Bowie Restaurant Project: (19) Hibachi Japan

Hibachi Japan Is Now Closed.
For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Hibachi Japan, 3856 Town Center Boulevard
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 10/4/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins:1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Yes
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Every food court in America worth its salt has a bourbon chicken place. What I find weird is that it might be disguised as a Cajun food place or a Chinese food place, but it's basically a place where you can get bourbon chicken, rice and corn in a styrofoam container.  In Bowie, that place is a "Japanese" restaurant.

Now, on the menu, it's listed at "bon bon chicken", but the guy giving out samples of chicken on toothpicks (see picture, lower right) called it "bourbon chicken". That's another feature of these places -- they always offer you a sample on a toothpick. I always try both the bourbon chicken and the non-bourbon chicken (in this case, honey chicken), and then order the bourbon chicken.

The bourbon chicken here is pretty much exactly like the bourbon chicken at every other mall -- which is as it should be. I'm not going to give too high of a rating to a stand in a food court, but given that it plays an essential role in the food ecology of Bowie, I'll give it 3 stars.

Note that you can get other food like egg rolls (at a Japanese restaurant?) You can also get sushi. I'm not sure I would get sushi at a food court. (I take that back -- I have, but it's probably not a good idea.) When I last visited, they had menus sitting out for the East Moon Asian Bistro. So while I don't think there's an actual sushi chef hanging out at the mall hawking bourbon chicken, it's possible there's one at East Moon who's shipping fresh stuff over. But there are other sushi options in Bowie, so I'm not desperate to press my luck.

Bowie Restaurant Project: How to Review a Restaurant

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

At 18 out of 78(ish) restaurants reviewed, I'm about a quarter of the way through this project. The process has been somewhat ad hoc -- for example, where I decided what constitutes a restaurant.

One thing I've been thinking about is how many visits to give a restaurant before writing a review. One visit might not be enough -- I could catch a place on a rare bad day, or I could miss the fact that an establishment is terrible half of the time. On the other hand, this is not exactly a profit-making project, and I don't have the time to eat at every Subway twice in order to establish that it's exactly like every other Subway.

So here are the criteria I've established.

• If it's part of a chain, and I've already visited other restaurants in the chain, one visit will suffice.
• If not, two visits should suffice.
• If the restaurant has table service, at least one of the visits should be dine-in; otherwise, I'll just look around at the seating options and feel free to take my food home.

Reviews for two places I've visited are currently on hold due to the dine-in requirement. Three are awaiting my second visit. Three technically meet all requirements, but I am having trouble forming an opinion and may require a re-visit. One I'm all set on, and a review should be appearing later in the week.

That leaves...about 50 restaurants to go. Ouch. Some are going to be tricky due to the dine-in requirement -- it's not easy dragging toddlers to new restaurants (though it's fun when they love it, as happened at one place this weekend). Some are going to be a pain because they have a dine-in requirement and are so uninspiring that I'm going to have trouble convincing someone to join me for the dine-in, with or without toddlers. (On a related note, see this article "What Does Your Choice of Casual Dining Chain Say About You?" Of the six chains they make fun of, Bowie lacks only a Red Lobster.)

On the other hand, half of what's left can probably be knocked out with a simple willingness to branch out during my lunchtime forays. This conflicts with my desire to pack a lunch more often, as well as the tempting convenience offered by the Uptown Cafe, whose arrival I noted last month. Still, if I end up at one or two a week, the project should move along to its planned 2012 conclusion.

Bowie Restaurant Project: Beyond Bowie: (BB1) Rip's Country Inn

Update: It has since been pointed out to me that Rip's is not actually in Bowie. (Even the City Restaurant Guide is confused on this fact.) I'm renumbering this as my first "Beyond Bowie" review.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Rip's Country Inn, 3809 N Crain Highway

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 9/25/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 3
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I am trying to think of how many restaurants in Bowie have been open more than 20 years. Grace's Fortune barely makes the cut. Golden Pavilion has been open since the 1960s, though it recently moved a few doors down and changed its menu. The McDonalds on 197 has been there since at least the 1980s. There may be handful of others, but I'm pretty sure Rip's has them all beat, given that it opened in 1952.

In fact, I think I'd use its age to describe it to someone. In my review of Grace's Fortune, I said it was the only place I could think of to take an interviewee. I think I'll now add Rip's, but ask the person, "Are you interested in a place that looks like it hasn't changed in 30 years?"

Rip's seems like the type of place my grandmother would have liked to eat at; in fact, I'd be surprised if she didn't find herself there at some point the in 1970s or 1980s after a golf or bowling outing in Crofton. It features good, but not fantastic American food. I particularly recommend their burger served "Chesapeake style" -- with crab on top. I don't understand why the dish hasn't caught on in more places around Maryland. When we lived near Hyattsville (yes, there!) I got spoiled by having a couple of places that did really good burgers. I haven't found a replacement in Bowie yet, but Rip's is the one place I've tried so far that I can honestly look forward to ordering a burger.

The service has always been remarkably friendly, and everyone has always been remarkably tolerant of the boys and the ruckus they can cause at a restaurant. Something about the clientèle means that they've been cooed over more than sighed at.

Rip's also features a deli (which I haven't tried), a liquor store (which has a really good selection) and a motel (about which I know nothing). When it was built in 1952, there was no I-95, and US-301 (Crain Highway) was a major north-south artery. Rip's is a throwback to that era, but you don't need nostalgia to want to go there, just a desire for tasty, family-friendly fare.

Nebula Update: All Clear

All Clear by Connie Willis

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


All Clear is the second half of the novel Connie Willis began in Blackout. Despite being a fan of much of Willis' other work, I only stuck with this one because it won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and I've made a project of reading all of them. As I stated in my review of Blackout, it was very disappointing.

All Clear was somewhat better. With Blackout behind it, the conflict is set up, so the reader is much more engaged with the plot. (I'll describe the conflict in a relatively spoiler-free manner as, "Something is wrong with time travel.") Still, the plot feels like high-quality fabric stretched too far...like double-bed sheets on a king-size bed. Willis is not interested in a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo about how time travel works. That's fine, but under those circumstances, there's only so much interest I have in reading the characters speculate about how things work. The bottom line is that it works however Willis wants it to work, so let's get on with seeing what that is.

