I went about a week and a half after it opened and was very impressed that they had it together for being so new -- good service, liked the food (though it wasn't particularly memorable), and really liked the upstairs space to retreat to after eating. I went again this weekend for a cup of coffee after dinner at Indigma, and we stayed upstairs for several hours. I'm going back for food again soon.

Positive, negative. It is what it is. The value of having a Restaurant Critic on staff (especially if she has been there for a while) is that the reviews are made using a consistent set of values. If the experience is positive, it is written up that way; the same if negative. As with any critic, you soon find out whether your own tastes coincide with the critic's and can adjust accordingly. How many movies have you gone to see because they were panned by the critics?

Speaking of a consistent restaurant critic on staff, I've noticed that a lot of your places get three stars for food. My question is: does this mean that Baltimore has a lot of very good places? On the upside, we've got a lot of very good places. On the other hand, not so many excellent ones. I actually think that's pretty accurate, but I wondered about all the 3 Stars.

I would have thought I give more 2 1/2 stars than 3, but I never really thought about it. I have a lot of trouble assigning stars. I think of 3 stars as good, 3 1/2 stars as very good. But "good" is such a vague term. EL

I thought your review was just fine - it was right in line with my experience on Friday night, when I went to have the restaurant week menu. I did think it was very odd that they still had plenty of seats open at 7:30/8pm on a Friday, but given that they aren't really advertising that would make sense. I'm sure it'll be much busier this Friday!

I haven't been keeping a tally, it just seemed that way. I actually think that should be our motto: Baltimore, A Three Star City.

Ive heard nothing bud mediocrity coming from this place, but then again I havent been so I cant really comment. I do read chowhound pretty often (is it verboten to speak of it here?) and the folks who have eaten there have been extremely harsh.

I do read chowhound pretty often (is it verboten to speak of it here?) and the folks who have eaten there have been extremely harsh.

Both of them? Okay, I exaggerate a little. There have been only three allegedly first-hand reports on Chowhound. One was positive about the food, one mixed, and one negative.

Okay -- one of my co-workers brought in a piece of duck confit and it tasted more like badly roasted pork, not even cured.

On top of that I have another friend who lives a block away who says that he enjoys the pastries there, and when he asked, they said that they come from Poupon and Bonapartes (which someone on chowhound also verifies), which the article fails to mention.

Anyway I dont have it in for them or anything, but to see such a glowing review after I had heard second hand and read... well whatever hand, I was very shocked that there was such a difference.

Elizabeth-
I have to wonder about your palate and how qualified you actually are to critique food after your review of MLB (and several others in the past). I dined there a couple weeks ago and while the service was good (definitely not great), the food was some of the worst I have tasted. French onion soup was over-salted, the stock contained entirely too much thyme, and it was topped with PROVOLONE cheese! Not gruyere, not comte, but provolone? The mussels were ok, but in this instance, needed more salt. Beef bourginon was disgusting; I sent it back. Overcooked vegetables to the point that I could mash them with my fork and rancid tasting beef. Duck confit was overcooked and DRY (not to mention, it tasted like it had been in the cooler for over a week). Finally cornish game hen was, surprise, dry, overcooked, and lacked seasoning.
Seriously, these are fundamentals cooking: season properly, cook correctly, and if it is too old throw it out. How can you be this wrong?

Well, at least you know to avoid restaurants I liked. :-) EL

It appears that Jay posts as LuLuBlaubugunder on Chowhound, as that sounds identical to the review there.

I would have thought I give more 2 1/2 stars than 3

Half stars? That doesn't even make any sense. Can you have half a hug? Half a rainbow? Half a unicorn?

I wish I could give half stars when rating films on Netflix--a lot of movies would get three and a half stars--three seems too harsh and four is too generous.

Well, Jay, this is America, and you're entitled to your opinion. If Mr. Laurent is correct, you don't even need to express it here. But one thing you should understand is that we don't cotton to folks who make snotty remarks about Ms. Large. Got that?

