Bowie Restaurant Project: (44) Uno Express

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



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

Uno Express, 16520 Ball Park Road
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/15/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Yes, there is seating.

The City of Bowie Restaurant Guide lists this one as "BJ's Express (inside BJ's Wholesale Club). I was skeptical whether it would count as an actual restaurant, but it checked all the boxes for another in the "barely a restaurant" series. It has enough food to serve you a meal, and it has seating.

First, the food. It offers pizza, chicken tenders and hot dogs. Since it has the Uno branding on it, I though the pizza would be the best choice. Unfortunately, the pizza bears little resemblance to what you might get at Uno Chicago Grill. Uno's isn't the best pizza in the world, but it's distinctive, and it's better than whatever they're serving here. I can't imagine the chicken tenders or hot dogs would be worthwhile.

Probably the best thing about here was the pricing. A bottled Coke was $1.39, which is ridiculous in some sense, but less than you'd pay at the supermarket or 7-11 if you wanted just one cold one. A "slice" of pizza is $1.99, but it's a quarter of the pizza, and they actually cut it into two slices.

The woman who took my order was pleasant enough.

Although BJ's is a membership club, you don't need a membership to eat at the Uno Express. I cannot imagine why a non-member would want to unless he had some crazy project to eat at every restaurant in Bowie. As a non-member, you can print a one-day pass to allow yourself to shop there (but pay a 15% premium). I did so, but it turned out not to be necessary. All in all, eating at BJ's is less depressing that eating in Wal-Mart, but at least there you have a standard-quality Subway. If you're at BJ's, there aren't a ton of options in the area, but I would recommend heading over to Rip's. One star, then. It's not awful-awful, but definitely bottom of the barrel.

---

Bowie Restaurant Update

Since I realized that I was better at keeping a restaurant list than the City of Bowie, I no longer depend on them for a definitive record of Bowie restaurants. So now I'm looking for restaurants they've missed. I think I've found one -- the 19th Hole Bar & Grill at the Bowie Golf & Country Club seems to qualify. Even though they call themselves a "glorified snack bar," it's more of a restaurant than many places. It serves a variety of foods, including breakfast, and it has a full bar. So that bumps my list up to 80.

I was considering an entire post about something weird I noticed -- only 3 restaurants disappeared between the 2011 and 2012 edition of the restaurant guide. Depending on how you count things, that could be as high as a 4% failure rate, but that seems incredibly low for the restaurant business. After some research, however, I think I've identified the causes.

• Restaurant failure rates aren't as high as people say they are.
• Failure rates are highest with new restaurants, and Bowie doesn't have a lot of new restaurants.
• The local economy is not booming (which is probably why not many new restaurants are opening), but it's doing well enough to keep the existing restaurants in business.
• The lack of new restaurants means that the stock of existing restaurants isn't getting much competition.

One of the three restaurants that disappeared was the Seattle's Best inside Borders -- it didn't fail on its own terms, it failed because it was inside a bankrupt book store. Another was Panda Express, which is being replaced by Asian Chao in the food court. The third is the KFC at Bowie Plaza. None of these seem like great losses, but I don't think there's an underlying theme to tie them together.

Book Review: Ancient Shores

Ancient Shores by Jack McDevitt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this book because I really like McDevitt, and also because the digital version of it is available through the local library. Let me tell you, library ebooks are great. It combines all the greatness of not paying for books that libraries represent with the awesomeness of not leaving your house that Kindles offer.

One thing I have remarked about McDevitt's books is that he reworks many of the same plot ideas into different books. I'm not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand it's his right, and if he does it in an interesting way, I guess it's fine. On the other hand, it can trigger another "not another collision of celestial bodies" reaction.

Ancient Shores doesn't feature any such collision, but it revolves around an apparent artifact from a vanished alien civilization. I hadn't realized that "apparent artifact from a vanished alien civilization" was a McDevitt trope, but now I see that it is.

Where the book excels is in imagining the news coverage of this discovery in the not-too-distant future. The "forget science, how is this going to affect my bottom line" attitude is closer to the mark than most of the wide-eyed wonder you see portrayed in sf.

That said, the book is not all cynical -- the heroes, of course, possess much of idealism represented in the book. In fact, I think the ending borders on corny with a weird deus ex machina. Even worse, the ending doesn't resolve many of the questions raised in the first half of the book.

So, parts I enjoyed, but it didn't finish as strongly as most of McDevitt's work.

Countries Visited

So it's been four years ago this month since I updated my countries visited map. Since then, I've been to the Netherlands (twice), Turkey and Japan. The former two I noted on my updated European map in September 2008. Japan, which I visited in 2009, calls for breaking out the full world map. If I hit my regular conference circuit, I will add no new countries in 2012, but I will in 2013. This three-year lull (2010-2012) in visiting new countries is partly due to revisiting countries (in the past two years, I've revisited Singapore, South Korea, Germany, the UK, Canada, and, as mentioned earlier, the Netherlands.) It's partly due to my reduced travel schedule with the boys around.

