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December 30, 2007

Next Sunday's review

WoodberryMuch 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 | | Comments (3)
Categories: Review Preview
        

Comments

There seems to be a disconnect between the label of "hottest table in town" and the photo that shows on only one four top. Perhaps it is one of those places that is so hot it doesn't need patrons.

Plus I say in my review that the tables next to the windows are chilly.

I have a quick review for you: We started with the deviled eggs and popcorn (good, and great deals to wet your appetite). For "supper" I had the cast iron ribeye (i asked for rare, but it was still dry; gratin potatoes were good); Indian Summer Flat bread - roasted garlic was very tasty (pizza style but not as good as something similar you'll find in Iggie's); Our friends each had the rockfish and bone-in pork shoulder, both good, so they say. The best part of the night was their homemade seltzer water: a little sweeter, and definitely cheaper, as suppose to a Pellegrino. "Edel weiss" beer was "cinnamony" and surprisingly worked well with my ribeye. And they don't have the gluten free beer on their menu. For desserts my wife had the espresso float (very bitter, then again she's not a coffee drinker) and I forgot what I had....(it was something like a purple dough with nuts on top - it was delicious).

Bad news: my wife got sick that evening and we were up all night "getting rid of" everything she ate :( She had the Bacon and Egg fried rice (too gingery for her, but I had some of it, and I thought it was ok)

Oh, and we waited for an hour for our Sunday evening reservation at 830. It's expected I guess for a new, popular restaurant that's smaller than I thought on first seeing the pictures. They sat us by the windows (cold!) and their chairs I think are made of aluminum (colder! our company had to sit on her coat). However, the service was excellent, and we had an extra french press serving of their Nicaraguan coffee (obviously more than their 300 mile radius "local" sources).

Three of us tried Woodberry Kitchen last night. We were lucky enough to get a table in the middle of the room, so two of us sat on a comfy banquette and only one person got a cold metal chair. The place was packed and full of positive energy. When we arrived there were a couple of families there with young children. They all seemed to be having a great time.

We started with oysters, given this week's theme. My husband had two varieties on the half shell, and I tried the oven roasted oysters with bacon. All were very fresh and luscious. My husband also had the beet salad, which was small, but tasty. The one disappointing starter was our son's melting cheeses. The goat cheese was good, but it was served with a hard cube of aged cheddar that never quite melted. This seemed overpriced at $11.

Both men had beef specials. One had the hangar steak and the other a tenderloin filet. They were not overcooked--in fact, the steak came rare, rather than medium rare, as ordered, but my son ate every bite. I had the Alaskan salmon, which was served with a small leek pudding, rocket and a few sweet potato fries. The fish was slightly over-salted, but very fresh and moist.

The three of us split an order of the Kaffir lime sorbet, which was really more of an ice cream than a sorbet.

Our son started with a local beer, which he liked, and we tried an unknown Pinot Grigio, which turned out to come from Slovenia.

We were pleased with the service, from the complimentary valet parking to the pleasant attitude of the person who took our reservation. The waiter brought us more of the very good bread without being asked. We will definitely return.

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About this blog
Richard Gorelick was appointed The Baltimore Sun's restaurant critic in September 2010. Before joining the paper staff fulltime, he contributed freelance criticism and features articles about food to area and regional publications. Along the way, he dispatched for short-distance trucking companies, shilled for cultural non-profits, and assisted in cognitive neurology research – never the subject, always the control.

He takes restaurants seriously but not himself, and his favorite restaurant is the one you love, too.
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