Lucky me. I got sent a couple of bars of this chocolate, and it was good. It was also strange.

Not because of the Macadamia nuts, obviously, but because of the Hawaiian pink sea salt.

For all I know, it was actually Morton's; but it's the first time I've eaten salty chocolate. Good but strange. ...

Anyway, that brings me to a slide show of the world's strangest candy, which is posted on the Travel + Leisure Web site.

Thanks, Cosmo Girls, for sending me the link. I know it's very U.S.-centric and so not politically correct to consider other culture's sweets strange, but it's funny anyway. I love this description of Wagashi:

Nothing says indulgence like yams and bean paste — at least in Japan.... the treats don’t look like any kind of candy, for the most part, but rather like sushi, or even rubber erasers.  

I know, I know. You think Wagashi tastes better than Godiva chocolate truffles.

By the way, you can get the Shaman chocolate bars through this Web site.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

Occasionally you get a waitress who could not be nicer or trying harder but, there's no getting around it, has the I.Q. of a rabbit.

Gailor ordered oatmeal and I ordered toast for breakfast. The oatmeal came first, for whatever reason. I told Gailor to go ahead and start while it was hot. ...

Eventually the toast arrived on an oval plate. Beside it on the plate was a carefully placed doily with a small empty bowl and a spoon. When I asked our waitress what it was for, she said, "I thought you two were sharing the oatmeal."

Leaving aside the fact that if I tried for Gailor's oatmeal she would stick a fork in the back of my hand, nothing we had said or done had suggested that we wanted to split her breakfast. And by the time the toast and extra bowl finally arrived, the oatmeal was almost gone. Gailor said she was going to ask for a small plate so she could have half my toast, but I restrained her.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

It's easy to look back at all the restaurant closings in Baltimore in the past year, more difficult to say which were the most important and why they mattered.

Here's my list, numbered in order of importance this time, with my reasons following.

Please post below if you disagree -- but tell us why. ... 

1) Martick's in Mount Vernon. Because this quirky restaurant was a true Baltimore institution, and, on a personal note, the place my husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

2) Boccaccio in Little Italy. Because with its arrival, Little Italy became more than a neighborhood of lovable family-owned restaurants.

3) McCabe's in Hampden. Because a neighborhood bar long known for its burgers and crab cakes ought to be able to survive when times are tough.

4) Nasu Blanca in Locust Point. Because I hate to see small places this offbeat (a Japanese/Spanish menu) and clearly a labor of love disappear, whatever their flaws.

5) Brasserie Tatin in Tuscany/Canterbury. Because I think Baltimore could use more French restaurants, not fewer.

6) Fin Steak & Seafood in Fells Point. Because I hate to have a restaurant I give 3 1/2 stars to for food gone so quickly.

7) Brasserie 10 South downtown. Ditto. (It became Bar 10 South serving comfort/soul food.)

8) Tsunami behind Little Italy. Because the more this area gets developed, the better; and judging from the Annapolis restaurant of the same name, I had high hopes.

9) Juniors in Federal Hill. Because I was happy someone decided to resurrect the Vespa concept, even if it didn't work out.

10) Pisces in the Hyatt Regency.  Because when money was no object and people wanted a seafood restaurant with a great view of the harbor, I could always send them to Pisces.

(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (46)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I was making up my Top 10 list of restaurant closings for tomorrow when I decided to check my work e-mail. About 120 e-mails down was an announcement that the Carlyle Club in Tuscany/Canterbury has reopened after a month of renovations for water damage.

I guess I'll take it off my list.

In one way, it has closed for good: It's no longer a Lebanese restaurant. The menu now features the food of coastal India, which, no surprise, emphasizes seafood.

Here's what the press release says: ... 

Menu items include the lighter and more brightly flavored parts of Indian cuisine, with a focus on seafood and vegetarian offerings. Lime, coconut, and chili flavors are prominently featured, as well as many other fresh herbs and spices. Featured items include Tiger Prawns, with a lime chile sauce, and Dosas, which are South Indian crepes. A $25 tasting menu with a variety of tastes found on the new menu is now available.

I wish they had sent me a photo of the renovated space to publish with this.

If any of you has tried the new restaurant, please post below.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

Because of self-checkout I now know the Universal Product Code numbers for many popular fruits and vegetables. Bananas: 4011, for instance.

That's depressing to me. I don't want the limited space left in my brain filled up with stuff like that. On the other hand, I guess I can always get a job as a supermarket cashier.

If there are any of them left when I lose this job.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)
        

One of the things I didn't have the space to go into in my Sullivan's Steakhouse review yesterday was the parking situation. The restaurant is next to the Hyatt Regency in the Inner Harbor, so street parking is scarce. Your best choice is the garage between the restaurant and the hotel.

It struck me as odd that valet parking is $6 there, but if you park your own car in the same garage it costs $15. ...

The only possible reason I can think of is that the restaurant wants to make sure its parking valets are kept busy. Or does that even make sense?

I don't like to have anyone else drive my car, so I almost always self-park. But this time I couldn't bring myself to pay that much more, even when it was the Sun's money. So whatever the reason for the discount, it works.

Anyway, this is the place for you to add your two cents if you've eaten at Sullivan's, or if you want to talk about the Rise of the Upscale Steakhouse or, for that matter, anything else that's on your mind.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Monday Morning Quarterbacking
        

There are some people who are such engaging critics I will read every word they write, even if I have no interest in the subject matter.

The Los Angeles Times' Dan Neil is one of those. What do I care about cars as long as they have heated seats?

If you've never read anything of Neil's, I urge you to sample the columns he won a Pulitzer for.

But he's not the point of this entry. ...