The last time I went three years without visiting a new country was 1995-1997.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (43) Barnes & Noble Cafe

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



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

Barnes & Noble Cafe, 15455 Emerald Way
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/14/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2 (plus one where I was just buying books)
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Once again we visit a "restaurant" that barely hits the minimum requirements. Could you say, "Hey, let's meet at Barnes & Noble, grab some dinner there, and sit and eat it"? Yes. I don't recommend it as a first date, however. It does, however, beat the food court Dairy Queen, our previous example of "barely a restaurant".

Why? Well, the selection isn't awful. A few sandwiches that are pleasant enough, and a couple of different soups. Since it's mainly devoted to selling drinks, the beverage selection is pretty good.

The service is not stellar. The first time I went, I was tempted by an offer of a $2 cookie for only $1 with purchase of a sandwich. While waiting for my sandwich, I looked at my receipt and, hey, they charged me $2. What followed was five minutes of let-me-figure-out-how-to-refund-this-oh-wait-I-have-to-call-someone-over. I have seen this dance at too many stores. I don't think the workers are dragging things out in the hopes that I'll say, "Never mind." But I think Barnes & Noble keeps teaching how to give a refund low on the employee training -- and not because they think their clerks never make mistakes.

The second time I went, only one person was on duty, which is just ridiculous for any food establishment more complicated than an ice cream truck. Everybody was nice to me both times, but you might want to bring a book. (Or wander over and peruse their surprisingly good games selection -- yay, Agricola.)

As I said, the sandwiches weren't bad. Based on the quality of the food, it could rise to a two-star establishment, which is pretty good for not-really-a-restaurant. The quality of the service makes it lose a half-star. Given the wealth of other options in Bowie Town Center, I don't feel bad only giving it a star and a half.

---

Bowie Restaurant News

As I suspected from the restaurant guide, Panda Express is now closed. When I stopped by to look, this not-very-interesting sign was in its place. I heard construction noises coming from behind the sign, which is encouraging, I guess. After I left, I wondered how much construction you really need to do to turn Panda Express into Asian Chao.

Still, good for Bowie Town Center to turn around the location so quickly. Two other spots in the food court remain long-vacant, however.

The City of Bowie has posted a new version of the restaurant guide which incorporates most of my corrections. They deleted Corridor Beer & Wine, but not the three restaurants located just outside city limits. They also added the Uptown Cafe.

They found a mistake I hadn't caught until after my previous round of corrections. They had claimed 94 "eating establishments", but listed only 93. That means my derived number of 80 should actually be 79. So after this review, I am down to 37 to go (32 that are actually open now.)

Book Review: Firebird

Firebird by Jack McDevitt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My review of the previous entry in McDevitt's Alex Benedict books opened:

This is another solid entry in McDevitt's Alex Benedict series. Other than the first entry, they follow the same pattern. The prologue is a flashback to events driving the eventual mystery, then Chapter One opens with Alex Benedict, antiquities dealer, getting involved in the "present day" -- thousands of years into a future in which humans have spread across the galaxy. An object Alex investigates sparks a mystery, which leads to someone trying to kill him and Chase, his assistant (and the narrator). Eventually, they make a meaningful discovery that goes well beyond the original relic.

So how does that work for Firebird? Well, it was a solid entry, it had a flashback, an object, a mystery, attempts to kill Alex and Chase and finally, a meaningful discovery. So is it too formulaic? Actually, no. I cheated a little bit in checking off the list. The attempts to kill Alex and Chase are completely different than in any other books. I don't want to give spoilers, but let's just say they're not from people who want to prevent the mystery from unraveling. Further, public pronouncements from Alex lead other people into putting their own lives in danger in a way that is very realistic. I feel that one of McDevitt's strengths is that he has a better handle than most sf writers on what popular reaction to fictional events would really be like.

Finally, the mystery and meaningful discovery actually relate to something that happened in the first book. If I didn't know better (from reading McDevitt's web site), I would be marveling at how he planted a seed in a book more than twenty years ago only to resist the temptation to pick it up again until the time was right. In reality, he had an idea which he managed to fit seamlessly with the backstory of the novels so that it seems that it had been there all along.

An enjoyable read. It didn't blow me away, but the series is still fresh at entry #6.

The Nebula nominees are going to be announced in a week or two, and I expect this book to be on the list. Depending on the competition, it may be a solid contender.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (36*) Uptown Cafe

Since I discovered that the Subway inside the Sunoco isn't actually in Bowie, I'm replacing it as #36 on my list with this review of the Uptown Cafe, which opened last year. I'm hoping to resume my regular numbering system with #43 next week.

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



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

Uptown Cafe, 16701 Melford Blvd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/06/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 29
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Like One Town Center Deli, Uptown Cafe fills a particular niche -- a deli in an office park. I think Uptown is miles ahead of OTC Deli, though, for a number of reasons.

