Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia, MD

I don't know why I haven't written more extensively about Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia, MD, one of my favorite restaurants. Maybe it's because I often go on the spur of the moment, and with its dark interiors it's not easy to get good pictures there.

This is a restaurant that has excellent food and a creative touch, with the small plates and appetizers particularly worthy of note. Located halfway between the Baltimore and DC beltways, this restaurant is local to me but I'd be willing to travel to dine there.

It's a great place to get very good food and drink in a convivial atmosphere.

So Good It's Bad For You
I'll start with the poutine, my guilty pleasure. As near as I can tell their take on this Canadian comfort food is unique and a bit more refined than its progenitor, but all I can say is it's too darn good to be good for me.

Poutine is simply french fries with cheese curds and gravy, but Victoria Gastro Pub has pushed each of the elements upscale: they use duck fat fries, Gruyere cheese, duck confit, duck gravy, and sprinkle some spring onions on top.

(I just made myself hungry.)

I once estimated that this combination probably runs at least 1000 calories, or half my daily intake, since it's really intended for 2-3 people, but I order it every time I go.

Appetizers
The menu varies somewhat, and some of my favorites seem to be either seasonal or temporary. Victoria's strength definitely lies in their appetizers and entree salads, which are flavorful, creative, and often large enough to make a meal in themselves.

I love their Prince Edward Island Mussels, where a beer-based broth is accented with garlic, cilantro, orange peel, and chili de arbol. This combination provides a nice kick to the steamed mussels, and is also great to sop up with the bread.

The pork spare ribs in Mongolian BBQ sauce are also pretty good, if you like a hoisin-style sauce. I've liked most of their other appetizers too, and I thought the cold tomato-based gazpacho soup I had there last week was simply phenomenal.

Entree Salads
I'm such a carnivore that I didn't try their entree salads for a while, but I still remember fondly a salad served with medallions of rare-cooked lamb that was fork tender. I don't care as much for the current incarnation that uses seared tuna, though I might try the duck confit version.

Ultimately, these salads are more like a combined meat entree and large salad, and make for a satisfying repast.

Main Entrees
For some reason the main entrees don't stand out quite as much in my mind. The burgers are excellent, though I've found the steak, fish, chicken, and pasta main dishes to be more good than spectacular. Perhaps it's that they come across as a little more mainstream. Even so I've always enjoyed my meal here.

The Beer Club
I'm a light drinker but I should mention that Victoria Gastro Pub has an extensive if pricey selection of beer and wine, with a beer club that offers rewards for systematically sampling their beers from around the world. I've had some very good beer here but don't drink enough to pursue this.

They claim to have 24 beers on tap and over 100 in the bottle.

The Final Word
Victoria Gastro Pub is one of the places I recommend to out-of-town guests, and they consistently love the food. The menu is varied enough that everyone can find something that suits their palate, though I think it's wasted on kids.

Another thing I like is that they serve food even after 10 pm in the bar, making it a spot I can go for great food late at night. As Victoria Gastro Pub's clientele has built I've found it to be more consistently crowded, but I've yet to make a reservation for groups of 3 or less.

But I usually go off-peak and as Victoria Gastro Pub's popularity grows, reservations are probably a good idea, especially on weekend evenings.

Victoria Gastro Pub
8201 Snowden River Parkway [map]
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 750-1880

Hours:

Lunch: 7 Days a week 11am—5pm

Brunch: Sat. & Sun. 10am—2pm
Dinner: Sun. thru Thu. 5—10pm
Bar Menu 10— 12
Fri. & Sat. 5—11 pm
Bar Menu 11—1 am

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Rasika: Flavors of India in Washington DC

Rasika, a restaurant in Washington DC offering the "flavors of India", has such an exalted reputation that I was surprised to find that it largely met my expectations.

I don't eat Indian food frequently, and most of what I've had in the past consists of curried, stewed meats and vegetables. What I liked about Rasika is that while the main entrees were in this style, they offered many complementary dishes with varying textures and flavors.

The chef is a culinary artist who starts from traditional Indian dishes, but then extends and builds upon that foundation in subtle and creative ways.

The Food
I found it difficult to decide what to order so I opted for the tasting menu, which was a 7-course meal with a bonus surprise from the chef. It wasn't cheap at about $50 but it was well worth it.


The first dish was one of my favorites, the Palak Chaat fried spinach. The spinach was delicately fried to a wispy crunchiness and offset with a spicy, sweet sauce and fresh diced onions.

Then came an unexpected off-menu surprise from the chef, a light crispy wafer made from noodles and topped with a sweet and sour sauce, cilantro, and some kind of chili. I'm not sure of everything that was in this concoction or its name, but it was delicious and gorgeously presented.


For what should have been the second course they brought out the Clams Caldine. The coconut, cilantro, and green chili broth was good, but not that unusual.