I give this book 3 stars versus Blackout's 2 stars because it really comes together in the second half. I know you can't just cut out the first 3/4 of the Blackout/All Clear story and get something coherent, but I wish an editor had made her figure out a way to do it. It's touching, well-written and interesting -- everything I've come to expect from her other time-travel books. But I arrived there with a bad taste in my mouth of slogging through hundreds of pages of backstory. A shame.

So now I've read all of the Nebula Best Novels from 1992-2010 (also 5 from the '80s, 6 from the '70s and 1 from the '60s). I've started Stations of the Tide, the 1991 winner. I probably won't continue in chronological order. I'm continuing on an e-book kick, but not all of the winners are available in that format. Also, the 1990 winner is Tehanu, the fourth Earthsea books, and I want to re-read the first 3 of those, but I'd rather check them out of the library and save a little money. We'll see when I get to that; I will probably pick an earlier winner instead.



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Car-Free Day

Car-Free Day, London, 2000.

When I was in London on September 22, 2000, I came across road closures for something called "European Car-Free Day." As I was walking, the road closures didn't bother me, but I found the concept amusing enough to cause me to snap a picture.

Fast-forward to 2011, and I was inspired enough by Car-Free Day to pledge to go car-free (or at least car-lite) on that day. Since I haven't gotten my bike together at the new house, and since rain was in the forecast, I decided to try taking the bus.

According to Google Maps, I could walk for 0.9 miles, take the bus for 6 minutes, then walk for 1.3 miles. So I consulted the bus schedule and headed out so that I would arrive at the stop 5-10 minutes before the bus was scheduled to be there.

Car-Free Day, Bowie, 2011.

Metro has a feature called NextBus that allows riders to punch in the stop number and find out when the next bus will be arriving. I figured that would be good to know, so when I got to the stop, I punched in the number on my phone, and found out that the bus would be more than 45 minutes before it got there! At that point, it would be about the same amount of time to walk, so I hiked the 3.9 miles to work. There is one segment between the residential part of Bowie and the office park that lacks sidewalks and is fairly unpleasant (a part I'd need to walk even when taking the bus), but other than that (and the mugginess), it was a nice enough walk. It took a total of an hour and a half.

On the return, I figured out how better to use NextBus. I consulted the site from my office computer and allowed a generous 40 minutes to leave the building and walk the 1.3 miles. So when I saw that a bus was 40 minutes away, I left my desk and headed out. Things went much more smoothly that way, although until the moment that the bus showed up, I was suspicious as to whether I would actually see it. There were probably around 15 people on the bus, so I was glad to see the route gets fairly heavy use. Only one other person got on the entire time I was on the bus -- I suspect almost everyone was coming from the New Carollton Metrorail station.

What did I get out of it? I learned how to use Nextbus better. I learned I'd much rather ride my bike, even if there was going to be some rain. I learned that the bus is available as a backup, even here miles outside the Beltway. I learned I can walk more than 6 miles in a day, but it's nice to be able to soak in a tub at the end of it. And I learned that going car-free isn't just some crazy European idea.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (17) Uno Chicago Grill

Uno Chicago Grill is now closed.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a list of all the Bowie Restaurant Project reviews, look here.

Uno Chicago Grill, 4001 Town Center Blvd

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 9/9/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: A couple
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

It's an Uno Chicago Grill. By which I mean Pizzeria Uno (the chain's former name). It's a Chicago-based deep-dish pizza restaurant from the 1940s which franchised heavily in the 1980s and 1990s, and then changed its name in an effort to sell people things other than pizza. I have somewhat of a soft spot for it because of the Ann Arbor location, which is located near campus, and which I visited fairly frequently twenty-some years ago.

The fact that it's a convenient location for college-age kids to have a not-too-fancy, not-too-casual night out probably says something, but I'm not sure what.

I had met Christina at this location before for lunch. The ten-minute guarantee on some of their lunches (including, I think, pizzas) is handy. Our most recent trip there, however, was in a much larger group. On short notice, I was putting together a Friday night dinner for nine adults and seven children (the oldest of whom is 3). I called a local, family-owned restaurant and had to convince the woman who answered the phone to be willing to take a Friday night reservation -- only to learn they only had two high chairs.

Definitely a family-friendly restaurant
(Disclaimer: the people pictured do not constitute a family)

Uno's was happy to take the reservation -- although, as it turns out, they only had five high chairs. I managed to talk them into borrowing two from a nearby restaurant. All in all, they did very well with the gathering. I have a bias to believe that a local establishment has a natural advantage over a national chain, but here the chain acquitted itself very well. The back-to-school discount we got since one of our party was a teacher was a definite plus.

The food was not as good as I remember it from college days. To preserve my memories, I'm going to decide it's due to a decline in the chain over the years, rather than the unrefined palate of college students. Nothing was bad, but nothing stood out as wonderful either.

Still, it's a solid destination. The kid-friendliness earns them a total of 3 stars.

---

Bowie Restaurant News

By the way, I've changed the link at the top of the post to point to a more straightforward list of links to all the reviews, rather than a reverse-chronological set of blog entries. If you prefer the latter, you can always click on the tag "bowierestaurantproject" at the bottom of any of the posts.

The former KFC location

I had previously reduced the count of Bowie restaurants to 79. Investigation has determined that the KFC in Bowie Plaza has closed, so the number is down to 78. The three unlisted restaurants (two new, one mysteriously omitted) will be added either when the new guide comes out, or when I run through all listed restaurants.


One of the 78 is the "Muffin Man Caribbean Cafe" in Hilltop Plaza, next to the Chesapeake Grille. The guide says it is "Opening 2010", but it has shown no signs of life. Now comes word that it's going to be opening in November (2011). I hope to review it soon afterwards.

