The Mixing Bowl Restaurant

In Lexington Park, Maryland, there is a restaurant called "The Mixing Bowl," that is located just outside the gates of the navy base. It has a wonderful selection of quality food. It is called the Mixing Bowl because it is a mix of many types of cuisines from a number of different cultures. My daughter, Sarah, worked here for a year (she stopped when they shut down for renovations).

The best thing about the food here is that the food is hand picked for quality and prepared when ordered. Nothing canned or boxed here.

The restaurant is owned and operated by two folks, Mike and Ya-ling. Ya-ling makes the best salad dressings around. Our two favorite dishes are the salads.

Here is the Cold Noodle Salad. The first time Sarah brought this home I thought it sounded awful ~ cold noodles?! It was so good that it was a long time before I could bring myself to try anything else. Yes, it's that good!

When The Mixing Bowl shut down for almost a year for renovations, I tried repeatedly to make this salad. The thing that makes it is Ya-ling's Lemongrass salad dressing. I used Lemon Grass Salad Splash from Thai Kitchen, but it is a far cry from Ya-ling's freshly made dressing.

My second favorite dish from this restaurant is the Oriental Chicken Salad seen below. For this salad Ya-ling makes a killer hoisin sauce that is unlike any I've tasted before.
For those of you who can't eat dairy or other foods, Ya-ling is very knowledgeable about food sensitivies/allergies and especially understands cross contamination of foods.

Before we understood the many ways dairy can be hidden, we used to enjoy the Italian Hero and the Cobb Salad. Sarah thinks Ya-ling's Curry Chicken is the best.

One of the "signature" dishes of this restaurant is called Crispy Mac. It is a huge slice of homemade Macaroni and Cheese dipped in batter and deep fried. Sarah was addicted to it!

So how about pricing? (I know, Dan, I know!) I think The Mixing Bowl is very reasonable. Most of their sandwiches are $6.50 and most of their salads are $7-10. The Crispy Mac is $4 and Sarah says it will fill you up. Remember, Dan, this is real food...not canned vienna sausages (yeah, I heard about your stash!).

They have wonderful desserts and daily specials. Today I noticed a special of homemade potato gnocchi and spinach sauce. Umm! And where else are you gonna find tiramasu?!

So plan to take a friend and head on over to The Mixing Bowl. Yes, the parking is tricky but doable (don't go during lunch hour). Let Ya-ling know we sent you. (Yes, Ya-ling comes around to visit everyone!)

Many blessings ~ Kathie

The Oriental Salad with Hoisin Sauce is really tasty but also has a lot of crunch. We made this salad here at home and used the same kind of rice sticks that are in the salad. Try it. A little bag of rice sticks makes a huge bowl and adds a lot of fun to a salad (but no nutrition!).