I enjoyed a meal with friends at the Glass Grill a few months ago. It's NOT in Highlandtown.... I think it's in Essex... across 95 on Eastern Ave. I remember really liking the sliders and onion rings, however one of our dining companions is vegan and the menu goes like this "meat, meat with dairy, meat, meat meat, DAIRY..." she ordered a side of apple sauce and a small salad.

They mentioned they were going to revamp their menu and she suggested maybe adding a few more options for people who are lactose intolerant veggies. Wonder if they've done so.

I always get in trouble with neighborhoods. I'll correct it. Thanks. EL

I always get in trouble with neighborhoods. I'll correct it. Thanks. EL

At least you didn't say it was in Lauraville! ;)

I live near Bonjour and their quiche is truly scrumptious. One word of warning if you go to purchase an entire quiche - ask them to make one slice to ensure you are getting the right quiche. My husband picked up a ham and cheese quiche a few days before Christmas. It was an unhappy surprise to have salmon quiche come out of our oven Christmas morning.

I am not knocking the salmon quiche, I didn't eat it simply because I don't like salmon. I was very sad. My father-in-law loved it. Oh well, lesson learned!

Oh, and the chocolate croissant are delish!

Farallon in San Francisco is decorated ceiling to floor in art glass like this -- $4 million worth when it opened in 1997. How nice to have a sample closer to home.

Does anyone know where Lauraville *really* ends?

If the Glass Grill is where I think it is, it is on the 23 and the 40.

"Lauraville is a historic neighborhood in Northeast Baltimore City, located East of the Herring Run, North of Argonne Drive, West of Harford Road & South of Echodale Avenue."

location clairfication: glass grill is located in a neighborhood called eastwood, still inside baltimore city lines but on the edge of dundalk, not essex.

& yeah, they are still lacking in great veggie options but it seems like a cool place otherwise.

You know you're a success when they start putting your name in front of "-inspired", as in "Chihuly-inspired glass sculptures."

Sean, I am not doubting you, but I've seen as many different boundaries for Lauraville as for Canton (which appears to be eating Highlandtown for breakfast).

Does Chihuly do more than one sculpture?

Chihuly - not just a success but a god!

Wow, Joyce. I thought I liked Chihuly.

Chihuly does stuff that floats on water as well as stuff that hangs from the ceiling. I guess that counts for more than one.

I love it all anyway. "Inter caecos, regnat luscus."

There was a Chihuly exhibit at the BMA several years ago. A friend who is an artists dismissed it all as "eye candy," which struck me as exactly right. Not much content there, but it sure is fun to look at.

I wouldn't dismiss Chihuly as "eye candy", Dahlink. His new work is as vibrant and meaningful as his older work meaning it withstands the test of time. His work changes it's environment in a pleasing way. Those things are important too. His Israeli installation was amazing and change perceptions about Israel, the middle east, landscapes, etc. He's wonderful!

Joyce - I believe our taste in art has been dissed. In Latin and in English.

No matter.

It occurs to me that, since you hate the cold weather, you should scout out some of the airline fare sales that are popping up as jet fuel prices begin to head north again. Buy yourself a ticket to Phoenix, take a few days to warm up and while you're there, go see the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden.

My favorite Chihuly exhibits are the ones done outside of museums. He is fond of exhibiting at botanical gardens, especially.

LOL - Bucky - I wouldn't say dissed...just disagreed with. I would love to get to the Desert Botanical Garden, but I'm paying the price of a bad economy - trying to pay off my credit cards! There's a wonderful PBS show on Chihuly's workshop that appears every now and then. I don't know if it's something that can be found on line or not, but it's very interesting.

As a long time Hamiltonian, we always thought that Lauraville's northern border was Moravia Road.

Joyce - I've seen that show. It is interesting.

Joyce and Bucky--no dissing from me. I just think Chihuly is the art equivalent of fast food. One of our sons lives in Seattle and every time you turn around, there's another Chihuly--almost as ubiquitous as Starbucks.

I might have a little more respect for Chihuly if he ever actually blew glass any more.

No, I wouldn't. Well, maybe a little.

Which isn't to say I think less of people who like him. I'm sure some of my tastes are, at best, puzzling to others.

if he ever actually blew glass any more

He would if he could.

