The Roseda Beef Farm Tour & Cookout

Fougoo, Redneckhunter, & I went on a Slow Food DC event at the Roseda Beef farm in Monkton, MD in Baltimore County one weekend. It included a short history of the farm and business, a hayride to their cow pastures, and a BBQ cookout.
Roseda raises Black Angus cows to specific genetic standards with no hormones, and they age their beef 2-3 weeks before going to market.
In the pasture, the cows gathered around our trailer, grazing peacefully.
For dinner, the hosts had slow smoked the beef. We tried several cuts, the tenderloin, the shoulder, and the rib. My favorite cut was the very rare piece for shoulder I got on my second round of meat.

We also enjoyed some salad, baked beans and grilled corn on the cob with a selection of butters including wasabi and maple syrup (from syrup taken from trees on the farm).
Dessert was a strawberry shortcake made with fresh local berries and a lot of Redi-whip. It was a beautiful evening to have dinner in the Roseda Beef farm barn.

Honey Pig Gooldaegee comes to Ellicott City, MD

Honey Pig Gooldaegee in Annandale, VA might be my favorite Korean BBQ place in the MD/DC/VA area, and I was excited that they opened a new branch in Ellicott City, MD last week.
Like the original, the place is open 24 hours a day. I went for lunch on opening day at 1:00 pm and there was a line out the door already.
Inside, the place is a little more open than the Virginia branch, and the music is not as loud. However, the food and prices were comparable.
We grabbed some aprons off the wall to prevent splatter, and ordered up some Hite beer. For our meats, we got the Kalbi, the pork rib, and my favorite, the thick spicy pork bellies.
I worry that because now that this place is much closer to where I live, I might be too tempted to grab some delicious Korean BBQ at all hours of the day. Ahh- who cares?








10045 Baltimore National Pike (Rte 40)
Ellicott City, MD 21041

Kojak's House of Ribs, Tampa, Florida

We spent the holidays with Redneckhunter's family in Tampa. Following a christening, the whole family went out to eat at Kojak's in Tampa. Northeasterners as we were, we couldn't believe the prices for the portions. Redneckhunter got a barbecue combo plate - ribs, pulled pork, and 2 sides for $11.50. I got a rib sandwich - 2 ribs on white bread with a side dish for $5.75! The most expensive thing on the menu was $24.95 (which would be what a 1-person rib dinner would cost in our area) for a full slab of ribs plus a pitcher of beer! The ribs were moist, and were even better with the house barbecue sauces - one mild, one hot. Both were good, but I liked the spicy one.

Kojak's House of Ribs
2808 Gandy Boulevard
Tampa, FL
(818) 837-3774

Wisconsin Boys Weekend 2009 Part 3- Whole Roast Pig

The centerpiece meal of Boys Weekend up in Wisconsin this year was a whole roast pig. It was the first time for the group to try to cook such a large amount of meat, but we went into it enthusiastically. Our host, Thayer ordered a whole pig up at the local market, Stone Ridge in Wautoma, WI.

It was a little larger than suckling, but no too large. The pig had a "tramp stamp" indicating it was from Wisconsin. We started with a nice meat rub on it and it sat overnight in the cooler.

First thing next morning, we started working on the fire pit. We butterflied the animal, and secured it between two grates, and started cooking.
We had some issues with the pit firing up some, so I think the temperature got a little to hot early in the cooking process. As we got used to managing the pit, we were able to control the temperature in the latter part of the cooking process.

When the pig was finished, we unfortunately lost the skin to our early difficulties with temperature control, but once we started digging in, the meat was spectacular.
At first, we started carving up the meat, but the group collectively started just gathering around the animal, eating various parts straight off the table. It was all very primal- men eating meat with bare hands.
I happily shared a foot and part of the head with my friend Dan.

When we carved up the pork for later in the day, I decided to try my hand at creating a pig dip. Inspired by the vinegar style of dip from North Carolina, I whipped together a mix of the available spices in some apple vinegar and behold, we had some yummy pig dip.
Yes, there is a part 4.

Allen & Son Barbeque, Chapel Hill, NC

I went to Allen and Son BBQ in Chapel Hill, NC to sample to local version of barbeque pork.
I order the barbeque plate which came with a pile of pulled pork with sides of hush puppies and cole slaw.
The pork was incredible- tender, juicy and fully of porky goodness. The sauce was a vinegar based spicy sauce that went perfectly with the pig meat. It should be noted that their hush puppies were fantastic. Kelly told me they might have been the best she ever had. They were light and sweet to eat.
For dessert, we split a slice of peanut butter pie with homemade ice cream.
I'm glad Allen & Son is nowhere near where I live because I would have to return at least every other day there. It was so good.

