The prepared and canned food stands are there as always and just as good as always. Of the fresh veggie vendors, leafy greens are available - lots of lettuce and spinach. Some strawberry's (from Richmond farms), some potatoes and apples . Lots of herbs and plants to start your garden for the season. The meat and fish sellers are there. The pickle guy is back, the lines are long, and its still impossible to snag Trinidad Scorpion after 10.

The weather the past couple of weeks has been gorgeous causing the market to be very, very crowded. You are right to get up early.

I got a 10" non-stick skillet for about $20 from Sysco a few months back and it's a great pan. I like getting my pans from Sysco because they're so inexpensive that if I damage one, I don't feel bad about replacing it, unlike >$100 ones I see for "professionals". They also have stock pots in commercial sizes, much larger than I can use at home.

Most of the non-fast-food burger chains have this. Cheeburger Cheeburger makes a decent one (good rye) and I think Red Robin has one as well.
I've yet to see a diner that doesn't have this on the menu.

You live in a good area for restaurants. In the past dozen years many restaurants have opened around Ellicott City. I can also recommend reading Howchow, especially his "tours of the county" postings.

Many of the restaurants in the neighborhoods around Ellicott City are decent and casual - good places to go for tasty food without having to change clothes. I can recommend Tino's for Itallian, Rumor Mill in "downtown" EC for New American, and there are many Mexican restaurants, from the authentic-take-out of R&R Taqueria to the Americanized-with-Mexican Specials of Hidalgo and El Azteca

There are business casual restaurants with wine (Iron Bridge Wine Company, Aida Bistro, Bistro Blanc) and less casual restaurants such as Tersiguels and Kings Contrivance for French (IMO, Tersiguels is better). My preference for a nice evening out is Bistro Blanc, but the others in that list are good as well. I rarely feel like dressing for dinner, and when I do, I tend to want to go to D.C.

You mentioned you wanted to go outside of Asian food, but Sushi Sono on the lakefront in Columbia provides a nice romantic setting and good sushi (and other Japanese food).

There isn't notable Italian before Columbia/Laurel or Baltimore, but there is a fast mom & pop type place that's OK. On 176 (Dorsey Rd) is Mamma Lucia.

A non-Italian place you could go is G&M - they've been up and down throughout the years and people love or hate the crab cakes, but it is a good experience. W. Nursery & Hammond roads.

They opened last weekend. We went Wednesday evening (7:30) and it was packed. They have a lot of TV screens mounted on the wall, so watching the Olympics was a great distraction from the wait for the fried chicken. I tried the spicy combo (wings+drumsticks) and it was delicious, with a great crunch and a nice heat level, but it took almost 50 minutes to arrive. We had an order of Chicken Katsu arrive in about 15 minutes, so there must be some magic they do with the fried chicken that takes longer.

The waitresses were very nice and pretty on-the-ball. They are just opening so expect a few minor bumps (e.g. they ran out of scallions after making our seafood pancake, so no one else could order that the rest of the evening)

My brother and sister-in-law introduced us to Brine & Bottle on the 21st and it was the best meal I had on OBX, or even for a while back at home. They have a good selection of small plates and a few larger plates. My wife, who is very picky, had the NY Strip steak and pronounced it the best she's had in a long while. I had a selection of small plates and can strongly recommend the gazpacho and also the hammachi. The four of us split the cheese plate which was, on that day, a selection of three locally produced cows milk cheeses, crackers and some small picked beet cubes and some sort of jelly which set off the cheese perfectly.
They also had a "pickle cooler" which was white wine, some fruit juice and some cucumber and it tasted like pickled watermellon, but was probably the cucumber that was pickled. I don't know that I'd get it again, but I'm glad I tried it.
Definitely worth a stopping by. On Friday the 20th, they were closed because Food Network's "Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins" was filming there, though they are not really a diner, drive, or drive-in.
It's a small place, so go at off hours or make reservations.

It does seem a bit bigger than Hunt Valley, and there are some differences like Columbia will make you a Taco salad/Nachos where Hunt Valley would make you a Ceaser salad. I prefer the Ceaser salad which was quite good,while the Taco salad/Nachos is nothing special.
There are more choices for vegetarian meals in the prepared food / food court area in Columbia, and the veggie dishes have been better than expected.
The kosher deli contents are the same, though the location in Columbia (next to the regular deli) makes more sense.
Both stores have the train running above the juices/dairy section - always a nice distraction.
Columbia has a veggie prep area by produce, where they will cut and prep vegetables for you (extra cost). They do a decent job, but I'm not sure if the extra cost is worth it. It does save time though.

