wasn't quite the sushi dining experience that I would enjoy. My party was seated right next to the bar and had to endure many loud chats from other guests throughout the meal. There were many open tables in a quieter, isolated room but management wasn't smart enough to fill that room up first for guests coming in for dinner. I think I got a headache before we even ordered.

My dinner party ordered quite a few items from the wide variety of food on the menu. This Asian Fusion restaurant is a bad attempt to accommodate Chinese, Korean, Japanese flavors to satisfy the everyday American. We ordered the appetizers Tuna Pizza (pictured above) and Korean Seafood Pancake (pictured below). The Tuna Pizza is a flour tortilla with a layer of tuna sashimi topped with fried crumbs and finely diced tomatoes. It was surprisingly decent despite its hideous look. The Korean Seafood Pancake is nothing like a Korean seafood pancake. It looks bad and tastes bad.

We ordered four different types of sushi rolls: Rainbow Roll and Dragon Roll (pictured above), and  Tour of Fusion roll and Soft-shell Crab Roll (pictured below). The rolls are pretty good. I especially like the use of the wasabi mayonnaise on the Tour of Fusion roll. The fish used is nice and fresh, which is expected and appreciated at any sushi restaurant.

We also had an order of Shrimp Tempura, a Japanese favorite featuring fried shrimp. I found a strange sweet taste to the fry batter. The shrimp used didn't have a good consistency and I was left disappointed for this dish. At the end of the night, everyone in the dinner party was very thirsty. We figured it had something to do with the large amount of MSG the restaurant put into the food, which is a huge turn-off. Despite the good sushi, I probably won't come back to this restaurant again. 

Umi Sake

9726 York Road

Cockeysville, MD 20130

410-667-6585

Santoni's Marketplace's Battered Codfish Sub

Santoni's Marketplace looks like an old fashioned upscale convenient store, but it offers a wide variety of subs and sandwiches. Located in Reisterstown, many locals in the area go to Santoni's to order delightful sandwiches to go. I went to the nice looking store to get a battered codfish sub today. Understandably, there was a line waiting for sandwich/sub orders. But after about 15 minutes, I received what the warm and toasty sub that I had wished for. The fish was nice and flaky and very well fried. After eating, I figured it would probably taste even better if I had eaten the sub the second I received it to get more crispiness out of the fried fish. The tarter sauce provides a nice blend of flavors and the lettuce and tomato gives the sub a nice mix of texture. The battered codfish sub is an enjoyable lunch and probably one of the better fish sandwiches that I have eaten.

Santoni's Marketplace

4854 Butler Road

Glyndon, Maryland 21071

410-833-6610

Race for the Cure

So I received my Race for the Cure shirt and race bib in the mail today. I'm ready to run my first 5k since high school. On October 18, #28724 is gonna kick some butt on race day in Hunt Valley. I hope I don't have to work that day and miss this event. I was a little disappointed that the shirt wasn't in full pink, but I'll wear it with pride. If you're interested, please donate in support of breast cancer awareness.

Two Youngs' Soon Du Bu

Hanoori Town in Catonsville, right off Rolling Road, is the place to go for Korean food. I have always enjoyed going to Two Youngs inside Hanoori Town for lunch. It has been a while since I've touched Korean food and tasted fresh kimchi (spicy pickled vegetables). Today, I had the pleasure to go to Two Youngs and ordered a #27 soon du bu. Soon du bu is a hot and spicy tofu stew, popular among Korean cuisine eaters. Two Youngs also adds seafood, more specifically shrimp, oysters, and squid, to the stew and tops it off with a handful of diced green onions. It was served to me in a hot cast iron pot with cooked white rice and kimchi on the side. The stew was bubbling from the second the soon du bu hit the pot and lasted for at least five minutes. This keeps the stew nice and hot which goes very well with the spicy flavor. I could care less about the seafood they put inside this dish. The tofu stew itself is all I ever needed. The flavors are bold and strong; I still have the flavors in my mouth hours after eating it and I still want more. This is the perfect dish during the winter time as it would easily warm you up for hours. I think I'm gonna go back tomorrow and get another one.

Two Youngs also have a sushi lunch buffet which seems to be a big hit from the amount of people I saw who chose that option.

Two Youngs

822 N. Rolling Road

Catonsville, Maryland 21228
410-505-5002

Lotte Plaza Food Court's Katsudon

Lotte Plaza in Ellicott City has a small and cozy food court (only four shops) that serves popular Japanese and Korean food. I go to this food court every once in a while and on this lovely afternoon, I ordered a #10 katsudon from the first shop when entering the food court. Katsudon is a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with deep fried pork cutlet, onions, imitation crab, and egg. The dish is garnished with shredded dried seaweed and served with a sweet sauce. The meal comes with pasta salad, miso soup, and slices of yellow pickled radish. It's a decent meal that can be very filling.

This food court serves other Japanese and Korean food as well including sushi, udon, soon du bu, and other spicy Korean stews. It is an excellent place to go if you're in the area and need a quick lunch. 

Lotte Plaza

8801 Baltimore National Pike

Ellicott City, Maryland 21043