I had a really fun eating weekend. It started off on Friday for an early lunch at The Pioneer Pit Beef. This is about 15 miles from where I live and located just off Rolling Hill Road in Catonsville, MD. Pioneer Pit Beef serves the very best pit beef in whole area. It is always so tender that it melts in your mough and you can get it anyway that you would like. I ordered my sandwich , rare with Tiger sauce (a creamy horseradish). You have your choice of many condiments. There is no seating inside, just a counter and it is "cash only".
It was a lovely day so I took my sandwich and sat at one of the three picnic tables. When I arrived , there were just a very few people in line but while I was eating, I counted a line of at least 40 waiting in line. No one minds as the line moves so quickly.
Later that afternoon, my son, grandson, and I left for Carlisle, Pa. My grandson was taking part in a team duels wrestling tournament starting early the next morning. After hotel check-in, we drove into downtown Carlise and had dinner at Cafe Bruges. I love moules frites so was really excited to be going to a Belgium restaurant. The restaurant was very busy and loud and noisy (in a fun way) and we went to the bar to look at their beer list and wait ten minutes for our table. I never have seen such a huge beer list in my life!
Soon we were seated and had a delicious meal. I chose the moules frites . The mussels were fantastic; the fries not quite as good as the ones at the Belgium restaurant that we go to at home. However , they were served beautifully in a large paper cone which was sitting in a spiral metal ware container......really attractive.
My son ordered steak frites and said that the steak was cooked perfectly and he loved the beet salad that he ordered. My grandson order cheese croquettes as an appetizer and for his entree, a hamburger. He said that the hamburger was great but he was not happy with the croquettes. He had expected them to taste like fried mozzarella sticks. I noticed that quite a few people were having hamburgers so they must be excellent there.
http://www.cafebruges.com/ The next day we were up and out early for the wrestling tournament. My grandson's team was finished by 1 PM. (his team finished in 2nd place.) We headed home and decided on lunch at this little Chinese restaurant in Littlestown, Pa. We have passed by this restaurant many times and have never felt like we wanted to eat there. But a year ago, we noticed that they had a sign up which read Chinese and Pacific Cuisine and decided to stop. The place looks very small on the outside and sort of non de script so we were really surprised when we got inside and saw that it was quite large and very attractive.
The service was good and the food was just outstanding! We cannot wait to go back there. My grandson ordered steamed dumplings and for his entree, he chose beef and broccoli. (He went Chine all the way.) My son and I had the Tom Yum Gong soup for two. It was actually enough for four people, served steaming hot and was incredible. It was spicy hot and nice sour lemongrass taste. I loved it. For my entree I decided on Pad Thai and it was as good as any that I have ever had. My son had the House special Mei Fun which is another noodle dish and it was excellent. I don't remember the last time that I had a meal out where every single item ordered was "piping hot" off the stove. The meal was excellent and the bill , with one beverage lots of refills) came to about $30.00.........it was a real bargain and a great find. We cannot wait to go back.
http://www.empress-garden.com/