Lissa - Chihuly's explained that he doesn't actually blow the glass anymore, because he's lost his eye which makes it difficult, if not impossible to detect dimension and form. Anyway, Michelangelo didn't paint most of his own work, his apprentices did. Nice picture in The Agony and The Ectasy of poor Michelangelo struggling iwth the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, but it was probably a bunch of young bucks painting away while Mike directed the show. The artistry is in the vision of the master artist. IMHO for what that's worth anyway!

That being what it is, to each his own I say! Besides I even like Jasper Johns and Roy Lichtenstein who aren't everybody's cup of tea either.

As has been noted many times on this blog:
de gustibus non est disputandum.

Thus:
scrapple
raw oysters
cottage cheese and ketchup
turducken
foie gras
velveeta
spam
vodka martinis

Thus:
Lichtenstein
Chihuly
Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light

True, true, Laura Lee (but Thomas Kinkade--gack!)

Dahlink- just to be clear, for me Thomas Kinkade = velveeta

Kinkade is a major gack! Not fond of Michaelangelo, either.

Liechtenstein and Johns I like. Kandinsky, Klee, all good.

Maybe they have to die before I'll like them.

Bucky & Joyce, a friend of mine toured the Desert Botanical Graden when she was in Phoenix last fall. I think she's still raving about it.

Dead or alive, I'll never "like" Kinkade.

My DW and I loved the Desert Botanical Museum when I took her with me on a trip about ten years ago. Didn't notice any Chihuly pieces then. Of course, flora and fauna were delightful just by themselves. We did get to see one of their desert tortoises, a federally protected species. In fact when my son was in the Army at Fort Irwin in the California desert, if a desert tortoise appeared, the war games came to a screeching halt until it decided to move on.

Not a diss from me either, though I can imagine why it could be taken that way.

"Among the blind, the one-eyed man is king" wasn't to say that his followers are blind. It's to say that most people don't know art, and even half knowing something is better than the masses.

A dollop of fluffernutter to anyone who can identify the SF story where the phrase was used.

I've really tried to take the high road because when it comes to art, I feel that every piece of art has some kind of intrinsic value. But I just have to agree with Laura Lee, Dahlink and Eve. Thomas Kincade does not even belong on a list with Michelangelo, Liechtenstein, Johns, Klee, etc. Even Jeff Koons (who I'm not at all fond of) has more of a right to be on the artist list than Kincade. Kincade is .. xerox...

R-I-E - the Chihuly exhibit at the DBG is a 6-month engagement, not a permanent exhibit.

Glass Grill people - I'm sorry for having caused the diversion away from the topic of your restaurant. (Bonjour, as well.)

Based on Summer's recommendation ( menu goes like this "meat, meat with dairy, meat, meat meat, DAIRY...") and on the art, I'm adding the Glass Grill to my list of places to eat on my eventual visit to Baltimore.

My fault, JoAnne. I assumed "the one-eyed man" was a reference to Dale Chihuly and, given the context of the discussion, Joyce and I were "the blind."

I feel officially "not dissed."

My money is on either hmpstd or Prof. McIntyre to win the flutternutter, whatever it is.

JoAnne -- the original version of the quote, In regione caecorum rex est luscus, was written by Erasmus in 1500, per Wikiquote. Four centuries later, H.G. Wells used the quote as the inspiration for his short story, The Country of the Blind.

Bucky -- the Fluffernutter was the subject of discussions in the Sandbox in June of last year -- see this post by voodoopork and later posts on that same blog topic by Owl Meat and me.

Technically, the Fluffernutter is a sandwich [marketing ploy], not a spread, so a "dollop" of a Fluffernutter would be a messy glop of bread, peanut butter, and Fluff. Since I never did like Fluffernutters, I guess JoAnne is off the hook in terms of having to make good on the prize. ;-)

Thanks, hmpstd. I remember the topic, but I guess I was focused on the potato chips.

Joyce W., I'm with you on your assessment of Jeff Koons, but he DID go to MICA, which gives him a local connection. His art always makes me think of that famous line in "The Graduate" involving plastic.

Wow, hmpstd, that is a truly enlightening answer. I didn't even know Wells used it.

His use was doubtless the inspiration for its inclusion in the SF novella I was thinking of, which is "Riders of the Purple Wage" by Philip Jose Farmer, published in the 1967 collection _Dangerous Visions_.

A critic character in the story is named "Rex Luscus."

Dahlink - I didn't realize Koons went to MICA. That makes me slightly more interested in him as an individual - his art unfortunately will never do much for me. Your association of him with the Graduate line about plastics is hilarious!

Loan spam at 4:35 pm.