World Heritage Update: Greenwich

I've been to more World Heritage Sites in the UK than any other country. That's a reflection of the fact that I've been the UK more than any other country except the US, and there are a lot of sites in a relatively compact area in the UK. There are 28 in the UK, of which 22 are on the island of Great Britain. Four of those are even located in Greater London, but until this month I had missed out on one, Maritime Greenwich.

View from "Octagon Room" in Observatory

With several hours between my arrival in Paddington Station and when I had to catch a train out of town, I decided to head in to see it.

Ye Olde Telescope

The Tube does not actually go to London, rather something called the "Docklands Light Railway" does. For a visitor, it's like the Tube, but with a different kind of train. Nevertheless, when I got to the transfer point at the Tower of London, I was overcome by a desire to approach Greenwich by boat, so I transferred to the Thames Clipper service instead. It cost me a bit of time, but it seemed appropriate.

Once I got to Greenwich, I had time for essentially only one attraction before things closed and I needed to head back to catch my train. I chose the Royal Observatory, and it turned out to be an excellent choice.

The Royal Observatory was founded in order to solve the problem of calculating longitude from a ship, and the Observatory now has an excellent exhibit with a very nice audio guide that tells the story. Despite the fact that the more obvious way to calculate longitude was to have accurate star charts (hence the founding of an observatory), the problem was also solved by John Harrison, a clockmaker who was able to build a more accurate chronometer than anyone had previously been able to carry on a ship. (Pendulums don't work too well at sea.) The story is fascinating, but I won't re-tell it here. (There's a book called Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time from last year on the subject.) But it's pretty interesting to see how an observatory got to be the keeper of the world's standard time.





So that's 50 World Heritage Sites I've visited (more than one-quarter in the UK!), and the last one in London. I'm back up to 5.3%. There are only 3 sites in the southern part of Great Britain that I haven't visited -- Canterbury (a couple of hours from Cambridge, which I may visit next year), Dorset (a couple of hours from where I usually am in the UK), and Cornwall (the very southwestern tip of England). So I'm going to have to start diversifying. I have a chance to be near four sites in the first week in December, but even if I am, it would take a lot of doing to visit them all in what would be a very busy week. We'll see.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (16) Taco Bell

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Taco Bell, 15701 Annapolis Road

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 4/28/2010
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Yes
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's a Taco Bell. It's a fairly unexceptional member of the species. It's like most other Taco Bells you have been to, except for the particularly scary ones. Based on how I've been rating fast food restaurants in this project, its rating is determined by the question: is it high-end fast food or not?


To answer that question, we turn to a comment a friend of mine made when I became Foursquare mayor of a different Taco Bell, and I commented that I preferred to eat elsewhere, but lacked the time recently.

Nobody WANTS to eat at Taco Bell--myself included. But when you need 4000 calories in under 4 minutes, for under $4, there are worse options!

So, there you have it. 1 1/2 stars.

Nebula Update: Blackout

Connie Willis at 2004 National Book Festival

Blackout by Connie Willis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I really like Connie Willis. When I heard her talk at the 2004 National Book Festival, she gave an impassioned speech about libraries. She encouraged the audience to check good books out of libraries, even if they weren't going to read them, so that the libraries would keep them around. She said when she asked her library why they had gotten rid of some classic books, they told her nobody had checked them out recently. She responded, "And now nobody ever will."

So I really hate to give this book two stars. Blackout is the latest novel in her time travel series (well, the first half of her latest novel). Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog previous won the Nebula award, and so did Blackout (along with All Clear, the second half of Blackout). Doomsday Book was a tense, enjoyable read (though not one of my favorites), and To Say Nothing of the Dog was a wonderful romp of a book. Blackout, on the other hand, is neither.

I think of this book in three parts. The first, and shortest, goes back and forth between time traveling historians in World War II Britain and the same travelers in their home base of 2060 Oxford. So far, so good; this part is much like the other books. There is some hint that something may be wrong with the time travel mechanisms, and some interesting interpersonal interactions.

The second part of the book consists of the time travelers interacting with the WWII "contemps" (locals). At this point, the book seems to be over-researched. With any period piece, that is danger, but with time travel this tendency becomes worse -- the time-traveling historians know the background behind every event, and often stop to muse on it. Furthermore, it's unclear where the dramatic tension is supposed to be coming from. We already know how the war turned out, and there's scant connection with the stories of 2060 Oxford. What we get instead are slices of life from 1940 (mostly) Britain.

The third part of the book picks up again, as three of the time travelers' stories converge, and there begins to be the hint that whatever is messed up with time travel is going to cause them problems. But it remains a hint, and there's a lot of maddeningly vague wondering, "Did we change history?" from characters who can't quite match up what they're observing with their memories of what was supposed to happen. In other words, the book moves way too slowly.

I still have high hopes for All Clear, and I'm going to read it -- if for no other reason, it won the Nebula, and that leaves to me to wonder, why? My best guess is that, well, everyone likes Connie Willis. My excuse for doing the Nebula novel reading project rather than the Hugo novel reading project is that the Nebulas are chosen by authors, and the Hugos by the fans. The authors, presumably, would have more refined tastes. On the other hand, they know Willis, so they may be biased by how likeable she is. Of course, Blackout/All Clear won the Hugo, too, but I'm guessing many fans like her too -- though the reviews on Amazon haven't been as kind as I might have expected.

One final note. I finished off this book while traveling around London. It was pretty neat to read about Underground lines as I was traveling past them, and see ads for department stores that appeared in the book. A good reminder that only 70 years separate this island from memories of aerial bombings and a strong fear of invasion.



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The Secret of Getting Better at Go

It's been almost five years since I've blogged about go, and even longer since I've written about my online rating.

Going to go tournaments or go club was a major investment of time, and I found that I would rather spend my game-playing time with friends. Of course, with toddlers, I have no time for competitive in-person go, though in a few years, I hope I can teach them and start taking them to compete against their elders.

I have, however, recently started playing online again, after Ben gained a renewed interest in it. Despite the fact that I don't have time to study my go books, or even devote that much thought to it, my rating is now 15 kyu, higher than it ever was before I took a break from playing. It even got to 14 kyu at one point, but it's been bouncing around as it tends to do.