Columbia may get a liquor store on the 2nd floor. It hasn't opened because there's a county ordinance that says all liquor stores have to be owned by people in the county. Wegman's found a local lawyer to open the liquor store, but when competitors investigated, it turns out the local person had a 10% interest and the husband of the Wegman's president had a 90% interest in the proposed store, so the opening has been delayed while the county council decides if partial local ownership is sufficient, and if so, how much "partial" is required.

The Potbelly sandwich chain makes home made ice cream sandwiches. They take two of their cookies (you choose flavor) and a scoop of ice cream (you choose flavor) and make it for you. It's pretty big but delicious.

Have you tried Nottingham's in Columbia? Kelly's in the Normandy Shopping center on US40 is a decent Irish pub. Second Chance in Oakland Mills Village Ctr is good, especially on nights they have live music.

Thanks to all for the replies. We did try Chef Ping last week and enjoyed it.
A great selection of dishes, well prepared. I had the spicy seafood stew and it was the right level of spiciness - they didn't try and tone it down. It arrived in an iron pot (too big to be a bowl) filled with picked vegetables and fish with a nice, spicy sauce. My companions had cashew chicken, which was good but boring, but that's the nature of the dish, and a vegetarian pad Thai which was very good, with just the right amount of sweetness and good crunch from the veggies.

I am very happy with the selection and quality of the restaurants in Schaumburg. We've eaten Indian, American Grill, Malaysian, and Chinese/Asian.
Indian: Chopsticks by India House has great Indian food and good Chinese food with Indian influences. This is some of the best Indian food I've had. All dishes were good, but one dish I hadn't had before was a carrot curry (I forget the type) which was superb. The portions are large, the standard Indian food is well prepared and there are opportunities to explore outside the typical curries and tandoor meats. One of the dishes was a goat curry and the goat was prepared perfectly - it's hard to do without the meat getting tough and stringy. We also tried a fusion of Indian and Chinese from the Chinese menu called Jade Pillows which were fried paneer balls in a soy based sauce - an interesting combination.
We've been to Wildfire grill which was better than I expected. The meats were good, the fish was cooked correctly, and the bread was delicious. One of my companions was vegetarian and he was disappointed with the veggie sandwich, so vegetables are not the focus of this restaurant.

I tried Penang on Algonquin and liked it enough to bring others to investigate. I haven't had Malay food much, so I'm quite curious how it differs from Thai or Chinese. They had a roti with curry dipping sauce appetizer that was worth returning for. I tried the beef ribs they had on special, but it wasn't what I was expecting. The sauce was good, but the meat was sliced 1/2" blades and was tough and stringy. The sauce was good enough to make we want to return to experiment with other dishes.

Finally, we've been to Big Bowl a couple of times, and while it's a chain, the food it produces is reliably delicious and the service has been attentive and kind.

I'll be staying in Schaumburg for a few weeks for work and am looking for recommendations for something in the area. There are many, many restaurants in the area, so which ones are worth checking out?

Sad to hear that the quality of Joss has slid. It's been a while since I've been now that our office moved from near Church Circle to out by the mall.

I work near the hospital, so if you're by the mall, I suggest the following

Mama Lucia's near the Trader Joe's off of Jennifer or Bella Italia next to Naval Bagels off of Rowe
Mexican Cafe off of Ridgely Rd is good food and comfortable with decent prices.
The new Whole Foods has a good food bar with lots of choices, but you have to be disciplined in order to keep costs reasonable.
Paul's Homewood Cafe is nice for a sit down lunch. Their steak salad is excellent.

For dessert, try Bruster's Ice Cream off of Forest Drive It's outside of Annapolis, but very good.

In downtown Annapolis, Joss Suishi has some good lunch specials - their sushi salad is a spicy favorite and the California roll special is a good deal. Luna Blu on West St is good upscale Italian and 49 West is a good place to sit, eat, and talk.

I have not found any good Chinese or Indian around Annapolis, but Viet-Thai Paradise off of Riva is good for both Thai and Pho.

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Paul's Homewood Cafe
919 West St, Annapolis, MD 21401

Joss Cafe & Sushi Bar
195 Main St, Annapolis, MD 21401

49 West Coffeehouse Wine Bar Gallery
49 West St, Annapolis, MD 21401

Luna Blu
36 West St, Annapolis, MD 21401

Bruster's Real Ice Cream
1409 Forest Dr, Annapolis, MD 21403

Bella Italian
609 Taylor Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401

Naval Bagels
609 Taylor Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401

The pizza at Geppeto's is good, but I especially like their version of white pizza. Yum.

With me it was the opposite. I liked FP, but my kids didn't care for it. I appreciated the variety of toppings available and that the donuts were always fresh. My kids preferred KrispyKreme's sweetness.