I want instead to lead you to Nilay Gandhi's blog 750 mL. I'm a lot more interested in wine than cars, but I don't read his blog to get suggestions for what wines to buy. I read it for the pure pleasure of Gandhi's writing, which is lush, extravagant, over the top and sometimes hysterically funny. He takes wine descriptions, which often seem silly to me, farther than they've ever been taken before, and somehow he makes me believe them.

My thanks to Sean for first bringing 750 mL to my attention.

(Photo courtesy of freefoto.com)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Wine and Spirits
        

My friend and editor Tim Swift (I have a lot of editors; he's the one with the IPhone who checks the posts I write at 6 a.m.) has taken up cooking recently. He started telling me about the cooking mistakes he now realizes he's made in the past, and I pounced. I asked him to write me a guest post about them to use while I'm on vacation. He was gracious enough to oblige. EL

So the bad economy has me eating less Chinese takeout and cooking at home more. In the past few months, I have invested in some kitchen supplies, and I have been working on my cooking skills. But I'm far from being a Martha Stewart protégé. More like Rachael Ray hopped on meth.

1. I used to be a high-heat addict. Medium or low heat? That's for sissies. Cheese, eggs, chicken were all fair game. Apparently, I didn't get the memo that the food was already dead. Now I know. It's bad for the food and bad for the pan. Most food cooks just fine at medium heat, and I save the high heat for boiling water and thickening sauces.

2. I wouldn't heat the oil before putting in the food in the pan. Yes, you'll see the running theme here is impatience. Bad Tim would slather the pan in oil and then dump in the food (over a range set to high heat of course). What I found with the preferred preheat method is that the food cooks better, of course, but also I use less oil. One teaspoon of olive oil can coat the pan just as well as a half a cup if you wait for it to heat up.
 
3. Mothers always tell you not to play with your food, but I thought that rule only applied post-plating. Poking, smushing, nudging, flipping, flopping -- you name it, I did it all in the pan. It never occurred to me to leave well enough alone. So now, I resist the temptation to get all touchy-feely with my burgers (about five minutes on each side; only flipping once).
 
4. How can you screw up pasta, you say? Well let me tell you: Don't wait for a rolling boil (just a few baby bubbles) and cook a whole box of pasta in a two-quart sauce pan. With these simple missteps you too can be the master of al-don'te pasta. Good Tim has invested in a five-quart stock pot and waits for the big boy bubbles.
 
5. Before my culinary enlightenment, I was a fan of the one-measuring-cup kitchen. In my disillusioned state, a single liquid measuring cup could handle any job -- wet or dry. Those little nesting thingies were cute but I didn't need 'em. Oh, how wrong I was. Now I know all cups aren't created equal. And those little nesting thingies are now a kitchen staple.

(Photo illustration of Tim as Rachael Ray on meth by Leeann Adams)
 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

So as we were riding home from the airport last night in the pouring rain, the taxi driver foolishly didn't say, "Yes" when Gailor said to him, "I'm just confirming: It's a $39 flat fee, right?"

Instead he said, "Plus the $4 airport tax and the tolls." The two of us do look like marks.

I knew he was in trouble when she said in her nicest voice, "That's funny. I thought 'flat fee' meant 'flat fee.'"

She may look like a sweet little thing, but he might as well have stepped on a cobra. I'm thinking to myself, Gailor, you've been traveling for 48 hours straight and who cares at this point?

I won't bore you with the details, except to say I began to wonder if he would make us get out halfway between O'Hare and Evanston in the rain and dark.

We ended up paying $39.

We woke up to a blizzard this morning, but now things are looking up after doing two loads of laundry. Look at the fun to-do list we are in the middle of today: ...

1) Get a manicure/pedicure.

2) Find a nice place for brunch.

3) Have a massage.

3) Drive to Passport Health to get the pills to treat schistosomiasis, as a precaution after falling in the Nile on a class 5 rapids whitewater rafting trip (and here I thought it was Global Immersion in Management), so the worms don't lodge in her liver and destroy it.

One Thing You Never Want to Hear Your Daughter Say as She's Sorting Through Her Laundry: "I wonder why this shirt has so much blood on it."

(Photos of "cow things" and offending marabou stork by Gailor. Well, my other choice was a photo of our brunch today at La Peep.)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

When I was making up my Top 10 list of new restaurants I was looking forward to visiting, I completely forgot Frank & Nic's West End Grille. It opened late last year. I really haven't heard much at all about it, which can sometimes be a bad sign

It turned out not to be a bad sign at all, although the place wasn't exactly what I expected from the Table Talk column I had written about it.

For the details, please look for my review in next Sunday's Arts & Entertainment section.

(Amy Davis/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Review Preview
        

Your restaurant critic is sitting in Stefani's Tuscany Cafe having dinner: a split of prosecco, a bowl of minestrone and bread with olive oil. I'm rather proud of myself for finding the one eating place with table service in terminal one of O'Hare. The meal is an invalid's meal because the flight was really, really choppy.

I got in about 20 minutes before Gailor landed, but I figured by the time she retrieved her luggage and went through customs I could have a three-course meal. I refuse to check luggage, ever, although my flight was overbooked by 20 seats so they weren't happy I had my tennis racquet in my carry on. ...

Through the magic of cell phone technology, I know Gailor and I are in the same airport, but I think she's in the next zip code.

Anyway, the soup was good. I can't figure out why Stefani's Tuscany Grill in an airport can manage not to oversalt its soup when some of the best restaurants in Baltimore do.

One odd thing: The waitress carded me. I said, "You're kidding, right?" but she wasn't. She was apologetic but serious.

I know food is too important to me when I walk what must have been a couple of miles checking out all the available eating places (and there are a lot of them here) before settling on the Tuscany Cafe.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

It was a rough beginning of the week, what with foie gras raising its ugly head and seemingly endless discussions of how far I'm willing to drive to eat out for my job. (Not as far as I will be when it's light later.)