The go server that I use now allows you to plot your rating versus number of games played, rather than just time. That graph for my account is reproduced above. Though there's a fair amount of volatility (including a significant dip when I took up the game again in late 2009), the pattern is clear -- in fact, almost linear.

So what's the secret of getting better at go? Play more games! I don't claim that's an original observation; I think there have even been studies to that effect. But I find it interesting that it continues to hold even in the mid-teen kyu range I have now achieved. I had suspected my go abilities had plateaued (and was just happy to steal time for a move here and there). Since I don't have time to play as much as I used to, my rating will improve more slowly, but it would be really cool to achieve single-digit kyu status some day.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (15) Wing Zone

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Wing Zone, 15477 Excelsior Dr

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 8/29/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

I don't think Wing Zone -- with about 100 locations -- is ubiquitous enough for me to say, "It's a Wing Zone," and have that mean much to many people.

Wing Zone -- or "The Wing Zone"? -- is a chain of wing restaurants that primarily serve the takeout and delivery markets. There are four tables at this Wing Zone, so it technically meets my "restaurant" criteria, but barely. When I went there, the guy bagged my food for takeout without even asking me if I wanted to eat there. That experience also revealed the disappointing lack of celery as a standard option. You get a pack of blue cheese or ranch sauce, but you have to pay extra for celery.

2 of the 4 tables

Ordinarily, I'd want to make more than one visit to judge a place that isn't just another location of a chain I'd been to before. But, since they deliver, and we're still unpacking our kitchen items, it seemed that delivery could give another way of rating Wing Zone.

The delivery itself was fine; I was able to schedule it online. I got wings, which were once again pretty good -- comparable to something like Buffalo Wild Wings. Christina got a burger, which was flavorless and overcooked. We also ordered some brownie bites, which turned out to be fried, like almost everything else they serve (pickles, mushrooms, etc.) The one non-fried-item we could find was a grilled chicken sandwich, which we ordered for the boys. (We cut up the chicken and threw away the bun.) It was actually pretty good, but in the future I think we'll just cook up chicken here and save some money.

Wing Zone offers some variety to the Bowie dining scene, but not exceptional food and the dine-in option is kind of sad. As a chain, it would top out at 4 stars (barring exceptional circumstances), but it doesn't really come close to it. Still, it's not fast food, and it's worthwhile to have. If you want wings, they're probably the first call you want to make in Bowie. 2 1/2 stars.

---

In other Bowie restaurant news, the Uptown Cafe has opened at 16701 Melford Blvd., in the Maryland Science and Technology Center. It's basically a breakfast/lunch deli for workers in the office park. Although it doesn't rate too highly on the excitement meter, it has the potential to fill a pressing need -- a place to grab lunch quick without having to go out onto the highway. Hopefully it will suffer a better fate than Pep Stars Cafe, the previous tenant, which moved out to Fairwood (a development just west of city limits).

As with "Bang Bang Mongolian Grill", I'm going to delay review until it appears in the new restaurant guide (or I run out of restaurants in the current guide).

Also on my radar is Ravza, a Mediterranean restaurant near Wal-Mart. I don't know why it didn't make the city's restaurant guide, but it does appear to be both a restaurant and in Bowie. Again, I'll wait and see if it appears in the new guide.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (14) Noodles & Company

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Quiznos, 15477 Excelsior Dr

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 9/2/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's a Noodles & Company. It's a chain of stores that pulled off the clever trick of getting you to pay restaurant prices for the one type of food -- pasta -- that almost anyone can make at home. Fortunately, it does it well, so if you don't feel like whipping up some mushroom stroganoff in your kitchen, or you're looking for mac & cheese that is a cut above the kind that comes in a box, this is your go-to place.

I think it gets 2 1/2 stars based on comparison to Five Guys, which also got pegged at that rating. It's a chain that's a cut above fast food. We used to visit the College Park location all the time. The Bowie one is newer, and the facilities look a little bit nicer, but otherwise there's little difference other than a wider age range in the clientele.

Like Five Guys, Noodles & Company is located in the Bowie Town Center mall. I was considering docking it points for the annoying distance I had to walk from the car. Then I timed it at two minutes and felt lazy. Then I realized that the problem is not the distance, but the layout of the mall.

The Bowie Town Center mall was originally approved in the 1970s as an indoor mall. Twenty years later, when the project started to move forward, indoor malls were out of fashion. To go along with the "town center" concept, the developers included parking in front of the stores -- but not enough parking for most of the customers, just enough to give a "main street feel." The problem is that most people park farther away, and then have to intersect with the cars looking for close-in parking. I had to cross three "streets" on my 2-minute walk. In retrospect, I could have cut that to two, but I would have had to cross an additional crosswalk in my car to get there.

So, no demerits to Noodles & Company for the parking, but a continued beef with the mall for having a dumb layout.

E-books

I was going to post my review of A Dance with Dragons, but it seems to me that it's not that interesting. As I say in the review, "If you've read the first four, there's very little I could say to affect your decision to continue with this one, and if you haven't, you should start with the first and see how you like it." If you're still interested, you can go to Goodreads to see my review.

Instead, I'm more interested in writing about how I read the book. Despite not owning a Kindle, I bought the Kindle version of the book from Amazon. Why? Well, I could read it on my computer, Christina's iPad, or my phone.

How did it work out? Surprisingly well. First of all, I didn't have to lug around, or keep track of, a hardback book. If one of those pieces of electronics is available (pretty much any time I'm not at work), I can read the book. Even though I know the software behind the synchronization is trivial, I still ended up feeling impressed when it would remember my place even when I switched devices. I would read on the iPad before bed, the PC when I was up late, and the phone whenever I found a few spare moments when I was out and about.

I decided not to read when I only had a minute or two -- say, in a checkout line. I didn't think the book would be well served by that kind of choppiness. But if I had enough time where I expected that I could get through a chapter -- say, walking to lunch, I eagerly dug in, especially when the plot started moving fast enough for me to be eager to find out what happened next.

