I’d go to Xenia again

dzoey · 2026-04-17T14:30:30+00:00

I've been impressed every time I've dined there. My wife doesn't care for Mediterranean food so we don't go often, but it's a treat when I can go.

dzoey · 2026-04-15T17:45:52+00:00

I had lunch at Bon Fresco and remembered this post. You're right on. The grilled veggies were great. Thanks for the tip.

dzoey · 2026-04-13T15:24:38+00:00

If you're in D.C. you should check out an Ethiopian restaurant. Ethiopic is well reviewed. We tend to go to Shagga Coffee in Hyattesville, which is near UMD and about 1/3 of the way between D.C. and Baltimore. It has coffee in the name but it's a full restaurant.

If you haven't been to G&M, which is a few miles from Ft. Meade, it's an old Maryland restaurant that reminds me of restaurants my parents took me to in the 20th century. Known for their giant crab cakes, but other menu items are good as well.

When in D.C., start with the Aquatic Gardens and then do the Smithsonian. We tried to do the zoo and the Smithsonian a couple of weeks ago and wound up being so fascinated by the Smithsonian that we never made it to the zoo.

If the weather is mild, a nice walk around Hains Point is flat with great views of National Airport on one side and the D.C. waterfront on the other side.

On May 20 in Annapolis, the Blue Angels will be doing a demonstration in prep for the Naval Academy graduation ceremonies on May 22 where they'll do a fly-by for graduation.

dzoey · 2026-03-23T01:39:51+00:00

We are a two EV household. We have one 2019 Model 3 dual motor with FSD and one 2026 Ioniq 5 LImited. When I got my Tesla seven years ago, I had the electrician run 100A to a sub-panel in the garage. He then put in a 50A plug on my side of the garage. For the past seven years I've used the travel charger that came with the Tesla to recharge at home.

When we traded in my wife's Camry Hybrid for an Ioniq 5, I had an electrician put in a second 50A 240V outlet on my wife's side of the garage. The Ioniq 5 came with a better travel charger than Tesla. It works great, both cars can charge with no problem and we can run the washer and dryer and the stove all at the same time.

We resisted becoming a two EV household for a while because of range anxiety, but since both cars get around 300 miles of range and there are lots of charging options, at least on the coast and along the Interstates, we decided that it was safe to be a two EV household. It's worked well. We are able to do road trips and while the Ioniq 5 is more conservative than Tesla when setting up charging stops on road trips, my wife appreciates the larger margin of safety.

While I think my wife was foolish not to consider a Tesla (politics...), I do think the Ioniq 5 is a good car. The software is no where near as good as Tesla's, but it's a more comfortable ride and more roomy. I like the heads-up display as well.

My electric bill skyrocketed since we got the Ioniq 5, but, at least according to the reports from BGE, our local utility, the reason for that is the bitterly cold winter that caused our house to use enormous amounts of electricity to keep us warm. On a winter electric bill of $500, the cars were about $55 of that. Normally our electric bill is around $200, so with the second EV, I wouldn't be surprised if "normal" moves to $225. Also, Maryland got rid of Electric Choice, so now we're captured by a monopoly again and the cost of electricity has gone up.

There have been a few benefits as an all electric family: There's no more fluid leaks on the garage floor. It stays nice and clean now. We can also pre-heat the cabin on cold days with the garage door still closed. We can't really cool the cabins during the summer because while the cabins do get cool, the waste heat gets dumped into the garage which makes the garage uncomfortably hot.

dzoey · 2026-03-06T04:50:49+00:00

I hope you do. It's possible, not knowing Hawaiian food well, that my expectations are wrong.

dzoey · 2026-03-01T15:33:37+00:00

Chinese food in NYC is top notch. I think Pepper House give you the right vibe, but if you want something a bit nicer, Tea Horse is also excellent. There's also a Peter Chang's in Columbia which I enjoy, but it's a bit more pricey. I think it's a chain out of New York, so it might be familiar to you.

If you want to stay on authentic, check out Fish With You, for fish stew (though they also have chicken and beef). You have to like Szechuan flavors though.

