Three Words Or Less

2012-04-05T11:16:00.000-04:00

3 Words or Less is getting a Re-Boot. I'm moving towards an All Keith On-Line Experience. I'll be posting what I've been eating (of course) as well as what I've been reading, seeing, and also other observations.

I'll be using Good Reads to update my book list. I hope I can entertain and enlighten people with my observations.

Thanks for the support! See you again soon.......

Potential big move

2012-03-20T17:07:00.000-04:00

All: I just applied to be a writer for @examinercom, following in the footsteps of @jennyswave25. I hope to hear back in 2-3 weeks. I'll keep you all updated.

APPLY TO BE AN EXAMINER!!

In the meantime, I continue to eat. Last night I went to American Bistro again. Love that place.

In honor of Lent

2012-03-02T11:20:00.001-05:00

I'm eating a great flounder fillet sandwich at Chicken Shack, located at 2129 W Patapsco Ave.

This is a great sandwich because it was fried on the spot, and didn't seminar frozen beforehand.

The fried chicken looks great, too. I'll definitely be back!

Quick hit

2012-02-27T10:50:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to send a quick note. There is a new version of Cheerios available. Peanut Butter Cheerios sounded odd at first, but I tried it.

Verdict: Win!

This is a cereal I would feed my kids, if I had any. Sweet enough, nice amount of peanut butter flavor, not overpowering at all. Also, its as healthy as any other Cheerio variety. Good stuff.

Teeny Weekie Tabasco bottles fom the Loews Hotel

2012-02-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

Aren't they cute? The Diet Coke cans are added to give you a sense of scale.

Reters Crab House

2012-02-07T20:08:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite places to eat. Surprising fact: they have GREAT coleslaw.

Grateful for the beach bum vibe here too. Can't help but relax with crab, oysters and HUSH PUPPIES!!

Going to Olive Garden

2012-02-01T19:25:00.001-05:00

I'd like to quickly welcome Olive Garden to Owings Mills. This is a VERY long overdue addition to our restaurant family in the OM area.

We're going to check it out tonight.

I ate a great crepe

2012-01-31T13:20:00.001-05:00

Again, I visited Sophie's Crepes, the location near my house in Owings Mills.

As always, I get something great there. I tried the Creped Brie. It was Brie cheese, sliveree almonds, honey and (in my case) cranberry chutney. It was great. Toss in an Orangina, and my $10.00 could not have been better spent.

Great breakfast as always.

Update on the Noodles situation

2012-01-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

All -

I got a response from Noodles and Company late last week. They are looking into the identity of the person who was so rude, and are going to go through the "proper disciplinary measures".

The manager will more than likely hear about it too, and I was led to believe there would be some training involved in how this situation is handled. I'm happy with that.

Of course, I was offered coupons for free meals, or appointments to have "menu tastings" for new food items, both of which were very generous and sound like fun (in the case of the menu tastings....yum!).

All in all, it seems that the issue I had was a one time situation, rather than a problem with the organization. The corporate response was very very appropriate for what happened. They got more info from me, regarding the date and time of my visit. They got a physical description of the offending server. They offered coupons and other fun stuff to make us happier. They suggest that training is in order, which is good.

Again, I want to thank the folks at Noodles corporate for their heartfelt response to our issues. I am sure we will make out way back sooner or later.

I got some other good feedback from various people via facebook, twitter, etc. I appreciate all of your feedback and advice. Thanks, guys.

Are my recent issues with Noodles and Company in Owings Mills indicative of a problem with the whole oganization?

2012-01-26T10:43:00.000-05:00

All:

Some of you are aware of the issue that I have recently had with Noodles and Company. I used to go to one of their shops frequently enough, maybe 3-4 times a month. My wife and I enjoy their food, and like the fact that as a general rule, we can eat healthy foods quickly there. Noodles is one of only a few places where I can honestly say that.

On Thursday of last week (1/19/2012) my wife and I went to the local Owings Mills location, and ordered dinner in. Usually we get carry out. I don't eat lunch, so I was fairly hungry. SO was my wife. We ordered:

1 medium sized dinner for each of us
1 soup for me/1 side salad for my wife
1 order of pot stickers to share

Since the restaurant was crowded, we had 2 choices of where to sit. I'm not comfortable in booths, so I chose a small table for 2 in the corner. When the "waitress" (I use the term loosely out of respect for actual wait staff) got to our table, she LOUDLY exclaimed to a crowded restaurant:

"Ya'll gonna eat ALL THIS FOOD!?! It ain't gonna fit on this table!! I SWORE it was for at least 3! I got 3 silverwares!!"

