Faithful Reader Phil e-mailed me this request. I told him Abacrombie was closed at the moment as far as I knew, and sent him a couple of the usual suspects, but I wonder if anyone has had good luck recently at a restaurant before a performance. Please post any recommendations below:

Good Afternoon Elizabeth! Once again I call on you for a recommendation of a quality restaurant near the Lyric (other then Abacrombie or Prime Rib). If there is a good spot that you can recommend, we would like to try it. Of course, It is another situation where we will "eat and run" to the Lyric for an 8PM Show on December 8th (a Saturday) Again, Many thanks! 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Just on the heels of my post on the world's most expensive doughnut (as far as I know), I received this beautiful photograph of the $100 omelet at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills. It's called "Eggs and Eggs."

I assumed it was being served in the hotel's main dining room, Cut. Remember my post about its $160 rib eye when I first started my blog?

Silly me. The omelet is served in The Blvd, the hotel's coffee shop. ...

Eggs and Eggs features Rio Negro caviar from Southern Star Caviar if you want to try this at home, kids.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

The world is divided into two types of people. Ask yourself this to figure out which kind you are.

Do you buy candy to hand out at Halloween you won't be tempted to eat (such as SweeTarts), or do you get Kit Kats and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups because those are your favorites and you won't be stuck with junk if no one shows up at your door?

Here are some mildly interesting facts: ...

(Gene Sweeney Jr./Sun Photographer)

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are known as Reese Peanut Butter Cups in Canada, don't ask me why; and 2007 was a banner year for Denmark because Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are now available there for the first time, according to Wikipedia.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

A request from Darlene for a new topic, and a request from danny bertrand for a commentary on Utz arrived under the Top Ten Crab Cakes post at literally the same moment, which seems like fate.

I live to serve, so here it is.

Because I haven't taken enough abuse today, I'll go ahead and admit it: In a blind taste test, I don't think I could tell the difference between an Utz potato chip and another chip. What makes Utz so special you'd have them brought in if you lived in Florida?

This request did take me to Utz's Web site, where there's a wonderful feature, Say Utz: How to Pronounce Our Name. I love that. It didn't occur to me that there would be more than one way to pronounce Utz. Just don't be wearing your Bose headphones when you put your cursor on it. It will blow you out of the water.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
                    

In the category of making a virtue of necessity, Eats opened yesterday in College Park at route 1 and Hartwick Road (301-CPR-EATS). Its slogan is "The Heart Stops Here," and it serves hamburgers, hot dogs, fries and other heart-unhealthy fare beloved by college students.

The manager is looking for a vintage defibrillator for a decorative accessory.

Here's the link to the article in the Diamondback.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Call me a coward, but in the interest of harmony, I'm going to give you three lists here. One is going to be Top Ten Best Crab Cakes, Readers Choice. The next will be Top Ten Best Crab Cakes, Recommendations Based on My Own Long-Term Experience and Other Sun Foodies'. These are the ones, apologies to Robert, I would try if my rich uncle came to town and was willing to pay while I took him around on a crab cake odyssey.

Finally, the list that may be the most useful to true crab cake aficionados who already know that Faidley's has great crab cakes and want to think outside the box: The Top Ten Best Crab Cakes I've Had in the Past Year.

Here we go: ... 

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun Photographer)

List #1

First the list made up from recent e-mails and the comments posted under The Dreaded Crab Cake Question. These are the ones that got the most votes, although honestly, most votes was sometimes only two or three, so take it with a grain of salt:

*By the Docks in Middle River

*Captain Larry's on Fort Avenue

*Costas Inn on Northpoint Boulevard

*Duda's Tavern in Fells Point

*Faidley's Seafood in the Lexington Market

*Gertrude's at the Baltimore Museum of Art

*G & M in Linthicum Heights

*Koco's Pub in Lauraville

*Olive Grove in Linthicum

*Timbuktu in Hanover

List #2

Commenter Ray in Virginia says he led a dining group on a series of visits to the Baltimore area last year to find the best crab cake. I love that idea. Here are the crab cakes I would compare -- and the reasons I chose them -- if I were seriously going to try to find the best:

*Duda's Tavern and Koco's Pub...because both keep coming up as having great moderately priced crab cakes, something Baltimore needs, with good press from the City Paper, The Sun's Happy Eater Rob Kasper, LIVE reviewer Karen Nitkin, and various online food sites.

*Faidley's...because these seem to be the one to beat.

*G & M...because even though its crab cakes have gotten mixed reviews since it changed hands (to put it mildly; see comments referenced above) so I would have been wary, Rob did get a pretty good cake from there when he carried out last month. 

