24 replies to this topic

[Heather]

Bob's Noodle 66 needs to be added to the $20 Tuesday list. I attended an eGullet event there Saturday night. There were 12 people and more (very good) food than we could eat, for $16 per person, including tax and tip.

[Escoffier]

Bob's Noodle 66 needs to be added to the list.  I attended and eGullet event there Saturday night.  There were 12 people and more (very good) food than we could eat, for $16 per person, including tax and tip.

Okay, the price sounds right....but where is it? what kind of food do they serve, what did you have, what do you recommend, what are the hours, how's the parking...? etc...

Boy, I sure ask a lot of questions, don't I?

[Heather]

It's in Rockville near the metro, Taiwanese, open for lunch and dinner, parking is ample.

We had spare ribs with black pepper sauce, crispy flouder steak, fried squid with basil, whole rockfish, taiwanese burger, clam and chicken soup, ginger chicken casserole, oyster pancake, loofah with dried shrimp, spicy duck tongue, fried squid balls (these were larger than I expected), and spicy pig ear...and maybe something else that I'm not remembering.

[Barbara]

It's in Rockville near the metro, Taiwanese, open for lunch and dinner, parking is ample.

We had spare ribs with black pepper sauce, crispy flouder steak, fried squid with basil, whole rockfish, taiwanese burger, clam and chicken soup, ginger chicken casserole, oyster pancake, loofah with dried shrimp, spicy duck tongue, fried squid balls (these were larger than I expected), and spicy pig ear...and maybe something else that I'm not remembering.

Craig and I were there, too. I particularly loved the crispy flounder steak, the fried squid, and the chicken and ginger casserole.

One note about this place: We sat at a round table with a lazy susan. With 12 people, we were kind of jammed in together. I would recommend limiting the number at a table like that to 10, just to give everyone enough elbow room.

With four beers between the two of us, our share of the tab came to $52 and that included a tip of about 25%. I would most definitely include this place in the $20 Tuesday line-up.

[zoramargolis]

I ate there with a large group during the summer, and they have an amazing mega dessert. It is a massive volcano of shaved ice filled, covered and surrounded by various fresh, candied and canned fruits and their syrups. Like a snow-cone on steroids. It might not sound too appealing at the moment, but when it's 95 degrees and humid out, it's da bomb.

We also ordered a Taiwanese delicacy--aptly named smelly tofu, which I do not recommend. Bob himself encouraged us to think of it as analogous to a ripe, washed rind cheese. Well, that dish ended up spinning around on the lazy susan as everyone at the table sought to move it away from themselves. Those of us at the table who had cared for babies found the aroma distressingly familiar, one that was not a bit appetizing.

The rest of the food was great, and the price was definitely right. If only Bob's were closer to where I live!

[Heather]

I ate there with a large group during the summer, and they have an amazing mega dessert. It is a massive volcano of shaved ice filled, covered and surrounded by various fresh, candied and canned fruits and their syrups. Like a snow-cone on steroids. It might not sound too appealing at the moment, but when it's 95 degrees and humid out, it's da bomb.

There was talk of ordering that on Sat but we were already too full to appreciate.

I should also mention that Bob was very welcoming and eager to explain dishes and help us order. Very nice guy.

The rest of the food was great, and the price was definitely right. If only Bob's were closer to where I live!

Bob's is about a mile or so from my house, unlike most of the places talked about here.

[silentbob]

Had dinner here several weeks ago with my grandmother, aunt, and sister. My parents made so-so comments about the food here before moving to China, which is why I didn't stop by sooner. Anyway, I would definitely come back again but A&J is still my first choice in Rockville.

The very good:
Oyster in black bean sauce - maybe a bit too salty and not for anyone but great with rice
Seafood combo noodle soup - great flavors, not enough soup
Rice papardelle (hefen) - I'll pretty much enjoy this anywhere

The merely good:
"Taiwanese Hamburger" - not enough fat in the fatty pork, I like dongpo roh better
Drunk chicken - drenched in wine, definitely overkill
Fried pork ribs over rice - meat was perfectly salty, rice was too dry

[Lydia R]

I ate there with a large group during the summer, and they have an amazing mega dessert. It is a massive volcano of shaved ice filled, covered and surrounded by various fresh, candied and canned fruits and their syrups. Like a snow-cone on steroids. It might not sound too appealing at the moment, but when it's 95 degrees and humid out, it's da bomb.

We were served this last night as a special add-on at Bob's 88 Shabu-Shabu blowout (aka $25 Tuesday). Ours had strawberries, red beans, lychee nuts and two cubed jellies (grass and ?lemon). Probably killer in the summer - great last night because the weather is warm for December (74 degrees yesterday),

[Escoffier]

We were served this last night as a special add-on at Bob's 88 Shabu-Shabu blowout (aka $25 Tuesday). Ours had strawberries, red beans, lychee nuts and two cubed jellies (grass and ?lemon). Probably killer in the summer - great last night because the weather is warm for December (74 degrees yesterday),

This is a standard Summer dessert all over Asia. Every country claims it as theirs but there is very litttle variation from Korea to Taiwan.