So it was nice to come upon a comment that made me laugh out loud under the Monday Morning Quarterbacking post: ...

Is a "nauseum" an institution that commemorates really horrible dinners?

Posted by: Bill | March 24, 2009 3:14 PM

I started to think about what would be in my nauseum. Right now the bacon explosion would have pride of place, like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.

Peeps would go in the contemporary wing.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

My current favorite food-related quote from a movie is one I've tweaked for the occasion and used here before. It's from The Devil Wears Prada.

In it Emily, the fashion editor's assistant, says, "I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight."

Your mission today, boys and girls, to help me out while I'm on vacation, is to come up with your own favorite food lines from films and post them below.

I'm technically on vacation, I should say. I'm still in Baltimore running around like crazy to get all the chores done before I leave this afternoon to meet my daughter's plane at O'Hare.

I did get a seat when I checked in. It's an aisle seat on the last row. There was one other seat farther up front, but it was in the middle.

Believe me, I was online checking in exactly 24 hours before the flight time. I pity the people who checked in five minutes later who didn't yet have an assigned seat.

I will, of course, have a laptop with me.

(Emily Blunt/AP photo)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (69)
        

The Trash Food Extravaganza took place today, and here's Christopher's report. Just reading it makes me want to go on a diet immediately. EL

Elizabeth-

I'm assuming Tim's made it back with the piece of  bacon explosion in tow- I know you said you wouldn't try it but I thought I'd have a go at tempting you. I'm guessing you probably declined. At first I wasn't going to eat any of the Bacon Explosion but then I caved and had some. It was really good but again, every bite was filled with guilt.

Hopefully you at least tried the carrot/cheesecake....

Here is the menu in full:

Bacon Explosion (Recipe from NYT)

Fried Chicken (Alton Brown's Recipe)

Mac & Cheese w/ broccoli ( sort of as hybrid of Tim's Mum's recipe and a Williams Sonoma Recipe how did that green veg sneak in there ??)

Coleslaw (From Gershbeck's)

Ham Salad (From Gershbeck's)

Potato Rolls (From Gershbeck's)

Fresh Tomatoes (From Gershbeck's- they were really nice almost summer like)

The Carrot Cake / Cheesecake (Fedex'd from Georgia !)

Moxley's Vanilla & Coconut Ice Cream w/ 50 year old Balsamic Vinegar brought back from Modena, Italy

Prosecco w/ Cassis and Pomegranate

2005 Worthy Cab Sav from Coppola

Coffee, Iced Tea & Soda

(oh and of course we rolled out the heirloom silver for the occasion)

And to think that this all started back in January when [name deleted] saw the story about the Bacon Explosion in the NYT  and decided that was part of his then carb-free diet...

best,
C.

(Photo of Bacon Explosion with sparklers courtesy of Christopher)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Christopher has just sent me the first chapter in what I've come to think of as the Most Disgusting Series of Posts Ever. I can't believe that someone is actually making the Bacon Explosion featured in this Wednesday's food section, at least online.

He and Editor Tim created a Trash Food Extravaganza, I'm not sure why but I think for someone's birthday. I'm going to have to delete some names from his e-mail to protect the innocent. EL

I'm prepping the Bacon Explosion as I write this.

I made the fried chicken at Tim's house earlier as well as the Mac and Cheese. I'll let Tim tell you how that went (I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I've never made fried chicken before so it turned into a bit of a production.)  All this fried food is making me feel so dirty!  This is by far the most disgusting thing I've ever attempted to make. I feel so shameful, like I'm doing something inherently wrong or something -- it's hard to explain. I feel like my whole body is covered in the same greasy film that my eyeglasses are covered in and all the while I can't help but think about the irony that I'm making some sort of twisted pork concoction for my Jewish boss ...

His sister [name deleted] Fedex'd a cake to him today, but not just any cake --  It's a carrot cake with a cheesecake sandwiched in the middle. Everything about this menu is so gluttonous and I feel like the accomplice to some sort of culinary crime.

Anyway I've woven the bacon tatami mat and spread/smooshed the italian sausage on top and now I'm going to crumble the crispy bacon on that, slather it with the bbq sauce and have a go at rolling this beast up. Wish me luck. We'll be taking photos tomorrow at the office and I'll be sure to email them to you after we're finished- so long as no one keels over from a coronary!

best,
Christopher

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

In response to a general outcry for full disclosure, here are the three foods I absolutely won't eat or even try:

1) Corn dogs (I have too much respect for cornmeal)

2) Peeps

3) Bacon Explosion

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (67)
        

What a relief. After the disaster last night, I hadn't gotten any comments this morning by the time I last checked before my tennis game. I was afraid you had all given up on me and weren't speaking any more. But that turned out not to be the case. I'm taking it as a vote of confidence that I won't press the delete button again by mistake.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about something I had never heard of, but may be standard practice for all I know. Or maybe we talked about it on this blog awhile back and I simply zoned out.

I was out with a friend last night who ordered a Jameson on the rocks. ...

The server said she would chill the whiskey over the rocks and then strain it and bring the glass and the "dirty rocks" to the table. That was not something I had seen before, but I'm not around hard liquor drinkers that much.

What surprised me was that when we got the bill, the check listed $6 for the Jameson and $2 for the "rocks." Is that usual?

On another hard liquor note, deskmate Tim tells me he and a friend have been to Marie Louise Bistro in Mount Vernon several times and are always struck by how inexpensive the mixed drinks are, even made with top shelf liquor. Like $6 for a martini instead of $10. (Don't quote me here; he didn't remember the exact figures.)

(Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Wine and Spirits
        

No word from guest poster Owl yesterday, so no Funtastic Thursday. To make matters worse, guest poster Bucky had already scheduled a vacation day. He was having food writer's block (not writer's block) so I suggested topics such as how he fixed the trout he had spent the weekend catching.

I got a three word e-mail back from him saying, "Catch and release."

Now doesn't that seem like a colossal waste of time? But I digress. ...

Then I suggested that he take his lovely wife out to dinner at Denver's fanciest restaurant and write about it, but he didn't deign to answer that one. Especially as I said upfront the Sun wouldn't pay.

So I thought this morning we could help Bucky out. I have here the 2009 edition of Zagat America's Top Restaurants. Whoa. Denver has some mighty fine-sounding places.

Mizuna, Frasca, Fruition and Sushi Den got the highest rating for food. They are all a bit pricey (about $50 to $60 a person); but nothing is too good for Mrs. Bucky, right?

Let's take a closer look at them.

Somehow I don't think Bucky is going to tolerate Sushi Den. The servers can be "snooty." And it's kind of hard to imagine the Bucky character on our blog eating sushi.

Mmmm. Frasca is Italian and Colorado's "Most Popular," but this doesn't sound like Bucky either: "Words cannot adequately express how divine" it is.

Fruition has "plates that look like a Cezanne still life." Nope. Not Bucky-food either.

Wait. I think I've got it. Mizuna is New American, including a "to die for" lobster mac-n-cheese. It's "worth every penny" in order to "sweep a first date or long-time girlfriend off her feet."

Let us know how Mrs. Bucky likes it, Bucky.

(Photo courtesy of the Mizuna Web site)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (40)
        

Other Reviewer Richard's review of Miss Irene's in Fells Point appeared in today's paper. This was the bar that was transformed into an upscale bistro, a transformation that took about three years. ...

I was looking forward to reviewing it myself until I learned that the management knew me. (This is very likely true more often than I realize; but once I know for sure, I have to bow out.) Sounds like a nice place, but one that -- I don't know -- Richard thinks hasn't quite reached its potential yet.

I'm surprised nobody on this blog has said anything about a meal there. Here's your chance.

Meanwhile Takeout Reviewer Rob was enjoying the pupusas at Rosa's Grill in the Lexington Market and making us all hungry. Just looking at that photo makes me think it must be dinnertime pretty soon.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)
        

That headline was the subject line on Charles' e-mail, not mine. He clearly feels strongly about the subject, and I have to agree with him. I like a warm hamburger bun myself.

But does anyone else care? Do any places besides In-N-Out make a point of heating the bun? ...

...I'm not a gourmet, more of a burger guy. My question is, why do restaurants serve burgers and other sandwiches on ice cold bread or rolls? Even room temperature would be better. When I cook at home I grill the roll. Makes all the difference in the world! A friend in the restaurant business told me it was "too much trouble to grill the rolls, took up valuable grill space." Lame excuse!!! Or maybe it's just me, I could not find this complaint in your postings.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

This is some kind of first. The On the Hill Cafe in Bolton Hill (I keep wanting to call it the Over the Hill Cafe, no offense, I've never been there) printed out my Top 10 about sandwiches and hung it with its other reviews.

I am thrilled and honored that Dining@Large, the blog edition, got the attention it deserved -- instead of the week-later print edition which wouldn't have had the nice big photo.

Thanks to Multimedia Editor Mary for noticing and taking a photo of the list on the cafe's wall, probably with her iPhone (iPhone envy alert). ...

Which reminds me that I never linked to yesterday's print edition of the week before's Top 10 Tuesday.

I'm beginning to dread the publication of the lists in the paper because I get massive amounts of e-mail, and even a few letters, saying "Readers Talk Back," which is what the comments section is called in the print edition.

Actually, even with the blog I get people e-mailing me telling me about more -- say -- coffee places, when all I want them to do is POST A COMMENT ON THE BLOG.

See, it's like that fish thing, sort of: Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you have fed him for a lifetime. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

I know this week has turned into Coffee Week without my meaning it to, but I can't let the week end without following up on one thing that kept coming up in the comments.

In an era of true coffee snobbism, commenters didn't hesitate to say how good they thought Dunkin' Donuts coffee is.

We had enough people saying so that I'm going to believe it. I may even stop and get a cup on my way to work tomorrow to see for myself. ...

What I want to know is, Why? What exactly makes it so good? Why can't all fast food places have equally good coffee if Dunkin' Donuts can?

Tell me about why you like it as if you were a wine writer, only don't mention the overtones of leather.

(Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (69)
        

In today's Table Talk column I have more information on Zhongshan, the new Chinese restaurant that will be opening on Park Avenue, supposedly this week.

The head of the photography department just stopped by my desk laughing. He told me that there had been a language problem with the photo shoot. When Lloyd finished and was packing up his equipment, someone came up, bowed courteously and thanked him. He also handed Lloyd a little pink envelope "for good luck." ...

When he got back to the office, Lloyd opened it and found it contained a $100 bill.

Maybe he should have realized at once, but believe me, this never happens. Most restaurateurs know we do this stuff for free.

Lloyd took the money back to them, of course. But it was a bit awkward. He didn't want to insult anyone by suggesting they had done something improper, since they clearly felt that was the correct thing to do under the circumstances and what would have been expected where they came from.

(Lloyd Fox/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

We Sun bloggers get something called the blog referrers report every day to show where page views are coming from. When I have time, I sometimes check them out. When I followed this link, who should pop out but...

Deep, calming breaths.

If you aren't a regular Dining@Large reader, this post won't make much sense. You'll have to go back to the comments under this earlier post to understand.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)
        

Normally I don't link to food stories in the food section. I mean, it's the food section. If you wanted to read a food story you would have gone there in the first place. But because I know that the subject is so near and dear to this blog's heart, I promised reporter Jill Rosen that I would link to her excellent bacon story today.