*Obrycki's...because we need to find a good crab cake downtown I can honestly recommend for the tourists who want an Old Baltimore-style crab house and don't want to travel to Essex for it.

*O'Leary's in Annapolis...because we need at least one place to try from Annapolis, and this is where I've had the best seafood.

*Pierpoint in Fells Point...because at one point chef/owner Nancy Longo's smoked crab cake was the most famous gourmet crab cake in the area.

*Canton's Dockside...because I've got to find a place on the water, in or near the harbor, that has an excellent crab cake. It's what people want. And I'm not comfortable suggesting a regional or national chain, otherwise I'd consider McCormick & Schmick's. Bo Brooks is another possibility, but I haven't heard much enthusiasm about it since I reviewed it seven years ago, and a couple of people have recommended Dockside's crab cakes.

*Prime Rib downtown...because I've always said, Don't ask what Baltimore's best seafood restaurant is, just go to our best restaurants that serve American cuisine and you'll get great seafood. Of course, you'll pay through the nose.

*Schultz's in Essex...because I love the atmosphere, and I've had good traditional Maryland seafood when I've eaten there.

List #3 

Personal Best: the finest I've had in the last 12 months. I enjoyed the crab cakes at Faidley's when I was following the Zagats around for a story, but that was about 18 months ago. Here are the best I've had recently enough to count:

*Artscape. Yes, it surprised me too. And I can't even name the stand. But this falls in the category of good cheap crab cakes, something we need more of. It's easy to make a good crab cake when you're starting with jumbo lump and charging a fortune. (This even, surprisingly, had a few lumps.)

*Crackpot in Bel Air. The crab cakes were moderately priced (for lump crab cakes these days), had the right balance of meat and binder, and come in ten different varieties for those who like to experiment. 

*Dogwood in Hampden. A fine lump crab cake. When I had it, it was part of a surf 'n surf with a small rockfish fillet and a lemon butter basil sauce, so it wasn't overwhelmingly large.

*Gertrude's at the BMA. I had the Tuesday $12 crab cake platter when I was doing a mini-review for the Dining Guide on Good Deals, and it was.

*Jack's Bistro in Canton. The crab cake is Jack's at its best -- imaginative (served with a horseradish aioli and grilled asparagus) but not imagination run amok.

*Micho's in Reisterstown. A tiny bit mushy, but generously full of crab and gently seasoned. Pairing it with a lobster tail was a very good idea, but it could stand on its own.

*Patrick's of Cockeysville. The nicely seasoned cake has so much jumbo lump and so little binder it needed the smooth hollandaise on the side. That's not a bad thing.

*Pierpoint. The smoked crab cakes are the signature dish, but I like the original just as much if not more.  

*Robert Oliver Seafood. I've heard complaints about this restaurant since my generally positive review last February and I haven't been back since, so take that into consideration; but the crab cake was gold, fat with snowy lumps and delicious.

*Watertable. I could have used a little less of the bready filler, but the cake was huge, lump-filled and seasoned just the way I like a crab cake. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (82)
                    

Midnight Sun Sam, ever on top of his beat (which seems to involve a lot of hanging around Fells Point) has come through for us once again.

He took this photo at 700 S. Broadway, former home of Slammers sports bar and Armadillo's Tex-Mex.

If you have any more info on the place, please share it with us.

(Photo courtesy of Sam Sessa)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

In case you missed it, Beerman Cold Beer came up with this excellent point:

OK, so the usual suspects show up year after year in the Best Crab Cake derby.  I want to start a new category:  Best CHEAP crabcake.To me there is no place in this world for a 29 cent hamburger but there is a place for a $6.00 crab cake.  So, for best cheap crab cake I nominate John's Sub Shop on O'Donnell Square in Canton.  A sleeper pick to win a medal is IKEA in Whitemarsh.  Yes, you can get a crabcake at a Home Furnishings store and it is actually pretty good.  Now, we are not talking heavy duty lump or backfin, but still, a good blue collar $6.00 crabcake is nothing to sneeze at. 

I, too, would like to see this list. And please feel free to post your nominations below. But I'm going to save the finalized version until...and here comes the exciting announcement, boys and girls...

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun Photographer)

...Crab Week.

Yes, following the resounding success of Sugar Week last summer, we are going to have Crab Week in '08, where we discuss crab cakes at even greater length (just shoot me now), soft crabs, crab imperial, Asian vs. gulf vs. Chesapeake Bay crab meat, crab houses and so on. So also feel free to:

1) Nominate the proper time. Obviously November really isn't it.