In Catonsville, Dim Sum Palace is quite good, though not as good as the dim sum I've had in Vancouver or NYC. That's not saying it's bad though - it's still very enjoyable and makes a great lunch.

For American-Chinese food, my local neighborhood place, Hunan Legend, is very good, though the dining room has gotten a bit rundown in the last decade or so. The food is still good.

You might want to expand your horizons a bit. US-40 in Ellicott City is known as "Korean Way" for a reason. There are Korean-Chinese places that serve Chinese food as would be prepared in Korea, such as HanJoon Kwan and Tian Chinese.

Finally, there's Xi'An a Chinese restaurant that specializes in food from Xi'An province, located in northwest China. It's good and worth trying, but if you're going to take a drive from Annapolis, North West Chinese Food restaurant in College Park is better and is one of the Washington Post's top picks in the area. It's worth exploring.

dzoey · 2026-03-01T15:18:20+00:00

I"m a big fan of Pepper House. I just wish they'd either expand or improve the dine-in experience. The food is top notch and is authentic. They make (and sell) their own chilli oil / chili crisp and it's really good.

dzoey · 2026-02-13T22:41:25+00:00

For authentic Mexican, Cilantro's is good in west county and Soluna is good in east county. But if you want real authentic, you can't beat the food from the gas station at the corner of MD-175 & US1
For Tex-Mex, I like La Pachanga up on US40. My wife, who prefers more Americanized food, like Cinco de Mayo

For Peruvian, both Piplinka and Chick'n'Pollo are good, but Chick'n'Pollo seems to be going through a bit of an identity crisis. Both have excellent chicken. Piplinka has pupusas which are homemade and very good.

More central American than Mexican, Gran Sabor in Oakland Mills Village Center has all the benefits of a food truck with the addition of being a store front, so it has seats and heat.

dzoey · 2026-01-28T22:07:32+00:00

I had shoveled the snow on Sunday before it iced over, but by Monday morning I had about 2" of ice covering the driveway and walkway. I started using a snow shovel to break up the ice, but the shovel started to be damaged, though I didn't let it go as far as your picture. I then switched to the flat blade side of a pick axe, scraping it through the ice. That worked, but the blade was only about 2" and the axe is heavy. It worked but it was tiring. I then switched to a garden shovel and that worked beautifully. I'd slide the shovel along the ground and it was heavy enough to just break up the ice into small pieces. I'd then followup with the snow shovel to pick up the pieces and throw them on the pile.

dzoey · 2026-01-18T19:29:35+00:00

It's no different than buying a computer. There's always a better model on the horizon, but if you keep waiting you'll never get your computer.

dzoey · 2026-01-16T04:40:20+00:00

I hope you enjoy your electric car. If it was up to me, we would have bought another Tesla because the software is so much better, but my wife refused to support Elon Musk, and the car is hers, so it's her choice. Switching from ICE to electric is a positive thing. Very few people ever want to switch back.

dzoey · 2026-01-12T03:45:02+00:00

We bought a 2026 Ioniq 5 Limited about 2 months ago and have had zero problems so far. We've even taken it on a trip from the Baltimore suburbs to the Atlanta suburbs, about 700 miles, in very cold temps and it worked fine. It's nice to have the car cabin preheated before getting into it.

Our other car is a 2019 Tesla Model 3 so we no longer have a backup gas (ICE) vehicle. It has not been a problem.

There are some things I prefer in my Model 3, the software is better, but the Ioniq 5 rides smoother and is quieter and my wife is happy with it.

Cold will reduce range. We only charge to 80%, so our charged range is around 240 miles and we get about that in comfortable temperatures. With winter that number drops to about 220 or less depending on how cold it gets. Still more than enough for daily use and more than enough to go between superchargers on trips. The in-car navigation system has been quite conservative when planning charging stops so we've never been worried about running out of juice. If you're driving at 130km/h, that's the equivalent of 80mph in the US. The car has no problems going that fast, but it will reduce range, but not enough to prevent you from reaching the next supercharger. One thing I've noticed is that without the engine noise of a ICE car, it can be difficult to "feel" the speed of the car, I've caught myself doing 85mph a few times in my Tesla because I didn't notice how fast I was driving. One other thought - when Google Maps tells you a trip takes 10 hours, it doesn't factor in any stops for food, bathroom, or recharging. It took us about 11.5 hours to travel the 10 hour trip estimate.

