Little has gone the way Janet Yu expected in trying to reopen her Hollywood East dim-sum parlor in the Westfield Shopping Center in Wheaton.

The owner quickly discovered that the new space, a former restaurant in the mall, was not suited to her needs, at least not as currently equipped. The duct work needed to be replaced. The gas lines needed to be upgraded to handle Hollywood East’s powerful woks. The bathrooms needed to be expanded.

The whole space, in short, was in dire need of an overhaul, save for the air conditioning and the ceiling, Yu tells Y&H this afternoon. “We gutted the whole place, and we had to start all over,” she says.

Read More “Hollywood East Tentatively Set to Reopen on Dec. 14″ »

The pork rib and rice casserole at New Kam Fong

The man at our table is giving us a crash course on the casserole dishes at New Kam Fong, the new Chinese restaurant at 2400 University Blvd. in Wheaton. I’m not sure if the man is the manager or the owner, and frankly, I don’t care. It’s too late on a Sunday night to conduct interviews, and I’m just plain hungry.

The man explains that the rice-based casseroles are native to Guangdong province in southeast China, where the steamed dishes are considered classic winter eating. He tells me that no one else in the metro area sells the casserole entrees. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that line, so I let it hang in the air between us without trying to act too impressed. I feel bad about my cynicism.

But I take the man up on his invitation and, when our waitress comes by, order the pork rib and rice casserole. She immediately makes a concerned face and tells me that the dish takes a long time to prepare.

Read More “The Pork Rib and Rice Casserole at New Kam Fong” »

Diners who frequent the same restaurant again and again have a perspective that neither critics nor the marginally attached have: the depth of experience to figure out what the chef and kitchen do best, week after week after week.

Restaurant rater TMPM75 is apparently a regular at the Royal Mile Pub and knows exactly where to direct a newbie to this classic Scottish pub in Wheaton:

Read More “Vox Populi: Restaurant Rater TMPM75 on Royal Mile Pub” »

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

Before its move into more spacious digs just down the road in Wheaton, Nava Thai was everyone’s favorite hole-in-the-wall, that secret little place in the back of a cramped parking lot where natives and foodies alike went for an authentic taste of Thailand. These days at the new location, the waits can stretch to 30 minutes or longer, as if Nava had somehow morphed into the Cheesecake Factory. Some, in fact, will tell you that the place might as well call itself the PadThai Factory. Don’t believe it. While the space may seem flat, Suchart and Ladavan Srigatesook’s cooking remains vibrant. The floating market noodle soup still sends my mouth to the burn unit. The tom kha soup still curls my tongue with its sharp galangal sourness. And the sweet heat of the panang curry still makes all other versions seem like children’s plates. The wait, in other words, is worth it.

 Addenda:  Y&H’s original review of Nava Thai from 2007, and the Y&H column, from earlier this year, about the restaurant’s move into a larger space.

Nava Thai, 11301 Fern St., Wheaton, Md., (240) 430-0495

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

One by one, we’re running through the 50 restaurants that made the cut on this year’s Young & Hungry Dining Guide. If you have visited the day’s featured restaurant, let us know what you think. If you’re planning to visit for the first time, tell us about your meal when you return.

Last year, the husband-and-wife owners confessed to multiple federal crimes and agreed to forfeit millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. But the Solano family’s notoriety hasn’t affected the popularity of their reopened Peruvian chicken outlet in Wheaton, where the charcoal-grilled birds, loaded down with salt, cumin, herbs, smoke, and God knows what else, are so good they’re criminal.

 Addendum: Read my original defense for El Pollo Rico.

El Pollo Rico, 2517 University Blvd., Wheaton, Md., (301) 942-4419

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

The wife and I stopped at Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard on Sunday, expecting the line to stretch out the door as loyal patrons flocked to the dim sum palace one last time before owner Janet Yu takes her forced hiatus. We were surprised — and a little saddened — to discover that we could waltz right into the half-empty Pepto-Bismol-colored dining room and start picking our way through the parade of carts.

Let me emphasize that we were only a little saddened. Because we were starving.

Read More “The Dim Sum Carts Have Stopped Rolling on University Boulevard” »

The dim sum desserts carrots at Hollywood, during happier times.

Spend a few minutes with Janet Yu, owner of the beloved dim-sum palace Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard, and she will spin you a tale sadder than anything Hank Williams ever composed. The way she tells the story about Hollywood East’s ignoble exit from Wheaton’s University Boulevard — and, yes, Y&H realizes this is just her side of the story — you practically want to pass the collection plate for her.

Yu’s tale starts in late January when her landlord returned her rent check. It was apparently the fourth time that Yu had been late with the rent money, and the landlord and his attorney decided to exercise a clause in the lease agreement to evict Hollywood East for late payments.

Read More “Hollywood East Cafe OUT Of the Boulevard. New Mall Location Coming.” »

Because we at the paper still occasionally pick up the phone and talk to people before writing about them. I say this as a small swipe at this conversation over at DonRockwell.com, a site that I admire for the administrator’s discipline at keeping order among his sometimes unruly flock. But the folks at DR.com have prematurely buried Hollywood East Cafe on the Boulevard as dead, now awaiting a resurrection over at the Westfield Shopping Center in Wheaton.

The latter part is true. But manager Alan Yu tells Y&H that Hollywood East is still breathing at its current location, too, where it will continue to serve its superior dim sum seven days a week (from the menu on the weekdays; from those rolling carts on the weekend).

Read More “Here’s One Reason Why the Dead-Tree Media Are Still Needed…” »

This week’s Young & Hungry column is devoted to restaurants that have moved recently, including the much-beloved Nava Thai in Wheaton, and how that affects your dining experience. I come down firmly on the side of change. A move changes a restaurant forever. It stops being whatever it was originally and becomes something new, even if the restaurant doesn’t change its menu one iota.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it takes patience on the diner’s part. It takes time to adjust to the new environment, just as it takes time for cooks to adjust to a new kitchen. In some ways, I’m beginning to think you can’t render a solid opinion on a restaurant that’s moved until you let it settle into the new spot. How long do you need to wait? I don’t really know, maybe six months? Otherwise, you’ll be colored too much by its previous incarnation.

All right, enough of my thoughts. What do you think? Am I just blowing too much smoke over this issue? Does your loyalty to a restaurant allow you to forgive the changes that come after a move? Or maybe the relocation doesn’t affect your experience at all? I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

One of the better things that’s happened to our area is the quiet spread of Counter Culture coffee. Yeah, sure, Counter Culture is another one of those companies with all its PC boxes checked—direct trade? check! organic? check! shade grown? check!—but it also produces some terrific java, which you can sip at Tryst and all three Busboys & Poets locations. Today, I found another spot that serves Counter Culture: the DeJaBel Cafe in Wheaton, located right next to the freshly reopened El Pollo Rico.

Named after owner Eddie Velasquez’s three daughters—Daniela, Jasmine, and Isabel—DeJaBel is barely a month old. It’s a welcoming neighborhood spot with lived-in chairs and tables, local artwork on the wall, and friendly staff, but it’s also a work in progress. The place is still trying to find a good source for bagels, for instance. But you can trust the coffee. Trust me.

Read More “It’s Getting Easier to Find a Good Cup of Coffee in D.C.” »