I'm having too much fun contemplating roving gunmen holding people up for their opinions to come up with anything.

Except, maybe, "Je ne parle pas l'anglais." Or cheating and saying "Lexington Market", because you've got Faidley's and their crab cakes, shrimp salad, Berger cookies, Utz potato chips and more typically Baltimore foods in a place that is great fun to people watch in.

Surprisingly good food at rational prices, wait staff that feels like buddies, and decor that honors- in a very lighthearted manner- Baltimore's place as a port city. And a Chritsmas tree made up of Grand Marnier bottles.

Chiapparelli's in Little Italy would be the restaurant I choose. It's where my family goes for special occassions as well as casual outings.

Lissa is right. It's too funny thinking of these roving bands of critic stickup gunmen!

I think my own personal experience, I'd go with Snyders in Linthicum. It's got kind of that old timey feel to it although it's technically not Baltimore. From what I've read about Michael's I'm thinking it's REALLY them however; who typifies Baltimore. I've really got to get there soon.

The Prime Rib would be my choice. I lived in Balti for 5 years, I still come back to vist friends and family and always try to make it a point to go back there. Food, Service, and Atomsphere is #1. I will be in town next weekend and will make a reservation for Saturday.

Well Baltimore is changing on a daily basis. I have been in the restaurant business for the last 15 years. One place that is a baltimore institution is Pizza Johns in Essex.But they serve fast casual italian food. There Kitchen has to be the cleanest kitchen in the business. The food has been on point for over twenty years. That is in the county, in the city I would say you could not choose one place because of the changing of the guard. The corporate take over has begun, Capital Grill, Flemings, Roy's, Sullivans, Ruth Cris, Ocean Aire. There is no longer a local force in Baltimore that represents Baltimore as purely Baltimore food. Only one local restauranter could take on the big corporate restaurants. That is Tony Foreman, but all of his places represent Europe, not bmore.
Some classic places in the northern part of the county are Oregon Grill and Manor Tavern.
Even little Italy changed alot on the last five years. Within the city limits it is tuff to find true Baltimore food.

Aldo's. The best of Italy, Baltimore, and personal service.

Bill's Terrace in Essex is the quintessential crab house. Very Baltimore atmosphere and the crabs never disappoint.

That's easy. Dizzy Issie's/The Dizz. A raucous bar, diners from every walk of life, menu choices from higher end surf and turf items to burger and fries (with gravy, naturally.) A neighborhood place where "hon" is used with affection, not irony, and every diner is one of the family. That's Baltimore in a nutshell.

Chipotle.

G&M. Every restaurant has crabcakes, and G&M is the best. Their new decor also reflects the change Baltimore has gone through over the years.

G&M: as often as they and their crab cakes have been hammered here, its probably the last place (okay, Phillips is the last place) I would order crab cakes. attgig's comment has that PR shill sound to it. On the other hand picking G&M as the quintessential Baltimore restaurant sounds like something a Baltimore basher would do to further discredit Baltimore. Tell them its good and send them to a sub par place. Now that's a nice dose of OMG paranoia.

I'd have to say Costa's Inn.

That place always felt like real Baltimore to me.

Michael's on Eastern Avenue would be a close second for sure.

Boog's Pit Beef at Camden Yards. Limited Hours though

Me paranoid? Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Did somebody tell you something?

Pete's Grille. Even before hometown boy Phelps made it famous, a go-to place for really good, really cheap breakfast and lunch. And the customers - cops, lawyers, students, homeless, you name it. Very Baltimore.

"Surprisingly good food at rational prices, wait staff that feels like buddies, and decor that honors- in a very lighthearted manner- Baltimore's place as a port city. And a Chritsmas tree made up of Grand Marnier bottles. "

Is that One Eyed Mike's in Fells Point? B/c that just might be my #1 also. Best food I have ever had served by folks in kinda clean t-shirts. And great bartenders.

FLIRV, which restaurant are you speaking of?

I would have to say The Prime Rib only because it has mantained the same quality and feel over the years (in a good way) and because it is the last old Baltimore restaurant still going strong.