6203 Millhouse Rd
Chapel Hill, NC 27516-8101
(919) 942-7576‎

Gooldaegee Korean B-B-Q, Annandale, VA

Northern Virginia is the home of good Korean food, and one of my favorite places is Gooldaegee Korean B-B-Q, aka "Honey Pig", in Annandale, VA.
Their specialty for the BBQ is pork belly which you can get straight up or in a spicy marinade. It goes well with the salty sesame oil dip.

The last time we ate there, we also got Kalbi as well.
In addition to the meat, the servers also throw kimchee and sprouts on the grill, which I haven't seen done a whole lot. It was nice to have the option of heated kimchee witb the tasty meats.

We also ordered the Bibimbap with pork and baby octopus. Also special to Honey Pig is that they place a large cast iron pan on the BBQ and cook up the bibimbap on the grill. While not as crispy as when they use the stone bowls, it was still really delicious and spicy.





7220-C Columbia Pike
Annandale, VA 22003
(703) 256-5229

Late Night Dinner At Joung Kak Korean BBQ, Baltimore

This past weekend, later in the evening, I met up with some local foodie friends for Korean BBQ at Joung Kak in the Charles North section of Baltimore. This 24 hour Korean BBQ place is unique in that the grills are heated by charcoal, which really turns up the flavor over places that use gas grills.
Of course with every Korean meal, you get a numerous variety of small plates including kim chi, chap chae, steamed egg, soup, pickles, and fish.

We ordered a variety of meats including kalbi, bulgolgi, pork, and tripe. Cooking with the charcoal was really good, and this was also the first time I've had tripe at Korean BBQ. It's good with the salty sesame oil.
We also got one of the hot pots- we chose one with kimchi, sausages, and SPAM. It also had sticky rice cakes (nian gao). It was nice because the SPAM was like a meat sponge absorbing the flavor from the soup.


18 W. 20th St.
Baltimore, MD 21218
(410) 837-5231

Weekend in Wisconsin

I was up in Wisconsin this summer for my annual Boys Weekend. It was a time for local Wisconsin food, good beer from Caldera and Three Floyds, swimming in Lake Gilbert, games of horseshoes, and inappropriate nudity

We went to Waupaca for our first dinner Friday night at Simpson's Indian Room. Of course, we had to go for the traditional Wisconsin Friday fish fry. For appetizers, the find was deep fried sauerkraut balls. They were mixed with mashed potato- like a croquette and came with Thousand Island dressing for dipping.

For dinner, I opted for the fried Walleye- it's got to be my favorite of the lake fishes to fry up. Some people in the group got Blue Gill, but I was told that they could have been a little more fresh.

During the day, we started a small campfire while playing horseshoes, and we cooked up some bratwursts and Hungarian sausages from a local butcher Schwai's. The brats seemed to have a hint of fennel in them- with a little mustard on a bun, so delicious.

For our second dinner, we got a small pork shoulder and smoked it in a green egg for the whole day. Then, the meat was pulled apart with a fork- it was unbelievable. The pork was juicy and flavorful.



Before heading off the the airport to go home, we stopped off at Kopp's for a delicious bacon cheeseburger and a chocolate malted milkshake.

Simpson's Indian Room
222 S Main St
Waupaca, WI 54981
Phone:(715) 258-2330

Kopp's Frozen Custard
5373 N. Port Washington Rd.
Glendale, WI 53217

Dinosaur BBQ, NYC

The other week I went to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem, a branch of a Syracuse NY bbq joint that opened in NYC 2004. It was a mini-trip down memory lane as I walked up to lower Harlem where I used to live way back in 1996. A French bakery near 120th Street made me worry that NYC's gentrification had made it all the way up to my old neighborhood. But I was happy to see that my block between LaSalle and Tiemann Place hadn't changed with the exception of one new restaurant where the hostess stood outside on the sidewalk trying to encourage Columbia University-types to stop in for dinner. The Chinese take-out, the African restaurant, and most importantly the Bubbles laundromat above which I used to live were all still there.

Dinosaur on 131st Street, though, is a sign of the encroachment. Despite it's street address, it's clientele, like that of the Fairway supermarket across the street, was almost 100% white.

The place was packed on a Sunday night. My friend and I shared the pull pork platter and a side of 6 hot wings. It was solid BBQ, but I'd probably choose other places in the city like Hill Country or Blue Smoke, unless I happened to be back up in the Columbia area.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
646 W 131st St.
New York, NY 10027
212-694-1777

BrookLEn in Texas: The Salt Lick

Leaving Austin, we headed into Texas Hill Country, and onto one of the more famous (and infamous) Bar-B-Q ranches in Texas, The Salt Lick. It had been a while since I had last visited, and every time I almost miss the turnoff. Even though The Salt Lick has become a much bigger production—online ordering, BBQ tours, etc.— the original stone barn and wood smoker feel revived from a different century.