So, to get her to shut her mouth, we moved to stools at a bar set up. Much less comfortable.

We stayed about 10 minutes or less, got to go containers and left. I should have said something there, but I'm not confrontational by nature, and I WILL NOT TOLERATE embarrassing my wife. Period.

People who eat at restaurants are not CUSTOMERS or PEOPLE WHO PAY YOU, we are guests. Period. And they should never be humiliated by illiterate sounding teenagers who have the social graces of a 2 year old. People like that should NEVER be in customer facing positions in ANY industry.

In any case, this is why we won't be eating at their establishments in the near future. I used to recommend them to everyone. I took clients to lunches at that location, too. No longer.

When we got home, I took this to twitter. I actually got a quick response from someone with Noodles who wanted to chat (@noodlescompany). I was asked to send them my story via email. I did that evening, and was thinking I would get some sort of response. There has been none to this point.

So, what I am doing is boycotting Noodles and Company until I get some sort of response. What do I want, you might ask:

1. The offender fired
2. Training for the staff on how to be polite, and literate
3. Branch management trained on what to look for regarding these sorts of scenes

I ask anyone who has had negative experiences with @noodlescompany to let me know. I want to know if I'm the only one who has this issue (poor service/poor customer relations) or if it's a more systemic issue with their company. I hope not. I've gotten in touch with them via Twitter and email, and I hope I can soon post a positive update on this story. I am hoping that the issue is with one server, and not the whole branch.

Thanks, all.

2011-12-15T13:26:00.001-05:00

Dunkin Donuts opens 10,000th store today. Location? Xi'An, China.

Original Tweet: http://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/147374096995450880 Sent via TweetDeck (www.tweetdeck.com)

Crappy service is the worst

2011-12-10T17:29:00.001-05:00

Three strikes and you are out. The Wendy's on Reisterstown Road (across from the old Solo Cup factory) has the worst service over ever seen.

Ive been cursed at by the drive through people. I've had the wrong food given me, and this is the last time I give them my money. Don't go there.

Qdoba hits one out of the park.

2011-12-07T13:53:00.001-05:00

Quick one today. I tried something new at Qdoba. They called it Mexican Gumbo. I called it awesome.

Basically it is burrito soup, with no guacamole. I loved it. Will eat it again.

Try it today, let me know what you think!

The Dramatic Return

2011-12-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's been awhile. But, I've obviously still been eating, so here we go again......

So as you know, I eat my way through the Baltimore area. I have been working in that area for awhile, and since I drive around and sell telecommunications services for a very large company that recently bought a broadcast TV network and....well.....you figure it out. I drive about and sell, and when I get hungry, I eat.

In the last month, I've come across 2 places to eat that I cannot seemingly do without. It's actually quite sad - I'm addicted to something......

I'm addicted to crepe's.

That's right: Crepes.

There is a little place near my home called Sofi's Crepes. They make crepes (duh). They are excellent. I have visited them 4 times in the last 2 weeks, 3 of them for breakfast. They make an assortment of "sweet" and "savory" crepes, which are all available at any point of the day. I strongly recommend their breakfast crepes. I also strongly recommend adding bacon to every savory crepe.

That's actually the brilliance of this spot: you can add ANYTHING to a crepe. As we all know, bacon makes everything better - and wrapping it in a crepe with eggs an sharp cheddar cheese is definitely a winner.

I cannot say this more definitively: eat crepe's at Sofi's. There are a few locations, but visit Nina at the Sofi's Crepes in Owings Mills. Tell her Keith said "hi". You will most certainly not regret it.

The 2nd place I wanted to mention today is possibly the greatest Italian food place I've had the ability to eat at. It's called American Bistro, and it's also in the Owings Mills area. It's great. My favorite things about it are the freshness of the food, the home-made pasta sauces, and the service. My wife and I have been there 2 different times, and both times we were lucky enough to get the same waitress. Her name is Emma, and she's an awesome waitress, which always helps.

