Offbeat Eats

It always helps to have, well, peeps. My business travel again had me traveling to Arlington, VA, and in general that leaves me with two options to get there from NH: I can either fly from Manchester to Reagan National Airport for a lot of money and really inconvenient flight times, or I can fly to Baltimore with good flight times and extremely low cost. The downside of the Baltimore route is that it involves planes, trains, and automobiles, since getting from BWI to Arlington generally requires some combination of shuttle bus, train, and Metro. But the useful thing is that I know quite a few people that live near BWI, and have often used this as an opportunity to have them pick me up for a meal before I catch the train to DC. Last time, it was the Paper Moon Diner. This time, my friend Betsy picked me up, and we decided to try G&M for some crabcakes…

Last month, Carol and I had a quick mini-vacation trip to the DC area (actually, it started as a business trip, but the business part got canceled and I decided to go anyways). Seeing that the fares from MHT to BWI are crazy-cheap ($118 RT at the moment), it was easy enough to fly through Baltimore, where we got picked up by my friend Betsy, and we met up with several other online friends at Paper Moon Diner. The first thing that really stands out about Paper Moon Diner is the decor. You know those kids that instead of just playing with their toys take them apart? I think they hired one of those kids to do the interior decorating. The main diner room is filled with all sorts of action figures (including some fairly recent ones, like Treebeard) and Pez dispensers. The front dining room is filled with random “stuff” (like a blender), and the back room, where we ended up getting seated, is filled with Barbies and partial mannequins. It’s definitely a trippy experience, especially late at night…

We’re all familiar with the great quandary when traveling, which is where to eat. Most airport restaurants aren’t terribly well known, are expensive, and generally serve sub-par food. However, when traveling, I occasionally come across a gem that’s worth noting (Burger Joint in San Francisco and Milltowne Grille in Manchester, to name two). Obrycki’s is another one of these places that’s head and shoulders above the rest (although not without it’s flaws). Obyrcki’s is an airport branch of the venerable on Pratt Street over in Baltimore, long known as a quality vendor of crab cakes. The BWI location is but a mere shadow of the real Obrycki’s…

My current business trip brought me to Greenbelt, MD (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), which was also a good excuse to get together with some of my MD peeps for dinner. As a destination, we picked “Roy’s Place” in Gaithersburg, MD (a bit of a haul from my hotel in College Park, but I was given a ride). Roy’s is a Gaithersburg institution, a nice, dimly lit saloon featuring a long list of sandwiches. Indeed, it’s not just a long list of sandwiches. It’s a truly exhaustive list of sandwiches, with over 200 different sandwiches…