I've seen various complaints about what the decline in printed books could mean. But after considering most of them, I'm OK with it. I don't have an attraction to the paper and ink -- if anything, an e-book feels like a purer connection with the author's words -- the things I read a book to experience. I don't mind not having a book to put on a shelf when I'm done. I have too many things around my house, and I've taken to selling used books for whatever pittance a secondhand bookstore will take. And since I tend to treat books as one-time experiences -- like a movie -- I am also not concerned about proprietary formats for e-books. As long as the format is supported by wherever I want to read it in the next month or so, I'm OK.

Actually, to solve the clutter problem, I had been reading a lot of books from the library. That also cut down on expenses. With kids, however, I don't always have time to read a book before it's due, and I don't always want to make time to return it when it is due. E-books are more expensive (than free), but I think the convenience makes it worth the expense. That's particularly true since I don't have as much time to read as I used to. I had been looking forward to A Dance with Dragons for years, but it still took me a month and a half to read. My expenses aren't going to go up that much -- as long as I only by e-books I am certain to want to finish. For new authors I'm giving a try-out to, I'll probably stick with the library.

I think what really sold me on the idea of e-books is traveling. In the past, I had to decide how many books to stuff in my suitcase at the expense of clothing and other items. I think I've had about an equal number of trips where I lug around a couple of books I never open and ones where I run through all of the ones I brought and wish I brought more.

With e-books, space is not an issue, so not matter how much I end up reading, I have saved space in my carry-on -- and these days, I try particularly hard to stick to the carry-on to save time in the airport. (Unless I'm traveling with the family, in which case any space I can save for twin-wrangling gear is good.) If I have a long international trip, I can either load up on more e-books than I could need, or just enough to get me through the first flight, and then download more as needed at my destination. On the recent flight back from California (while Jack was sleeping), I discovered another advantage. Since I was reading on my phone, I could switch back and forth between the book and games with quite a bit of ease. (One disadvantage: not being able to read the book during takeoff and landing.)

So I've gone ahead and bought Blackout (the first half of the most recent Nebula novel winner) as an e-book. It's not as good as A Dance with Dragons, but I know I'll finish it as part of my Nebula project. I see a lot of e-books in my future.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (13) Quiznos

Quizno's is now closed.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Quiznos, 15477 Excelsior Dr

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 8/31/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Yes
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

At least it's not another Subway.

I had started to prepare a post tying Quiznos' severe financial difficulties to their decision to get rid of the Honey Bourbon Chicken, my favorite sandwich. A little bit of Internet research, however, indicated the continued presence of the Honey Bourbon Chicken sandwich on their menu, which did not square with my recent experiences. So another in-person visit seemed to be called for.

Although the Bowie location does not offer on-line ordering, the Quiznos site helpfully provided a phone number for me to call in the order. This seemed great -- if they denied the existence of the sub, I could write my review based on my previous visits and the absence of the HBC. But as it turned out, the HBC is still there -- or perhaps it has returned; that will remain a mystery.

Ultimately, what Quiznos is about is the opportunity to have a notch-above-fast-food experience. Because it's the only Quiznos, and it provides a respite from the sea of Subways in Bowie, I'll keep it at 2 stars.

The location itself is kind of awkward. It's in the Bowie Town Center mall complex, but not really in the mall part. It's sort of near the Safeway, but not right next to it. It's as if someone decided to shoehorn a strip mall inside the mall. It's not a big deal, but as a newly-minted Bowieite (Bowiean?), I am disappointed in the poor layout -- if also you go almost anywhere else in the mall, you're going to get into your car.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (12) Burger King

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Burger King, 6980 Laurel Bowie Road
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 7/27/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's a Burger King. On our way to pre-settlement inspection of our house, I was running late, hungry and driving right by here, so it made the perfect opportunity to try this place for review. I have made it my habit to order the chicken at Burger King, but since this was a review and, you know, the place was called Burger King, I got a Whopper.


In awarding stars, I really only had one question. I have referred to Wendy's as "a cut above McDonald's" and awarded it two stars. Is Burger King in that category (main argument: hey, onion rings), or is a notch below that and deserving of only 1 1/2 stars?


This has caused me to implement a new test -- is it the type of place you can imagine someone swearing off? McDonald's is the prime example of this -- Christina and I have essentially sworn the place off -- I can name each of the times I've been there in the past 4 or 5 years. (Generally emergency sustenance or bathroom use.) Taco Bell is another place people swear off. Wendy's -- not so much. I can imagine someone swearing off fast food in general and including Wendy's, but not a "I'll go to McDonalds or Burger King, but not Wendy's." (I'm sure there are always exceptions, but it would seem odd to me.)


Well, this meal reminded me of why I always get the chicken at Burger King. I won't give you details of my body's reaction to the burger, but it re-affirmed my swearing off of Burger King burgers. That's good enough to knock BK down to 1 1/2 stars. It is saved from 1 star by being the only Burger King in Bowie, and saved from below 1 star by offering a standard-order Burger King experience. Anything below my fairly low set of expectations (e.g., rude or incompetent service) would push things into that territory.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (11) Beijing Cafe

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Beijing, 1324 Crain Highway
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 7/22/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins:1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Apparently, since I had a menu from there in my office.
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

This is one of about 10 Chinese restaurants in Bowie. It qualifies as a restaurant because it has a few tables, but it seems to do mostly take-out business.

Aside from being the southernmost Chinese restaurant in Bowie, this restaurant is completely inessential. I don't trust a restaurant that serves Chinese food and subs; it seems like it's trying to be too many things at once. I think I started doing takeout from a different place on Route 301 once I realized I didn't have to drive that far; my recent meal reminds me why. Not particularly tasty.

At least it's not a chain. At least it's one of the few restaurants this far south in Bowie. That's about all I can say positive, and why it gets 1 1/2 stars.

I have posted this restaurant as a waymark here.

