My husband surprised me a few days ago by saying he wanted to take me out to dinner tonight and he had made reservations. But now everyone has come down with the just-shoot-me-in-the-face, sore-throat-and-congestion bug, so we're staying in.

I'm cooking biftek hache, to be eaten with champagne and followed by a demitasse of Nyquil.

Happy New Year to all of you! Thanks for reading this blog, for contributing (even when you're feeling cranky), and for making this my most fun year at work ever.

Here's hoping 2008 is even better. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

With the end of the year, we come to the end of the What's Hot & What's Not list. Not the literal end; we have 134 more. But the rankings are getting more and more meaningless so I'll give it up.

For those of you who are late to the party, I won't even try to explain. You'd better just check out the What's Hot category to the right of the page.

As for the list itself, I'm not sure what "sushi cuisine" is as opposed to sushi, but I'm surprised to see it so far down the list, with 49 percent of the chefs surveyed thinking it's hot, 23 percent saying it's passe, and 28 percent labeling it a perennial favorite.

The biggest relief to me on this list is that only 6 percent of the chefs think fresh herbs are passe. Please don't make me eat in their restaurants.

And how can anyone in his or her right mind think that cheese, gelato and fresh pasta are passe?

51 Sorbet/gelato 51% 25% 24%

52 Infused oils 50% 31% 18%

53 Fresh pasta 50% 18% 31%

54 India Pale (IPA)/hoppy beers 50% 32% 18%

55 Cheese plates/platters 50% 27% 23%

56 Bottled water 49% 31% 20%

57 Sushi cuisine 49% 23% 28%

58 Wheat beer 48% 35% 17%

59 Fresh herbs 48% 6% 46%

60 Balsamic vinegar 48% 21% 31%

(Doug Kapustin/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I'm thinking of doing a story on How to Get the Most Out of Baltimore Restaurant Week or How to Approach Restaurant Week (and please don't say "hungry"). Or the story might take some other angle that strikes me as more interesting when I think about it some more.

Anyway... 

...I'll definitely draw from the experiences that you posted about Restaurant Week this summer. If anyone has any more advice to share, please let us know by commenting below. For instance: Have you found it's better to go to new restaurants trying to show off? Or restaurants that you've always wanted to try but are normally too pricey? Do you make sure you peruse the prix fixe menu first? Any subjects you want me to cover in the story? If you're willing to comment on the record for the story, please add your e-mail. (It won't post.)

Winter Restaurant Week will make its debut Jan. 28 through Feb. 3. The places that are signed up will offer a three-course meal for $30.08, and some of them will also offer lunch for $20.08. Participating garages will have parking for $3.

You may think it's a bit early for me to be starting on this story, but I have a week in St. Pete Beach to enjoy between now and then. 

The restaurant pictured is one of the participating restaurants. Care to take a guess? The photo is from 2001, so it may have changed a bit. I won't say whether you're right or wrong right away to give others a chance to agree or disagree.

(Karl Merton Ferron/Sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

At the end of the year, LIVE reviewer Karen Nitkin and I always write wrap ups of the year in restaurants. This year Karen did what I thought was an interesting concept, the places that had the best service. I liked it because the cheap eats kinds of places she reviews don't always focus on service.

I wrote a more general wrap up of the local restaurant scene, which appeared in the paper this morning.

Still, both of us were looking just at restaurants we had been to (or in my case, written about in Table Talk) in 2007. If you have anything to add about what you thought were the highlights of the year, please post below.

By the way, Darlene wins the e-prize for guessing the recipient of the Weirdest Name Award. Way to go, Darlene!

(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

Much has been written about Woodberry Kitchen’s being Baltimore’s first “green” restaurant. The owners, Spike and Amy Gjerde and Nelson Carey of Grand Cru, a wine bar, have used reclaimed materials to build a stunning restaurant inside a 19th century foundry in the Clipper Mill complex.

The kitchen, headed by Spike Gjerde of Spike & Charlie’s fame, uses local and organic ingredients whenever possible. The quirky menu is a lot of fun. But does this entertaining restaurant, which has become the hottest table in town, live up to the advance billing? See what I think in next Sunday’s Arts & Life Today section.
 

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Review Preview
        

And here's the caption for the photo, a bit technical for me, but it may mean something to you:

In November 2006 Till Nowak created the image "Salad". For this image he created 12 digital vegetable models
in 3ds max using photographic references. They were combined to become a tribute to the fantastic biomechanical creations of H.R. Giger and the vegetable portraits of Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Abacrombie near the Meyerhoff is open again, and there's an early, very enthusiastic review posted on Chowhound. Thanks to both chowsearch and Hal for bringing it to my attention.

I wrote about the new management in my Table Talk column in the Taste section a couple of weeks ago, but...   

...not on the blog. In case you missed it, here's what I said:

"The tiny basement restaurant succeeded so well under former chef/owner Sonny Sweetman that the new management doesn't plan to make major changes in the format. That means fine dining, a European menu with some contemporary twists, and a European wine list.

"Rumor had it that Corks was somehow going to be involved in the new Abacrombie. That turned out not to be true. Jerry Pellegrino, co-owner of Corks, is, however, 'the producer of this project although he's not the major investor,' says Greta Clausen, the new general manager. Jesse Sandlin, who worked under Michael Costa at Pazo, is the executive chef."

(Gene Sweeney Jr./Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I just got a call from Damon Hersh, a talented chef who opened Louisiana in Fells Point. When I last reviewed the restaurant, he was running the kitchen, and I gave the food three-and-a-half stars.

Hersh left Louisiana in 2004, helped a friend open a restaurant and bar in Sykesville, worked at True before it closed and Red Star in Fells Point, and has just taken over as executive chef of Kali's Court and Mezze. The current chef, Rashad Edwards, is moving down the street to open the third restaurant in the group, Meli, by the end of January.

Is Hersh planning any changes in Kali's menu? I asked. ...

"Absolutely," he said.

It will still be dedicated to seafood, but he's adding specialties like two different whole fish each night; mahi mahi with oxtail jus and oxtail-stuffed dumplings; seared skatewing with forbidden rice and a colorful broccolini and pomegranate mix; and stuffed quail over black lentils. The new menu will go into effect in January.

"People will have a sneak peek of some of the dishes New Year's Eve," he told me. "We're closed New Year's Day, and when we get back on the 2nd, it will be full speed ahead."

(Sun archives, 2004)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Midnight Sun Sam has once again come through with great art for this blog. Ha ha. Just kidding, Sam. But for sure this gets my vote as best name for a restaurant in Baltimore. You can find Burger-Go-Go at Broadway and Gough.

I'm putting it on my list with the Oinkster in Eagle Rock, CA, and the Blow Fly Inn in Gulfport, MS.

And feel free to let us know if they have the greatest burgers in Baltimore.

Or not.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I rarely write about products in this blog, but this is one I can recommend. It's the new Reynolds Handi-Vac, a hand-held vacuum sealer.

First, a bit of back story: Two years ago when we renovated our kitchen, I bought a beautiful but useless...

...refrigerator. OK, that's a little strong; but my frozen food has been getting much worse freezer burn than it did with the ancient GE I used to have.

The Handi-Vac wasn't a freebie because of my job. I actually saw it in the supermarket one day and decided to buy it. You put the food you want to freeze in special plastic bags that have an air valve. Then you suck the air out with the Vac. Its Web site, by the way, is a hoot. Incredibly detailed about an essentially simple process. And I've already spent too much time this morning playing the "Stay Fresh" game to win $50 and another Handi-Vac.

At first I thought my Handi-Vac didn't work, but if you run it longer than the directions suggest, suddenly you can see the bag tighten around the food inside as the air goes out. But be warned: This sucker is stronger than it looks. I was so fascinated the first time I did it I didn't notice my loaf of bread was getting squashed.

I don't get freezer burn anymore, though.

No, you can't use it for sous vide cooking.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Greg S.'s question under the previous entry deserves a thread of its own:

My wife & I are expecting our first child in June, so we'll be opting for a more mellow New Year's celebration this year.  Anyone have any recommendations for dining options that won't be overly crowded?  Anywhere we should avoid?  We know the local scene fairly well, but haven't dined out on a holiday before...Thanks! 

I'm a stay-at-homer New Year's Eve, so I'm no help.

(Sun archives)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

I got this e-mail from Ross Miller this morning:
 
This may seem a bit odd however, my wife and I are traveling to Baltimore in the spring and we can not stand chain restaurants but did not know where to go and who to ask. So, I figured who better to ask than a food critic.

We were looking for suggestions in the downtown area (Fells Point, Federal Hill, Mount Vernon) or maybe even a college joint near Johns Hopkins. We just like to go where locals go and not tourists and places that sell local cuisine.

At the risk of bothering you and disrupting your busy schedule, do you have some suggestions?
 
I do have a deadline today, so I quickly sent him five restaurants off the top of my head. I certainly wouldn’t want to defend my selections; there were many others I could have named. Before you read below what I sent him, what would your five have been?
 

Here were mine: Mama's on the Half Shell, Woodberry Kitchen, Gertrude's in the BMA, the Black Olive and Dogwood. When I think about it, they don't really fit his criteria, at least not the downtown part. And when I reread his e-mail, it sounds as if he was looking for cheaper suggestions. I was trying more for local cuisine, something we don't really focus on in our restaurants -- except for the tourist places and Gertrude's.

What I need to do is make up a visitors' list, which I can whip out when I get e-mails like this one.

(Kim Hairston/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Here we are, back with the What's Hot & What's Not list. At this point if you aren't up to speed, just click on the What's Hot category to the right to see Nos. 1-40. The list was made up by asking chefs which foods, drinks, cuisines and techniques were hot, which were passe and which were perennial favorites. Those are the percentages after each item on the list in that order.

