nelumbo

Seoulia seems to have closed and is now a different Korean restaurant, Yolo Chicken.

I was a little surprised not to find a thread for this one - maybe I missed it? Got takeout on the recommendation of a friend and also the sudden appearance in the #1 spot on Tim Carman's list of best BBQ. The restaurant is tucked away on a corner near the railroad tracks in "downtown" Riverdale, on the other side of the tracks from the little shopping center where I think the farmer's market is held. A little difficult to navigate with the purple line construction and changing traffic directions in this neighborhood. We pre-ordered online the day before, as I have been told they tend to sell out quickly for same-day orders. Our order was Wagyu brisket gold label, pulled pork, chicken leg quarter, with sides of caramelized pineapple and cornbread. Apparently the menu changes daily. All of the meats were moist and tender, there were a few small containers of sauce which had a nice spiciness and wasn't overly sweet. I had the pulled pork, which had an excellent smokey flavor. The Wagyu beef came as two larger slices with a thick fat layer on top, and also a small end piece for tasting. The sides were more mixed than the meats. The caramelized pineapple was basically cold chunks of pineapple in a sugary syrup with cinnamon - we ended up doctoring this into a pineapple salsa because no one wanted to eat sweet pineapple cubes. The cornbread was very moist and cakey in texture. The restaurant has limited seating inside and one or two picnic tables outdoors, which were full of people on a chilly spring day. If you are able to plan ahead, this location is well worth the effort.

Takeout dinner for three, ordered dry beef chow fun, peking duck, and crispy eggplant. The eggplant suffered a bit on the drive back home, this was deep fried eggplant slices with a separate (for takeout) sauce. Peking duck came with puffy steamed bao instead of the anticipated thin pancakes - maybe this is a region variation in wrappers? My dining companions felt that the thicker bao masked too much of the duck flavor, but then I know a lot of people like these steamed type buns (I don't care for them in any form). I had the chow fun, which was nicely done and survived takeout pretty well.

I noticed while playing with google maps that there is a Nigerian restaurant listed as being just off of Cherry Ln. It is called "Truly Spicy", has a few google reviews all within the past couple of months, and no other online presence aside from a menu on doordash. The confusing part here is that the address listed seems to be in an apartment building (The Emerson at Cherry Lane), and street view is unhelpful. The menu is interesting, although with the door dash format and my unfamiliarity with some of the items, it is kind of a guessing game. Maybe the "make your own spaghetti" is Jollof Spaghetti? Other choices include Peppered Snail, Eja Kika, and Pomo, and a stew with goat, cow leg, chicken, turkey, egg, Eja Kika, and Pomo. https://www.doordash.com/store/truly-spicy-laurel-978554/en-US These apartment buildings usually have restricted parking and very enthusiastic towing policies, so I am a little leery of trying to park and wander around. Is anyone familiar with that area to know if there is any retail mixed in with the apartment building? It is hard to tell if they even have a retail front or just a delivery service with the complete lack of online presence.

I have not had a chance to get out much lately, but I have heard of two interesting developments: 1. Manila Mart was closed for remodeling last winter, and is now open again with an expanded space. I plan to stop by and take out a halo halo soon. 2. A new Vietnamese place has apparently bravely opened this summer at Contee and Rt 1, near Cold Stone/Sardi's on the corner with Shoppers Food, "Lulu's Gourmet Vietnamese Cuisine" . Their online menu lists banh mi including an "Op La" egg version, plus the usual pho, bun, bubble tea, and an odd waffle section that has a photo of a classic waffle but describes two "Hong Kong bubble waffle" dishes, one with the expected candy toppings, and the other a sort of banh mi waffle. The website is here: https://pholulu.com/our-menu/ I intend to investigate the banh mi situation, as options have been extremely limited since the closure of the banh mi place in Langley Park a few years back. --- Gah Rham (Pool Boy)

Checking in here.... will this be rescheduled for a later date, perhaps?

I'm up for this! 4. nelumbo

I have done some research, and they are not related. The owner of the Laurel Famous KnK previously owned Bano Kabob on Cherry Ln.

I've been to the Kabob N Karahi that is on New Hampshire, any idea if this one is related? The goat karahi was really good at the other one.

Just moved to south Laurel - I'm familiar with most of the Beltsville options, but have only sampled a few places around Laurel before (Pasta Plus, Curry Leaf, Sapphire). Definitely want to check out Amber Spice (used to live near Udupi Palace back in the day) and Thai at Laurel. Can anyone comment on whether any of the pho options are good or if it is better to drive down to Beltsville? I am also intrigued by Famous Kabob and Karahi. Presumably there is not much in the way of Chinese unless you want to drive down to College Park (or further), although I have had dim sum at Mai Dragon in Hanover some years ago and see that they have a Cantonese chef with some specialties on the regular menu as well. Any other suggestions, since this is an old enough thread that some of the recommended places have closed or moved, and new ones have opened?

I believe this has now been replaced with a small taco shop, Taqueria El Costeño, still in the back of the Super Best.

I have heard from some Baltimore folks that Chef Li is retiring and they are not renewing the lease. The last day open will be early next week (Nov 4 or 5).

This is my reckoning of the dishes that we ordered, most of which were helpfully described by ktmoomau above: shaanxi cold stir noodles, thicker noodles in spicy oil and seasonings cold stir enoki, mild flavored heap of enoki chengdu bean jelly, sleeper hit of slippery gelatinous strips in a spicy sauce (with salty bean paste?) tendon and tripe in spicy sauce, I think there is a similar dish to this at Grace Garden called "triple treasure" spicy trotters, succulent and rich with heavy coating of szechuan peppers and spices pita in lamb soup, which is bits of bread sopped in the soup, and which came with a condiment dish of garlic cloves, pepper paste, and cilantro rouga mo beef "burgers", spiced beef bits in the flat sort of english muffin rolls shaanxi mixed vegetables, a large deep bowl of spicy sauce, heavy on the szechuan peppercorns, with various vegetables (mushrooms, fungus, bamboo, etc) shaanxi flavor fish: large chafing dish with whole fish and sauce with soft tofu iron pot lamb: lamb and turnip chunks in an iron bowl with propane burner Xingjiang Chicken, a platter of mildly seasoned chicken and shaanxi-style thin noodles This was more than plenty for a group of 10, although we ordered doubles of some of the smaller dishes. I don't remember anything being super spicy, although a few of the dishes were strong with the szechuan pepper.

What was the name of the dish of chicken with noodles? I think I have everything else written down...

Ok, right now my list is nelumbo +3 ericandblueboy +1 danielk +2 ktmoomau +1 Which is a total of 11. I plan to call and confirm the reservation tomorrow in the early afternoon, please let me know any changes or corrections by then.