Half stars? That doesn't even make any sense. Can you have half a hug? Half a rainbow? Half a unicorn?

Owl, you're taking the star thing too literally. The "star" is just being used as an arbitrary unit of measure, like "foot" or "pound".

But you already knew that.

Three unicorns for McIntyre

Just wondering, OMG and Hal, VoR--what kind of hug does a one-armed person give?

I don't like Jay's tone with Elizabeth, but I have to agree with him about the beef bourguignon at Marie L Bistro (I wrote about our experience under the RW post). The pieces of beef were very dry and it did not taste like there had been any wine used in its preparation. It just tasted like a mediocre beef stew. The broth with the mussels was very good and I very much wanted to enjoy some of it with bread, but we had great difficulty getting any bread during our long waits for food, and when it came (good bread by the way) there were about 10 pieces of a penitentially 1/4" sliced, ficelle sized loaf for a table of 7. No bread for the broth.

what kind of hug does a one-armed person give?

You hug with your heart Dahlink.

8>)

This message sponsored by the Lifetime Original Movie Hugs Down Under, the true story of Australian Anna Digby who tragically lost her arms, the victim of a drunk driving accident. The movie tells of her "walk-about" from Sidney to Perth and her unique way of hugging everyone she meets along the way with her legs. And the abusive men she meets even though she clearly makes bad deicisons repeatedly which reminds her of the pain of her daughter's life as a crack whore in the underground Aussie surf punk scene in the 90's.

I stand by my post. I think a restaurant critic should know how to critique food. There are plenty of mediocre restaurants in this city that she has undeservingly raved about. Restaurants that, in another city, reviewed by a critic with a refined palate, would have received comments harsher than mine. And I have never posted on chowhound. Maybe another disgruntled patron or my dining mate that night. To McIntyre--a thinly veiled threat on a food blog is so lame.

Judging from your description, it was more than just a matter of refined/unrefined palate, right? Your meal sounds downright awful. EL

Hey, Owl - good to see you back! My partner loves Lifetime movies - your synopsis is exaclty why I don't!

It is the height of arrogance and shows a lack of critical thinking skills to assume all food in a restaurant is identical. That the chicken tikka masala one day is the exact same as the chicken tikka masala a week later.

Then again, what to expect from someone who isn't aware of the context of a city newspaper and who thinks they are a better food snob than all of us.

Not a thinly veiled threat, or a threat at all. Just an observation that the people who read and comment on this board are not fond of people who make insulting remarks. However refined your palate may be, your manners leave something to be desired.

Who says the cheese in French onion soup has to be either gruyere or
comte? Why can't it be bleu, my favorite cheese, for example?

Two things that I think are highly over-rated: personal growth and a refined palate.

Sweet fancy Moses! I go away for three weeks and looks what happens: Hadley Paige is bullying the mommy blog, McIntyre is throwin' down and gettin' in people's grillz, and Bucky is putting blue cheese in FUS. Sacre bleu indeed!

I imagine that in 35 years EL has gotten more than a few letters questioning her opinions and worse. I admit that I almost enjoy when someone shoots one across her bow here, because I know she can take it and it just rallies her minions. I am an aficionado of angry letters, because they usually reveal more about the writer than the object of scorn. I also like that the writer hates EL's reviews so much that he reads them all. A fan is a fan.

This is very much a subjective arena. Too much salt, too much thyme, too little salt - subjective. Provolone cheese on FUS is funny. After mozzarella it's the least soup friendly cheese, given its stringiness when hot - and clearly not French. I would be open to other types of cheese on French onion soup, why not? Maybe even a Vermont artisanal cheese. After all, Vermont was settled and named by the French. Think global, cheese local.

Pardon my verbosity as I am killing time waiting for a train.