The first is location. While OTC is across the street from about a quarter of Bowie's restaurants, Uptown is one of only three Bowie restaurants east of Route 301. (For the other two, you have to use 301 to get there from the part of Bowie containing Uptown.) If, like me, you work in the Melford office park, Uptown is a) the only place you can realistically walk to, b) by far the quickest place to drive and c) an easy place to stop for lunch on the way into work.

Another advantage is that it's a better deli. The sandwiches are nice, the beverage and snack collection is impressive, and they take credit cards. As an added bonus (worth half a star), they have Korean lunch specials, making it the only place in Bowie to get Korean food. If you have a craving for bulgogi, there's no guarantee they'll have it that day, but you are guaranteed not to be able to get it elsewhere.

The prices are a little high -- if you want a cheaper, bigger sub, go to Subway. But I expect to pay a little more for a more convenient option. As you can see from my number of foursquare check-ins, I'm a regular customer (and the mayor). If I didn't work down the road, I don't think I'd ever have a reason to visit here. But it fits comfortable into its niche, and I'm very happy it's part of the Bowie landscape.

(I have e-mailed the City of Bowie to point out that it does not appear in their restaurant guide. I got an e-mail back thanking me for my corrections; I'm waiting to see what happens with the updates.)

Bowie Restaurant Project: 2012 City of Bowie Restaurant Guide

I could say that I've taken the project of reviewing every Bowie restaurant too seriously when I'm excited by the 2012 City of Bowie Restaurant Guide coming out. But I think the real sign is reading through it and realizing that I have a more accurate database of Bowie restaurants than the City does.

Now, it's their right to define restaurant differently than I do. They list 94 "eating establishments". Of those:

• Crescent Food Market (now Crescent Beer & Wine) doesn't serve food.
  
• Rip's, the Subway in Sunoco and Chick-fil-a are not in Bowie.
• Cake Courtesan (not open yet), Auntie Anne's, Hershey's Ice Cream, Cold Stone Creamery, Rita's Italian Ice, The Cakery and Best Pie Company don't serve meals.
• Hunan Delight, Papa John's, China Chef, Hunan Gardens and Bowie Seafood Market are takeout-only.

The first two objections are, in my mind, inescapable. That knocks the 94 restaurants down to 90. The latter two are my interpretation. With those deletions, we drop down to 78.

The guide missed out on Uptown Cafe, which opened last year in the Melford office park. I was waiting until it appeared in the guide to review it, but since I seem to be keeping better track of these things than they do, I'm going to go ahead and review it later this week. That brings us up to 79.

That list of 79, by the way, includes a few places that haven't opened yet.

• Dunkin' Donuts in Bowie Plaza
• Asian Chao in Bowie Town Center
• Bang Bang Mongolian Grill in Free State Mall
• Jersey Mike's Subs in Hilltop Plaza
• Muffin Man Caribbean Cafe in Hilltop Plaza

I don't think I've seen Asian Chao reported anywhere. If I google the address listed (and correct the misspelling), I get the address of Panda Express, which isn't on this year's list, so I guess is being replaced.

So of these restaurants, I thought I was up to number 42. Number 36 was the Subway inside Sunoco, which I guess I should now delete, just like I did with Rip's. (Except I'm not going to honor the Subway with a "Beyond Bowie" review.) Number 38 is Panda Express. I'm going to keep that around, since it wasn't a mistake, and I don't think numbering should change because restaurants come and go -- only if I have made a mistake about what's actually in Bowie. So that brings the total up to 80, and I have 41 reviews.

I've e-mailed some of my corrections to the City; we'll see if they respond.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (18*) International House of Pancakes

Note: For an explanation of the out-of-sequence numbering of this review, see the note at the end.

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



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

International House of Pancakes, 15470 Annapolis Rd.
Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 02/04/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

It's an IHOP. You get what you expect. The food is not spectacular, but it's breakfast any time. That counts for something in a city without a real diner. Your other choice is, I believe, Bob Evans.

After a 15-minute wait in a too-small waiting area with squirmy kids, we were led to a table with four chairs and two high chairs. I figured they had confused the number in our party, but it turned out they realized how much space you need with two toddlers. That's a plus.

The food was nothing spectacular, but tasty enough. I like the fact that you can get blueberry pancakes with the blueberries in the batter -- most places just offer blueberry compote. (Here you get both.) The boys really enjoyed their eggs and pancakes. Christina got a "Simple & Fit" omelet, which she found acceptable. The eggs were a little overdone, and she feels that they should add spices if they're going to leave out the salt. In general, places like IHOP serve bland food, which is part of the reason they get so much business.

We have gotten takeout from them once before. It's not a great deal, since most people can make eggs and pancakes more cheaply at home. But sometimes you don't have the time, and the kids seemed to like their eggs better than what we've been able to do at home, so it's good to have as an option.

In summary, IHOP is one of those "every city should have one" types of establishments. In lieu of Bowie having a diner, it's an OK alternative. It's kid-friendly, and the food is reasonable enough. Two and a half stars.

