On this gorgeous day we traveled to Woodhall Cellars, Royal Rabbit, Harford, Dejon, Boordy, and Basignani vineyards. Our favorite of the day was Royal Rabbit. Their tasting room is located in the basement of their house and was the first one I've been to where you actually sit at a table instead of standing at a counter. We were greeted by an extremely personable woman who explained all of the wines they were offering that day in detail and she even offered us a taste of their Chardonnay, which wasn't on the tasting menu but she had uncorked it for another couple.
Our least favorite had to be Woodhall Cellars. At this winery, there were only a handful of other people tasting the wines but the staff member/possible owner doing the tasting seemed more interested in figuring out the intricacies of their Groupon offer on her iPad than telling us about the wine or the winery. It took her at least 5 minutes between pours and she was very distracted. Later on in the day when we visited our last stop a couple next to us was asked where else they had been that day. Their response was "a sad little winery" and then proceeded to name the aforementioned place. I feel bad for Woodhall Cellars because they did have good wine, they just desperately need to work on their customer service.
By the time we finished our wine jaunt we were starving and decided to stop at the Glyndon Grill, a fairly new restaurant located, of course, in Glyndon, MD. This restaurant is owned by the same people that opened Barrett's Grill in Hunt Valley, a place that I have not been to but is a favorite of my mother-in-law and her significant other. Last week was Baltimore County Restaurant Week, a fact we were not aware of when we first entered the restaurant and were told their were no open tables available without a reservation. Not to worry, there were plenty of seats at the bar so we plunked ourselves down.
The staff at this place were very friendly and even joking with us as we ate. I hadn't wanted to sit at the bar initially because neither one of us wanted a drink but the bartender didn't make us feel bad for ordering our sodas. A quick perusal of the menu later we had chosen the buffalo calamari for an appetizer, a lobster and shrimp roll for me and filet for Caroline.
The calamari was already dressed in the buffalo sauce and served with a blue cheese dipping sauce. It seems like a weird combo for a seafood item but it was so good and not too spicy like buffalo sauce can sometimes be.
I absolutely loved my lobster and shrimp roll. I often find that just like you shouldn't order crab cakes outside of Maryland, you shouldn't order a lobster roll outside of New England. But this was done perfectly. This one was served on a toasted, buttered brioche bun with the meat dressed in a light herb mayo on a bed of shredded lettuce and topped with green onion. So good! The key to a good lobster roll is the simple light mayo and hardly anything else. I want to go back for one of these!
Caroline really enjoyed her filet. It was a no frills entree with simply the filet and asparagus and was cooked to her specifications and seasoned nicely. I opted to skip dessert but Caroline chose the Apple Cobbler. You get a huge portion of the cobbler topped with vanilla bean ice cream. I took a bite or two and it was a nice mix of warm and crunchy apple filler and crust crumbles, cinnamon, and coolness from the ice cream.
Some of the awesome artwork on the wall!
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