The most interesting to me of these ten is No. 48, sous vide (51 percent of the chefs surveyed thought it was hot, 38 percent passe, 11 percent a perennial favorite).

Right, perennial. My mom used to do it.

Sous vide, or vacuum cooking, in case you haven't heard the term, uses airtight plastic bags, a long cooking period, and a water bath at relatively low temperature to maintain the integrity of the food better.  The problem is that botulism can develop in the absence of oxygen, so nonprofessional cooks have to be careful. Actually, professional cooks have to be careful, too. Here's the Web site if you want to know more.

Come to think of it, No. 43, dragon fruit (pictured), is kind of interesting, too. How could 38 percent of the chefs say it was passe? 

41 Exotic mushrooms (e.g., morel, enoki, shiitake, truffles) 54% 15% 31%

42 Cuban Cuisine 52% 33% 14%

43 Dragon fruit 52% 38% 10%

44 Spanish Cuisine 52% 24% 24%

45 Caribbean Cuisine 52% 35% 13%

46 Smoked items (e.g., mesquite, hickory, oak) 52% 22% 26%

47 Quinoa 51% 38% 11%

48 Sous vide 51% 38% 11%

49 Fresh fruit/mixer cocktails 51% 28% 22%

50 Vegan dishes 51% 38% 12%

(Photo of dragon fruit courtesy of Fortune City) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

My Top Ten list next week, because Tuesday falls on New Year's Day, should be Top Ten Resolutions; but I don't think I can come up with ten. I'm so bad with following through on resolutions that I've finally narrowed it down to two that I can keep:

Buy more fresh flowers. Eat more sweet butter.

However, possibly because of Resolution No. 2, it's not a bad time for me to come up with a list of places where you can eat healthier, which readers have been clamoring for.

OK, one person may have mentioned it.

Anyway, it's trickier than it sounds, because I don't want to just list natural food store counters. I'm even going to have to think about what "healthier" means. At most restaurants, how healthy your meal is depends on what you're willing to ask for, as in sauce on the side, not what's on the menu.

Suggestions are not only welcome with this one, they are desperately needed.

(Doug Kapustin/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I found the following e-mail in my inbox when I got to work this morning. Hope springs eternal in the breast of those who love pizza, and when Phat Pug pizzeria in Perry Hall first opened people seemed to really like the coal-fired version. Then things started to go awry: ...

...Hello elizabeth this is mike depasquale owner of the phat pug i recently did a licensing agreement with someone for my perry hall location.We are in transition right now.I understand there have been lots of complaints about my restaurant and how it has beeen being run.I'am very sorry to you and the public about these problems but they will be straightened out asap.There is some new remodeling taking place,New equipment being instsalled,and some rearranging going on.So the place can be run more effeciently.I know when I'am there things are run accordingly.I am opening new locations after the first of the year.After everything has been completed I would love everyone to come to the phat pug to enjoy some great pizza.I appreciate the great article you wrote when I first opened up.So just give me and the new people a chance things will be back to great again.Also we will have a new menu.I still will be there for a while starting january15,2008 through the whole transition to help them.That is part of the deal.Ipromise the coal fired pizza will be back to the way you remember it. Sincerely, Michael DePasquale  - Phat Pug....And the new phone number at the Phat Pug will be on this week.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Pizza
        

If you missed Single Robert's excellent review of his Christmas dinner at McCormick & Schmick's, I hope you'll take a look. And if you ate out yesterday, either at a Chinese or non-Chinese restaurant, I hope you'll post something about your meal below.

Even if you don't feel like describing the food, it would be great if you would let us know whether the restaurant would be a good choice for next year and if you would do anything different (like time).

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

 
For all of you who are eating in a Chinese restaurant today, I want to mention that when my family eats in a Chinese restaurant, we always make everyone at the table play charades with the fortunes inside the fortune cookies.

For instance, "prosperity" would be: first syllable, "sounds like glow," second syllable, "spear," and you're on your own for figuring out how to convey the rest of the word. 

Naturally no one ever wants to do it, but we force them to and they have a  great time in the end (or so we tell ourselves). Try it. I guarantee everyone at the table will be rolling on the floor laughing.

See how useful this blog is? Not only do you learn where the good Chinese restaurants are, but I tell you what to do once you get there. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

 
I finally decided I had to get on the dessert thing this morning because dinner is at 2 p.m. My sister-in-law called to say she was having the same problem I was, and had decided to make my chocolate mousse recipe. I didn't remember I had a chocolate mousse recipe; but she reminded me that long ago I decided I would create the ultimate chocolate mousse for my husband, the chocolate lover; made every recipe in the universe; and finally ended up with one.

The problem is that I was so burnt out I never made another chocolate mousse since, so I forgot about it. But Hal said it's never wrong to serve chocolate mousse, it's easy, and I had the ingredients on hand. I decided it would be our Christmas dessert.

Of course, I forgot all about... 

...digging out the cut glass dessert bowl, which got packed away when we renovated our kitchen two years ago and has never been seen since. I thought of it after I made the mousse.

That's why there are seven glasses of mousse in my refrigerator at the moment. These are beautiful champagne glasses (from when people drank champagne in flat glasses) with a wheat pattern. I have no idea where they came from. The advantage of not finding the cut glass bowl, as my husband pointed out, is portion control. I'll put a dollop of softly whipped cream on top before I serve them, and one of our guests is bringing an Egyptian orange cake, which will go nicely with the mousse.

One of these days when I have more time I'll share the recipe, but it's not really the greatest chocolate mousse in the universe. You can duplicate it by using strong coffee and Cointreau instead of water in your recipe.

That champagne, by the way, isn't what I'm serving my guests. It's cooking wine. By which I mean the cook and anyone who helps her get to drink it as they are working. No, I haven't opened it yet. It's only 8:45.

Meanwhile my husband, who thinks Bob Dylan is the greatest philosopher since Plato, is downstairs playing "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" on his guitar.

Shouldn't that be "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"? 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

Well, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa or other Winter Solstice celebration of your choice. Had enough merry and bright? My Top Ten today should in some small way add a little edge to the festivities. These are the Top Ten Zingers -- little or big digs that made me wonder, "As annoying as I know I can be, how did I annoy this person so much?" But they are also pretty funny.

Most of the posters I never hear from again, or at least not under these names, but I have to point out that nestee has become a frequent and entertaining contributor.

Also, I thought I could easily come up with ten, but people have been remarkably kind on this blog. Thank you. So I had to throw in a couple of e-mails, as well as a couple of comments I've drawn attention to before.

Anyway, here's my list, in order of how much of a double take I did when I read them: ... 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

My daughter brought me this enormous crusty loaf of sourdough bread from La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles. It tastes about as much like the La Brea bread you can get in our supermarkets as Kobe beef tastes like steak from a Ponderosa.

What was impressive was that it was her third item of carryon luggage. I swear she could convince the TSA that a bottle of nitroglycerin she was carrying was just something to remove her nail polish.

She was the second most beautiful thing that got off the plane. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Don't forget to slip away from your family and friends tomorrow to check out my Top Ten Tuesday, which will be Top Ten Zingers, those comments on the blog (and I'll throw in a couple of e-mails) that made me say, "Whoa. Where did that come from?"

As I'm making up the list, I'm beginning to feel a little Scrooge-like. Shouldn't I just forgive and forget?

Nah. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

Now I'm sitting here at my computer brooding about the fact that yesterday I ended up going to three different grocery stores. I'm thinking maybe I should try Safeway.com again and have the basics delivered to my door when I get crazy busy.

The problem is that if the store is out of even one item, and it always is, you have to go shopping anyway even though you've paid a delivery charge. (No, Peapod hasn't come to my Zip code yet.)

Anyway, I digress and I haven't even gotten to what I wanted to tell you about. On Safeway.com's holiday page is a video on making frushi...

...only with doughnuts instead of rice. It looks amazingly real in the photos, given the basic starch.

Frushi, in case you haven't heard of it, is trompe l'oeil sushi made with fruit and rice (or doughnuts). Here's a link to the Gastronomic Fight Club blog, where you can learn more. It was popularized, so GFC says, by Orange, a small restaurant in Chicago.

When I e-mailed asking for permission to use the photo, snekse told me they were thinking of updating the frushi entry at the beginning of the year, so check back later if you like the idea and I'll post a link.

You're looking at cantaloupe "ginger," Asian apple pear maki with pecan honey, and strawberry-kiwi maki with black sesame. Pretty cute, huh.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

I'm sitting here at my computer brooding about what to have for Christmas dinner dessert. The menu is set; but my usual dessert, ginger pudding with Susan sauce and whipped cream, seems too heavy this year. For some reason the French dessert oeufs a la neige appeals.

If you ever ate at Jeannier's in the Broadview before it closed, you'll know what I mean. It was a specialty of Roland Jeannier and a favorite of mine.

It's light, it's festive if you top it with spun caramel as shown in the photo, and the name, which translated means "eggs in the snow," seems appropriate.

I'm running into a couple of problems, though. ... 

First, the Web is fairly useless for finding a good recipe, as I've discovered in the past. Even this beautiful photo, which is from LaTartineGourmand is of the French dessert ile flottante. It's slightly different (heavier on the meringue, lighter on custard), but it was the only picture I could find that shows the spun caramel. I'm sure if I kept hunting, I could come up with one that wasn't written in litres and castor sugar; but I have other things to do.

My wonderful collection of cookbooks, which I both inherited and bought or was given in the years I was food editor at The Sun, isn't of much help here. My best bet is going to be the Gourmet magazine basic French cookbook; but as anyone knows who has used cookbooks written before, say, the mid-70s, the recipes are incredibly sketchy. I'm afraid disaster looms, especially as I've never made spun caramel before.

