Wednesday, May 29, 2019

New Kam Fong - Maybe It's Me

New Kam Fong
2400 University Blvd. West
Wheaton, MD 20902
301-933-6388

I'd read about NKF from a social media post about where to eat now in Silver Spring. I saw their pictures of lovely looking crispy pork belly, duck, and other unctuous goodies. I had to go.
It's in a very mixed portion of Wheaton, plenty of ethnic restaurants, kind of across the street from Max's Kosher.
I came, I ordered, I ate. Kind of.
 When you see a display like this you start feeling the anticipation of a fantastic meal. Always so cool when you find a reasonably priced ethnic restaurant.
 My dining companion ordered a spicy Szechuan chicken dish and requested it with extra, extra heat. I tasted his first. No heat. It was a harbinger of things to come.
 OMG! Look at this plate! So much promise!
I ordered the triple meat combo with roasted pork, crispy pork and duck.
Maybe it's me, maybe not, but nothing was actually hot. The pork and chicken were both just above room temperature. The fat as not rendered nearly enough in either, and they don't give you a knife, and when I asked for an extra napkin I was handed a diaphanous 8" paper square. Not nearly enough to handle all the digging I had to do to get to edible chunks of meat.
The flavor was good in the parts that were edible, but seriously, I have no idea how the health department hasn't spoken with them about their food temperatures.
Needless to say, it was disappointing. I really wanted to like it, and I thought I would, but when it came down to it, there wasn't enough on the plus side of the score card.
Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Is Your Restaurant Prepared: Active Shooter/Active Threat

This is not the kind of thing I usually write about, but sometimes something I'm privy to in the course of my business compels me to share things besides awesome pictures of food.
Today the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington held a seminar on preparation for Active Shooter/Active Threat scenarios.
It was hosted at Del Frisco's Double Eagle and was proctored by Bill Wright, leader of the Special Operations Division Emergency Response Team and Ready DC.
There was lively, interactive discussions about what has been learned in recent history about active shooter scenarios and what you can do to prepare your place of business for these events. Apart from that, there was discussion about safety in general and how to be safe while not wearing a tin-foil hat and crying yourself to sleep in your safe-room.
The key take-aways were as follows:

  • Be aware of your surroundings
  • If something looks or feels out of the ordinary, say something - 911 would rather you be wrong, but they want to know as quickly as possible just in case you're right
  • Keep your doors locked, especially the back doors and loading docks (yeah, it's a pain, but it may save you and your staff/guests
  • Have a plan - know where your exits are
  • Have a bug-out kit
Lastly, if something does happen, you've got three options:
  1. Run
  2. Hide
  3. Fight
If you have to fight, remember what you're fighting for: To get home to your loved ones.