Plus she bribed me with a bacon-flavored lip balm.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

In today's guest post, our Shallow Thought Wednesday guru, John Lindner, examines one of the mysteries of modern restaurant cuisine and shows that the grumpier he gets the more erudite he gets. Is this the same guy who once reviewed gas station cuisine for us? EL

The Meta Review

Friday morning: I must have gained consciousness a half a beat later than my circadian metronome because I was “off” all day, like the lone nerd clapping out of time at a pep rally.

When this happens, I am on dangerous ground. Nothing aside from the eternal verities interests me. In fact, even the verities don’t interest so much as prod me, nudge me around like a game piece that lacks a designated function. I am at these times especially at odds with social fiction, the groupthink that rises like a colorless, odorless gas from popular media and breakfast conversations across the land. I have to try twice as hard to pretend my heart lactates human kindness.

It makes for a long day.  

For times and humors such as these was fine dining developed. Perfection is illusive; but good restaurants prove it is worth pursuing, even, and especially, in the face of desultory post-postmodern nihilism: The paintings on the dining room walls may look like bugs on a windshield, but there is still art to be had from the kitchen. 

So I dined out. 

Our hostess’ demeanor gave me the impression that the role of seating patrons served as cover for her true vocation, that of painfully competent international political assassin. She moved with thin-lipped, squinty efficiency. Any hint of frivolity would suffocate within three feet of her personal space. 

Our waiter was astutely personable. He read the night’s specials from notes, a subtle hint, I took it, that the dishes themselves would have no greater impression on our own cerebral scrapbooks.  

In retrospect (hindsight makes asses of us all) we could have done without the perfunctorily conceived appetizers (clams blasé). The entree, however, satisfied; but it would not have inspired mention in this master suite of culinary blogdom were it not for the shrimp tails.

What in the name of Boswell’s Johnson compels a chef to tender a main course that, save for the hindmost fluted cap of a decapod’s exoskeleton, can be consumed in an otherwise civil fashion with appropriate utensils?  

Surely aesthetics! But this was a dinner at the end of a hard week, not a photo shoot. (Well, it would have been a photo shoot if I’d remembered the camera, but I nonetheless contend that surreptitious snapshots fall squarely outside the standard rubric of food-porn magazine covers.) 

No. To hold it impossible to strike balance between the sensitivities of eye and palate without abandoning a soupçon of decorum is worse than mere failure of imagination. It’s a treacherous cuff to the chin of human ingenuity. I had to use my damn fingers! What’s the rejoinder to that?  “Would monsieur like a moist towelette?”

Sure, sure, I could have exerted some imagination to deal with the affront. But, as I previously confessed, I was having one of those days. I was seeking the comfort that only good food can deliver and was paying along the lines of a 400 percent mark-up on a bottle of mid-shelf plonk for the luxury of linen napkins and the privilege of eating with a fork. 

I withhold the name of the restaurant not out of gracious chivalry, but rather self-defense. 

I wasn’t kidding about the hostess.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

The Restaurant Association of Maryland's Stars of the Industry awards have been announced; and when I read the list, my first reaction was, "Wow. Those are weird."

We've talked a lot on the blog this week about whether the Sun is too Baltimore-centric in its restaurant coverage, but this seems to me to be going a little too far the other way. For instance, who would have thought that Trappe, Md., pop. 1,146, would be the home of Maryland's Favorite New Restaurant 2008?

That would be Mitchum's Steakhouse. ...

Luckily Baltimore is the home of the Pastry Chef of the Year, Chef Arismendy Infantale, although I had to Google him to see what restaurant he works for.

According to the press release, the awards are the results of "intense" public voting, "with thousands of votes collected." Most of those voters seem to live on the Eastern Shore.

More power to them. At least they voted. I promise next year I'll post a link to the association's Web site when it comes time to vote, and we can get a better representation from Baltimore.

Here are the results in full:

Award Winners and Honorees

Restaurateur of the Year- Leighton Moore, Seacrets Bar and Grill (Ocean City)

2009 Chef of the Year- Chef Michael Gettier, Antrim 1844 (Taneytown)

2009 Favorite Bar and Tavern- Fager’s Island (Ocean City)

2009 Pastry Chef of the Year- Chef Arismendy Infantale (Baltimore)

2009 Favorite Caterer- Putting on the Ritz (Laurel)

2009 Wine and Beverage Program of the Year- Liquid Assets Wine & Martini Bar (Ocean City)

Maryland’s Favorite New Restaurant 2008- Mitchum’s Steakhouse (Trappe)

Maryland’s Favorite Restaurant 2009- Marlin Moon Grill (Ocean City)

Allied Member of the Year- Lankford Sysco Food Services represented by Fred Lankford

The Brice & Shirley Phillips Lifetime Industry Achievement Award- Nicholas Mangione (Turf Valley Resort)

The Schellhase Award- Steve F. de Castro of Big Steaks Management

The McCormick Cornerstone Award-Bill Bateman’s (Havre de Grace); Glory Days Grill (Gaithersburg); The Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille (Edgewater); SODEXO (Gaithersburg)

Maryland Hall of Honor Inductees - Fager’s Island (Ocean City); Jimmy’s Cantler’s Riverside Inn (Annapolis); McGarvey’s Saloon and Oyster Bar, (Annapolis); Tersiguel’s French Country Restaurant (Ellicott City); Three Brothers Italian Restaurant (Greenbelt); Turf Valley Resort (Ellicott City)

Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation ProStart Teacher of the Year-Bette Mullins (Carver Center for Arts and Technology)

Restaurant Association of Maryland Education Foundation ProStart Student of the Year- Francisco Flores (High Point High School)

Marcia Harris Scholarship: Sarah Baker (Howard High School) and Monica Preibisch (Howard Community College)

(Photo courtesy of Mitchums Web site)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)
        

Faithful readers know that I'm meeting my daughter's plane when she returns from her trip to Uganda this Saturday. Unfortunately her plane lands at O'Hare. That would be in Chicago.