This comment sponsored by the First Annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival will be held on Saturday, August 23 2009, at the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont, celebrating what many call the Napa Valley of cheese. Vermont has grown from a dairy state to the premium Artisan cheese state, with the highest cheese makers per capita.

You certainly can put any cheese you want on French Onion soup just like you can put any cheese you want on lasagne. However, gruyere is traditional and I think the best. I know I started saving alot of money when I realized just how unrefined my palate is. When you can't tell the difference between a $10 Cote du Rhone and a $300 Hermitage you might as well drink 30 bottles of Cote du Rhone. This will lead to personal growth especially if you don't exercise.

Bucky,
The times I've had french onion soup, the cheese on top was mozzarella. Haven't had it in a very long time though.

Mr. Jay has demonstrated himself to be an unpleasant person. I don't have to read his posts. I suspect that to be ignored is the worst punishment possible for him.

OMG
FUS - Would that be French Unyun Soup?

Well Owl Meat GoneThreeWeeks, I never bought in to the idea that you are the alter ego of some other blogger. However, your sudden resurrection concurrent with postings by Jay and Hadley Paige is starting to arouse my suspicions.

When will you start posting on your blog? And where are you headed on a train this balmy Candlemas Day?

FUS? Stoopid me. Maybe I was thinking of Funyon Soup. Sorry, the English-language part of my brain is still waking up.

Funyon soup wouldn't need crutons, at least.

LL, I'm trying to keep my one ego in check. I was pulled back into the realm prematurely when someone alerted me to the whole Hadley Paige deal. When I was gone this summer you got springs1 and Bucky. I guess blogs abhor a vacuum. Now see, that's really egotistical right there. In Philly for a bit. I'm trying to teach Hadley Paige to argue properly on the mommy blog. I'm sure they hate us both - Fact!

Kind of a weird HP google result:
http://www.babynamegenie.com/polls/18311/results

Owl Meat GatewayToUselessInformation,

Fact: Hadley Paige is adorable!

The overwhelming weight of scholarship supports my assertion.

Love your trademark btw.

Is it possible that Jay is the Jay C of yore? The insults are similar, the writing style maybe not so much.

Lovely Laura Lee - Payton Reese is a more adorable name than Hadley Paige - Fact! Inference: Payton Reese is a feminist.

I love the adorable baby name polls - how absurd. Sorry to say that no matter how adorable your baby's name is, when your last name is "Kramner" it just doesn't fly.

I just dumped a bunch of actual statistics on the less adorable but more inferential Hadley Paige. I'm sure Kate wishes we would leave her blog in peace and take our epistemological gunfight elsewhere.

Was Jay C the angry dude who thought everyone was a racist and always bragged about sitting at the chef's table in NY restaurants?

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I'm guessing that this is the most attention Hadley Paige has gotten in, perhaps his entire life. Y'all are actually paying attention to his nonsensical arguments. As a feminist, I have heard - but not listened to - morons who want to blame the movement for everything since The Fall of The Roman Empire. (My late ex-father-in-law used to liken everything he considered "wrong" to TFoTRE) For the most part, people mutter, mmmm, good to know and walk away from these guys.

I bet he writes this episode in his diary.

Adorable baby names? Two of those three words do not belong together.

My mother wanted to name my brother Mason Clay Potter, but Dad wouldn't permit it.

Was Jay C the angry dude who thought everyone was a racist and always bragged about sitting at the chef's table in NY restaurants?

No, Jay C was the angry dude who was always railing about EL being the restaurant critic of the paper of record, or something like that.

HP is a woman, I believe. Everybody deserves a little attention.

Jay C. hasn't been heard from in some time -- if I recall correctly, he's been preoccupied with his coffee establishment in the Towson Library.

Jay C - Beyonce's man?

Funyuns, gack. They give you dragon breath too.

Kramner? Krammit would be more appropriate.

Yes, Jay C was the angry chef's table guy. He had been everywhere, eaten everything ever made throughout history and was very, very cool.