The main courses arrived next. The Chicken Makhani (broiled chicken with tomato and fenugreek) and Lamb Pista Korma (stewed with cashew nuts, pistachio, mace, and cardamom) were subtly different than the Indian food I'd had before. The sauce was smooth and slightly heavier in body, more like a bisque.


The artichoke hearts and mushrooms were a little more interesting, having a stronger flavor, as was the naan bread they brought out at this stage, which had just a hint of sourdough character.

But the true star of this part of the meal was the fried okra with mango powder. The okra was cooked to a perfect consistency, slightly firm and crispy without being dry, but the mango powder gave it this incredibly good tangy flavor.


Finally, the meal wrapped up with dessert, Apple Jalebi (beignet) and homemade cardamom ice cream. I loved the ice cream, which had a perfect blend of sweetness and asperity.



The Verdict
Rasika, rather than serving traditional Indian cuisine, is more inspired by it in the sense that I think it takes the ingredients from that region of the world and brings them together into a modern fusion.

The food is innovative and the most spectacular successes for me were the dishes that balanced diverse flavors and textures, such as the fried spinach or the okra with mango powder. This is Indian food with an artistic touch as prepared by Chef Vikram Sunderam.

Getting There
Rasika is in downtown DC near many of the attractions, including the US Capitol and the Smithsonian. The closest metro stop is Archives/Navy Memorial, and valet parking is supposedly available.

Rasika: Flavors of India
633 D Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 637-1222

Hours:

Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30 am - 2:30 pm
Dinner: Mon-Thu 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm; Fri-Sat 5 am - 11 pm
Lounge and Bar: Mon-Thu 11:30am - 11 pm; Fri 11:30 am - Midnight; Sat 5 pm - Midnight


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An Loi Vietnamese Restaurant in Columbia, MD

A few years ago a friend introduced me to An Loi, a restaurant that serves Vietnamese pho and grilled meats in Columbia, MD. Ironically, this was about a month before I stopped working near there, but I try to drop in every few months for lunch or dinner.

The pho is really good, served with a side plate of fresh bean sprouts, lime, peppers, and basil leaves which can be added to the piping hot bowl of noodles and meat in broth. The meat is added in a raw state just before serving and essentially cooks in the bowl. I usually get the flank steak or rib-eye and am sparing with the peppers, as the seeds can be a bit too spicy for me.


What I really like at An Loi is the Vietnamese grill special. For about $7 at lunchtime ($9 for slightly larger portions for dinner) you can choose a combination of any three grilled items served over a bed of rice. They offer about a dozen choices with my favorites being the thinly-sliced grilled beef and pork which are prepared in a salty marinade with a touch of sweetness, or the grilled shrimp. But they also have lemongrass chicken and tofu.


The service is usually very fast even when the place is packed, and you get great food for a reasonable price. It's in a strip mall and the decor is spartan, but the food is accessible to even picky eaters. I like these two dishes so much that I've never gotten around to ordering the other entrees like the Pad Thai. I did try a can of the bubble tea once and didn't like its watery consistency and the gummy bubbles in it, but I chalked it up to a cultural experience.

The bottom line is that the food at An Loi is always tasty and fresh, and I always leave satisfied.

Getting There
An Loi is just off Snowden River Parkway near the intersection with Broken Land Parkway. From MD 32, take the Broken Land exit going north and take a right at the first light onto Snowden River. Turn left at the first light onto Minstrel Way and then turn right into the strip mall past the gas station. An Loi is in the second building toward the back of the parking lot.

An Loi Restaurant
7104 Minstrel Way
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 381-3188

Open M-Th 11 am - 9 pm, Fr-Sa 11 am - 10 pm, Su 11 am - 8 pm


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Marathon Deli in College Park, MD

Update (7/22/10): Marathon Deli typically closes for a couple of weeks each summer so the owners can take a vacation. This year it will be closed 7/23/10 - 8/2/10.

After buying some accessories for my new camera, I wound up at Marathon Deli in College Park, MD next to the University of Maryland campus, one of my favorite spots for gyros.


Then afterwards I took a quick walk around the campus to test out my camera and the sling-style bag I bought to carry it. I was pretty happy with the results all around.

About Marathon Deli
Marathon Deli has been in business for around 25 years, and the original owners were crusty old Greek guys who had a sign under the Gyro Value Meal that said, "Pronounced Yee-Row." A Greek friend introduced me to the place, and though it was my first exposure to gyros it's been my touchstone for this dish ever since.

The gyros at Marathon Deli are a mix of lamb and beef cooked on an auto-doner, a rotating spit from which the seasoned meat is trimmed and then placed into griddled pita bread. What's always made Marathon's version so great is the simple yet tasty combination of onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, tsatsiki sauce, and spices that they top them with.


For some reason, the thin, crisp fries -- hot out of the fryer and sprinkled liberally with Greek seasoning -- also taste better than any I've had elsewhere.