---

Bowie Restaurant Update

I was recently informed that Rip's is not actually in the City of Bowie. Since I relied on the City of Bowie's list of restaurants within the city limits, I don't feel bad making that mistake. Still, I have stricken it from the list and replaced it as #18 with this IHOP review. So I've still done 42 Bowie restaurant reviews, but now the total is out of 75. 33 to go!

Instead of deleting my review of Rip's, I am making it the first review in my "Beyond Bowie" series. I had originally planned this series as a complementary series to the Bowie reviews, in order to highlight nearby restaurants that substituted for gaps in Bowie's restaurant landscape. In this case, the gap comes from the fact that no restaurant actually in Bowie pre-dates the late 1960s, as far as I can tell.

I've gotten delayed in my "Beyond Bowie" series because of the time I've spent reviewing Bowie restaurants, but I can think of at least four other places I plan to visit for the series.

Postcards from 2011

I find myself thinking wistfully of that place in time, say, not three years ago, when teenage bedrooms again sprouted daisy stickers and when Grunge ruled the catwalks. On another level, I think of when the imperative to become "wired" hadn't yet so much filled the world's workforce with dark dreams of low-tech paranoia and security-free obsolescence. It's been a busy half-decade.

--Douglas Coupland, Polaroids from the Dead, 1996

These words -- or at least the ideas they contain  --  have stuck with me for more than fifteen years. Coupland's first and most well-known work, Generation X, is subtitled Tales for an Accelerated Culture, so it makes sense that he would be among the first to notice that life had sped up to the point that a person in 1996 could experience nostalgia for 1993. I remember reading it and thinking, "Wow, he's right."

Now, in 2012, I get an e-mail every day from a service called Timehop. It was originally called "Foursquare and 7 Years Ago" and would tell me what places I had checked into a year previously. Now, it includes updates from Foursquare, Twitter and Facebook.

Given the service's previous name, I had hoped that when my Foursquare account turned two, I would start to get updates going back more than one year. Alas, that's not the case. Today, for example, I found out that last year I took a picture of the boys in their Star Trek onesies and picked up dinner from Noodles & Company. I was not, however, informed that on February 3, 2010, I was at Safeway stocking up before another massive snowstorm, nor that I picked up dinner at Boston Market due to our ongoing kitchen renovation.

I did not learn that 3 years ago today, the odometer on my CR-V hit 100,000 miles. Nobody told me that in 2008 I ordered two calzones from Rastie's. I had to dig through my e-mail to learn that five years ago today, I posted a session report from a game of "Up Front". And it saddens me to report that I have absolutely no idea what I was up to on February 3, 2006. Oh, wait. I posted something about how my go rating had just reached 23 kyu. (It's at 14 kyu now.)  Also, Christina and I appear to have been in California.

But, still!  What about 2005? I was staying at the Doubletree in Del Mar, so there's that. 2004? I had an appointment with my allergist, who said I could stay with one allergy shot per month. (I'm now back at one every three weeks.) In 2003, Christina e-mailed me to ask what I wanted for dinner. I requested chicken tacos, but I don't know if we actually had them. OK, once I get to 2002, I have no immediately available information about that day. (On February 3, 1992, I was up at 6 am from the night before because I was playing the Civilization computer game, and I still had a homework problem to finish. And the previous evening's dinner to eat.)

My point (if I still have one), is that while I enjoy reveling in the past (and would love to have a record of February 3, 1982), that's not the way the world works these days. The three-year nostalgia Coupland identified in 1996 has become quaint. (Remember when we had three-year-nostalgia? That was awesome.) Now, a year ago constitutes the good old days, and beyond that -- it's best not to think about.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (42) Cetrone's Pizza Place

Cetrone's is now closed.


Since this review was written, Cetrone's closed their dining room. It's still a good place to get takeout or delivery, and there are a few tables left if you want to eat there, but it's no longer a place to take the kids, or any party larger than about four.

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

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

Cetrone's Pizza Place, 13631 Old Annapolis Rd.

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 01/24/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 7
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Even using your GPS to find this unassuming pizza joint can be a bit of a challenge. The restaurant's menus list it as "13631 Annapolis Rd.", but on Google Maps and most other places, the stretch of "old 450" with Cetrone's is "Old Annapolis Rd."

Cetrone's wins the title of Best Pizza in Bowie almost by default. Bowie has Uno's, Three Brothers, Villa Pizza, Domino's, Papa John's and two-and-a-half Pizza Huts (I'll explain later). Other than the chains, T.J. Elliott's sells Ledo Pizza, but through a confusing arrangement it's not actually part of the Ledo chain. So if you want non-chain pizza in Bowie, I think you can say the choice comes down to Cetrone's and T.J. Elliott's.

Fortunately, Cetrone's takes the crown with style. They offer two versions: the "pizza wheel" thin-crust and the doughier New York style. The former is my favorite, but you can't go wrong either way. We've tried the calzones and the pasta, and while the stuffed shells were pretty tasty, the four-star rating is definitely for the pizza.

Definitely family-friendly!