I'm not happy about the fact that I have a plane ticket to Chicago but no assigned seat. The nice man in India assured me that United hasn't overbooked the flight, but when I started questioning him more closely his English got worse, so I still don't know why I don't have a seat if the flight isn't overbooked.

Anyway, assuming all goes well, which is incredibly optimistic of me, I'll get to O'Hare about the same time Gailor does, and I'll be in Evanston for a few days. Naturally I'm scurrying around looking for easy posts so I can pretend to be on vacation. ...

One of those posts will be a Top 10 Tuesday.

I'm thinking of doing Top 10 Notable Restaurant Closings of the Past Year as the easiest post ever, but to make it a little more interesting I might rank them. Or not.

Anyway, so I won't forget the ones that mattered most, please remind me of any that seemed important to you. And if you're feeling like putting a little effort into it, tell us why you think the closing was significant. Or not.

This also gives me the opportunity to use up some photos in our archives that might otherwise wither on the vine, like the one posted above. Care to guess the restaurant?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

Before we get too many more comments suggesting non-coffee house coffee houses under today's Top 10 Tuesday post, I want to post a new entry praising the best places to get a great cup of coffee that aren't coffee houses.

I got an impassioned e-mail from Matt asking that I "reconsider my classification of Baltimore Coffee and Tea" as too much a store to count as a coffee house, no matter how good the coffee is. So feel free to come down on one side or the other of that conversation. ...

The Spro on the bridge of the Towson library is an example of places that couldn't really be classified as coffee houses but deserve praise for their coffee or atmosphere, as is Red Canoe Bookstore & Cafe in the Lauraville/Hamilton area. Feel free to come up with other examples.

(Photo at Baltimore Coffee and Tea by Glenn Fawcett/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

Last night at 8:08 p.m. mdlrvrmuncher posted a comment that read in part, "Wow-you are working too late," I think because I had answered an earlier comment he/she had made, not because I had published it.

It made me think I should explain again how this whole commenting thing works.

I just checked, and since this time yesterday, I've read and published 173 comments. This is the most time-comsuming part of my job now, because of how the blogware is set up to allow me to read them. (It's a two-step process.) ...

Every comment you post has to be published individually by me. I try to publish as often as possible to keep the conversations going. When I get out of bed in the morning, I go to the computer first thing, and I publish any comments that have been posted overnight and those of early birds, usually Joyce W., dahlink and hmpstd. I greet them like old friends by now, although they don't know it.

Just before I go to bed at night I do one last check. That usually involves saying good night to Owl Meat, although he doesn't know it either. And if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep, I've been known to publish then, too.

I'm telling you all this not so you'll be impressed by how diligent I am (I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it) but so you'll understand why there's sometimes a lag between when you post and when the comment publishes. 

If I'm pressed for time, I'll sometimes publish comments that are questions, hoping someone else on the blog will answer them. If not, I often go back and answer them myself later.

I read the comments chronologically, not under the entries they are posted to, so I try to go back sometime during each day and read them on the blog itself, not in the software, the way they should be read. That's when I notice if I've published a comment twice by mistake, or let one through that shouldn't have gone through. We've started to get more spam on Dining@Large, and I'm always grateful for a heads up if I miss one.

On a day like this with a popular subject on the table (coffee), every time I publish a few comments and the saving process ends,  which I have to wait through to use my computer again, three or four more have popped up to be published.

I'm not complaining.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: Commenting
        

My first post asking for suggestions for places to get a great cup of coffee didn't generate as many names of coffee houses as I had hoped. People loved Zeke's coffee, but didn't recommend a coffee house to get it in. Baltimore Coffee and Tea in Timonium got lots of votes, but it's more a store than a coffee house.

I sifted through the suggestions and also asked foodies around the Sun what places they recommended. Here's the list I came up with. If I've left off your favorite place to chill and drink a great cup of coffee, please post below. ...

* Bean Hollow in Ellicott City. Cozy, coffee roasted right there.

* Cafe Latte'da in Fells Point. A sweet little place with free wi-fi.

* Caffe Pronto in Annapolis. Local, with three locations.

* Daily Grind in Fells Point.The first, and people say the best, of several locations.

* Evergreen in Roland Park. Under new ownership, but still good.

* Firehouse Coffee Company in Canton. Discussed at length here.

* Grind-On Cafe in the Lauraville/Hamilton area. Socially responsible even for a coffee house.

* Java Mama's in Reisterstown. Sometimes has live music.

* Koba Cafe in south Baltimore. Where Midnight Sun Sam goes the morning after.

* Koffee Therapy on Franklin Street. A favorite of Sun staffers.

(Kathryn Whitney/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (75)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

To celebrate Hull Street Blues’ 25th anniversary, owner Dan Macatee said he decided to open another restaurant down the street.

The new venture, Whetstone Grill, should open at 1121 Hull St. in early April. The plan is to open at 7 a.m. for a quick breakfast with fresh fruit, real New York bagels, breakfast sandwiches and pastries. Lunch will include salads, soups, panini and wraps — and beer and wine.

While there is seating for 50, a lot of the business is expected to be carryout. The place will close about 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday hours will be 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. The Whetstone Grill will be closed Sundays. 

(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

Baltimoresun.com just posted a story about the Iron Bridge Wine Company in Howard County being vandalized, presumably because it serves foie gras.