Aside from the service, the food is in fact excellent. I want you all to go out and eat here, tonight (or tomorrow). Get the crab ravioli. It's AWESOME. It consists of cheese ravioli's, rosa sauce, and jumbo lump crab meat. That sounds simple, and in a way, it is. But it's excellent. Again, the deal here is quality. Its a very simple dish, but it's one of the 10 best dishes I've eaten.

Eat at the American Bistro as soon as you can - you will not be disappointed.

So, there you have it: breakfast (Sofi's) lunch (either) and dinner (American Bistro) in Owings Mills, Md.

I promise to blog more often. Follow me on twitter for my crazy adventures between meals: @therealkparsons or @3WordsOrLessRev for food info.

Thanks for reading. Remember: Eating = happy!

Down South.....or, I Like Grits

2011-09-27T12:32:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I mentioned on the Twitter feed that I was down in North Myrtle Beach. When my wife and I wee getting ready to go on our weeks vacation, we packed a bit of food, and went grocery shopping when we got here. I have also discovered that Myrtle Beach is home to most of the chain restaurants that you can find on the East Coast.

Needless to say, I thought we would mostly eat in.

So, we've eaten out for 2 total meals in the 2 days here, which isn't so bad. I tweeted them both, but wanted to provide some more insight here. So, here goes:

The first evening here, we went to a local tradition, a place that my wife has very fond memories of growing up visiting here. It's called Kings Famous Pizza. It's sort of a local treasure. Locals know it well, and (it seems) tourists don't flock there in huge numbers. For those who know Rehoboth (where I mostly vacationed as a kid), It reminds me of Nicola's, off of Rehoboh Avenue.

In any event, the pizza is above average street pizza, and the menu there (at Kings) is full of Italian food and subs. It seems like a nice hang out. I think we'll be back again.........

The second spot we hit was called Captain Jules Hurricane Restaurant. We got lunch/dinner there at the recommendation of a local. There I was able to get hush puppies, she-crab soup, and shrimp and grits. The she crab soup was not my favorite - too little crab, too much sherry (for my taste, anyhow). My wife loves hush puppies, so those were very well received, but really, it was all about the shrimp and grits.

That's right: Shrimp and Grits. Wow!

This was great! I love grits, the creamier the better. And adding shrimp, with a little garlic and roasted pepper made them even better. There was also tasso ham gravy - but the addition of ham didn't hurt anything. It just added a bit of smoky-pork-fat-goodness to the dish. I even ate the damn ham. It was that good.

I could go on for 2-3 more pages about how cool that was for me, to get good shrimp and grits in a backwoods little local hang out. The fact that it was recommended by a local really does the trick for me. When in doubt about where to get good meals, always ask a local.

There will be more updates as I travel, for sure, but I wanted to get this one out. I highly recommend Captain Jules. It was very good.

2011-09-23T13:05:00.000-04:00

Hello again!

I am working to get this synched somehow with mt Foursquare and Twitter accounts. Does anyone know how to do this?

Anyhow - getting set to visit Myrtle Beach (SC), and hope to post more 3 Words Or Less food reviews from there.

Right now, the posts are all Foursquare/Twitter related, until further notice.

Also, just joined Google+. We'll see how well that works out.

What IS 3 Words or Less?

2011-09-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

3 Words or Less is a very simple idea. It's the thought that people want to know what others think about what and where they are eating, but they want it in a quick, concise format. It's built perfectly for Twitter and Foursquare (among other social media platforms).

Basically, I eat out a lot - either while I'm out doing my job, or out with my wife or friends, I eat out probably 8-10 meals a week. I developed this pattern of giving out a short, once sentence review of what I ate a few years ago, and my observations are generally well received. I wanted to take that idea of the short micro-review and give it a permanent home.

Since this is my first post, I wanted to lay out some ground rules. I'll be utilizing Foursquare and Twitter to update you all on where I'm at, and what I've eaten. The original "3 Word Review" will be (usually) sent out via that medium.

This blog page will be a landing point for the reviews (I hope) and a place for feedback from any followers.

Thanks for the patience, and I hope I can educate and entertain you all!

KBP
@3WordOrLessRev
@TheRealKParsons