Just thought I'd add here... I used your lovely blog here to find a nice place for my girlfriend and I to spend our anniversary last weekend. It didn't have to be fancy, so I figured I'd just flip through your lists and old reviews.

We wound up at Sammy's Trattoria in Mount Vernon. The food was great, as was the whole experience. And for being a little fancy, as a student, I didn't feel out of place, which was nice.

The service was a little slow at times, which bugged me at first, but it made for a very relaxed experience. We certainly did not feel like anyone was trying to rush us out the door to get the table filled with new guests.

And as a side note - my girl was absolutely in love with the spinach salad we ordered (with fresh pear, pecans, cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette).

Thanks very much for the mini-review. I wish I could get more of them on this blog because I don't get back to places as often as I would like to. EL

Completely off topic here, but we are going to Sizzling Bombay in Bel Air with some friends tonight and I wondered if anyone had eaten there and, if so, could give us some recommendations as to what is really special there.

We have been walking to Luca's since they opened months ago. The banana and white chocolate bread pudding is the BEST dessert I have had. I usually ask what the "chocolate of the day is" before ordering. They have had a passion fruit bread pudding which is also amazing. We are glad to have Luca's in Locust Point.

A friend & I went to Luca's Sunday around 2pm for lunch. We arrived and were informed that only brunch was served until 3pm. I did my research and went to the website ahead of time. There was no mention of brunch on the website at all! Nothing on the limited brunch menu appealed to us and we were quite miffed that we had to change our plans. The place was half empty save for 2 tables anyway. Try updating your website Luca's!

Ditto what Mix Motormouth said regarding Luca's website. Not only is it apparently outdated and hideously ugly, using all Flash without an HTML option is unacceptable. It's completely pointless Flash at that. Tsk, tsk.

Luca's website is pretty bad. I checked it out earlier today after reading this thread. I was using my small portable laptop with the smallish screen, and the left frame on the site wouldn't quite fit on my screen, but didn't scroll either. The right frame would scroll, but it certainly didn't provide a pleasant or easy way to peruse the menu.

To add insult to injury, they misspelled "calendar".

Mini-reviews? I'm game, but it seems weird to just tack on what I had where for dinner last night to some random blog post. I'm also not sure what would be useful - I'm a geek, not a restaurant critic.

I also worry about saying negative things. For example, I had the bacon, lettuce and fried green tomato sandwich at Night of the Cookers last night. The bacon got lost in the tomato and the (very assertively tasty) lettuce. But, the overall dinner, with dessert, ambiance, price and service was lovely. The service was neither tardy nor hovering (which is hard to pull off when it isn't busy). The ginger chocolate mousse was beautifully balanced, the key lime pie was bright and the butter was soft (non-trivial when you are spreading it on cornbread).

I'm worried that folks might see that one thing about a not-bad, just not as good as it could be sandwich, and not go. Which would be a shame - it is perfect for after the symphony (just two blocks away). I've had a couple very nice meals there and look forward to returning.

Just put another strip or two of bacon in that sandwich and maybe use a bread with a little texture to it, like some sunflower seeds baked in or something. Or use a smoky mayonnaise. Or...well, I'm a geek, not a cook .

Think of it as not just my Monday morning quarterbacking. EL

Lissa, I found your comments very useful! Thanks.

I like the idea of mini-reviews or, if you will, Personal Reviews. When our Blogmeister LIZ is wearing her Sun Restaurant Critic toque blanche she is writing for the broad audience. When we write here, we are writing for a more restaurant-food-aware group and can put in our opinions, knowing this audience will understand.

Excellent point, Mr. Old Fart. That is why we're here, after all. (The blog that is, I don't pretend to know the answer to the bigger question.)