I have a bad feeling that this kind of violence could escalate into something really ugly, although this is pretty ugly as it is.

Tersiguel's in Ellicott City has already been intimidated by protests into taking foie gras off its menu.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (138)
        

First of all, let me state categorically that I've never had a corndog; and by the time I die I will not have eaten a corndog. But I'm taking a lot of flak for having missed National Corndog Day, which is an annual holiday held the first Saturday of March Madness, I learned today.

The way I look at it, National Corndog Day is no worse than that other created holiday, Mother's Day. Except that Mother's Day food is better.

I'm still reeling from the discovery that National Corndog Day has an official Web site.

Anyway, if you have anything to say about how wonderful corndogs are, or why they are connected to college basketball, or anything else you want to say about corndogs, please post below. Or have I milked the subject for everything possible there is to say?

(Gene Sweeney Jr./Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

Yesterday I reviewed Catches Restaurant, Grill and Wine Bar in Middle River. I try not to be too Baltimore-centric, but the fact remains that although we had fun there, I probably won't go back. There are too many other restaurants like it closer to home.

Still, I defy you to name a better restaurant in that immediate area. ...

I learned about Catches after it had been open for awhile. I've said it before ad nauseum, but I'm going to say it again here: I appreciate it when people tell me about new restaurants that I might not hear about otherwise.

Restaurateurs themselves forget that the definition of news (when it's an opening) involves, well, being new. They are so concerned -- and sometimes rightly so -- about wanting to get the kinks out before they get any publicity they don't tell me about themselves until they've been open for months. I'm always delighted when their first customers alert me.

That didn't happen with Catches, so I couldn't write it up for my Table Talk news column. Too bad. The owners would probably rather have had something in the Wednesday column, which would have been purely descriptive, than a review.

If your experience at Catches was different from mine, this is the place to let us know about it. Or if there's anything else you want to talk about, please post below.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Monday Morning Quarterbacking
        

Yes!!!! (Fist pump.) Drinking in moderation may help build bone density.

You probably have to be a woman whose doctors have been badgering her most of her adult life to take calcium supplements to truly appreciate this quote:

"In an interview with Reuters Health, [Dr. Katherine Tucker of Tufts University in Boston] agreed that keeping track of the health benefits and risks of alcohol is tough these days. ...

"Nevertheless, the researcher added, the effect of alcohol on bone mineral density (BMD) that she and her colleagues saw was 'larger than what we see for any single nutrient, even for calcium. It's not ambiguous. It's very clear.'"

We're talking about a glass or two of wine or beer a day, not hard liquor.

Here's the story.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

Next Sunday I review Sullivan's Steakhouse, and in my review I answer the question "Can another upscale steakhouse thrive in Baltimore?"

I also mention but don't go into detail the fact that the tables outside on the restaurant's little deck were surprisingly busy, even though it was cold the evening we were there.

My theory is that Baltimoreans are yearning to eat outside, if only a restaurant will make it possible. Making it possible means having those big propane heaters for chilly days. You can just barely see one in the photo.

I know that they are an investment, and I know a lot of people just want to eat outside so they can smoke, and I know it isn't easy to get a liquor license for outdoor tables. But I still like the fact that more and more places are offering outdoor seating. In fact, I think I'll do a separate post on the subject.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Review Preview
        

Lissa, who first told us about downtown's new Vietnamese restaurant,  Mekong Delta, e-mailed me to say that it's no longer serving its lunch specials. The dinner menu is now in effect all day.

Oh well, it's nice to see someone succeeding these days. ...

They were insanely busy the couple hours around lunch. Most people left. It took over an hour to get your food, because she cooks one meal at a time. Library staff have been calling their orders in 45 min. or so before showing up.

So, I think they realized they didn't need a cheap lunch to get people in the door when they could sell $8+ meals to just as many people.

It is danged good food, although I've had better pho. I suspect they didn't expect the crowds. Or how much work it takes to run a restaurant kitchen.  They were losing over half the people who walked in the door to the long wait before Richard's review.

It is still a great place to eat if you aren't in a rush, and the prices are very reasonable for what you get.

(Gene Sweeney Jr./Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

Dan D sent me a link to this excellent article in the Wall Street Journal on 10 ways to get good value ordering wine in restaurants.

I'm not sure I see much difference between No. 5 and No. 6, though.

Their point is something that should have been obvious but I never thought about: The most popular wines are likely to be overpriced because people will buy them anyway.

Maybe there were really only nine different tips. I'm glad I'm not the only one having trouble coming up with exactly 10 of something -- not more, not fewer.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

"So much to tell" the subject line in Gailor's second e-mail read... "but i only have these tiny windows of internet access."  Below is the rest of the e-mail in its entirety.

She seems to be writing for the blog, not her father and me, so she feels compelled only to write about the food on her Uganda trip. That might be reassuring to some mothers, but I'm sitting here wondering what she's been eating since her meal on the plane. Teriyaki turkey jerky? ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I've been meaning to publish Bucky's guest post all day, but breaking news -- such as it is in my world -- and time-sensitive material kept distracting me. Luckily Bucky is out in the wilderness of Wyoming this weekend and can't check on me. I asked him if he had ever heard of internet cafes, but he just laughed at me and said this place doesn't even have a cafe. Or a place to buy groceries, for that matter. "Alcova, Wyoming isn't the end of the world, but you can see it from there," he told me. Quote of the day. Anyway, here's Bucky. EL

So, as I was doing research on RPIs in preparation for filling out my brackets this year, I ran across this: ...