The employees had always been nice to me when I went to pick up the pizza (or called to have it delivered), so I was looking forward to finding an excuse to bring the family in for a meal. We recently found one on my 40th birthday. I've never seen the place particularly busy, but 5:00 on a Tuesday was a great time to make sure the kids wouldn't disturb too many other patrons. Additionally, we were able to take advantage of one of their specials -- Monday for thin-crust, Tuesday for NY-style.

Service was very friendly and mostly efficient by a waitress who looked high-school-aged and was operating the front counter and the phone in addition to tending to the small customer base. She even brought some crayons and drawing paper, which the kids didn't get a chance to use, because the food was brought out quickly and piping hot. As much as I've enjoyed takeout and delivery, the food was especially good fresh from the oven.

In my mind, no matter where you live, you should have a go-to pizza place on speed dial. Cetrone's fills that niche admirably in Bowie.

(In a discussion of Bowie pizza, I'd be remiss in not mentioning "Happy Italian Delight," whose absence is much lamented by Bowieites. I had some good pizza from them back in the day -- I think Christina met me for lunch there on one of our first dates, but my memory isn't strong enough for a true comparison.)

I submitted this as an "Independent Pizza Restaurants" waymark. Thanks to Christina for the exterior photos used here and there.

---

Bowie Restaurant News

The Bowie Living blog reports that Jersey Mike's Subs is coming to Hilltop Plaza. I'm not sure why I'd choose to go there instead of the Chesapeake Grille two doors down, but I'll review the new place in due time. (I.e., when it opens.)

Bowie is also getting another Dunkin' Donuts location.  I'm not thrilled with the redundancy (it's a 5 minute drive from the other Dunkin' Donuts), but it could be worse.

Also, after further review, I am requalifying Simple Pleasures Ice Cafe, which I disqualified in July on the basis that they did not serve meals. Their web site says, "Our sandwich and salad menu offers any diner delightful choices of hot and cold sandwiches, and an assortment of salads." I look forward to visiting them again; I'll have to update my waymark from their old location. (Wow, a picture in my waymark even says "sandwiches", so I should have known better.) That raises the total number of restaurants in Bowie to 76, until the annual update of the restaurant guide came out. (Last year, it came out on January 20th.)

Bowie Restaurant Project: (41) Chipotle Mexican Grill

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

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

Chipotle Mexican Grill, 15500 Excelsior Dr.

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 01/20/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 1
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

This restaurant project is causing me to break all sorts of restaurant rules. Don't eat at a place that spells "grill" as "grille". Don't eat at McDonald's. Don't eat in a gas station. Another broken rule is: Don't eat at Chipotle. Years ago, Christina and I tried them a couple of times, each time waking up with a certain amount of digestive disruption. I attribute the problem to undercooked rice, but I have no idea why I'm so convinced of that.

I was intrigued by the fact that they have an iPhone/iPad app that lets you order. I was thinking of waiting until they had an Android app, but ultimately it made more sense to order on the web. I suspect one of the advantages of the app (for Chipotle) is once you have it installed, it becomes one of your go-to food ordering options.

The web-based ordering was pretty easy, allowing me to customize my order (and, for example, omit the rice). I chose my meal in taco format. Oddly, the site did not tell me how many tacos I'd get (three).

The building itself is located in a random part of the Bowie Town Center mall complex. I've complained before about parking access to restaurants there. In this case, there was parking right out front -- but it was hard to find any free. I think they clustered too many restaurants around too few parking spaces.

When I finally found parking and walked in, the line looked fairly substantial. The fact that I had ordered online, however, allowed me to jump to the front of the line. I always feel a little odd doing that, but that's what they say to do. The other advantage of on-line ordering is that I don't have to engage in a potentially error-prone back-and-forth, "Wait, did you say you wanted rice or no rice?" I was a little put off at having to wait a few minutes for my food -- the parking search had already put me past the pickup time the web site had told me. It wasn't a major inconvenience, but it's awkward to stand there waiting.

The food itself was somewhat tasty, but not exceptional. The digestive disruption was minor.

I realize my stomach's trouble with Chipotle may not be widely shared, but I don't see any reason to go there. California Tortilla is a much better quick-service Mexican option and less than half-a-mile away. If you have time to sit down, you should really use it, and go to Mi Hacienda or Monterrey. Chipotle is better than Taco Bell, and the web ordering system is nice, so two grudging stars.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (40) One Town Center Deli

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

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

One Town Center Deli, 4201 Northview Rd.

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 01/05/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

You might think a deli in an office building is an automatic candidate for a low rating. Certain types of restaurants -- fast-food joints, places where the only "meal" is a hot dog -- don't have much of a chance going in. But one of my criteria is "how much the restaurant contributes to the Bowie restaurant landscape."

Bowie is trying to attract commercial development to go with its fairly healthy residential and retail sectors. I imagine saying, "Your employees with love the convenience of not having to leave the building/office park, and you'll love the fact that they'll be able to get right back to work," would help lure a business to Bowie.

On the other hand, the office park in question, is literally across the street from the Bowie Town Center mall, which itself has about a quarter of Bowie's restaurant options. So although I'd eat there if I worked in that building, it's a little less essential.