Sam, I think your answer means you'd get shot. Gunman typically exhibit an underdeveloped sense of humor.
Are you also the guy who stands up at the Full Moon BBQ and shouts "Go Miami"?
I probably shouldn't be giving you any ideas.

Tio Pepe's. It's such a unique venue in so many ways - the cuisine and the subterranean location - but it's also been around forever, it's where my grandparents went for a special occasion dinner. And started by immigrants to our fair city many years ago, it still retains its original character and charm.

Little Italy as a collective point-consistent food quality and atmosphere that welcomes the customer.
Pizza John's--quality everyday-spotless environment

Are comments getting lost again?

What about the Papermoon Diner? Or how about Jimmys? Sip and Bite? Bel Loc Diner? They are long standing Baltimore Metro area favorites and have the B'more feel.

I'm not sure that I'm prepared to defend this thesis, but I kind of think that "the restaurant that typifies Baltimore" is becoming rapidly extinct, if it isn't already extinct.

Cafe Hon. Love the food, deserts, and atmosphere.

Obrycki's Crab House on E. Pratt Street. Baltimore = steamed crabs! This is where I learned to pick crabs 35 years ago. Their pepper spice is the best! Blows Old Bay away.

No Fair! I refuse to answer a question that doesn't make sense. No where in my rule book does it say I have to have a favorite restaurant, a favorite wine, a favorite "in-this-category" for anything.

Today my favorite food was Rockfish, from my favorite grocery store (Wegmans) with my favorite bread (a pizza ball from Savona in Bel Air baked in a Polish bread pan from the Amish Market in Hunt Valley) with brussel sprouts from Waverly Market.

At any given moment I may have a favorite this or that, but it's a day to day, minute to minute thing. And doesn't that make life wonderful??

MD Canon, I'm with you!

I have to agree with Rtso. Went to G & M for crab cakes once. Totally lacking in flavor. Haven't been back.

If you were forced at gun point to name the one restaurant that typifies Baltimore, what would it be?

For me, not being a native Baltimorean, a meal that typifies Baltimore is a crab feast. I had never been to one before being transferred here. So, to me, a crab feast is “that” typical Baltimore meal.

But the question was to name one restaurant that typifies, Baltimore. Again, not being a native, I can only think back to some of my earliest experiences with Baltimore restaurants. I was taken out by sales reps, including Andy Nelson, when he still representing a trucking company. And that was for crabs, in old-school, venues.

But since then, Bo Brook’s has moved from his original location, as has Della Rosa’s and Bill Batemen has closed his Cub Hill location.

So, my vote goes to a restaurant I don’t think has ever been mentioned out here, Jimmy’s Famous Seafood on Holabird. A true old-school Baltimore institution, that is still around for people to experience.

Sorry for being over 25 words, but each paragraph was les than 25...;-)

No posts today. I'm guessing somebody is on a plane back to the frozen misery that we have all shared this past week of happy freakin' sunny posts. BAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Die Ferien von schadenfreude sind komplett! Misery loves company!!!!!!

Little Italy as a collective point-consistent food quality and atmosphere that welcomes the customer.

What does that mean? Little Italy is a neighborhood, not a restaurant. There are about 20 restaurants there minus about three that are closed right now.

Juicy gossip ... a Little Italy restaurant is closing within a week. Anybody care to guess which one? It's been there for a long time.

I agree that the question is foolish. Restaurants that typify a place are almost always dinosaurs that serve terrible food but somehow survive. They typify a population's lack of taste - in a specific way. You need a food monoculture for such a place to truly exist and that is long gone. A restaurant whose only feature is teamed crabs is not really a restaurant. If you could plausibly serve the same food off the back of a pickup truck on the highway with the same results (you can), then "restaurant" is the wrong word.

Death to nostalgia. There were no good old days for food in Baltimore, unless you think apple sauce and cole slaw are gourmet sides.

Like many others, I would say the Prime Rib is my favorite restaurant. I was just there last night, and I was thinking two things. First, I really need to come here more often. Second, I may be the first person who ever in one day had lunch at Jad's Caddy Shack in Essex and dinner at the Prime Rib. (Do you all know there is only one place to get a microwave oven fixed in all of Baltimore, and it is in Essex?)

