Umami Bistro ... hmm, wonder if they will feature umami pudding on the menu?

And though there is a place for "high end organic coal-fired brick-oven flatbread pizza," in this world, it will always be true that low end, conventional gas-fired steel-walled fresh dough pizza, chilled overnight and served reheated is the preferred breakfast and a delicacy greatly appreciated in this house.

Umami Bistro sounds familiar - is it a chain?

Vietnamese near work? Psych!

I don't think Los Amigos was ever closed. They were open right through the massive renovations... don't know how they did it. I saw people coming and going from there on Monday night.

That's good enough for me. I'll take out my question (from a couple of readers) in the entry, in case readers don't get down this far and think it's closed during its renovations. EL

If Los Amigos is closed, it's a recent change. We dined there two weeks ago. Rosa (the owner) had acquired the adjacent property and put a lot of work into renovations. They seem to be largely done on the inside (the bathrooms are VASTLY improved), but the facade was still a work in progress. This could certainly have added to the 'closed' look.

What's up with the colorful and large font? Test drive? My presbyobic eyes are lovin it!

You're mad trippin' Joyce. Normal black font on white background. Koo koo ka choo.

Joyce, I agree. Someone must be tinkering with the cascading style sheets.

Owl Meat Graduate, I'm not trippin' here!

It's been a large blue font to me since it was posted this morning Writing this post, it's large but black.

And blue! The huge font is blue! (But it makes the rest of the print on the screen seem like about 4 pt.)

Joyce, I am getting different fonts too! The only section that looks "normal" is the main post at top. The comments area is royal blue with a large serif font. The right column is really tiny font in a different green-blue. Weird!

I was getting the big blue font at work, but not here at home.

We fixed it. EL

Organic pizza is hard to pull off. There is Craft, an organic pizzeria in Chicago, and a quickly growing chain, Pizza Fusion.

But my gut tells me that while this new Bagby joint might sincerely try to use quality, fresh, seasonal, high-end, or even organic ingredients whenever possible (etc. etc.), it will not be serving organic pizza.

If I'm wrong, though, it's a pretty big deal (but maybe two or three years behind the trend...), and Baltimore will have its first certified organic restaurant.

Unless that's not what they meant, which is what I think....

My memory is that organic flour is expensive and hard to source. Of course, I don't trust "organic." Horizon milk does not meet my standards for organic, even if they meed the Fed's.

Lissa, what standards for organic does Horizon fail to meet? Just curious. I always get the cheapest organic, but my daughter insists on organic ever since a long-ago field trip to a Horizon farm.

They feed their cows organic food, but they never, ever get to go outside.

To me, that is cruel. Cows need grass (which Horizon cows never get) and they need space to move, sun, wind, rain, etc.

Technically organic, yes. Up to my standards, no.

Lissa, where did you get your information about the treatment of Horizon cows? Your description is certainly different than other information available.

EEL, I know you know how to google. This interview should provide a wealth of key words.

Meridian 54 is the original owner of Redfish. A great new sketchey addition of a restaurant to the neighborhood. I give them a year max.

I've now heard from 3 people that the Olive and Sesame's new incarnation is owned and run by exactly the same people trying to overcome the bad publicity that shut them down.

I just have to share this. A lard Buddha.

Do the Brits know how to celebrate diversity, or what?

I've heard Umami is going to be a kosher Japanese/Chinese Restaurant. Is it owned by the same people who owned Olive and Sesame that was closed by the Health Department for rats? I certainly hope not as a kosher consumer. Does anyone know?

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I've now heard from 3 people that the Olive and Sesame's new incarnation is owned and run by exactly the same people trying to overcome the bad publicity that shut them down.
Posted by: Joyce W. | December 10, 2008 5:28 AM

I use to work for the Kosher Department of Maryland. For any place to sell Kosher food, they have to be approved by the department. In fact, after receiving permission, a certified director from the department monitors the Kosher location to make sure there is no infestation of any sort. Any owner of a Kosher location actually are not allowed to carry a set of keys to their business, only an employee of the Kosher department is allowed. So there really should be no worries about any health problems for Umami Bistro or any Kosher location.