Excuse me. I have to go look for my cut glass dessert bowl now, stored away because I've never used it since receiving it as a wedding present. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

Next Sunday, where my review usually appears in the Arts & Life Today section, I'll take a look back at the area's restaurant scene in 2007. 

As I do every year, I'll talk about the important openings and closings, the trends I see happening locally, and also hand out a few awards, including Weirdest Name for a Restaurant. (This year there was also a runner up.) Feel free to post your guesses below, but keep them local, please.

The photo is of oven chef Mariano Rios at the new Woodberry Kitchen working on an appetizer, Sizzling Shrimp, which is also pictured in the foreground.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Review Preview
        

Something got me thinking about last weekend's discussion of exporting American food (maybe because it's the weekend again), and I realized I had been too busy at the time posting photos of McDonald's in Italy to put in my two cents. Then we had already moved on to something else.

But it's not too late. I think we can do better than just saying there is no American cuisine -- that it's just a hodge podge of regional dishes influenced by the Old Country. True, but it's also true that there are some foods that will appear on Chez Elizabeth's menu when I open my restaurant in Paris that seem American to me, even if other countries have similar dishes.

I remember my mother-in-law telling me that they housed an exchange student from France one school year. Every time they served served him corn on the cob he would say, "Pour les cochons." So corn on the cob would definitely be on the menu to prove that it isn't just food for the pigs.

Other foods, just off the top of my head:... 

* Big steamed shrimp served chilled with a high-class seafood sauce

* Fried chicken. It isn't just a southern dish, and really well done fried chicken is food for the gods.

* A thick, juicy New York strip steak with a baked potato and sour cream

* Pork barbecue, of course

* Cobb salad

* A jellied salad with fruit in it

* Crab cakes or steamed crabs

* Catfish

* Pies: apple, lemon meringue, cherry, with a crust made with shortening, not butter 

* Or chocolate chip cookies and big glasses of milk for dessert 

When I have more time after the holidays, I'm going to get serious about this post and go through some of my old cookbooks, before sushi became more American than pizza and before every grocery store carried ingredients like masa harina.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

The only two references to sugar plums I know of are in The Night Before Christmas ("visions of sugar plums danced in their heads") and the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker.

As a child I thought the term just meant candies and other goodies, as old fashioned as "sweetmeats." I'm pretty sure the illustration in my Night Before Christmas book looked like the one to the right, which is what gave me that idea.

But searching the Web, I think the Historical Cookery Page is probably as accurate a source as any in saying what sugar plums are and how to make them.

However, I notice many food bloggers embrace this recipe, originally published in Saveur magazine, which may have no historical basis but probably tastes pretty good: 

Sugar Plums

2 cups whole almonds
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1 cup finely chopped pitted dates
1 cup confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. 
   
3. Arrange almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast in oven for ten minutes. Set aside to cool and then finely chop. Using a food processor makes all the chopping easier.
4. 
   
5. Meanwhile, combine honey, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg in a medium mixing bowl. Add almonds, apricots, and dates and mix well.
6. 
   
7. Pinch off rounded teaspoon sized pieces of the mixture and roll into balls. (Rinse your hands often, as mixture is very sticky.)
   
8. 
   
9. Roll balls in sugar and refrigerate in single layers between sheets of wax paper in airtight containers for up to one month. Their flavor improves after ripening for several days.

Makes about 75 sugar plums.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

As the year draws to a close, the time has come to hand out some well-deserved awards. As faithful readers know, I want readers to do half my work for me I consider this blog a community effort, a place for insightful and lively but not hurtful discussion about food, restaurants and anything else that I feel like talking about touches on these subjects in a meaningful way.

I was going to give out a year-end award for insightful commenting, but it was too boring there were too many candidates, so I decided instead to give out an award for the Second Funniest Person on This Blog. Many, many people have been funny in the eight months it's been in existence (see earlier post on funniest comments), but one person has been funniest over the longest span of time. That person would be...

 ...Robert.

Congratulations, Robert!

However, I noticed when I started making up the following list of examples, that Robert is actually two people. So your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to see if you can differentiate the two. I like to think I can at this point without looking at their e-mail addresses. I know nothing about either of them except they both have a sense of humor, and one is Married Robert and one is Single Robert.

By the way, Roberts, there is no prize except the pleasure you can take from the admiration of your fellow contributors.

Here we go:

* Robert on celebrity sightings (you have to go back to the original entry to get it):

I don't know who Scarlett Johansson or Jennifer Connelly are. Now that steak looks like a bone-in filet mignon wrapped in bacon served with piped potatoes and sprig of Rosemary.

* Robert commenting on What's Hot & What's Not:

Yes, but who are the 73% of chefs who still think small plates are hot, and what part of Iowa, Indiana or Nebraska are they from?

And as to the 21% who think that sustainable seafood is passe, what is the next big trend...eating endangered fish?  I'll have the trio of Chilean Sea Bass, Russian Sturgeon and Dolphin.

* Robert on energy drink cocktails:

As a general rule, conversations that start out with: "So, I was doing
Jagerbombs."   Do not end with any of the following:

1. and I ended up getting the promotion.

2. and that's how I met your mother

3. and that's how I saved money on car insurance.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

We had dinner last night at the new Woodberry Kitchen in Clipper Mill. No, this isn't going to be an early review. 

As many of you know, this is Spike and Amy Gjerde's "green" restaurant, where not only is the food for the most part local and/or organic, but the space was renovated with recycled materials whenever possible. 

So I was a little surprised when our leftovers were brought in what looked like Styrofoam in the candlelight. ...

My daughter told us that many restaurants in LA, where she lives, now use cornstarch leftover containers, but that this one wasn't cornstarch.

It looked like eco-Styrofoam because it had almost the right texture but the pleasant light brown color of raw sugar. It turned out to be made of sugarcane. I remember Gjerde telling me when I interviewed him over the phone that the hard thing about opening this restaurant was taking care of all the "green" details. Now I see what he meant.

I looked up cornstarch containers on the Web first, and came up with a site that sells them. They are impressive: microwave and oven safe, from a renewable resource and biodegradable (within 180 days). They have a shelf life of at least 18 months. And if you need to thicken a sauce, you just melt one by putting it over a burner turned on high.

No, no, that last was a joke. 

The sugarcane containers were interesting in their own right. The one thing I don't understand is that the site selling them said they had to be biodegraded (is that a word?) in a composting system. It would take 30 days in a commercial system and 90 days in a home composting system.

I'm assuming they will still biodegrade quicker than Styrofoam if you just throw them away, and you're avoiding the pollution that occurs with the normal burning of the sugarcane pulp after juice extraction. Besides, you can grow corn and sugarcane a lot quicker than a tree or a Styrofoam plant.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Calm down. There's no way I can continue to torture you with this What's Hot & What's Not list into 2008. But until then...

Here are the next ten, Nos. 31 through 40. if you missed the first 30, God forbid, the easiest way to find them is to go under Categories and click the What's Hot link. Remember the numbers following the item refer in order to percentage of chefs surveyed who think the food, drink, item or cuisine is hot; percentage who think it's passe; and percentage who think it's a perennial favorite.

The most interesting one of these ten to me is No. 40, the slow food movement. No, it's not just chewing each bite 30 times before you swallow. Here's the link to the Slow Food USA Web site, which will explain it in much greater detail than I can.

Also, note how vegetarianism is inching its way up. I'd be happy if restaurants simply served larger portions of vegetables with their meat entrees, but I guess too many customers leave them on their plates so that won't happen.

Let me know if there are any of these you'd like us to discuss further. And, Eric, I checked and "authentic Chinese" didn't make the list.

31 Whole grain bread 56% 16% 28%

32 Belgian-style beer (including lambic) 56% 27% 17% Beer Blogger Rob, take note.

33 Meatless/vegetarian dishes 56% 29% 15%

34 Thai Cuisine 56% 20% 24%

35 Pan-Asian Cuisine 55% 27% 18%

36 Pan-seared/sauteed 55% 9% 36%

37 Vegetarian/vegan Entrée Salad 55% 27% 18%

38 Chili peppers (e.g., piri piri, habanero, chipotle) 54% 25% 21%

39 Grilled 54% 9% 37%

40 Slow food 54% 26% 20%

(Photo by Nancy Stone/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

I was having trouble coming up with a Top Ten appropriate for Christmas Day when we moved Chinese restaurants to the week before, but then it occurred to me that there are plenty of people to whom Christmas Day will be just another Tuesday, only with Chinese food, and they are the ones most likely to be reading my blog. (Of course, I'm hoping I'm wrong and that everyone will be wondering about the holiday meal I'm cooking, and how it went, and so on.)

But in any case, I think you'll be amused by the little collection I'm amassing. ...

The day before, when I usually make up my list, is Christmas Eve, so I want you, faithful readers, to do the work.

You may remember that we've already done the Top Ten funniest comments. This will be my Top Ten collection of zingers. These are comments that come out of the blue, as when your mother-in-law says unexpectedly, "My poor dear, you're going bald" when you're not really.

I'm closing the eligibility window as of now, so don't try to make my list in the next few days by posting really mean comments. It won't work.

(AP Photo/Kathryn Cook)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

For the first time in all the years I've worked here, The Sun had a holiday luncheon for the employees today. (Can I say Christmas luncheon? The cafeteria workers were all wearing Santa hats. In fact, can I say lunch?)

When copy editor extraordinaire Helen and I planned our annual Christmas lunch, which we've been doing for years...

...we were going to go someplace nice within walking distance like Sotto Sopra or Sascha's 527. But this has been such a rough year for the paper, and we've had so much sad news toward the end of the year, we decided instead to go to the first-ever Sun Christmas lunch and exchange our presents there. (The fact that the food was free had nothing to do with it.)