Sad soda selection

On my visits, while the food was acceptable, I found other aspects of the execution sub-par. They only take cash, which is not convenient. On both visits (two days apart), the soda cooler was not particularly well-stocked. And both sandwiches I ordered ended up being wrapped with an unnecessary piece of styrofoam, which is not cool from an environmental standpoint.

So if you're already in the office park, I say go for it, unless you can spare the extra five minutes to head to the mall. But everyone else has better choices in Bowie.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (39) Golden Pavilion Asian Bistro

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

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

Golden Pavilion Asian Bistro, 6938 Laurel Bowie Rd.

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 01/02/2012
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 3
Pre-Foursquare Visits: No
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I am generally suspicious of restaurants that serve more than one type of cuisine; I think that they are unlikely to do all them well. I am seeing more Chinese/sushi restaurants, though, and some of them aren't bad. At our old house, for example, Seven Seas was our choice for not-driving-too-far Chinese food or sushi.

So when Christina brought home a menu from this place a few minutes from our house, I was skeptical but hopeful. They had been in business since 1967 as a Chinese restaurant, but moved next door and re-opened last year with the addition of a sushi bar. I'm not sure whether that makes them 45 years old or 1 year old, but I'll confine myself to parsing what is a restaurant and let others tackle the question of restaurant aging.

In sum, the sushi is very good. Christina likes it a bit better than I do; she remarks that the freshness has been more consistent than other East Coast establishments. I'm glad to have found a good sushi place so close to our house. I look forward to seeing how it ranks versus the other sushi establishments (of which Bowie has a surprising number.)

Now, normally, I would consider two visits sufficient to review a restaurant. Since, however, Golden Pavilion is at least as much a Chinese restaurant as sushi restaurant, I figured I needed one Chinese food meal to round out my evaluation. Based on my standard kung pao chicken test, I am pleased to report that Golden Pavilion is the only other Bowie Chinese restaurant I've tried to measure up to Grace's Fortune. (I still have one yet to sample.)

So four stars for a new Grantham family favorite. I think the only think that will keep us from visiting more often is that we had trouble finding anything on the menu that the kids would eat. That isn't a criticism of the restaurant -- it's just how the kids are right now. The staff was actually very friendly with the kids. I see it, though, for now as a good place for us to get takeout and for the occasional child-free date. I'm sure the boys will come around in time.

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Bowie Restaurant Update

I swung by Hunan Delight last night to pick up a menu. It turns out it's another carry-out-only joint. That drops the total to 75, which means I only have 36 to go!

Bowie Restaurant Project: Ranking the Food Court

You're at the Bowie Town Center food court. You can't be bothered to walk the two minutes to Uno's or cross the street to get to Five Guys. Where should you go?

1. Hibachi Japan -- Your go-to place for bourbon chicken. Closed!
   
2. Villa Pizza -- Surprisingly good for a food court, but seriously, Three Brothers is a 4-minute walk away.
3. The White Tiger -- The only Indian restaurant in Bowie. Closed!
   
4. Subway -- The only one of Bowie's Subway restaurants that's here. Closed!
5. Dairy Queen/Orange Julius -- Not a full-service Dairy Queen, but they will sell you hot dogs significantly worse than the ones across the street at Five Guys.
6. Panda Express -- Just step ten feet to the right and order the bourbon chicken. Closed!

If you are just looking for something to tide you over until you figure out somewhere better to eat, stop at Auntie Anne's, which doesn't meet my standard for what constitutes a restaurant, but still serves a tasty pretzel.

Return of the Android's Dungeon

Early last year, I posted a lament that my blog posting levels had been dropping off over the years. I vowed,

I'll try to do better this year, even if it means including goofy, "meta" posts like this one.

Hey, I did better! The rebirth was fueled by my "Bowie Restaurant Project", which contributed 37 posts -- slightly less than half. It amazes me that despite this effort, I didn't reach the levels of 2006-2007. What was I posting about then?

It looks like travel. In 2007, I had posts about trips to the Bahamas, New York, Finland, Estonia, Barcelona, California, Austria, Singapore, Malaysia and Las Vegas. Wow. I used to travel a lot. My reasons for traveling less are documented on another blog, so they won't be showing up too much here. I can, however, make the most of the travel I do have. And review more of the books I read. And finish the Bowie Restaurant Project. And cut myself a break for not keeping up the same posting schedule post-kids that I had pre-kids.

This year I decided to go with a bar graph.

Bowie Restaurant Project: Bowie's Top 6 Subway Restaurants

Now that I've reviewed all of Bowie's 76 Subway restaurants, here they are, ranked from best to worst.

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1. Subway (Bowie Plaza). It was a close race for first -- well, because one decent Subway restaurant is pretty much indistinguishable from any other one. But it's a freestanding location conveniently located near some major thoroughfares -- basically, all you could ask.

Subway (Pointer Ridge Plaza). We've already established you're going to Subway, and this place is by far the best choice in the south-of-Route-50 part of Bowie.