In Bowie restaurant news, Bowie Living reports that the "Bang Bang Mongolian Grill" will be opening this fall in the Free State Shopping Center. I probably won't review it until it makes it into the 2012 restaurant guide, but I will definitely review it, assuming the opening goes as planned. It'll be the first "Mongolian Grill" in Bowie, but the area is thick with Chinese restaurants -- two restaurants and a takeout place are within a stone's throw, another is just up the road at Hilltop Plaza, and a couple of others are within 10 minutes. It'll be interesting to see how it does.

Lost and Found

Ben's parents recently experienced a fire at their house. Luckily, nobody was injured, and though the house will need to be extensively renovated, it will not need to be completely torn down.

When emptying out the house for the renovations, they came across a box of games I had left there in 1994. I tell the story here, on the BoardGameGeek web site.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (10) Five Guys

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Five Guys, 3851 Town Center Boulevard
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 2/7/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's a Five Guys. It's a burger chain that started out locally (in Arlington) and has expanded across the country. The menu is very limited, but the burgers and fries are a notch above what you find in a fast-food restaurant. Your food is cooked to order, but all of the burgers come out well-done. So it's not a gourmet experience, and it's not a unique experience (I find myself at the one in Gambrills more often, and there are at least 3 others in a 10 mile radius).

As with many of Bowie's other chains, I can distinguish it from other franchises mostly by talking about the parking. Because it's in the mall, you can't pull up right outside and park like you can at my other Five Guys. If you're having one of their burgers, the walk will probably do you good, though.

I set the bar at 2 stars with my review of Wendy's for a decent fast-food place where there's only one in Bowie. Since Five Guys is a bit above fast food, I'll bump it up to 2 1/2.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (9) Subway (Pointer Ridge Plaza)

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Subway, 1334 Crain Highway

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 6/10/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's another Subway. From what I read, it's a relatively new one. I stopped there on my way to see a house in the area -- one we ultimately decided against -- and had a fairly standard-issue Subway experience. The location of that house was a major factor in not buying, and while restaurant selection was not at the top of our list, I think the lack of choices in the area is pretty telling. Bowie is about 8 or 9 miles north to south, but in the southernmost 3 miles, you only have 5 restaurants -- this Subway, two Chinese places, a Pizza Hut, and a Domino's I recently decided doesn't count.

So given these facts: it's a standard Subway restaurant in a bleak part of Bowie for restaurants, how should it rate? Should it get extra credit for being one of the few choices "down south"? Or should it be penalized for contributing to the boringness of the choices? Let's say both, and give it the same 1 1/2 stars as the previously reviewed Subway.

2 Subways down, 5 to go. While this was perfectly adequate, given that it is the farthest Subway from our new house (and tied for the farthest restaurant), I don't see myself making a return trip.

As a parent of twins, I don't have a lot of time for hobbies. In the interests of efficiency, I decided to combine my restaurant reviewing hobby with my waymarking hobby by submitting this Subway as a waymark. I don't find the "Subway restaurants" to be the most exciting category, but it's pretty straightforward, especially now that I've enabled geotagging on my phone. Since I am taking these pictures anyway, I get the coordinates and the requisite picture.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (8) Grace's Fortune

Grace's Fortune is now closed.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Grace's Fortune, 15500 Annapolis Rd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 4/18/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: A Number
Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

In some ways, Grace's Fortune was the inspiration for the Bowie Restaurant Project. Years ago, we had a series of potential consultants coming into the office for interviews; we would always take them out to lunch as part of the process. The restaurant had to satisfy a few criteria: good food, nice decor, not a chain, (good) wait service. Since these were professors, I was looking for the sort of place you might take a visiting speaker after a colloquium. The only place in Bowie that I could think of was Grace's Fortune. One time, we had two visitors on consecutive days, and I got stressed because I didn't want to go there twice in a row, have someone mention it, and expose the fact that we really don't have other decent restaurants in Bowie. (I sometimes worry about things I don't need to worry about.) We ended up lucking out, having some extra time in the schedule for the second visitor, and went to Annapolis for Indian food.

I actually now have some other ideas for where to take an interviewee (to be revealed in upcoming reviews), but that incident was one of the things I think about when I think, "Bowie doesn't have a decent selection of restaurants." (Another, back in the 1990s, was when an unremarkable restaurant opened on Crain Highway -- I think it was Tia's, and I found it absolutely swamped on a Friday night. Clearly, people were desperate for more dining options. I think the quantity of sit-down restaurants has improved in the past 15 years; now I'm more worried about the quality.)

So what can you expect at Grace's Fortune? First of all, good Chinese food in a variety of price ranges -- the lunch specials, while not super-cheap, are a good deal. Second, you'll get good service. I think it would be awful to deal with poor service during a business lunch, and I've never had to at Grace's. The decor is nice, and although Grace has opened two other restaurants in Maryland, it definitely has a locally-owned feel.

What keeps it from being a five-star restaurant? First, it's a Chinese restaurant, and Bowie has a ton of them. I haven't visited them all yet, so I can't say for sure it's the best, but even if it is, it's still a less crucial part of Bowie's food landscape than if it were, say, a Burmese restaurant. Second, it's good Chinese food, but not great Chinese food. I can imagine driving from Bowie to Wheaton or Chinatown for better Chinese food, but not vice versa. I'd dock it half a star for each of these, but its status as a go-to "interview lunch" destination keeps me from dropping it below 4 1/2 stars.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (7) Glory Days Grill

Glory Days is now closed.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Glory Days Grill, 15505 Annapolis Rd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 3/26/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

Glory Days is located in the rather sad "Marketplace" shopping center, across the street from the Free State Mall. While the Free State Mall has had some success in remaking itself, The Marketplace hasn't turned the corner yet. A 2008 article talks about a potential demolition of the shopping center, but that never happened. With all the fits and starts towards redeveloping the place over the past decade, it's no wonder that Glory Days is one of only two restaurants in the center.

From their web site, I learn that Glory Days is a regional chain with twenty-two locations across Virginia (mostly), Maryland and West Virginia. I guess it's intended to be sports-themed, but honestly it feels like an off-brand Applebee's. I can't give specific criticisms of the food, because a few months later, I can't quite remember any of the dishes.

Looking at their menu, they offer new "shrimp zingers", along with "smothered chicken", burgers and so on. Yeah, it's that sort of place.