[deangold]

Quite a nice lunch at Bob's 66 was had by Daniel K, x-cannuck +1, Heather, me, Porcupine, Joe W and the awfully quiet and light eating Hill Valley (your share came to $112.00 by the way! See what happens when you're not there! )

We had lots to eat:

Taiwan Hamburgers - very rich and good pork, picklled greens on a steamed bun
Sliced pork - braised prok belly chunks in a thick soy based sauce. Killer
Fried Duck Tongues with Thai Basil - not quite as good as the ones at Bab's Shabu but still good. If you see a mute duck you know it went to a good cause!
Noodles with sha-cha & beef - quite yummy, rich
Short ribs in black pepper sauce- black pepper as a vegetable, now that's a concept. Very hot and nary a chili to be found in it. I loved this dish!
Crispy fried head on shrimp- quite spciy, grease free with good quality shrimp
Oyster Pancake an omelet with plump oysters
Pork with yellow chives and pressed bean curd - simple and refreshing in light of the richness and spice of the other dishes.

I don't think I missed anything but my mental faculties are moving slower right now than earlier in the day.

All in all, a really good lunch at Bob's 66 proving my one previous lunch there, which did not impress, was due to bad ordering luck. I will be back as there were at least a dozen items that sounded equally wonderful. The steamed fish fillet I saw going by to another table looked really good!

By the way... that $112 was for 7 people, food was left behind (a small item but a true fact) and a more than 20% tip.

[JPW]

It's a good thing that we decided on 11:30 as by noon there was nary a free table. At 12:30, there was a line out the door. I, too, really liked the sliced pork and the noodles. The short ribs were fantastic - strong pepper flavor without blowing out your sinuses. I though that the Taiwanese hamburger needed more filling to fit the bun, but I really liked the pork and pickled green flavor combo. I agree that the concept of the lighter pork with chives was a good ordering idea, but I found that the execution went a little too light, the pork and chive flavors were lost to me.

Dean left out the bean curd spring roll (?) which had a nice sweetish sauce to it (oyster sauce based, I think) which I found to be more successful than the pork and chive entree at balancing out the strong flavors of the other appetizers.

I enjoyed the taste of the duck tongue, but I also discovered that I do not like duck tongue. Oh well, if you never try it then you never know.

[synaesthesia]

I went with folks to Bob's noodle. Here are some pics: http://flickr.com/ph...ags/bobsnoodle/

The place was hopping when we got there at 6:30PM.

Oyster pancakes - described as sweet potato powder pan-fried w/ egg, oyster and vegetable served with Chef's special sauce (I think oyster sauce) - good and juicy, more like an omelet than pajun, which we had originally thought
Deep-fried duck tongues with basil - unlike Dean we preferred these to Bob's Shabu Shabu version, the basil is bigger and stronger, also plated with cabbage and had some scallions
Coh loh (in Mandarin) or pork belly with mustard greens - This was only on their Chinese menu on the board. Pork belly with a nice strong sauce, ginger and mustard greens. My favorite.
Shrimp, chicken, pork noodle soup - thick noodles, flavorful broth, great cabbage
Ginger duck casserole - another special from the Mandarin board, duck with ginger in duck broth, very light and delicate, not very salty (which is the intention according to the waiter), we found it a little bland

Shaved ice with peanut, red bean, lemon jelly and lychee. Standard and a nice way to end the meal.

[deangold]

Deep-fried duck tongues with basil - unlike Dean we preferred these to Bob's Shabu Shabu version, the basil is bigger and stronger, also plated with cabbage and had some scallions

Jamie... good point. At 66 they are plated and accompanied better. But I thought the tongues themse;lves were a little soggy. I would try it again in a large group. Thanks for the tips on the Manadarin specials. I saw the signs but did not ask for a translation. Next time!

[synaesthesia]

My family went to Bob's all together today. We ordered one of the set menus and a few extra dishes. The set menu included pork stir-fried with bamboo shoots, beef and kimchi hotpot with fish balls and noodles, sauteed spinach with garlic and fried salt and pepper shrimp. We also ordered the duck tongues, coh loh and sha-cha noodles with beef.

The bamboo shoots were great - tender and flavorful. Hotpot was a bit too thin for my tastes, I usually prefer the Korean-style kimchi chigae. Spinach was nice and crisp. Shrimp was nicely fried and came with the heads on. The shells were nice and crisp, making them easy to eat in addition to the shrimp. Duck tongues were standard and yummy. Meanwhile the coh loh was less salty and meaty than last time - not so good. Sha cha noodles were chewy and tasty, though I don't usually like sha cha with anything except hotpot.

Also, I discovered that for some reason the Chinese menu has a tapioca/boba option for the shaved ice, something not listed in the English version. Taro was a little undercooked, but the lychees were nice and juicy.

All of that with lots of leftovers from five people + 1 rice-loving baby came to about $16 per person. Maybe worth investigating for a $20 Tuesday if they can accomodate us in the space. Lots more to explore compared to shabu shabu.