Subway (Free State Mall). Another fine choice, which only drops this far because of the relative scarcity of parking.

Subway (Bowie Town Center). It's in the food court. That in and of itself isn't so bad, but as long as you're eating in the food court, maybe you should consider some place slightly more interesting, like the bourbon chicken place. Closed!

Subway (Wal-Mart). You're eating in a Wal-Mart. What could be more depressing?

Subway (BP). Eating in a gas station. It avoids the bottom for being a slightly bigger, newer gas station and having a better soda machine setup.

Subway (Kim's Sunoco). Do yourself a favor and walk to Rip's deli and get a sandwich there. I have since learned that it's not actually in Bowie. Good riddance.

World Heritage: 2011 in Review

2011 was a pretty good year for seeing World Heritage Sites for me. In addition to discovering I had visited one in 2000, I visited a site in Canada, one in the UK, one in Holland, and three in Korea. Six is my biggest haul since 2003, when I made it to a ridiculous eight.


My total is now at 54 out of 936, or 5.8%. It's up about two percentage points in the last six years. I did some quick estimates recently, and I think I'll top out in the 10-15% range some day, but that day does not appear to be anywhere close to hand.

If in 2012, I go to the same conferences as I did this year, I can rent a car on my free afternoon and drive to Canterbury, and then see how many of Beijing's six world heritage sites I can cram into a 4-day trip. On the other hand, it's a lot harder to travel with toddlers at home, so 2012 may see the percentage slide back towards five percent as more sites are added.

Bowie Restaurant Project: (38) Panda Express

Panda Express 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.

Panda Express, 3860 Town Center Blvd.

Most Recent Foursquare Check-in: 12/29/2011
Total Foursquare Check-ins: 2
Pre-Foursquare Visits: Don't think so
Rating: 1/2 out of 5 stars

Based on my criteria for determining how many times to visit a restaurant for review, I had hoped to get by with one visit to Panda Express. It seemed so familiar -- and ubiquitous -- that I was pretty sure I had been there before. But ordering my food brought no sense of remembrance, so I suspect Panda Express is the type of place I have walked by countless times to order food from some place better.

Let's get the details of the restaurant out of the way. The rice was dry, and the food was meh. You can get two or three entrees with a combo, which I guess distinguishes it from most "normal" Chinese restaurants. It at least assured me I wasn't missing out on some fantastic specialty. The entrees were a mixed bag; some were tastier than others, and I would try to remember which were which if I had any intention of eating there again. The combo doesn't include a drink, or at least that's what the worker told me. That's despite the fact that the sign makes ordering a combo a 3-step process, of which Step 3 is "choose your drink". That bit of lameness (whether on the part of the worker or the franchise) earns them the sub-one-star rating.

I'm not sure who would win the crown for "Most Unnecessary Restaurant in Bowie," but the answer is almost certainly either a Subway or a Chinese restaurant. Panda Express is a strong contender, given that you can walk a few feet in either direction in the food court and get better food. While you can't get "Chinese" food, you can get "Japanese" food next door at Hibachi. I recognize there is a significant difference between Chinese and Japanese food, but let's face it -- there's not a big gap between "Chinese" and "Japanese" food you find in a mall food court. So if you have a hankering for something Asian-y, and don't feel like leaving the food court, head to Hibachi. If you really want Chinese food, why are you in the food court?

As 2011 draws to a close, I am halfway done (in some sense) with my Project. I have 76 restaurants on my list. Some will be added, but some will be deleted, so 38 is just about halfway. I mark a couple of other milestones. I recently finished all 7 Subway restaurants. Moreover, Panda Express is the final food court restaurant. Look for "Best of Subway" and "Best of Food Court" posts early in the new year.

So will 2012 allow me to knock out the other 38 restaurants? I'm hopeful. I've averaged more than one review a week, so I'm certainly on pace to do so. I recognize that hitting all the Subways and food court restaurants leaves the impression that I'm getting the easy visits out of the way early. That's true to a certain extent, but there are a number of quick hits left -- Starbucks (ugh), for example. Trickier are the sit-down restaurants, which require a visit with family or co-workers. We like to take the kids out, though, and at work, there are often people visiting for a meeting who can be talked into a restaurant. The really tricky places are going to be the sit-down restaurants that nobody wants to go to -- I'm looking at you, Applebee's, Chili's and TGI Friday's. We'll see how that goes.

Frequent Flying 2011: On the Way to a Million

Wow, it's been almost four years since I did a frequent travel post. In that one, I had just requalified for top-tier status on United for 2008. Not only did I do that again in '08 for '09, but somehow I pulled that off for 2010. With the kids' arrival, I was bottom-tier (well, the 25,000 mile tier, not part of the no-status masses) for 2011. This year, by doing more flying than I probably should, I hit the middle-tier status (what they're naming Premier Gold for 2012).

A long-term goal of mine has always been hitting a million miles with United. That milestone comes with permanent Premier Gold status. Even when I was routinely hitting 100K each year, that still represented a decade-long project -- and a lot of those miles, for various reasons, didn't count towards the magic million.

