My brother used to be on a "diet" called Fryday/Sweetday. He'd only eat fried foods on Frydays -- including avoiding chips and salsa all week, woe -- and sweets on Sweeterdays (Saturdays), and he lost something like 30 pounds.

Wouldn't really call b bolton hill as being in Camden Yards/Westside of Downtown. If you were looking for it there, you'd spend a lot of time finding it.

I also noticed something on the front page of the website talking about Roland Park and then having a line saying "for more baltimore county news..."

It's all of the new people at the Sun and the outsourcing of the reporting to India that contributes to stupid mistakes like these. All of the local knowledge is gone gone gone (except for the scant few of you long-timers remaining).

I am going to Grille 700 on Monday. The main reasons are that their menu was online (lots were not) and it is a place that I nor my dinner date have been before.

We're going to Corks on Tuesday and Gertrude's next Saturday. We may add another one if we can be fit in somewhere at a decent hour.

I just got back from Brasserie Tatin. The short review - yum, go!

The long of it...well, I showed up for my reservation for one dressed a bit worse than one should for such a place (I caught the 22 up, and Baltimore and Highland is not an intersection to wait for a bus at when well-dressed). No one raised an eyebrow, and as I was early, I was invited to have a drink at the bar.

I don't drink, so I ordered a cranberry juice. This was the one goof of the evening. It was very watery. The bartender served it beautifully, with a lime slice. In between waiting on us few early birds, he was squeezing fresh lime juice for mojitos and other drinks.

I was shown to a pleasant 2 top, a bit away from where other people were sitting, but where I could people watch or stare out the window as I chose. Becky, my server, was attentive without being hovering, polite, friendly and very, very good. I didn't even have to ask for my check.

I started off with the salad, which Becky had gently suggested. It was good greens (a very few wilted edges) lightly dressed in a pleasant house oil and vinegar with a few slices of apple and a small fried goat cheese. I was a bit puzzled by the breading on the cheese, but the warm goat cheese was lovely with the tasty greens. I was offered fresh pepper, and accepted a bit. It is easy to tart up a salad, but this was minimalist, tasty essence of salad with a couple well-chosen accents.

My steak came rare, just as I ordered it (rant time - I'm old enough to remember when a woman could not get a rare steak, no matter how she ordered it. It is so nice to get what I order, no matter what gender I am). Becky came right by to make sure my steak was properly rare, and another house staffer was by a few minutes later to confirm that it was rare.

The steak was tasty, with just a hint of sauce. It was peppered. The fries were delicious, with enough salt and a lot of potato character. There were a few perhaps slightly over-steamed but still crunch young green beans on the side.

For dessert, again at Becky's suggestion, I got the profiteroles. 4 large profiteroles with a nice, not overly sweet custard filling, a divine chocolate sauce and a few fresh strawberry halves.

I had to decap the strawberry halves. Yes, they look lovely with the green tops, but I really don't enjoy having to deleaf my desserts.

It was twice as much as I wanted, but that chocolate sauce! Not Hershey's, for sure.

I had ok coffee with my profiteroles. It wasn't up to the standard of the food, but at least it wasn't weak, nor was it Maxwell House. For an American restaurant, it wasn't bad coffee.

All in all it was a very pleasant dinner. The service was excellent, the food was tasty and I was not treated oddly either for being alone or for being a tad under-dressed. I'd cheerfully go back, anytime.