*oof... I forgot... beef in the hotpot was a little overcooked and tough... =(

[DanielK]

I went in this afternoon to verify that Bob had indeed sold Shabu Shabu, and had a very nice conversation with the person at the front desk, who was just fine with English. As soon as I asked whether Bob had gotten back from China, and whether he was still involved with Bob's Noodle 66, she turned evasive, and all of a sudden she didn't speak English so well. I did learn that she hadn't seen Bob in a long time.

I think Bob might be gone for good.

[rbh]

Has anyone been recently? Saw the traffic re: 88, but haven't seen anything about 66, and was wondering if there's still a state of uncertainty here. I need to plan a chinese dinner soon, and this would be one of the possibilities, if it's anything like it used to be.

[Rhone1998]

We were randomly driving by today and decided to stop for lunch...first visit for both my wife and me turned into a really nice meal. Highlights included the "Taiwanese Hamburger," a steamed bun-consistency pancake folded in half taco style, filled with a nice sized piece of moist pork, with herbs (mostly cilantro) and some sort of crystallized sugar mixture (it worked, somehow). Very different, and very interesting. Also Taiwanese Dry Noodles, a hearty bowl of thin egg noodles topped with a generous portion of very nicely seasoned ground pork and a soy sauce hard boiled egg (and priced at $3.75!). There are a lot of interesting things on this menu we want to come back to try. What have others' recent experiences been like here? Strange there's so little traffic about it.

For what it's worth, there was a 15 minute wait for a table around 1:00, and we appeared to be practically the only non-Chinese in the room.

[Mainah]

Just a new comment extolling the virtues of this restaurant. This is probably going to be my default restaurant whenever I am in Rockville. I've had the fried oyster and fried calamari appetizers and both were very good. The rice sausage appetizers is bland and doughy for my taste and needed alot of jazzing up. Taiwanese Stir-Fried Noodles also very good. The Sizzling Flounder Steak with Sweet and Sour Sauce had some of the freshest fish I've ever had (please don't someone tell me it's frozen). Really delicious. On other occasions have had some of the dishes and found them very good as well. Got to try the Taiwanese Hamburgers next time.

[Ericandblueboy]

We were in Rockville for some remodeling ideas and I took advantage of the opportunity for some Taiwanese food. Ordered the (i) "chicken roll" aka "fragrant bean curd skin roll," which is actually a fish cake/paste wrapped in tofu skin, (ii) rice sausage, which is sticky rice stuffed in intestine and looks like a sausage, (iii) Taiwanese hamburger, aka, the pork belly bun popularized by Momofuku, (iv) stinky tofu, and (v) beef w/ chives - shredded beef with stir-fried with yellow chives. The pork belly bun was served with sweet peanut powder and sour mustard greens - I could've lived without the condiments but the pork belly and bun were pretty good. The stinky tofu, although not smelly enough for me, was enough to annoy my wife. The urchin couldn't get enough of the shredded beef and she also enjoyed the fish cake. It's been awhile since I last been but the quality is about the same as before. We arrived near noon on a Saturday and were seated immediately. Economy affecting the business? Too much competition? Lots of good Chinese food nearby - Sichuan Pavilion, China Bistro, Mama Wok, A&J, Joe's Noodles...

[goodeats]

I think they've now moved to the old Bob's 88 location. I can't remember who posted about this but when I drove by today, I thought I saw movement inside, with definitely a lot of cars in the lot...can anyone confirm?

[DanielK]

Not new ownership - Bob is back from China!

[goodeats]

Not new ownership - Bob is back from China!

Old header. Not sure if there is another Bob's 66 thread, but this was dormant since Bob left for China, hence old title...

[DanielK]

The report a few weeks ago was that Bob was back, was moving the 66 operation to the old 88 space, and converting the 66 location to a soup dumpling shop.

[deangold]

Bob's is definitely open at the old 88 space with seemingly little change in decor from the dreadful Japanese place that opened in the interim.  The 66 space looked like it was closed for remodeling.  

 

Can't report on the food as it was cash only and we didn't have any cash. I hope that they change and take plastic shortly, as I rarely have cash int he pocket.

[deangold]

Atre at Bob's Noddle 66 in the old Shabu Shabu spot.  Despite different menus and concepts, but the old 66 and the old 88 spaces are called Bob';s Noodle 66.  We will see if htere is new signage on the way for the ld spot. 

 

We started with a trio of cold dishes... bean curd skin with mushroom was spectacular as was beef tendon.  The bamboo shoot was odd and good, but not enough to justify the huge serving.  If there had been a bunch of us, it would have been really good.  A slightly slimy texture and an oddly mushroomy taste.  

 

Then we had the minced meatball in casserole with napa cabbage or Lion's Head which was so stunning at shabu shabu 88.  Unfortunately it was a totally not ready for prime time dish.  Weak broth, hard and dry meatballs, overcooked cabbage and not a lot of noodle.  Too bad.  I will wait for a while to go back.  But the cold dishes are very good.

 

Service barely passable due to language constraints.  We were asked time and time again if we like the cold plates... we were scarfing them down as fast as our chopsticks could stuff them in our greedy mouths.