Well, as a result of United's merger with Continental, a couple of things changed. First, Million Miler status will allow Premier Gold for both me and Christina -- meaning that the two of us, along with the twins, can get extra-legroom Economy Plus seats when we all fly together. Second, in order to even things out with Continental's program, all of those "don't count" miles that helped me reach status in years past (generally, partner flights, promotional miles and bonuses from more expensive tickets) will count towards the million -- but only those through the end of 2011.

So where does that leave me? As of now, I'm almost exactly two-thirds of my way to the goal -- 666,113 lifetime miles. I figure that all of the extra miles from past years should get me at least to 800,000. (I think I find out the exact total around Februrary.) At my 100K pace, that would still be two years away. At this year's pace, it would be more than four. It's probably going to be even longer, but it's nice to be able to see it on the horizon.

World Heritage Update: Seoul

There are three World Heritage Sites near central Seoul. There is one in the city of Suwon, reachable by the Seoul subway system, but I didn't make it there. If I ever come back to Seoul, it will be at the top of my priority list.

Changdeokgung

 

The first site of my visit was Changdeokgung. It was also the first taxi ride I had taken in Seoul, and I took it as a good sign that the driver knew where it was -- I had some confused moments with taxis in Amsterdam, but hey -- Changdeokgung is one of the national treasures, so why wouldn't he know where it was?

Since it was closed on Monday, I made sure to visit on Sunday. There are guided tours in English twice daily, so I got there in time for one of them.

The history of Changdeokgung is sort of a mixed bag. It was built 600 years ago as a "backup palace". 400 years ago, the Japanese invaded and destroyed it and the main palace. For some reason, this one got rebuilt first and became the new main palace. Then, 100 years ago, the Japanese invaded again. During the occupation, Changdeokgung burnt down, and some of the restoration involved dragging buildings over from the main palace. Since then, some more restoration has gone into undoing the previous restoration.

As a result, it's not clear how much is "original", but maybe that it what allows everything to be brightly painted, and more evocative of what things looked like back in the day than a fading old building.

Later that day, I headed to Samneung Park, home to two of the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty (the one that ruled from 600 years ago until deposed by the Japanese 100 years ago). I later learned that the tombs were required to be outside of the city of Seoul (but within a day's ride so that the tomb could be visited by the king's descendants). Today, the location of these two tombs has been absorbed by the city of Seoul, but I give that as an excuse why the taxi driver nor the first three hotel employees consulted knew where this park was. Finally, someone wrote something down in Korean for the driver and off we went.

Samneung Park

It was a relief when the taxi driver dropped me off and first I saw a park, then a World Heritage sign. I had no confidence how clearly things had been conveyed to him. I ended up having a nice walk on a cold day to see the two tombs (from a little bit of a distance, of course). Then it go dark and really cold, and I took a taxi back home (that's where the card with the hotel name on it comes in handy.)

On Monday, on my free afternoon, I headed to Jongmyo Shrine. I delayed heading over there until about 45 minutes before the English-language tour, since I didn't see any great advantage to getting there more than half an hour early. My request to go there was once again met by befuddlement from the taxi driver. I didn't understand this, since it was a major treasure not far from Changdeokgung. Finally, exasperated, I said, "It's right near Changdeokgung." Rather than recognition, this got me an offer to take me to Changdeokgung. Since I had Jongmyo programmed into my GPS receiver, I figured the walk from the palace wouldn't be too bad.

As it turned out, I couldn't head directly there because I had to follow the roads rather than straight line. Finally, I came to...the wall around Jongmyo. I had programmed the coordinates of the shrine itself rather than the entrance.

I took a quick guess and headed clockwise. After a few minutes, I came across a major road, which seemed promising for an entrance. Unfortunately there was construction along the road, which obscured whether or not there was an entrance -- and blocked the sidewalk. Traffic was at close to a standstill, so I felt relatively safe shimmying along the side of the road...but unfortunately, that did not lead to an entrance. So around and around I went. Eventually, after circling about 90% of the wall, I saw lines of tour buses (the taxi driver had never heard of this place). I rushed up to the entrance a few minutes after the last English tour of the day and figured I might be able to talk my way into joining up with it. But then I was asked for my ticket. Which I had to buy at a ticket booth separate from the entrance. Fortunately, there was no line, so after I forked over the equivalent of about 70 cents, I returned to the entrance...where I was pointed to the English-language tour in the distance. Whew.

Jongmyo Shrine

I probably would have appreciated the introduction to the tour, but what I gathered from the rest of it (and the answers to my questions) was that this is where Jongmyo rulers would come to commune with the spirits of their ancestors (and predecessors). The shrine contains the spirit tablets for the ancestors, and during a ceremony, the spirits come down from heaven and...I guess can be chatted up? I'm not too clear on that part. Anyway, it completed a trio of World Heritage sites from the Jongmyo era...the seat of physical power, the resting place of the leaders' bodies and the resting place of their souls. Three World Heritage sites in 30 hours (and four in 72 hours)...not bad.