Anyway, the observation about Jad's is why I would say that while the Prime Rib is my favorite restaurant, it is not the restaurant that typifies Baltimore. That restaurant needs to be a place that all types of people have had the opportunity to visit. The Prime Rib caters, primarily, to two groups: wealthy preppies and wealthy Jews. Now before someone gets all bothered by this, yes I know the clientele is not homogeneous (I'm partly a preppie and my wife's entirely Jewish, but neither of us are wealthy), and yes many people will go there for a special night (every ten or so years my parents will trek down from Harford County); nevertheless, I will stand by my generalization. For anecdotal evidence, I bring up the table beside me last night where the attire was repp ties and the conversation was about how great their box is at M & T Stadium. Clearly, the Prime Rib is a classic restaurant that does so many things right, but it is not a shared experience that all of Baltimore can relate.

In addition to being a shared experience that crosses socio-demographic lines, the restaurant that typifies Baltimore needs to tap into our psyche. Baltimore is very nostalgic town. How often do you hear people describe Baltimore as a blue collar town? We haven't been a blue collar town, in the sense of people who work factory jobs, for decades, yet people of all walks of life, even the aforementioned wealthy preppies and Jews, will describe Baltimore this way. The Baltimore restaurant in this sense will need to tap into that blue collar nostalgia by serving quality, traditional food along with some signature items that are reasonably priced in a setting that is not pretentious but at the same time still something special.

Maybe there are quite a few restaurants that are both accessible to all kinds of people and tap into Baltimore's fondness for nostalgia; however, I don't think any would top Sabatinos. Look, Sabatino's is not Baltimore's best restaurant, nor is it Little Italy's best restaurant, but there is no other restaurant that produces shared memories like Sabatino's. For some, Sabatino's may have been the place you went for Sunday diner, for others maybe it was only for a special occasions like graduation, and for others still it was the place you went at one in the morning when everything was closed. No matter who you are, you've probably been to Sabatino's. Not only have you been there, but so too have your parents and grandparents. And if you say Bookmaker Salad or Peachy (the waitress), everyone knows you are talking about Sabatino's. The same just wouldn’t be true whether you were talking about classic places like the Prime Rib, old school crab houses like Mr. Bill’s or funky little local spots like Papermoon.

Rosebud-

Yes, I was...turns out in my early morning haze I accidentally put "One Eye'd Mike's" in the URL section, thinking it was a subject line.

not a pr shill- you got it. Once I realized I had typed it wrong, I was wondering if anyone would recognize it.

I gotta agree(somewhat) with RoCK...
Restaurants that typify B'More
Henningers
Dudas
Hull Street Blues
John Stevens
Mamas on HS
I would venture to say that there is a "Prime Ribish" restaurant in almost all major metropolitan areas...
Not that there's anything wrong with that

Which Baltimore?

My vote would be for Henninger's. Such a special quirky little spot. When I have friends visiting, that's where I like to take them. When I first moved to Baltimore, I knew no one and nothing about the city, and I felt really lost here. My discovery of Henninger's was the first of many little baby steps towards finding places I enjoyed and making Baltimore feel like somewhere I could call home.

My picks...
Jimmy's in Dundalk (I was surprised it took so long for someone to mention)
Jimmy's in Fells Point
Double-T Diner

Sobo Cafe
Sip n' Bite
Crackpot
Cafe Hon

Hey, so what is Baltimore food?

I live in Rochester ( the New York one) and I think I want to come down and live with you guys. But It is an issue whether you have food down there, outside of New York.

All our famous stuff up here is great old style pizza and sundry no-tablecloth Italian, traditional lakeside burgers and profound fish fries, Grandma Brown's beans and of course the Garbage Plate.

What are Baltimorean foods?

A

Seriously, you're just listing places you like. Do ... you ... not ... get ... it ?

What are Baltimore foods?
Teenage pregnancy
Murder
Racism
Syphillis
Heroin
Crack
Crab cakes

So I guess crab cakes win.

In my oponion, Owl Meat Gravy just nailed it...ha-ha-ha! Phillips Harborplace?