Heading east, Bistro Blanc in Glenwood is well worth trying. You might also want to check out the Howchow blog for Howard county restaurants.

Ellicott City has a number of Korean BBQ places, such as Shin Chon Garden or Honey Pig. It's not local to Silver Spring, but is closer than Annandale, especially since they've been removing the stop lights on US29.

Technically, Herr's is made just across the border in PA. If you get a chance to drive up and see the factory off of US1, the holiday light show is amazing. They've decorated the entire grounds around the front of the factory. Free too.

We had yummy dinner at Nacho Mamas and afterward went to the Canton branch of Dangerously Delicious. This time, the pies were really good. The crusts were not too tough and balanced the sweetness of the pies well.

So, I'm going to chalk up my first experience to inconsistency. Unlike Mae West, Dangerously Delicious is very good when they're good and when they're bad, they're not good at all.

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Nacho Mama's
2907 Odonnell St, Baltimore, MD 21224

I am not big steak eater either, but Greystone Grill near Rt 100 was good when I went for lunch.
You might want to check out the Howchow web site - he has reviews of most restaurants in Howard County and has tried some of the steak places in Ellicott City.

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Greystone Grill 1
8850 Columbia 100 Pkwy., Ellicott City, MD 21045

My parents used to go to Crisfields when they were dating (> 50 years ago) and I've taken my family there periodically over the last 20 years. We love the stuffed flounder and the shoe string fries, and of course, the bisque. They also have great Maryland fried chicken which is getting hard to find these days.

A DC area institution and worth stopping for.

Went back a week later. Service is still a little uneven. He forgot our soft drinks and was not really paying attention to our table.

The food was good. The fettuccine Alfredo was excellent. We tried a pizza and I was happy with it, it had a good balance between the cheese and the tomato sauce and a decent crust. We also tried plain Penne Marinara, which my son liked, but I found the sauce a little sweet with bitter overtones.
The kids ordered what they thought was mozzarella sticks but turned out to be two wedges of breaded, fried mozzarella. Tasty, well fried, not greasy, though small for the price charged.

I think Tino's is a good replacement for Strapazza and better than the other Italian places in our neighborhood.

Ah, that was the name of the Italian I couldn't remember. Excellent pizza, large portions. Homestyle Italian - yum.

We tried them tonight, on opening night, and enjoyed the meal. The service was a little rough, as to be expected for a new restaurant, but they were very friendly and interested in feedback. They make many things in-house, including a rockfish souffle appetizer which tasted of egg and butter with a hint of fish flavor. The pastas were decent and enjoyable and the salmon I had was perfectly cooked. The house salad dressing was memorable and worth ordering on salads that use a different dressing normally. Our waitress said that they make the olive oil in house that they use for dipping bread.

The desserts are home made, so we couldn't resist trying a couple. They have a chocolate-oreo truffle which come 3 golf-ball sized truffles to a plate. They are ganache+oreo inside a hard chocolate shell + oreo crumbs outside. It was excellent and even though I initially thought the serving size was small, they were so intense that the serving size turned out to be perfect. We also had a chocolate mousse which was just average and served so cold they were semi-frozen.

Glad to know it's still good. I went when they first opened a few years ago and enjoyed it, but never seemed to get back because of my time constraints during lunch.

The shopping center across from the stadium (Taylor Ave) has Naval Bagels which are decent and an Italian place which has a wide variety of good pizzas.

Also, Joss Sushi on main street has reasonably priced lunch specials.
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Naval Bagels
609 Taylor Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401

We had a small reception of around 50+ last year for which we used Zeffert and Gold. They made everything really easy and talked me down from ordering too much food for the number of people that attended.

You are very fortunate to live in Portland. I used to live there and still miss it. We moved back here when my children were born so they could be near grandparents. We'll be vacationing in Portland at the end of June, so I'd like to take you up on your offer of recommendations. The only thing I remember is conveyor belt sushi at Sushi King(?) and McMinimins for beer and a movie. What's good nowdays?

I haven't been myself, but howchow reports that Fuji restaurant on the west part of Ellicott City on Rt 40 has good, house made ramen.

There's also Noodles Corner for pan-asian noodles. Their Buddha bowl has Udon I think.

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Noodles Corner
8865 Stanford Blvd Ste 103, Columbia, MD 21045

We like Leelyns because the small plates are interesting and not too much food. The kitchen has been improving over the years but can be inconsistent - we had some wings that came out cold - twice - but when fixed, were delicious. I thought the eggplant fries were good. It was a lot of food and needs to be eaten quickly while still warm, but a nice change.

My wife and kids like the cream of crab soup and the burgers and pizza specials are good. They participate with Restaurant.com, so you can try out the place for not too much money.