At about $8-$9 for the Gyro Value Meal, it's a typical college eatery -- good, fast, and cheap.

I've also had the Kronoburger there too, where the gyro meat on the pita is topped instead with grilled mushrooms, onions, and melted provolone cheese. But I keep coming back to the gyros every time.

Marathon Deli
4429 Lehigh Road
College Park, MD 20740
(301) 927-6717
Mon-Sat: 10am - 9pm; Closed Sunday

Pictures Around UMD
Here are some of the test shots I took around the University of Maryland campus with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a high-end digital SLR, which I was carrying in a Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW.

In some cases different settings led to dramatic differences in the results, though I have a circular polarizer on order that should make it easier to get good results with outdoor shots.




What a dramatic difference selecting a different autofocus/metering point made in these pictures of the church:




As well as for the sign at the Rossborough Inn:






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Dining in Portland, Oregon

When it comes to dining in Portland, the city seems to have a relatively large number of good places to eat, and I was most interested in finding places with local character.


I tried a couple of local brewpubs, a "haunted" pizzeria, the airport outlet of a place that claims to be a Portland institution, went to a fine-dining Andean restaurant, and finally did a drive-by of a doughnut shop.


Quick summaries of the places I went to:

Peruvian:

• Andina (1314 NW Glisan Street, Portland, OR 97209): This Peruvian establishment in the Pearl District was by far the priciest and most upscale establishment where we ate. But the food was excellent, ranging from the rack of lamb to the elegant canutos de quinoa y maracuya dessert (cannolis with passionfruit mousse, mango-lemongrass sorbet, and caramel). To my surprise, I also really enjoyed the lime-juice "cooked" ceviche (raw seafood).
  

Micro-Breweries:

• BridgePort Brewpub (1313 NW Marshall Street, Portland, OR): Portland has a number of micro-breweries and BridgePort in the Pearl District was the first that we tried. The beer was good (I had their signature India Pale Ale) and the food was decent. It was happy hour and a lot of the dishes were offered for between $4-$6, which was a pretty good deal.

• Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (929 N. Russell St. Portland, OR 97227): Another microbrewery, but with a German Gasthaus theme in a historic building on the east side of the river. I had the pork schnitzels and spaetzle as well as a weisswurst. I loved the spaetzle (small extruded German dumplings) and the schnitzel was tasty but a bit too thick of a cut. The weisswurst was all right but it was grilled instead of boiled as I expected and they also served it with spicy mustard instead of the traditional sweet mustard. The sauerkraut was surprisingly bland. I decided to try their handcrafted root beer which I liked a lot, though I did also sample an interesting (but very spicy) experimental beer.
  

Korean:

• Number 1 Bento (SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): This Korean cart is parked in an open paved lot with about 10 other trailers, which were open for lunch on Saturday. I had some fresh and tasty bulgogi with kimchee and potstickers (though the latter were fried a bit too hard).

Haunted Pizza:

• Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis, Portland, OR 97209): The pizza here is pretty good if you like it with a lot of cheese and I really liked the hazelnut Italian soda I got at the bar, but the real attraction here is the building, which was built as a hotel in 1880. Old Town Pizza occupies the former hotel lobby and supposedly is "haunted" by the ghost of a lady of the evening who was thrown down an elevator shaft there. Tunnels also lie underneath the building, where sailors were Shanghaied to the dock (perhaps after being dropped down a trapdoor elsewhere on the block, now another restaurant called Hobo's).
  

Doughnut Drive-By:

• Voodoo Doughnuts (22 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204): I didn't actually sample the famous doughnuts at this downtown establishment because the line was too long and time was short, but I did get a picture of a Froot Loop doughnut. They're supposedly open 24 hours.
  

At PDX Airport:

• Rose's Restaurant and Bakery (Portland Airport/PDX): I ate at the airport location of this local Portland chain. I had their signature reuben sandwich, a huge triple-decker of corned beef, turkey, cheese, Thousand Island, and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was pretty good but a lot of food.
  

Places I'd Like To Try
A couple of other places were recommended to me but I didn't have time to try them.

• Portland City Grill (111 SW Fifth Avenue, 30th Floor, Portland, OR 97204): This Pearl District place supposedly has good food at a moderate price, but the real attraction here is the view from its 30th Floor location. They supposedly also have a nice happy hour.

• Jake's Famous Crawfish (401 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): Opened in 1892 and now owned by McCormick and Schmick's, Jake's is a downtown institution that some say has the best seafood in Portland.

Related:

• A Quick Trip To Portland, Oregon (6/5/09)
• My First Video: Multnomah Falls, Oregon (6/6/09)
  
• Country Dancing in Portland, OR (6/7/09)
• Dining in Portland, Oregon (6/9/09)
• Waterfalls: Columbia River Gorge, OR

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