I hadn't known they were going to decorate, so I brought a little tree from the desk of an editor with us to brighten up the table.

I knew one person was going to have to say it, and it was copy editing chief John, who was standing behind us in line:

 "Are you going to review this meal?"

So here goes.

I avoided the turkey roll, and had a slice of ham, canned corn, a couple of roast potatoes, broccoli and pasta salad, canned cranberry sauce and sugar cookies. (Hey, it's gray and gloomy, and I'm carbo-loading.) Because I was happy to be there with an old friend, and a couple more joined us, it tasted fine. The price was right, too. Through the years we all will be together.

If the fates allow.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Because my father was married to the greatest cook in the universe, he didn't do much in the kitchen. However, he did make two things: Seville orange marmalade and hard sauce to go on the Christmas plum pudding.

He was an English professor, so he had to make it the way it would have appeared in a Dickens novel. None of the recipes I've seen on the net comes close. ...

I don't have his recipe, but basically it was a softened stick of butter beaten with vanilla and a lot of granulated sugar. (Not brandy because the plum pudding had so much alcohol in it.)

Modern recipes all seem to have changed the sugar to confectioners' sugar, which as a little girl I always wished he would do because the finished hard sauce seemed so grainy.

The other thing that modern recipes don't seem to get is that it's called hard sauce for a reason. After it's beaten, it should be chilled, so you spoon out a lump, something like the photo above. It's not a sauce until it melts on the warm plum pudding.

(Photo courtesy of bunrab.com)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

Phat Pug Coal Fired Pizza in Perry Hall opened this fall with a great deal of promise and some good early reviews. The owner had ambitious plans to open two more pizzerias downtown in Federal Hill and Fells Point.

But day before yesterday I got this e-mail from LIVE reviewer Karen Nitkin: ...

Phat Pug’s phone has been disconnected, and I fear they are out of business. I had an extraordinarily incompetent meal there last week – the pizza-maker tossed two cheese pies in the trash because one had a hole in it and the other simply fell apart. The soda machine was broken, basic ingredients were not in stock, our (fairly simple) order was bungled, and the woman behind the counter was so baffled by the cash register that she actually drove to a bank to get money to refund me for the botched pies.

Seems to me that a pizza place that can’t make a cheese pizza and deliver a soda is bound for disaster.

I called last night to check one last time before I posted this, and indeed the message is that the phone has been "temporarily disconnected."

(Photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Pizza
        

Ha. I bet you thought I was going to feature candy canes or sugar plums.

But today's food of the season is lamb vindaloo because last night my family and our closest friends in Baltimore had our traditional Indian Christmas dinner at the Ambassador Dining Room.

We don't go to the Ambassador year after year because we crave Indian food, but because it has the most beautifully decorated-for-the-holidays room we've found, with white fairy lights, greens, ribbons, and two fireplaces.

Prices are high for an Indian restaurant, almost putting it in the special occasion category -- but then this was a special occasion. (Many entrees are priced in the 20s.)

On the other hand, the service is suave, there is champagne on the wine list, and dishes like bengan khas, eggplant layered with fresh tomato and topped with yogurt and mint, and salmon cooked in the tandoor oven are hard to beat.

I wasn't trying to be arty when I took this photo, by the way. I just didn't want to use the flash and disturb other diners.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

The Sun's lifestyle editor is looking for baker's ammonia to make lemon ammonia cookies for Christmas. Anybody know where you can get it around here? She might give you some cookies for your trouble.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

OK, here are the nominations to replace Hunan Annapolis on today's Top Ten. I haven't been to them, so I can't decide. Please post below if you've eaten at any of them and can flesh out the description a bit.

One thing my editor pointed out about the original list was that none of them is in the city. I called a couple (Ding How and P. F. Chang's), but they aren't open. Maybe eating Chinese on Christmas Day is a 'burb thing.

Here are five suggestions, all outside the city: ...

* Grace's Fortune, 15500 Annapolis Road, Bowie, 301-805-1108. This sounds pricey but elegant from the reviews on the net, just the ticket for a holiday meal. I called, and it is open Christmas Day noon to 10 p.m. Thanks to Clint for bringing it to our attention.

*Szechuan Inn in Severna Park, which bb says opens at 2 p.m. and has excellent food.

* David Chu's China Bistro, 7105 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, 410-602-5008. This got voted Best Kosher Restaurant recently in a local survey and would probably have been on my original list except I wasn't the one who reviewed it for The Sun. It's open 11:15 a.m. to 10 p.m.

* East/West Bistro where Hunan Annapolis was in Pasadena. Thanks, Misha, for the info about it. It opens at 3:30 p.m. That much I know.

*China Fortune in Owings Mills. Alisa says, The food is so fresh and there are so many choices. Open 11:15 a.m. to 10 p.m.

(Eric Mencher/Philadelphia Inquirer/KRT)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

This was a tough one because my criteria seemed to eliminate most of the possibilities. First, each of the ten on the list had to be a Chinese restaurant or mostly a Chinese restaurant, and second, it had to be open Christmas Day. That left out popular choices like Cafe Zen, Green Leaf, and so on.

Then, too, as I've said before on this blog, I'm not a wild fan of Baltimore's Chinese restaurants. I feel as if they pander to American tastes too often. That makes picking a top ten all that much harder.

I put a little more emphasis on atmosphere than I would normally because it is a holiday meal after all, even if you're there because you're not celebrating the holiday.

I have the feeling I'm leaving out a restaurant that should be included, but I can't think what it could be. If you have a suggestion, please post below. And remember, it shouldn't be pan-Asian (or closed Christmas Day).

Here's my list:

*Bamboo House, 26 Cranbrook Road, Cockeysville, 410-666-9550. Its glory days are a bit past -- it once had a branch in Harborplace -- but it is dependable. On Christmas Day you're justified in having lobster -- pick your own out of the tank. The Bamboo House is Joey Chiu's sister restaurant.

*Hunan Manor, 7091 Deepage Dr., Columbia, 410-381-1134. This is Howard County's favorite Chinese restaurant; and not only that, USA Today anointed it "one of the 10 greatest places to celebrate the Lunar New Year in the nation" a few years back. The menu, LIVE reviewer Karen Nitkin says, lists over 800 dishes.

*Jesse Wong's Hong Kong, 10215 Wincopin Circle, Columbia, 410-964-9193. This branch of a popular local group of restaurants is the one that's most purely Chinese. On Christmas Day, as usual, it will be serving dim sum at lunch and the regular menu all day.

*Joey Chiu's Greenspring Inn gets my vote more for the setting and service than the food, which is, let's admit it, very geared to American tastes.  You can get a steak and a rack of lamb here as well as Chinese food. In fact, maybe I should have included it in non-Chinese restaurants open Christmas Day.

*Jumbo Seafood, 48 E. Sudbrook Lane, Pikesville, 410-602-1441. It's been awhile since I've eaten there, but I remember with pleasure the traditional Cantonese dishes, generous portions, a good choice of vegetarian dishes and seafood crystal wonton soup. BYOB.

*Olive & Sesame, 2 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Towson, 410-494-4944. The draw here is that you can get "healthy" Chinese food; but the good thing is if you crave the fried, the sweet-and-sour sauced and the heavily sodiumed, those dishes are available too. There's another location in Pikesville.

*Orient in Towson just barely qualifies since it has Japanese food on its menu beyond sushi. But it seems to consider itself primarily a Chinese restaurant, and there is plenty of room for large parties if you want to make it an extended family affair.

*Sonny Lee's Hunan Taste in Reisterstown is the place to go if you're craving Peking duck for Christmas dinner. It's the house specialty, and as good as you'll find in the area, but there's plenty else to like at this pleasant, low-key restaurant.

*Szechuan House, 1427 York Road, Lutherville 410-825-8181. I have a soft spot in my heart for this restaurant because it was the first time I took Good Eater David out to dinner, and he ordered the red-cooked beef tendon. I knew then he was going to become Good Dining Companion David. Besides the usual suspects, there's the "Country Side Taste" part of the menu, which is much more authentic.

Bonus selection: Commenter Extraordinaire Eric either e-mailed me or posted this as a comment. I saved because it because it sounded intriguing:

Paul Kee off Georgia Ave in Silver Spring, but I guess that's too close to DC.  It's as authentic a Cantonese restaurant is going to be so say my mainland Chinese friends.

(Photo by Tony Berardi/Chicago Tribune)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (32)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

Speaking of the New York Times, Chinese restaurants, and Zagat (rhymes with "kill the cat") -- all of which we've done in the last few days, see previous posts -- here is Nina and Tim Zagat's take on why Chinese restaurants aren't better in the United States. The article, "Eating Beyond Sichaun," appeared on the Times op-ed page in June.

BTW, it's going to get spelled "Szechuan" on this blog.

(AP photo/Greg Baker)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Good to see in return we've exported the best of our cuisine to Shanghai.

(AP photo/Andy Wong)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Every day until Christmas (unless I get bored with it) I'm going to do an entry on festive foods. Today's entry is mistletoe.

Yes, boys and girls, the New York Times has reported that mistletoe is not as lethal as people seem to think. In one study:

Eight of 10 people who consumed five or more berries had no symptoms, and 3 of the 11 people who consumed only leaves had upset stomachs.

Of course, this was a 1996 study of 92 people.

So eat all the mistletoe berries you want. Ha ha. Just kidding. Just understand that it may be more deadly to kiss a co-worker under the mistletoe at the office Christmas party than to eat the plant.

Wondering why anyone would eat mistletoe in the first place?

I'm not even going to go there.

