Behold: Bon Fresco

There's a new sandwich shop in Snowden called Bon Fresco. As I walked past the brick box building, I peeked inside and snapped a picture. One of the contractors told me they'd finish in a week or so.

Immediately, I thought of Atlanta Bread Company. Both as a journalist and a former sandwich shop slave wage I feel that I have a valid perspective on the fiscal future of this venture. When Atlanta Bread Company hired me, they were still building the place, so I got to walk around with a nail gun and electric screwdriver! Competition they said, what competition? Panera Bread, Three Brothers and several Subways later, they caved after one year.

I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. We don't need another sandwich shop concept. I can't believe I'm saying this but we don't need another Indian restaurant either. The building of Bon Fresco in Snowden seems almost as pointless as installing a Vocelli's pizza in the Owen Brown village center across from Jerry's pizza.

I predict that Bon Fresco will flare up like the flame on a candle and flutter out. Hopefully the place will employ competent management and a staff comprised of more than hispanics and high schoolers but realistically, they'd be fighting entrenched concepts that have done well without them.

The Walk Stops Here

I live in the village of Owen Brown and I often bike through Dobbin and the surrounding villages. Wait, lets back track, which is hard because there aren't many paths in Dobbin to begin with.

On days when I know I'm in class, I try to plan a few posts ahead of time to keep you interested. Over the weekend, while biking to photograph the closing of Z-Pizza, I thought of writing about the lack of connecting sidewalks in the Dobbin area.

Turns out Wordbones beat me to it. He's written about the lack of sidewalks in the Snowden area but I consider the areas linked. While interviewing Larry Carson of the Baltimore Sun Monday, he also mentioned the issue.

I'll give you an example. Lets say you live on Downdale Place in Owen Brown. A sidewalk runs along the edge of Oakland Mills road. Its a nice day out and you feel like walking to Dobbin Donuts & Deli for lunch. As soon as you get to the brick church you notice there's no sidewalk on the other side of the road!

This is a common occurrence in the Dobbin/Snowden area. Across Dobbin road from the Blockbuster video, there is a path that runs behind Dobbin and Owen Brown and into Oakland Mills. Once you walk up the hill from that path you'll have difficulty getting to the other side.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are no sidewalks or crosswalks in places where there ought to be sidewalks. Columbia was supposedly designed to let residents walk to schools and village centers, why not restaurants and retail? There are sidewalks in some places and those simply stop as if to say "go back and get in your car and drive the rest of the way!"

Residents who live off of Carved Stone should be able to cross the street and walk to the strip mall for pho, but they can't because the sidewalk doesn't connect to the retail outlets. Instead they are required to either walk through a camoflauged cut or get in their car and drive.

The pedestrian and bicycling situation in the Snowden/Dobbin area is really f--ked up and needs to be fixed!

Goodbye Giorgio's

The doors have closed on Giorgio's Deli for good. A few years back, management changed hands and with it, the service. Residents I've spoken to remember Giorgio putting extra slices of meat on their sandwiches, something the new owners failed to observe.

The morning commuters, lunch rushers and Lincoln Tech students will have to find a new deli for sandwiches and salads. I remember reaching into the waist high ice cream freezer for the cups of Hersey's Strawberry ice cream that I couldn't find anywhere else.

I remember my father peeking behind the counter to greet Giorgio and catch up as he prepared our subs. Giorgio's was my first introduction to pepperoncini peppers, a taste I still find unpalatable. Beyond that I don't remember much more than muted flashbacks. What do you recall from Giorgio's and what will you miss?