2) Suggest categories you want to discuss beyond those listed above.

3) Send me cute photos of pets and small children being chased by live crabs. (Just kidding.)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

I notice that there's quite a feisty discussion of Fiesta Mexicana (8304 Philadelphia Road in Rosedale) going on at the Chowhound.com board. Faithful Reader Renee e-mailed me about this place a couple of weeks ago, and I asked her to send me a photo, which she kindly did yesterday morning after another visit where the owner made her and her husband cactus salad (not on the menu).

Here's what she had to say: ...

(Photo courtesy of Renee Shuman-Powell)

We live in Upper Fells Point a place with many Hispanic restaurants but we can't stop going to a place out in Rosedale. It's called Fiesta Mexicana and is run by a husband and wife from Mexico. It is the best and freshest Mexican food we can find. It's at 8304 Philadelphia rd in a very unassuming two store strip. They are open mon-sat 11-8 and only take cash. I implore you to try and make it out there.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

Before Italian restaurants and crab cakes, now neck and neck at nearly 50 comments each, the subject that generated the most response on this blog was doughnuts. Remember Doughnut Wednesday?

Anyway, when I got a press release about the world's healthiest and most expensive doughnut -- I don't know about you, but two qualities I don't want in a doughnut -- I thought I better pass the information along. ...

Chefs Diet has created these doughnuts, which are hand-filled; baked, not fried; frosted; flash frozen; and shipped straight to your door. A minimum order is two dozen for $74. That's more than $3 each.

Here's the nutritional info (provided by Chefs Diet):

Chefs Diet Donut (Apple Caramel)
 
Calories: 270
 
Calories from fat: 30
 
Total Fat 3.5g
 
Compared to....
 
Krispy Kreme  (Caramel Crème Crunch)
 
Calories: 380
 
Calories from fat: 190
 
Total fat: 21g

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Of all the upscale chains that have opened in this area recently, the one that has had the most buzz is probably Fogo de Chao, the Brazilian steakhouse in the Inner Harbor.

For a fixed price of $42.50, you get all the meat you can eat and more, plus unlimited sides and a deluxe salad bar. But even if you're a serious carnivore, is the experience worth the money? Find out what I think in next week's review in the Sunday Arts & Life Today section. 

(Chiaki Kawajiri/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

My daughter called me last night to ridicule me for my post on crab cakes. She pointed out my cowardice by saying that I usually respond to at least some of the comments under an entry, but on this one, ...

...with a record 43 posts, I've been laying very low as the discussion has gotten more and more heated.

She also said, "Dude, it's just a crab cake," proving that she's gone over to the dark side and I should never have let her move to California.

Finally, she suggested that we arrange a blind taste test between G & M's and Captain Larry's crab cakes for their proponents, and the people who couldn't tell the difference be shot; but I'm not sure upper management would go for that. Crab cakes are very expensive.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

OK, I admit this photo leaves a little something to be desired. I didn't want to get out of the car because it was raining (that's why the woman in the doorway has a bag over her head), and it was inconsiderate of the car to park there.  But it does prove that a pretty little white tablecloth cafe actually has opened at 3034 Greenmount Ave., a cafe that has a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef as an owner.

Depending on how you look at it, the owner of Darker Than Blue, Casey Jenkins, is either an incredible optimist or a savvy entrepreneur, who believes this area will become the next Canton in the next few years.  "The curve is coming this way," he says. ...

(Photo by me) 

He describes his cafe as a family white tablecloth restaurant, "not Cindy Wolf but not Phillips either." His food is "modern American," and prices run from $9.25 to $22.50.

Right now Darker Than Blue seats 40, but in May, when the upstairs tenant's lease runs out, Jenkins plans to open a second dining room where he'll have live blues and jazz on Friday and Saturday nights. (If you're a Curtis Mayfield fan, you'll know where the name of the restaurant comes from.) 

Darker Than Blue is open for lunch and dinner daily, and brunch on Sunday. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
                    

Your restaurant critic, ever striving to bring you the latest news, drove up N. Charles St. this morning on her way to work to find out exactly where the Caribbean Kitchen had moved to. (See previous post and comment.) The other drivers really appreciated my doing this at rush hour.

The restaurant seemed to have changed its name to Caribbean Paradise, and now be located at 1818 N. Charles St.

However, Midnight Sun Sam tells me that the sign in the Caribbean Kitchen's window before it closed that it was moving to 1818 N. Charles St. was wrong. When he talked to someone at Caribbean Paradise, he found out they have no connection with the Kitchen. She thought maybe they were just redirecting customers to another Caribbean restaurant.