(Scary photo courtesy of the USDA Forest Service)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

I was quite anxious to get into the discussion on exporting cuisines this weekend, but Firefox, the only browser that I can access the blog software from with my Mac, has gone wonky (any computer nerds out there, please advise). All I could do was publish comments.

Interesting discussion on the subject in case you missed it. Soren, I don't really care if Hal has been to Japan or not, but I do care to hear why you think Japanese restaurants need to have Japanese owners while French restaurants don't. ...

I'm not challenging what you say, just interested in your argument.

Also, as we're talking about the exportation of American cuisine, I'd like to know what various people think is our national cuisine if not Mickey D and Coke.

I took these photos in Italy this fall, and it seems to me McDonald's upgraded itself for the Romans. A cappuccino and brioche sounds pretty good to me.

Although even here they don't quite pull it off. That looks like a croissant, not a brioche.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

While we're discussing the decline of Chinese restaurants, it's hard to ignore the fact that pan-Asian restaurants seem to be the way to go these days. Witness the opening of the Jasmine Asian Bistro in the Shops at Quarry Lake.

This is the restaurant that moved from Towson to the new development in not-quite-Pikesville. It was a smart move because now Jasmine has bigger and better quarters, a liquor license, lots of parking, and is no longer surrounded by other Asian restaurants.

To see how our meal went in the new location, you can read my review in next Sunday's Arts & Life Today section.

(Andre Chung/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Review Preview
        

As I'm struggling with finding 10 Chinese restaurants open Christmas Day I can recommend without reservation, I keep thinking about Robert's comment under my post about Chinese Panda Gourmet's closing:

I wonder if sit-down Chinese restaurants are becoming a thing of the past.  I live pretty close to the Panda, and I'm thinking my only options for Chinese food will be take out places in Hampden....

When I think about it, he's right. Marty Katz, the local Zagat editor, told me this:

Tim Zagat says Japanese places get top ratings in almost every city and Thai and Vietnamese are increasing in number while Chinese is declining. I see a trend in Chinese places having a sushi bar.

And not only a sushi bar. More and more Chinese restaurants are adding Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese dishes to their menus. And the new places that open all seem to call themselves "pan Asian."

If you'll let me bring out my What's Hot & What's Not list again (not to worry; the year is almost over), I see that Thai cuisine is No. 34, Japanese cuisine other than sushi is No. 63, and you have to go down to No. 180 before you get to Chinese cuisine. That would be your Not Hot.

(Christopher T. Assaf/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I guess something finally snapped when JL read my last 10 of the 194 What's Hot & What's Not list. Or maybe it was the gastropubs. In any case, he sent me this e-mail: ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

This morning I woke up early (for some reason that's how west-to-east jet lag hits me: I wake up earlier than usual) so I made these meringue mushrooms for The Sun's holiday lunch.

The meringue tops and stems are stuck together with semisweet chocolate, and the "dirt" is cocoa powder sifted on them.

The recipe is from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts, and... 

...it's easy, if time consuming, once you get the hang of it.

The season never starts for me until I make a batch of meringue mushrooms. It seems to be getting later and later, though. The tree is sitting on the back porch in a bucket. The cards are still in their box. I need a little snow to get me in the mood.

When my daughter was little I would start Dec. 1 and bake every day. By Dec. 24 I had cookies and pastries and breads (and meringue mushrooms) everywhere, ready to be given as gifts to neighbors and friends. Over the years, though, my conscience has gotten the better of me. Everyone has gotten older and fatter, and I've learned more about nutrition.

Not that I feel all that guilty about handing out butterscotch brownies and chocolate mint sticks. I'm more worried my friends will be watching their weight and the goodies won't be appreciated the way I think they should.

(Photo by me)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

I see that Entrepreneur.com has named "gastropubs" as one of 2008's up-and-coming trends.

These are pubs with fine-dining chefs, the first of which in the U.S. was supposedly the Spotted Pig. It opened three years ago in New York City. I think originally you had to start with an actual pub and keep it the way it was except for the food, but no longer. (See photo of the new Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia to the right.)

There are several reasons I'm puzzled by the whole gastropub thing (nothing against Victoria, which I'm sure is a lovely restaurant).

First, the name, supposedly coined in London in 1991, sounds too much like a Victorian cure for some unfortunate intestinal ailment. You know, like it's the kind of place that has Pepto-Bismol on tap instead of Coors.

Second...

...haven't a lot of places embraced the combination of cozy, comfortable, casual atmosphere and high-quality cuisine without labeling themselves gastropubs? Is this really such a hot trend? Off the top of my head I'm thinking of the Tir Na Nog chain and An Poitin Stil, both serving more New American cuisine than pub grub.

Which, to wander off-topic here, gets me wondering why Irish pubs tend to do very well in the Baltimore area, while we don't have many, if any, British-style pubs that I can think of (other than Victoria).

(Doug Kapustin/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

My brother sent me this link to a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal about umami, the "fifth taste" most of us know through MSG. If it exists, and scientists are beginning to think it does, it's the "meaty, savory" taste that draws us to protein.

The story goes into much greater detail, including descriptions of Jean-Georges Vongerichten's "umami bombs," as he calls them. These are dishes that pile on umami-rich foods for explosive flavor. Example: a $185 Parmesan cheese custard with white truffles sold in his New York restaurant Jean Georges. I just can't quite take umami seriously when I read something like that.

On the other hand, the update on the latest research on MSG is interesting. Scientific evidence seems to be mounting that MSG doesn't cause ill effects.

(Bob Fila/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Here's my problem with the heated discussion going on under Top Ten Restaurants Open on Christmas Day. It's more fun for me if there's a discussion going on as opposed to just my saying something and someone else reacting to it. And I'm not in the business of censorship. On the other hand, I want everyone who participates to enjoy the discussion, and I'm guessing neither side in the Working on Christmas debate is enjoying it anymore.

But aside from that, it's starting to get personal. And you all know the Rules, specifically Rule No. 2. I don't want anyone to feel he or she is going to get attacked for speaking up.

And I thought this would be the most boring Top Ten of the year. Oh well, at least it didn't devolve into a fight over crab cakes. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Commenting
        

While I was hunting around for appropriate art for my Top Ten Chinese restaurants promo yesterday, I came across this photo of the Chinese Panda Gourmet in Lake Falls Village.

That jogged my memory that someone told me it had closed recently. It turns out, I found out by called the salon next door, that...

...it's being replaced by a second Sushi Hana. (The first is in Towson.) When I called the original Sushi Hana I was told that the menu will be the same, and the opening is planned for some time in January.

Then Matt e-mailed me to say that Afghan Kabob (37 S. Charles St.) was closed, and when he called he got a message that the line has been "temporarily disconnected at the customer's request." He's wondering it the restaurant will open anywhere else. Anybody have any news for Matt?

(Nanine Hartzenbusch/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Eric made a good point when he commented that the holiday season would be a fine time for a list of places that make solo diners feel particularly comfortable. My problem is that I would just be guessing -- I don't eat out alone often enough, as I explained in an earlier post, to speak with any authority. If I'm alone, I'd rather just cook up something at home.

So how about it? Anybody else have places they can recommend from experience that are particularly welcoming to singles?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

The people have spoken. (OK, two did.) It would be more helpful to have the names of Chinese restaurants open Christmas day a week before than on the day itself. So next week's Top Ten Tuesday will be my recommendations of Chinese restaurants.

I should warn you right now that I'll do my best, but it's been awhile since I've been to some of these, so I would appreciate updates in the holiday spirit. Example:

Good:  Elizabeth, how could you pick Shanghai Szechuan Hunan Golden Dragon House? Are you an idiot? You have clearly never eaten Chinese food. Why don't you go back to your fancy prime rib dinners and let people who know something review restaurants? How much did the Shanghai Szechuan Hunan Golden Dragon House pay you to include them on the list?

Better: Elizabeth, you are an idiot if you think the Shanghai Szechuan Hunan Golden Dragon House has good food. It's the worst. I broke a tooth on a wonton in the wonton soup. And besides, the owners are Korean.

Best: Elizabeth, you forgot the Szechuan Hunan Shanghai Golden Gate Restaurant. I had a superb wonton soup there and the best Peking duck ever.

The photo is of a restaurant that closed awhile ago but had the best dumplings ever. Anyone care to guess? Clue: It was in Hampden.

(Sun archives)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I learned about this the long way round. Sun dating expert Maryann James (why haven't you found my daughter a rich husband yet?) sent me an e-mail pointing out that Mango & Ginger posted an alert that Zagat.com will be the host of a live chat with the first female Iron Chef winner, Cat Cora, this afternoon at 2 p.m. EST. Thanks to everyone involved in the chain of information.

Here's the original link. It might not be too late even now to submit your questions.

The heading refers to the fact that a publicist for Zagat once told me it rhymes with "kill the cat." I've never mispronounced it since.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

 
If you're supposed to take a dish to a holiday party or Christmas dinner, here are two suggestions courtesy of a popular restaurant.

Ruth's Chris Steak House sent these two recipes to me, and I'm passing them along.

Official disclaimer: I haven't tested them. If you try either, let us know what you think.

I love the way you add 2 tablespoons of butter to the spinach after the stick of butter the recipe begins with -- and it serves four. And you thought you were getting all your calories at Ruth's Chris from the prime rib.

Also, I should say that I'm a little wary of the sweet potatoes after reading what the PR person had to say: "This deliciously decadent recipe is perfect as a side to a holiday meal or, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, as a sweet dessert."

Promise me you'll serve it as dessert, not a side dish, if it's that sweet. ...

This traditional Southern staple is kicked up with a hearty béchamel sauce, perfect for a side dish to your main course or served with crackers as a party snack. This recipe serves four.