We went there a couple of times after house-hunting because it's somewhat conveniently located and they have high chairs. We stopped going there because the service was inconsistent, and none of the meals were inspiring.

Ordinarily, I would favor a local chain over a national one, but there's not enough local feel to favor this place over TGI Friday's, Applebee's or Chili's -- where at least you get the consistency of a national brand.

In the end, I'm going to go with 1 1/2 stars, mostly because it's so unambitious and unexciting that you may find yourself rooting for a demolition -- at least that would give the area a chance to start over.

Waymarking Update: If You Are Here, I Am Your Leader

I thought I'd take a break from the Bowie Restaurant Project to give a little update on waymarking. As you'll recall, waymarking is a hobby built around logging the coordinates of particular types of things ("sushi restaurants" and "Maryland historical markers" being two examples), and to a lesser extent, visiting those waymarks. (I wish it were to a greater extent, but that's another story.)

For reasons I myself don't entirely understand, one of my favorite categories is "You Are Here" Maps. So I went ahead and joined the "group" for that category. As far as I can tell, joining a group doesn't actually do anything, except maybe if someone sends an e-mail to the group, you'll get it. The actual functionality lies in the group officers, who approve or disapprove of waymarks as meeting the category guidelines. (For example, using image editing software to add the words "You Are Here" is kind of a no-no.)

After a while, without notifying me, someone promoted me to a group officer for the "You Are Here" maps. I guess they needed more people to review waymarks. So when someone submits a new one, I get an e-mail notification. Since it's not my sole responsibility, I don't feel bad deleting them if I'm busy, but if I'm bored, I'll go ahead and check them out and approve or (very rarely) disapprove.

A few weeks ago, the group leader decided he had enough other things going on, so he asked for someone to take his place. I have enough other things going on myself, but I couldn't figure out any actual additional responsibility I'd have to take on, so I stepped up to the plate.

So now I'm the group leader. I still haven't figure out any additional responsibility, and the title is cool. Except...the poorly-worded requirements for posting a waymark in that category had always bothered me.

YOU MUST POST PHOTO OF THE WORDS "YOU ARE HERE". Additionally this must be the default photo for submission. ( If you do not have this your waymark will not be approved ) Please list the coordinates and have a photo of the Map ( it needs to say "you are here" or the equivalent in an other language to qualify ) and another Photo of the area.

To me, this wording was ambiguous in at least two different ways. First, it wasn't clear if the default photo had to be a close-up of the words "You are here", or just a photo that had the words somewhere in it. Second, the photo of the area sounds like it might be a request, rather than a requirement. A lot of waymarks got submitted without the area photo. I didn't want to approve them, but I didn't want to be a jerk and disapprove them. So I generally left them for other people to approve.

So using my new standing (if not power) as group leader, I initiated a discussion on re-writing the category requirements. After consultation with my fellow waymarkers, I came up with

YOU MUST POST A PHOTO OF THE WORDS "YOU ARE HERE" (or the equivalent in the language of the sign) as the default photo for the waymark.

• You must have a minimum of three photos -- a closeup of the words, one of the map, one of the area -- in order for the waymark to be approved.
• The closeup of the words can be from the same snap as the one of the map, just cropped differently.
• The area photo can show the map in the location, but it doesn't have to -- take the best picture you can to show people where you are when "You Are Here".
• If the map does not have "You Are Here" written directly on it, but instead has a symbol and a map legend explaining that symbol, please provide close-ups of both the symbol on the map and the legend.

Things have gone fairly smoothly since the update. We've had a few waymarks submitted that did not meet the new criteria, but they were re-submitted after rejection. And I've reminded myself that while I like power without responsibility, I also like responsibility enough to create work for myself.

Bowie Restaurant Project: What's a Restaurant?

When I went to the Bowie Town Center food court to review The White Tiger, I took a few pictures of other restaurants for future reviews. Afterwards, I kept thinking about Auntie Anne's. My thoughts shifted from, "When am I going to get around to reviewing it?" to "Wait, is that really a restaurant?"

The answer is "no". If you look at the definition of "restaurant", it's

an establishment where meals are served to customers

The key word here is "meals". A pretzel is tasty, a pretzel is a snack, but a pretzel is not a meal. Even if you put pepperoni on it. On the basis that they do not serve "meals", I am disqualifying the following six listings from the Bowie Restaurant Guide:

• Auntie Anne's
• Best Pie Company
• Cakery
• Cold Stone Creamery
• Rita's Italian Ice
• Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe

While I was discussing this with Christina, she suggested that a place would need to have seating to qualify as a restaurant. While I initially objected -- there is nothing explicitly in the definition requiring seating -- I was persuaded by two things. First, practically everyone on Facebook and Google+ who answered this question agreed with her. Second, Christina pointed out that if you don't require seating, the deli counter at Giant would qualify as a restaurant. On that basis, I am disqualifying the following four takeout establishments:

• China Chef
• Crescent Food Market
• Domino's Pizza
• Papa John's

I am not totally certain on the Crescent Food Market, but it appears to be a convenience store with a deli counter. Since we're going to be living right around the corner from it, I will find out more and reserve the right to re-qualify it.

After taking into account the two vacant/closed establishments, that brings the total number of restaurants in Bowie down to 79. There are a few more that may end up being disqualified. In particular, the Muffin Man Caribbean Cafe has yet to open, and walking by it, I'm not sure if it ever will.  But -- I figure if it opens before I review all the other restaurants in Bowie, I'll give it a chance.

On another note, I have decided to release all of the photographs from this project under a Creative Commons license. Basically, that means that other people are allowed to use the photos; all they have to do is to give me credit. I'm not sure if anyone will want to, but it's part of a general effort I'm making to have my web efforts be of as much use as possible. You can find an album of the photos below; I'll be copying more in the future. (And you can find out some of the upcoming reviews based on the photos.)

Bowie Restaurant Photos

Bowie Restaurant Project: (6) Popeye's

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Popeye's, 15480 Annapolis Rd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 10/19/2010
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Several
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's a Popeye's. In other words, like KFC, but spicier, and with more interesting side dishes.