Yes there are crab cakes here, and they are not the same thing at all as crab cakes sold elsewhere. Then there are things like crab imperial, shrimp salad, steakfish, lake trout, Berger cookies, etc. that I don't remember seeing other places.

There is a lot of fish around, and it is salt water fish, not the freshwater fish of the Great Lakes that Alan is probably used to (and that I grew up with). Fairly often, dishes have a Southern taste to them.

Baltimore food isn't at all like Rochester food. More variety here, too.

What LI restaurant is closing, Owl? you've got my attention!
And, you left prostitution off of your list. Which does "capture " some of the city's essence I agree.

It's a rumor ...

Perring Place. It's like the Twilight Zone of Baltimore Restaurants...an artifact...a composite of every every restaurant my partents dragged me into when I was a little kid in '50s Baltimore.

Also: Dock of the Bay in Millers Island. Dock is a lot more fun than Perring Place. Both feel like time travel.

All I want to say is when my family comes in from other parts of the US the first thing they ask for is steamed crabs or crab cakes. Baltimore is known for their crabs.

Since Haussner's is gone it has to be Burke's which personifies Baltimore. It was here before Harborplace, during it's construction, and is still going strong in the old fashioned tradition.

Why do people continue to go to gunpoint? People are always getting robbed at gunpoint.

Ray Ray cracks me up.

I like this parlor game, and I think RoCK makes a good case for Sabatino's

Sorry to show up late. I'd say The Prime Rib.

I second the Paper Moon. I would have said Gampy's if it was still around. Important factors: surly wait staff, wacky decor, better-than-diner-food-diner-food, long waits late at night.

OK, it's next week. What LI restaurant? initials? Owner's first name? c'mon Owl, don't dangle gossip only to tease!

c'mon Owl, don't dangle gossip only to tease!

Owl likes to be a tease. After all this time he still hasn't revealed the identity of the electric atomic hulahoop guy. I personally still think it was an Owl creation.

Atomic hula electron banana guy is for real. I'm not that clever.

As for the gossup item, well I might get myself killed if I revealed it -- such secrets should remain mysteries of the night.

Atomic hula electron banana guy is for real. I'm not that clever.

Yeah, you've been saying that for a heck of a long time. Talk is cheap.

Street name?

I pick Pazo. Classy and sophisticated; great super club atmosphere, and nice value for small plates and prix fixe dinners. It is unique to Baltimore, and feels like New York.

Oh Joyce, you're not playing. Read my last message again closely.

I think I know what you mean...

yes, I got it for sure.

Sip N Bite on a Ravens Sunday Morning.

I have to agree with the very first suggestion (which I do not think is cheating) and say Lexington Market. If I had guests visiting and they wanted to experience Baltimore food, I can not think of a better place to go (lacking Haussner's, Marconi's or The Pimlico).

To me this discussion begins and ends with Peter's Inn. It's location on the outskirts of Fells is very Baltimore, in a rowhouse, with a tin awning, with motorcycles parked on the sidewalk and rockabilly loving owners and staff, serving the most surprisingly incredible inventive changing menu (but the filet is always the 'go to', which is suitable to Baltimore meat-and-potato types like me), reasonably priced menu and booze, including Natty Boh bottles for like a buck or so served along with top flight wines... Really authentic Baltimore spot to me. There's more to being Baltimore than crabcakes and old bay. Although crabs with old bay on my back deck in the summer with my cooler next to my seat so I don't have to walk and get beers is also VERY baltimore.

I would have to agree with a lot of the posts....it would depend on "which" Baltimore you're referring to. I, thankfully, had the pleasure of dining at Haussner's from childhood through adulthood, to it's demise and do so miss the charm of the place and the never-ending menu of items.

Personally, I think Cafe Hon food sucks. It lacks a lot of flavor and in the end is sorely overpriced. But, hey, that's just my opinion.

I'd definitely say that Papermoon Diner (even though I don't frequent it) is very Baltimore...good food (though a bit pricey for a diner), kitschy atmosphere and consistent service.

The Eastern House. Been there forever and the food is always good.