Bechamel Sauce
1 stick butter
¼ cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk or half and half
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 bay leaf (size of a dime)
¼ teaspoon salt
 
Preparation instructions:
1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat until foamy, then add flour and stir until light brown in color.
2. Add onion and seasonings and then whisk in milk, stirring until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens.
3. Reduce the heat and cook for five minutes – pass through a fine strainer and reserve. The sauce will be very thick.
4. Cook 1 pound spinach immersed in boiling water for one minute. Remove and immerse in ice water to stop the cooking process.
5. Squeeze spinach until very dry and puree in a food processor. Set aside.
6. Just before serving, combine the sauce with the pureed spinach and cook on low heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Finish by stirring in 2 tbsp. softened butter.

Ruth’s Homemade Sweet Potato Casserole

This recipe serves 12.
 
Sweet potato mixture
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, well beaten
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter 

Crust mixture
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 stick melted butter
 
Preparation instructions:

1. First, combine crust mixture in mixing bowl and hold on the side.
2. Combine sweet potato mixture ingredients into a mixing bowl in the order listed.  Combine thoroughly with a hand mixer to increase the fluffiness of the sweet potato mixture.
3. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish.
4. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Allow to set and cool for 10 minutes
5. Sprinkle the surface of the sweet potato mixture evenly with the crust mixture.
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  The brown sugar and pecan crust should be slightly browned and crunchy.

(Photo courtesy of Ruth's Chris) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Yes, still working away at the National Restaurant Association's Top 194. (The fact that there are 194 continues to bug me. Couldn't they have come up with six more?)

At this point, it seems to me, the list is starting to get somewhat meaningless. OK, some of you are probably arguing we're past that point.

To recap, 1,282 chefs were asked to rate every item, cuisine or technique as "hot," "passe" or "perennial favorite." Not sure whether you could do both hot and perennial favorite, but something like braising would surely fall in both categories.

Anyway, the numbers after the next ten reflect those categories in that order, so that 57 percent of the chefs think "alternative meats" like ostrich are hot, 35 percent that they are passe, and 7 percent that they are perennial favorites. The best way at this point to see the discussion about the 20 above these is to click on the What's Hot category on the right of the blog's main page.

Here are Nos. 21 through 30: ... 

21 Latin American Cuisine 59% 21% 20%
22 Braised 59% 14% 27%
23 Ciabatta 59% 24% 17%
24 Flavored/enhanced water 59% 35% 6%
25 Mediterranean Cuisine 58% 14% 28%
26 Espresso/specialty coffees 58% 12% 30%
27 Free-range items 58% 31% 11%
28 Alternative red meats/game
animals (e.g., buffalo, ostrich,
venison, emu) 57% 35% 7%
29 Micro-vegetables (e.g., greens,
zucchini, cucumber) 57% 31% 13%
30 Aged meats (e.g., prosciutto) 57% 15% 28%

(Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

My daughter and I ate at Cafe Talesai in Beverly Hills this last visit, a with-it and what seems to be an authentic Thai restaurant (at least the staff seemed to be Thai). I was surprised to see the tables set with both forks and chopsticks because I always thought Thai food was eaten with a fork.

When I asked the waiter, he told me that used to be true, but now so many Chinese live in Thailand that chopsticks are becoming as much a norm as forks.

(Photo by Gailor Large) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

This list has more hotel dining rooms on it than I had hoped, but it turned out that some of the restaurants Open Table lists as serving Christmas dinner (Pazza Luna, Trapeze) actually aren't, I was told when I called. That glitch may have been fixed by the time you read this.

I called some restaurants I hoped would be open but aren't, like Antrim 1844. Still, there are more open than when I used to make up a list for my Table Talk column 15 years ago, and the list was about two.  Restaurants are catching on that people these days like to eat out, even on the major holidays.

I wanted to give a range of options so that people who are just looking for a place that isn't Chinese and people who are willing to spend major amounts of money on a special holiday meal will find something to like. I also hope that if I missed any, restaurants will feel free to post what they have to offer below. ...

*Bistro 300 in the Hyatt downtown has been recently renovated; it will be open its regular hours with its regular menu. Pisces, the Hyatt's fancier restaurant, will be closed; and, in fact, will be closed after New Year's Eve for the month of January.

*Brightons in the Intercontinental Harbor Court Hotel will be one of the prettiest places to have Christmas dinner. It will probably be just offering its regular menu with a few festive touches.

*Chart House in Annapolis plans to be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The regular menu, with its emphasis on seafood, will be served, plus holiday specials that haven't been decided yet.

*Eichenkranz will be serving its regular menu of German and American dishes plus a special holiday dinner of turkey and ham. It will be open from 8:30 a.m. (for breakfast!) to 8 p.m., at least that's what they told me; but I would call closer to Christmas Day to make sure that doesn't change.

*Grille 700 in the Marriott, Harbor East, does contemporary American food. I went when it first opened and had a good meal for a hotel restaurant. It will be serving its regular menu all day.

*Jimmy's Famous Seafood (6526 Holabird Ave. in Dundalk, 410-633-4040) will have a Christmas menu, but the details haven't been finalized. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

*McCormick & Schmick's in the Inner Harbor is serving its regular menu from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. There will be a few holiday specials, says the chef, but they will be seafood.

*Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis is kind of a funky choice for Christmas dinner, but it will be open after 6 p.m. serving its regular menu. I just found out the Baltimore location's restaurant closed this past weekend.

*Sotto Sopra in Mount Vernon will have a special menu; the details haven't been set yet. Hours: 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

*Sherwood's Landing in the Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels is a trek for Baltimoreans, but there is a holiday package with lodging available. Or you can just have dinner there from noon to 8 p.m. The regular menu is being served with some holiday dishes.

(John Makely/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (75)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

...As you can see from this latest photo of my daughter's fridge. (See previous post.) However, look a little closer. Do you see that bug-like thing in the foreground? Anyone care to take a guess as to what it might be before you read further? ...

Faithful readers will remember my description of the Urth Caffe fruit plate, which is cut to order and never has all the same fruits twice. Well, this time mine contained a rambutan, a lychee-like fruit inside that soft-spined shell.

Interestingly, the local supermarket sells them in their shells as lychees; but as I understand it, the rambutan is another member of the lychee family.

Anyway, the rest of the fruits you can probably guess, except at the top, under a strawberry, are two wedges of persimmon. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Eric commented on the Asian entree salad trend under You Can Run..., which got me thinking about what made a salad an Asian entree salad. Just adding some soy or edamame won't cut it.

An industry Web site lists Asian chicken as one of the five "on trend" salads (along with house, Caesar, grilled chicken and Southwestern). Its example of ingredients...

...includes crisp noodles, straw mushrooms, nuts and mandarin oranges. (Funny how mandarin oranges are so often key. Maybe just because the name sounds Asian. After all, a tangerine from Spain is a mandarin. Or maybe it's because they're the only canned fruit you can get away with sticking on a salad.)

Flavors like ginger and soy in the dressing, which often seems to be sweet-sour, are also standard. The nuts are usually almonds or peanuts, and snow peas can be in the mix.

What you won't get if you order the McDonald's Asian chicken salad is anything like the salad pictured, Asian Grilled Duck Salad, with crisp wonton strips and sesame seed. The recipe suggests adding "a bit of aromatic toasted sesame oil" to a prepared Caesar dressing to give it an Asian twist.

It seems a little weird to me to go to the trouble of roasting duck and then putting prepared Caesar dressing on it, even with a little aromatic toasted sesame oil, but maybe that's just me. 

(AP Photo/Duckling Council)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I get a lot of "special" menus from restaurants that I don't bother to pass along, but every once in awhile one comes along that catches my attention. In this case, it was two.

Dogwood in Hampden is offering two feasts for the holidays. Here are the full menus:

And remember, the restaurant is BYOB. ...

A three-course Sephardic celebration of the Hanukkah season
(Sephardic cooking is a centuries-old cuisine with its roots in the Jewish traditions of Spain and Portugal.)
First course: Grilled Baby Eggplant & Bell Peppers toasted flatbread w/ extra virgin olive oil, imported olives, micro greens, meyer lemon compote
Second course: Slow Roasted Organic Chicken glazed with pomegranate and sage, Moroccan style couscous with raisins and toasted almonds
Third course: Sweet Potato Fritters with Four Fruit Compote and Anisette
$36 per person

Join us for Christmas Eve Dinner, one seating at 6 pm
Bridget’s Irish Feast of Seven Fishes
Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes is historically an Italian celebration rooted in the traditions of the Catholic Church. This is Galen’s new take on it—a gift to Bridget’s Irish heritage.
Mussels
Mussels Gratinee
poached, then stuffed with garlic, shallots, tomato and herbs
Oyster
Silky Guinness and Oyster Stew
Sea Scallop and Langoustine Medallion
lobster roe, Connamara peaty beurre blanc
Cod
Irish Fishmonger’s Pie
smoked cod, shrimp, colcannon puree, fresh peas, salsify and parsnip

Halibut
Gaylord Clark’s Line Caught Alaskan Halibut
mushroom crusted, syrah braised calamari sauce
Salmon
Rustic Wild Salmon Pate
baby root vegetables pickled in mustard-meade vinaigrette
Dessert
Reid’s Apple and Jameson Tart, Dubliner cheese, fig compote, fish-shaped cookie
$55 per person

(Glenn Fawcett/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Minatar sent me this photo and review of Kloby's, which I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know about. I thought I had at least heard about every decent place in the area.  I checked with  another barbecue expert who agreed it was excellent, so I thought I'd share his e-mail with you: ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

I’ve been meaning to get back to Ze Mean Bean in Fells Point ever since I heard this fall that it had been extensively renovated and had a new (actually returning) executive chef, Dennis Keruly.  

