I’m a big fan of county fairs. I also like state fairs, but the county fairs are more intimate, more manageable. Last year I reported on the stuffed ham at the Calvert County Fair. Read that link if you’re unfamiliar with stuffed ham, a St. Mary’s County specialty. I’ll have to miss the Calvert Fair this year, alas, so I was eager to get to … Continue reading Fair Fare: What I Ate at the St. Mary’s County Fair, Leonardtown, Maryland

I reported on our initial visit to Barrel 9, which was during their soft opening, and my post will give you the details of the concept. Briefly, in addition to glasses and indeed, bottles of wine (with a modest corkage fee), you can have small tastes (1, 2.5, or 5 ounces) of very fine wines, the sort that you never see by the glass, and … Continue reading Back to Barrel 9, Lusby, Calvert County, Maryland

Here they are, as promised, the Top 10 Cheesesteaks in the Philly Region. Not according to me, but according to Barry Zuckerman of the excellent BZ Maestro Eats blog. Unlike me, Barry has eaten cheesesteaks all his life, and he’s analyzed the cheesesteak exhaustively. To compile the list, he personally ate at the leading 50 or so cheesesteak places during the course of a single … Continue reading The 10 Best Cheesesteaks in the Philly Region

Nancy and some of her buddies had breakfast at The Junction while I was off in the Far East working. Well, I was in the far eastern portion of North Carolina trying some new barbecue places. (Put Sid’s Catering on your bucket list.) Nancy was very high on The Junction, so on a recent night when Nancy was hosting her book group, I decided to … Continue reading The Junction Bistro, Bakery, and Bar in Chevy Chase/Friendship Heights, Maryland

Nancy likes soft-serve ice cream. I’m not particularly fond of it, but I have no objection to stopping for Nancy to get a cone. And there are times when I prick up my ears and start salivating. That’s when she wants to stop at Dairy Queen. The attraction at Dairy Queen is the Blizzard. The Blizzard is one of those great inventions, like refrigeration, the … Continue reading Dairy Queen: The Blizzard

This is a call for assistance. As many of you know, I volunteer with the Campaign for Real Barbecue to identify and certify barbecue places in Washington, Maryland, and Virginia that cook in the traditional manner, exclusively with wood. (Brick and mortar locations only.) Well, actually it’s Virginia and the Washington area, but I take a pretty expansive view of the Washington area. Things have … Continue reading A Guide to Barbecue in Maryland: A Work in Progress

I re-introduced everyone to Julie Rokala in opening her guest post on Wright’s Barbecue, and mentioned how much I liked the bacon grease salad dressing for the salad she brought to our Memorial Day celebration last year. It was a big hit. Julie’s salad isn’t shown. I just like the picture. The use of bacon grease in salad dressing piqued a lot of interest, as … Continue reading Recipe Time: Julie Rokala’s Bacon Grease Salad Dressing

No, I haven’t been sneaking up to Philadelphia to eat cheesesteaks between barbecue-eating trips. Indeed, I’ve never really been a fan of cheesesteaks. They weren’t common in Alabama when I was growing up, or in central Ohio, where I went to college. I tried a number of versions, but they just weren’t very good. I don’t think I’ve ever had a really memorable cheesesteak here … Continue reading The Best Cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia Region

I was just talking to my friend Steve Bottorf about The Avenue on upper Connecticut Avenue. Our family seems to go there more and more often. Nancy and her buddies usually have dinner there whenever her movie group goes to the Avalon Theatre, Liza and Micheal take the kids there, and Michael goes there when he has to stay in town and work while the … Continue reading The Avenue, Chevy Chase, Washington, DC

Nancy and I recently went back to POV at Pier 450. POV stands for “Point of View” in homage, I guess, to the beautiful water view, but everyone calls the whole thing Pier 450. The property was an abandoned Old School marina, restaurant, and motor lodge until Peggy Binzel transformed it into a high end restaurant and ultra-stylish motel. Nancy and I had been there … Continue reading POV at Pier 450, Ridge, St. Mary’s County, Maryland