Gluttony is the word, with an all-you-can-eat selection of ribs, brisket, and the indelible sausages. Athough I enjoyed it all, I still feel partial to the sausages, with their thin, mustard-y mop. Mrs. LBT opted for the leaner smoked turkey plate, which was (not surprisingly) also delicious. It's hard to do anything but waddle out of there when you leave, and any time spent staring at the pit might leave you considering vegetarianism.

The good folks there let me come into the kitchen for these pictures. I must give credit to a truly friendly staff and service at the Salt Lick, which will make you want to stay until they roll you away.


The Salt Lick
18001 FM 1826
Driftwood, Texas 78619

Hill Country, NYC

We were up in NYC for BrookLEn's art opening in Chelsea, so afterwards we took a cab due east to Hill Country for Texas-style BBQ. They bill themselves as a "barbecue market" meaning when you walk in the door, you are handed a meal ticket. You then take your ticket up to the meat line and the sides line.

From the meat line, we got Moist Brisket and Pork Ribs, served up as you can see above in brown paper. The ribs were Texas-style, meaning dry rub, and had a nice strong smokiness, attributable to the oak wood they have specially shipped up from Texas. The dry rub was peppery. The brisket had great flavor and was so tender it fell apart when you forked it. We had plenty of meat leftovers that lasted for days...

For sides, we got the Campfire Baked Beans - made yummily smoky by the burnt ends of meat; White Shoepeg Corn Pudding - sweet and spicy and comfort-food mushy-good; and the Longhorn Cheddar Mac & Cheese. I had heard great things about the mac & cheese... so I was a little disappointed that I wasn't orgasmic about it. Good solid mac & cheese, though, very creamy. And, because 1000yregg has a dangerous affection for deviled eggs, naturally we had to get the Smokey Chipotle Deviled Eggs.

There was plenty of other stuff I'd love to go back and try -- Kreuz Market sausage shipped from Texas, regular flavor and jalapeno cheese; Beer Can Game Hen; Ancho Chile Cherry Brownies. They actually have Green Bean casserole, 50s style, with Durkee fried onions on top! But the weirdest thing on the menu was got to be the Tequila milkshake... talk about a hurl waiting to happen...

Hill Country Barbecue Market
30 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10010
(212) 255-4544

Mama Dip's Country Cooking Restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC

We went to Mama Dip's Country Cooking Restaurant in Chapel Hill for dinner Saturday evening.
It was my only chance to get Carolina style BBQ on this trip because most places were closed on Sunday.
We started with an order of hush puppies. They were really good- nicely fried, light, and flavorful.

I ordered the plate of NC BBQ ribs and fried chicken. The ribs were sweet and vinegary, and the pork was nice and tender. The fried chicken was delicious- the skin was really nicely seasoned.
My sides were okra & tomatoes and collard greens with bacon.

I tried my friend Kelly's plate of side items. She got the mac & cheese which was really good, but the best item by far was the yams. They were lightly sweetened, and not heavily candied.

We also ordered a side of fried green tomatoes with our dinners. They were also very good.



408 W. Rosemary Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
(919) 942-5837

Gyu-kaku Yakiniku, Honolulu

In Honolulu, our friends took us for yakiniku (Japanese grilled meat) at Gyu-kaku. Turns out Gyu-kaku is a chain with branches in Japan, California, Hawaii, and even New York City. Yakiniku is a bit different than Korean BBQ. The meat is marinated in different sauces, or sometimes simply dressed with just salt or garlic. Also the dipping sauces are different and there's no practice of wrapping in lettuce.

We got 2 sampler plates - one premium, which included 30-day aged filet mignon, wagyu, and premium ribeye.

The other meat sampler had shrimp with garlic, chicken with basil, and some other cuts of beef.

We also ordered the happy hour special Harami (skirt steak) marinated with miso. We also got kalbi with garlic, kurobuta sausage, and beef tongue. And vegetables wrapped in foil to throw on the grill -- potatoes with butter and enoki mushrooms.

Two interesting things I've never had were cheese yakko - our friend Ro had mistakenly remembered this as something else when he ordered it. Turns out it was cubes of cream cheese, dressed with bonito flakes and soy - the way tofu would have been - it was strange and Ro and Lani felt so bad for ordering it they took it home (for their bagels!).

The other was dessert. Little squares of mochi are cooked on the grill until the puff up, which you then throw on ice cream!

Gyu-kaku
1221 Kapiolani Blvd
Honolulu, HI
(808) 589-2989