This Eastern European restaurant and wine bar has been a Fells Point fixture since 1995 when it opened as a coffee house.  Over the years, it’s become much more of a restaurant, and now serves an intriguing mixture of Slavic comfort food and complicated dishes using fine-dining ingredients and techniques.

To find out how my latest visit went, look for my review in next week’s Arts & Life Today section.

(Photo courtesy of Matthew Dornic) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Review Preview
        

I checked my work e-mail this morning and found the following from Adam entitled New to Charm City. I wasn't much help because the only places I could think of around the Hippodrome were Maggie Moore's Irish pub and Memsahib. If anyone else has other suggestions, please post below: ...

Hi!... I'm trying to find some advice on dining in Baltimore - where I haven't been in years.  My girlfriend and I are visiting for a show next Saturday at the Hippodrome and are trying to find a place to eat before and have drinks after.  We like American, Italian, and Thai food, but are open to other things.  And we're in the appx. $15-30 an entree range (not super casual but not like 1789 here).  For drinks, we're looking for something in walking distance of the Hippodrome or our hotel, the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace.  Is there any way you can help?

(Photo courtesy of Maggie Moore's Web site) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

I was watching a tennis match at a local club recently when one of the pros who knows me came up and asked what I would do in his place. He and his wife regularly go to Patrick's of Cockeysville, and he always orders the chef's salad. His wife is more experimental and orders various entrees.

He also always asks the waiter to have his salad chopped in the kitchen, but...

...the last few times, he said, the waiter told him the chef was too busy. The pro also told me that they usually go at 4 p.m. because he doesn't like crowds.

Now leaving aside for a moment the weirdnesses in his story, it's an interesting problem. Is he being unreasonable? As a regular, should he expect a little extra attention? And, he was asking me, what should he do next? He was wondering whether he should talk to the maitre d' and say if they don't want to accommodate them, he'll try some place else. The problem is that he likes Patrick's, and his wife really likes Patrick's, so he'd rather not.

This is one where I couldn't decide who I sided with. I can imagine the chef tearing out his hair when the waiter once again comes in the kitchen and says, "That guy wants you to chop up his salad" while the chef is trying to create some wonderful haute cuisine dish.

(Photo by Colby Ware/Special to The Sun)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

I wasn't going to say anything, and then I looked at today's weather forecast, and I just can't resist. Ha ha. ... 

Yes. I'm in LA.  I fled here last night with my frequent flyer miles when I couldn't take it anymore.

Here's a photo I shot this morning when my daughter and I walked down Sunset to the Coffee Bean for breakfast.

Why were we not eating in her apartment? Here's the photo I took of her fridge on a previous visit.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

OK, I lied when I said my favorite comfort food was bread. That was before it got really cold. My favorite comfort food is fat. So here's a bonus Top Ten for you: My top ten most delicious -- and worst for you -- fatty foods.

Top these: ... 

*Butter (unsalted and regular)

*The crisp-edged fat on a rib eye steak

*The crisp skin combined with the fat on a slice of duck

*Whipping cream

*A nice fatty sparerib

*Creme fraiche

*Devonshire cream

*Brie and Camembert 

*Bacon and things cooked in bacon fat 

*Little sizzling sausage links 

(Pile o' bacon courtesy of MentalFloss.com) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

...or Musings Over the Grocery Cart Listening to "White Christmas" One More Time.

 *Did they really sell all those red, green and silver Hershey's Kisses last year or did they just store them away and bring them out again this holiday season?

*Why does Arnold's Natural Wheat bread have raisin juice concentrate in it?

*Who at Giant first thought that "Giant" was a good name for a supermarket? Why name yourself after a fairytale villain? Or why not name yourself "Small, Local and Caring," even if you aren't?

*Why does Parranno cheese call itself "the Swiss cheese that thinks its Italian" if it's really Dutch?

*Who buys a "microwave potato" ready for baking for 79 cents when a regular, and bigger, baking potato costs 50 cents? The only difference is that one is washed and wrapped in plastic wrap. I'm all for convenience, but really. Why wrap a baking potato in plastic wrap to microwave it anyway?

*When did they start doing Geico commercials over SuperFresh's sound system?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

I got an interesting e-mail from Betsy Walser, who had dinner at Charleston and wanted my opinion on this:

This isn't something I noticed when I ate there, so her comments surprised me. But here's what owner Tony Foreman responded when I forwarded her e-mail to him:

We do iron the cloths during service when we reset tables.  Our linen provider is unable to get them into the condition I am happy with. ...We have never had a complaint prior in the past three years and the appearance is enormously better. At least twice a night someone compliments our staff on the attention to this very detail.  Never has anyone noticed "vapors" from the distilled water in the irons.

So what do you think? Meticulous attention to detail that says good things about the operation in general, or just an annoyance when you're eating?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

Call it the G & M Effect. This was actually first pointed out to me by chowsearch, although he didn't call it that. One reason G & M's crab cake has gotten so much press over the years is not only because it's good but because the Washington Post first called it a find, and then other media went there whenever they were making up "best" lists because you have to start somewhere, and now even national publications like Where the Locals Eat give it their "Best Crab Cake" award when they probably haven't tried many others.

It's not just G & M. The same crab cakes turn up again and again in the media best lists because you can only try a certain number, and you have to try the ones that people are talking about, or they'll wonder why those crab cakes weren't part of the story. ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Crab Cakes
        

...that the lease was up and they decided not to renew it because of what he called "a shift in demographics." When I asked him to be a little more specific, it turned out that the shift in demographics mostly meant that a Starbucks had moved in a couple of blocks over on St. Paul. So much for the theory that a Starbucks helps the other coffee houses in its immediate area.

I asked him if they were looking for another location in Baltimore, and he said yes, but that it would be a Cosi, not a Xando. This was the last Xando still left open in the chain. It was there nine years.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

...but you can't hide. The year is waning and we have 184 more restaurant trends to get through. If you missed the top ten, here's the link to my earlier post, What's Hot & What's Not.

Remember, 1,282 chefs were asked to rate each food, drink or technique as to whether it was hot, cool or passe, or a perennial favorite. That's what the three percentages are after each item on the list. So, for instance, in the case of ethnic fusion cuisine (No. 11 in terms of hotness on the list), 64 percent of the chefs surveyed thought it was hot, 29 percent, passe, and only 8 percent that it was a perennial favorite.

The most interesting one to me in this ten is the Asian entree salad. I don't know why exactly, it just doesn't seem like much of a trend in itself, but 66 percent of the chefs surveyed don't agree. Asian entree salads are HOT.

Here are Nos. 11 through 20:...

11 Ethnic fusion Cuisine 64% 29% 8%
12 Flatbreads 63% 22% 15%
13 Martinis/flavored martinis 63% 24% 13%
14 Mojito 62% 28% 10%
15 Asian Entrée Salad 62% 22% 16%
16 Pomegranates 62% 21% 18%
17 Asian Appetizers 62% 18% 20%
18 Microdistilled/artisanal liquors 61% 29% 10%
19 Organic wine 60% 33% 8%
20 Specialty Beer (e.g., seasonal,
fruit, spice/herb, beer cocktails) 60% 28% 12%

(Photo by Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

The gauntlet has been thrown. The challenge is on the table. No, not by me but by SGI, who posted the following comment under the latest Top Ten.

What I like is that SGI's gone beyond the usual suspects.

I do have one thing to add:

Whoa, SGI. I never said soon. ...

If the top 10 pizza will truly become a reality soon, I'm throwing in the suggestions of Tutti Gusti and Chef Paolino's. PJs Pub also has a great pizza that comes with a free pitcher of beer. Talk about comfort. Hunker down in PJs over Xmas break while all the students are away, grab a pizza and pitcher and watch the playoffs on the big screen.  Who can beat that? The pitcher sells the whole thing and the fact that the pizza is good is simply the icing on the cake!  Bring on the disagreements and 'after the fact' angry reactions!!!

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (69)
        

I went back through the blog, but couldn't find who asked me to do a Top Ten on places that are open for a holiday dinner on Christmas Day. At the time I thought there wouldn't be enough beyond hotel dining rooms and Chinese restaurants.

But now I'm finding there are more than I thought. I will have to include some hotels, but I'll do my best to keep them at a minimum. Chinese restaurants I'll cover on Christmas Day itself, which falls on a Tuesday.

So next Tuesday's Top Ten: Places That Are Open Christmas Day.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I didn't realize it, but the Legal Sea Foods lease expires this year at the 100 E. Pratt location. I just found out when I learned that negotiations for a new spot elsewhere unexpectedly fell through.

Legal's last day in the Inner Harbor will be Dec. 23. It's been there since 1998.

(Sun archives)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Thanks to all the good comments today -- and sorry I've been so long in publishing them. I've browbeaten the poor editorial staff here about Unauthorized Publishing of Comments and Entries on My Blog. Yes, that's how I talk to them. They really appreciate it.

I was stuck on...

...the Washington beltway in an amazing backup on my way to visit my mother-in-law at Sibley Memorial Hospital. When we finally got there she was so much better than we thought she would be that my husband took me for a celebratory lunch at the hospital cafeteria.

The cafeteria's special of the day was...wait for it...Corn Dog and Small Fries. Does that strike anyone else as strange?

My husband wanted me to check to see if Sibley has a coronary care unit, but I thought that was cynical of him and didn't do it.

No, I didn't have a corn dog for lunch.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

I was really tempted to throw the Prime Rib in here. I mean, what can be more comforting than a big slab of beef? But I caught myself in time. The thing about comfort food is that it needs to be eaten in comfortable clothes, without the nagging sense that you're spending too much money.