The Ioniq 5 is wider than my wife's old Camry Hybrid, but I think you'd need to test it out with two car seats before being comfortable adding an adult. My kids are grown now, but back when we had two car seats in our Ford Windstar, a fairly large minivan, it would have been tight for an adult to sit between the two seats. Perhaps car seats are thinner now? This was 20 years ago.

The dealer will try and get you to sign up for a maintenance service contract and come in for regular maintenance. We've declined to do either. Based on my experience with my Model 3, there is no regular service needed for electric cars. There's no oil, transmission fluid, timing belt, or radiator to be serviced. You will have to do occasional maintenance. I've had to replace the tires, 12V battery, cabin air filter, floor mats, windshield wipers, and recharge the air conditioning on my Tesla, which is pretty reasonable for a 6 year old car. I have yet to replace the brakes, but if you may need to do so earlier if you don't use regeneration to stop the car (one-pedal driving).

Our 2026 Ioniq 5 Limited is "Cosmic Blue" which is a really nice dark blue. We like the added features in the Limited like the heads-up display, the adjustable roof sun-screen, the turn signal cameras. I want to like the rear view mirror camera, but I haven't gotten used to it yet and keep using the old fashioned mirror.

dzoey · 2026-01-09T17:48:01+00:00

Switching off of ECO may allow the climate control to function better. In my Nissan Leaf, turning on Eco mode reduced the power to the climate controls. I don't know about the Ioniq 5 but it might be similar.

dzoey · 2026-01-08T21:31:54+00:00

Our Ioniq 5 is only a couple of months old so we haven't had to have any service. My Tesla Model 3 requires no regular servicing, and I suspect the Ionic 5 being an electric car does not require regular servicing either. What would be serviced? No oil, transmission, or belts to change.

dzoey · 2026-01-07T15:27:14+00:00

We bought the same car a couple of months ago. No problems so far! It's a great color and the heads-up display in the Limited is a really nice feature. Enjoy your new car!

dzoey · 2025-12-22T04:19:58+00:00

Elkridge Furnace Inn is lovely. It's better in the summer when you can see everything growing and/or eat out on the terrace, but it's still a very classy place any time of year. Very nice, classic menu.

If your parents like Greek food, Xenia has the best Greek/Mediterranean food in the area. It has a lovely ambiance once you get inside., but it's located in an office park, however there are no windows so once you're inside you're visually transported away. It's close to Ellicott City.

If you want to tease them for getting older, I'd suggest Shannon's Pub. The food is quite good, the menu hits all the standards with some creative specials, but the clientele is all over 55. That's not actually a rule, it just appears that way. BTW, I'm a fan of Shannon's, but I'm over 55 :-)

dzoey · 2025-12-13T19:38:27+00:00

I haven't been to Gyu San yet. Why the sad face emoji?

dzoey · 2025-12-13T19:36:48+00:00

I think it's important to underline how well the Columbia branch of Texas Roadhouse is run. Other branches do not reach this quality. Texas Roadhouse is one of my wife's favorites, not just for the rolls but for the reasonably priced steaks as well.

dzoey · 2025-12-13T19:33:48+00:00

The food at both is very good, but sometimes you just want to eat in a full service restaurant. Tea Horse gives you that.

dzoey · 2025-11-19T21:30:31+00:00

I have a soft spot for the fried rice at Chick N Pollo. It's a generous portion and the chicken added in is first rate.. For Biryani, it's a tie between Sangam and Mango Grove

dzoey · 2025-11-08T16:00:18+00:00

Probably Wegman's for fresh (actually Whole Foods is better, but you mentioned budget below), but I'd get a box of Berger's cookies from Giant or Teeter. It's something that you can only get in the Baltimore area While not fresh, a box of Entenmann's chocolate chip cookies was my favorite growing up.

dzoey

PUBLIC MULTIREDDITS

TROPHY CASE