(Pictured is the Caribbean Kitchen when it was on Calvert.)

(Chiaki Kawajiri/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I hear that menu changes are in the works for Cinghiale, the new enoteca and osteria in Harbor East. It won't be the items on the menu necessarily, says the restaurant's public relations person, but the order and presentation.

I'd love to know what really prompted this.

There seems to be no end to the interest Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf's new place has generated. The top three searches that lead visitors to this blog are "Cinghiale," "Cinghiale Restaurant," and "Cinghiale Restaurant Baltimore." ...

(Amy Davis/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

 
I'm feeling a little wild and crazy today, so I've decided to tackle the Dreaded Crab Cake Question. As you can imagine, any restaurant critic in Maryland is constantly asked where to find the best crab cake. This isn't a question that's easy to answer.

Do you like crab cakes that are nothing more than lump crab meat ? Or is the right filler important? How about seasoning? Do you like them broiled or do you think a true crab cake has to be fried, even if it isn't so good for you?

The other problem is that I may have been to the restaurant that has the best crab cake, in fact I probably have because I've been to so many, but not ordered the crab cake. It's too boring to describe crab cakes week after week in reviews.

All I'm asking of you is...

(Photo courtesy of the Costas Inn) 

...if you want to nominate a crab cake, tell me why it's so good.

I haven't had much luck coming up with ten distinct pumpkin dishes (although some of the ones readers have described sound mouthwatering), so I'm going to make next Tuesday's Top Ten the area's best crab cakes.

And then I'm going to duck. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (60)
                    

When the spot at 353 N. Calvert St. was The Bridge, it was a hangout for Sun folks. Not that the food was fabulous. I remember an editor got what she called at BLH sandwich there once. (H for "hair.")

Then it became the Caribbean Kitchen, which seemed to be doing pretty well considering that this is a place that basically only has customers Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch. But it moved north up Charles Street, and the location has been vacant awhile.

Now it's reopened as Hannita's Cantina, serving tacos, tortas, burritos and quesadillas.

(Photo by me) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Be sure to look out for the Dining Guide tomorrow. It's inside the LIVE section.

We've got mini-reviews of 40 restaurants, plus an excellent story by Happy Eater (and Beer Blogger) Rob on crossover wines, which he explains as "not too red and not too white."

My crossover wine is champagne, which goes with everything, including Twinkies.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Well, Italian restaurants are certainly a hot topic, as we found out yesterday. I think 40 comments on one post is a record for me.

In case you missed it, Jim Seay raised an excellent point that certainly deserves a response:

I assume you have never owned a restaurant. The friends I have that do work incredibly hard to make their places a success. I am sure the food at Cinghiale is good (I feel I am practically an investor at their other restaurants I go so often) but to crown them as top ten without going there is a slight to those that have established successful businesses already such as Tiburzis in Canton. ...

(Amy Davis/Sun Photographer)

In an ideal world, Jim, you are absolutely right. Unfortunately, if you haven't read this blog before, you missed my Official Disclaimer. (Scroll down a bit.)

I have been to Tiburzi's, but that was before it expanded, which I'm gathering it must have by now. At the time I said, "Tiburzi's feels more like a neighborhood bar with decent food than cafe at the moment." I don't think it would be fair for me to judge it one way or another from that. Clearly I need to get back.

I like to think of my list as actually the Top Ten Italian Places Outside Little Italy I'd Want My Rich Uncle to Take Me to When He's in Town, but that's kind of a cumbersome title. So bear with me.

If it were that list, then I could rank the restaurants, and it would go like this:

1) Cinghiale

2) Osteria 177

3) Sotto Sopra

4) Cafe Troia

5) Pazza Luna

6) Trattoria Alberto

7) Liberatore's

8) Aida Bistro

9) Sammy's

10) Victor's Cafe (I've never been there either)

Think of me as someone you ask (because I eat in a lot of restaurants and hear from a lot of people about their experiences in restaurants), "I want Italian. Where should I go?" And I answer to the best of my ability. I take the suggestions of readers of this blog seriously, so knowing what I know now I might well have included Pasta Plus (remember, this is a joint effort), but unfortunately no one mentioned it when I asked for suggestions.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

Midnight Sun Sam passed along a great tip to me. One of the owners of Matthew's Pizza, Chris Maler, is going to open a pizza place -- completely separate from Matthew's -- with a new partner, Lando Orsino, where Truman's bar was at 1230 Fort Ave. in Locust Point.

The only picture I could find of Maler -- you'll thank me for this, Chris -- is 11 years old.

This will hap