What else? For the most part, it helps if it reminds you of the dishes of your childhood; but that's not always the case. Pho is the obvious exception for me. It will cure what ails you, even winter depression.

Calories are usually important, the more and the creamier the better. (Again, pho is the exception.)

And finally, everyone's comfort food is particular to him or her. Mine is bread; my husband's is chocolate. Happy Eater and beer blogger extraordinaire Rob Kasper was just saying his is potatoes.

One thing is for certain: If you tell me yours is arugula, I won't believe you.

Here's my list: ..

* You knew Ale Mary's in Fells Point was going to be on this list because of the Krispy Kreme bread pudding.

* Thanks to all the readers who recommended Birches in Canton. I would have thought it was more semi-fine dining, but when I went back and looked at my review in The Sun archives, I see there was plenty (like barbecue) to put it in the comfort category, and I used words like "cozy" to describe it.

* Cafe Hon in Hampden was the first restaurant in Baltimore to attempt to make comfort food trendy, and helped make the whole neighborhood trendy at the same time, as hungry eyes so astutely pointed out. Try something simple, like a grilled cheese and a chocolate milkshake, if you're feeling blue.

* Eichenkranz is a Baltimore landmark. Sorry for the overused phrase; in this case, it happens to be true. The restaurant offers classic German, Italian and American dishes, but you come here for the German food. You should start with the sauerbraten and dumplings and end with the warm apple strudel.

* Hull Street Blues, in Locust Point, is known for its Sunday brunch; but this bar/restaurant also has items like warm crab dip with cream cheese, provolone, artichoke hearts, crab and red peppers that will set you free. Not to mention the red velvet cake.

* Jack's Bistro in Canton specializes in comfort food, even if it is sometimes disguised as haute cuisine. Portions are huge, and a signature dish is creamy mac 'n' cheese with chocolate shavings. Need I say more?

* McCabe's, 3845 Falls Road in Hampden, a neighborhood bar, will be even better when the smoking ban goes into effect. The hamburger, steak and crab cakes are all comforting; and save room for the bread pudding. 

* There's something about pho that makes it the most comforting soup meal I can think of. Pho Dat Thanh, 9400 Snowden River Pkwy. in Columbia, isn't the only Vietnamese restaurant in the area that serves it, but it's one of the best.

* Any place that offers a strip steak with a Gorgonzola, bacon and sour cream sauce has my vote. That would be the Sobo Cafe, 6 W. Cross St., in Federal Hill. There is, of course, the Big As Yo' Face Eggplant Lasagne, to name just one more of the dishes that would qualify. It's a restaurant that hasn't heard of the small plate craze.

* Ze Mean Bean in Fells Point is tricky. I went last week and found so much good fine dining on the menu I almost had to disqualify it. But then I remembered the fire, and above all the Slavic dinner special on Thursdays: a bowl of borscht and a pierogi or holupki dinner for $9.95.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I feel as if I've spent all afternoon on the phone trying to track down an opening and a closing.

Victoria's is supposed to open in Columbia at 8201 Snowden River Pkwy. where a Bennigan's was. God forbid they should actually want some publicity and call me about it. Instead, Good Eater Helen saw a sign on the door when she was in the area and alerted me.

More digging unearthed the fact that...

(Image courtesy of the Accidental Hedonist)

...there was a connection to the Iron Bridge Wine Co., but it turned out that there wasn't much of one. A chef and general manager from there left to open the new place, Victoria Marriner and Joseph Krywucki.

By the time I got around to doing what I should have in the first place, call the Howard County liquor board, it was closed for the night. Stay tuned, or better still, post any info you have below.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get someone, anyone, at the Cosi corporate offices to call me back about the abrupt closing of Xando, the coffee shop and bar at 3003 N. Charles St. Again, it's nothing but rumor, but I've heard that fine dining may be going in that space.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Along the lines of making lemonade out of lemons, Andrew Evans, chef/owner of the Inn at Easton, is selling the inn and its critically acclaimed dining room -- even though he doesn't want to -- because he's getting divorced. But that gives him the opportunity to open his dream restaurant at  216 Dover East (Suite 201) Dover St. in Easton.

Surprisingly, it won't be another fine dining restaurant but a Thai place. He's calling it Thai Ki (the equivalent of the Chinese chi, or life energy). Evans says it's on track to open in late January.

He plans to...

...close the inn's dining room on Jan. 1 for the winter season, although the inn itself will remain open, offering discounted or free (!) dining at Thai Ki.

If the inn doesn't sell by April, Evans plans to reopen the dining room then. His hope is that it will sell, but that the new owners will want him to oversee the restaurant as executive chef while running his own place nearby.

As for Thai Ki, Evans says he was inspired by Momofuku in New York. He named the restaurant Thai Ki because he wants "to bring new energy into Thai food." It will have a "green concept," he adds, with organic meats and his own soda line. Look for beer and wine with food pairings as well.

Thai Ki will be "chef driven and with fine-dining ingredients," but Evans plans to deliver authentic Thai, not put his own creative spin on it. The menu will offer 20 items, none of them priced over $15.

The restaurant will be very small, just 26 seats, with an open kitchen. The rest of his business will be "takeaway." Friday and Saturday nights he will be open until 1 a.m. for late-night dining.

He's hoping that his fine-dining background will bring a consistency that's sometimes lacking in local Thai restaurants.

"Don't get me wrong," he says. "I've had great Thai food, but I've also had mediocre Thai food."

Monica Lopossay/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

I love beautiful food photography, but the problem with the pictures in magazines is that I always have the sneaking suspicion some part isn't real. Now I've discovered a new way to waste time at work: food blogs that have gorgeous (amateur) photography. 

Here's an example: Jennifer Yu's Use Real Butter. Best. Name. Ever for a food blog.

(Photo courtesy of Jennifer Yu) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Annabel Lee Tavern, at 601 S. Clinton St. is scheduled to open next Friday. Once it really is open, I'll let you know more in my Table Talk column in the Wednesday food section.

I think people will be interested in it particularly because the new tavern is owned by Kurt X. Bragunier, who was a general manager at Brewer's Art for seven years. That's real longevity in the biz these days; and I'm sure he has a following.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

More than any other new restaurant this year, Cinghiale in Harbor East has been the most eagerly awaited and the most critically examined once it did open.  (OK, maybe Fogo de Chao was more eagerly awaited, but I doubt if the customer base is the same.)

The road has been a bit rocky for Tony Foreman’s pet project, an enoteca, Italian wine bar, and osteria, tavern. The executive chef who opened it has already left for family reasons, and the menu has changed to accommodate the way Baltimoreans like to eat.

But now the kitchen has had time to settle down. Is Cinghiale as good as everyone expected? Read my review in next Sunday’s Arts & Life Today section to see what I think.

(Amy Davis/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Review Preview
        

Before we leave the top ten restaurant trends for 2007 and move on to the other 184, I would like to say that I'm astounded no one has mentioned No. 9, energy drink cocktails.

I had only a hazy idea of what they are -- although it was easy to guess -- and a cursory Google search turned up only one recipe (for a Jager Bomb):

• 1 oz Jägermeister
• 1/2 can Red Bull energy drink

and 20 articles about the dangers of energy drink cocktails.

The one positive thing I can say is that only 5 percent of chefs think they are a "perennial favorite." And they all work in College Park.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

In case you missed it, Steve posted the following under No. 8: Grass-Fed Items. He happens to work with me, so I asked him why he didn't post it under Top Ten Wine Bars, where a discussion about Junior's, the wine bar that will be replacing Vespa in Federal Hill, was going on. He explained that he got tired of scrolling down to find the right post. (My blog has a search function, Steve.) Anyway, here it is: ...

Somewhat off-topic, but to follow up on the Junior's Wine Bar discussion: I was there this week for an art opening and the owners told me they'd have a soft opening this weekend and be fully operational by the middle of next week.
It will be a full restaurant menu, they said -- California wine country cuisine. It's in the old Vespa space in Federal Hill, but greatly expanded, with a chic decor.

I know that commenter Jon Parker says after all the false alarms he'll believe Junior's is actually open when he sees it, and he seems to live nearby, so I'm hoping he'll alert thirsty readers on opening day.

(Photo courtesy of Elk Creek Vineyards) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

And just to prove she's a good sport, Jill the PR person sent me the recipe for the sugared grapes and pasture-grazed cheese pictured. (See No. 8: Grass-fed Items.) It's from Mara Papatheodorou, a contributing editor at Bon Appetit.

Don't tell Jill I told you, but it would probably taste pretty good even if you didn't used pastured-grazed cheese. ...

Frozen Sugared Grapes with Pasture-Grazed Cheddar

A simple recipe with delicious results! The sweetness of the frozen grapes and the sharpness of the Pasture-Grazed Cheddar cheese create a winning combination.
 
Ingredients:
25-27 assorted seedless grapes
2 egg whites, lightly stirred in a bowl deep enough for dipping
1/4 cup white granulated sugar, spread on shallow plate for dusting
5 Sargento Limited Edition Pasture-Grazed Cheddar Cheese sticks OR 3 slices Sargento Limited Edition Pasture-Grazed Cheddar Cheese
 
25 Toothpicks
Aluminum foil and baking sheet  


Wash and dry grapes. Remove from stems. Place one toothpick through each grape, leaving the bottom end of the toothpick poking out.

Holding it from the top, dip each toothpicked grape into the egg white mixture to coat. Then roll each grape gently in the shallow plate of sugar. Place sugar-coated each grape on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Place in freezer and freeze for at least 6 hours (or even overnight).

Cut each cheese stick into 5 cubes (or stack cheese slices and cut into 9 squares).
Thirty minutes before serving, remove frozen toothpicked grapes from freezer. Place one cube of cheese on the end of each toothpick. Place on serving platter.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)