This is in the same outbuilding of the Free State Mall as the Subway I reviewed last week. That means it has the same parking issues. While I neglected to penalize Subway for the inadequate parking, I think it's a bigger problem with a place like Popeye's. Typically, you'd expect to find a drive-through -- like at the one ten minutes away in Crofton/Gambrills, so having to navigate an annoying parking situation is perhaps more than you want to endure to get your greasy chicken.


I have to admit I find their chicken tasty enough to tempt me, but I may be getting too old to digest it smoothly. It gets some credit for being the only Popeye's in Bowie, but not much.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (5) The White Tiger

The White Tiger is Now Closed.

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.

For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

The White Tiger, 3872 Town Center Boulevard
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 7/19/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: At Least One
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Here are some types of restaurants that Bowie lacks:

• Thai
• tapas
• Vietnamese
• Greek
• bagel
• diner

The White Tiger is the only thing keeping "Indian" off that list -- and it's a pretty thin exception. The main White Tiger restaurant is a sit-down establishment in DC. The Bowie version is located in the Bowie Town Center food court. (By the way, 7 of Bowie's claimed 91 restaurants are in the food court, while 14 others are elsewhere in the mall.)

I wanted to like this restaurant, given that it fills a void in Bowie's restaurant diversity.  But eating here is like...eating at a restaurant in a food court. I think the best description I can give is that the food tastes like the frozen Indian dinners I get at MOM's Organic Market. Now, I eat those, but I don't generally like to travel farther than my freezer to get them. Likewise, I suppose if you're already at the food court, you should consider The White Tiger along with your 6 other options. But if you actually have to get into your car, make the drive to Greenbelt, Annapolis, or especially Langley Park.

I'm reluctantly giving this 2 stars, but only because of the fact that it technically allows Bowie to claim slight diversity in its ethnic dining.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (4) Subway (Free State Mall)

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Subway, 15480 Annapolis Rd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 5/14/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 4
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Several
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

It's a Subway. One of 7 in Bowie. This particular specimen of the breed is located in an building in the parking lot of the Free State "Mall". Although it was an actual mall when I was growing up in Crofton in the 70s and 80s, now it's essentially a collection of buildings awkwardly placed around some parking spaces. There's a really nice Giant Food there, a good cleaners, and a few other places of note.

But enough about the mall, I hear you say, what distinguishes this Subway from the 6 others in Bowie? Well, I'd have to say the parking. In particular, it's terrible -- there aren't enough spaces on the Subway side of the building to serve the Subway, the liquor store, the Popeye's, and whatever else is there. So you're better off parking on the other side of the building and walking around. Other than that, it's your basic, generic Subway restaurant.

I would give this place 2 stars (the parking's not worth a deduction) like the Wendy's -- it's a reasonable example of a decent chain restaurant. Subway gives you the opportunity to have a relatively healthy meal. But as one of seven Subways in Bowie, it just doesn't merit that kind of respect, so I'll drop it to 1 1/2.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (3) Chesapeake Grille & Deli

For an explanation of the Bowie Restaurant Project, look here.


For a collection of all the Bowie Restaurant Project entries, look here.

Chesapeake Grille & Deli, 6786 Race Track Rd
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 7/7/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins:7
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Christina has a rule about restaurants -- don't eat anywhere that spells "grill" with an "e" -- that's what you find on a car, not in a kitchen. The Chesapeake Grille is good enough to make us break that rule.

Salem enjoys their sweet potato fries.

As someone whose mom brought me to Hilltop Plaza for shopping in the 1970s, it's kind of amazing that it's turned into such a great little shopping center. But we find ourselves coming here all the time. As someone who can't stand Whole Foods, MOM's Organic Market is the perfect place to shop for tasty foods without a lot of weird ingredients. And the Kid's First Swim School is a great place for "Mommy & Me" swim classes (or as we parents of twins call it, "Mommy & Daddy & Him & Me".)

After swim class, we invariably find ourselves heading over to the Chesapeake Grille. Everyone is always great to the boys, but their "no tipping" policy always leaves me a bit uncomfortable as they turn our table into a minor disaster area.

But no matter, because it's off to the counter to order our meal. Most items have been hits, including the tuna melt (made with real slices of tuna), the turkey melt, and the fries (both the Old Bay-laden ones and the sweet potato ones). They bring it to the table, and are usually good at identifying places to put down the food that the boys won't disrupt.

The Chesapeake Grille has only been open in Bowie since late May, but it already has attracted quite a following. We run into the same "regulars" on different visits, and if we are there during peak meal hours, most tables are filled. They've already got 235 fans on Facebook, and it took me 6 visits to grab the mayorship on Foursquare -- both signs they have devoted customers on-line and off.

So why don't I give it five stars? Well, I'll knock off half of a star because not every item on the menu has been a home run. I don't think I'll get the hamburger again, and Christina wasn't thrilled when she ordered a hot dog. (On the other hand, on our last trip, I got the crab cake sandwich and she got the Chesapeake Salad with salmon, and we were both delighted.) I'll deduct another half a star because it doesn't really enhance the variety of Bowie's restaurant landscape.  Nearly every dish they serve I could imagine being served at some other place -- the only real theme is the extensive use of Old Bay. But what they do, they do well. If any place can become a neighborhood institution in a month and a half, the Chesapeake Grille has accomplished it. I'm sure we'll be going back again and again.

World Heritage Update: Belfries!

I was combing the list of World Heritage Sites in the hopes I had overlooked one I had already visited. Lo and behold, I found "Belfries of Belgium and France". Going back over ten years in this blog, I find an "Images of Brugge" entry that contains a couple of pictures I took from "the Belfort" -- Brugge's (Bruges') belfry, one of the ones on the list. My father actually framed prints of those two pictures, so I've had evidence of this visit hanging in our house for more than a decade.

My total is now at 49. Twenty-five sites were inscribed last month, so the total is 936, and my percentage has actually dipped (due to rounding) to 5.2%. Could have been worse -- without this finding, I would have been down to 5.1%.