Amount of junk food the average American eats in one year:

Refined white sugar – 100 pounds

Fats & Oils – 55 pounds

Soda – 300 cans/bottles

Chewing Gum – 200 sticks

Ice Cream – 80 quarts

Candy – 18 pounds

Potato Chips – 5 pounds

Other Snack Chips – 2 pounds

Doughnuts – 63 Dozen

Cookies & Cakes – 70 Pounds

source:  RawFoodExplained.com

(Let me note that I have a high level of mistrust for "averages."  If you stand with one foot frozen in a block of ice and the other foot submerged in a bucket of boiling water, on average your feet are quite comfortable.)

What is clear is that, in several of these categories, I pull the average up.  Soda, for example, although I drink diet soda, so I’m not sure if that counts or not.  (I’m very confident that more than one Sandboxer will explain to me why it does.)

I eat way too much junk food.  I’m a creature of habit, and this habit I blame primarily on Fizzies and Bosco.   And on a guy we all called Pete the Painter, who took me to my very first McDonald’s, a day I remember over 40 years later as clearly as if it was yesterday.  And finally, on Dave Thomas who invented the drive-thru at precisely the same time I bought my first car, a ’65 Pontiac Tempest.     

But there was one thing that really struck me about that list.  When the heck did chewing gum get classified as food?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

I know it's very late to be posting this, but it's been one of those days. One of those weeks, really. Sometimes I sit at my desk and think what could I possibly tell people that they don't already know? This week there's been too much to keep up with. Maybe it's even too late to get reservations for the dinner below, I don't know.

Anyway, I got an e-mail from Barry saying:

I've always thought Dalesio's was one of the more under appreciated dining spots in Baltimore. Although not a regular, all of our dining experiences there have been well above average. This all inclusive deal appears very attractive.

Many of the "deals" I post are half-price wing night and the like. This is clearly not bargain dining, but if you have the money it might be worth attending. And letting us know about it, obviously.

I, too, love the all-inclusive part. I'm always amazed at how extras mount up when you think you're getting a deal.

Off topic a bit, didn't this place used to be called D'Alesio's, or is that my fevered imagination? ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

That's how I'm beginning to feel after learning that come next Tuesday, Brasserie 10 South will no longer exist as an upscale New American, French-influenced restaurant.

I gave Chef Cyrus Keefer 3 1/2 stars for the food when I reviewed it recently.

This was just after learning that Fin Steak & Seafood in Fells Point had closed, another relatively new restaurant that got 3 1/2 stars for its food. ...

Brasserie 10 South will become a comfort food/soul food restaurant, Keefer told me when I called.

"Maryland-style seafood, crab cakes, corn bread, braised greens, fried chicken, ribs, lots of pork, lots bacon. Wings. People come in and want wings," Keefer said. Everything will be a la carte and "the price tag will be a lot, lot cheaper."

The name will probably change to Bar 10 South.

"I had a great time doing my thing," Keefer said with a sigh.

Why are the owners, who also own the club upstairs, even keeping the restaurant open, you may wonder? It's because the liquor license is dependent on their also serving food.

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

In the post on best places to get a great cup of coffee, I wasn't as clear as I should have been. I was hoping for independently owned coffee bars, shops or houses, or at the very least fairly local franchises for my Top 10 list.

So, for instance, is there a best place to get Zeke's coffee? Doesn't it have its own location on Harford Road? But I'd like to bring other factors into play here, like the atmosphere (or not) and whether the things you can get with the coffee are worth buying, and whether that even matters. The most important part, of course, is that you can get a great cup of coffee there.

I did like this comment from ThinksItsSilly under the earlier post:

It's funny how no one will say Starbucks - - but clearly someone is buying coffee from them... regularly... because they're still around and (from what I see) always pretty busy. Fess up.

Also, Chowsearch's mention of Firehouse Coffee in Canton reminded me that I've been meaning to share a very nice e-mail I got from the owner, Mark Epstein. He actually sent it last month, but better late than never. If you remember, when I called Firehouse several months ago I talked to one of the employees and posted about it here. The employee no longer works there, but not because of me, thank goodness. I thought the incident was funny, not something that I got angry about.

Anyway, here's what Mark wrote: ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)
        

In honor of the good review Frequent Commenter Jason's Don't Know Tavern got yesterday from Other Reviewer Richard Gorelick, I thought we could help him out with a couple of questions he sent me earlier:

Do dinner specials work, and what Saturday dinner special would you like to see him offer? In other words, do you go to a restaurant because of its dinner specials? And on a personal note, is my Deal of the Week in the Wednesday Table Talk column helpful to you?

As for the second part, I'm not sure why a restaurant needs a Saturday dinner special, but that's what his e-mail says: ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
        

Duff Goldman and Ace of Cakes delivered an elaborate Cirque du Soleil cake to the cast and crew of Kooza yesterday, and the Sun was there to capture it on video.

The presentation will air on the Food Network's Ace of Cakes show, but You Saw It Here First.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

It's just impossible not to try to write a headline that's a pun on the name Don't Know Tavern, the place Other Reviewer Richard wrote about so positively in today's paper. 

I should have a contest to see if you can come up with a better one than mine or the one on the original review. Give us your best shot.

The owner of Don't Know, by the way, is the Jason who is a frequent commenter here.

Go Terps.

(Gene Sweeney Jr./Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Hi! I'm Elizabeth, your server! I'll be taking care of you today! Owl Meat is at his entertaining best with today's Funtastic Thursday guest post. EL

Welcome to the Bailout Cafe.  Here are today's specials:
 
The Warren Buffet – An unlimited wealth of victuals but about 50 percent smaller than last year.
 
The Chuck Wagon Executive Bonus Lunch – If you blew your lunch money on strippers, scratch-offs and Bolivian marching powder futures, just order anything you want and it's on us!  After we bring it to your table, manager Chuck Grassley will offer you two choices: Give it back or commit ritual suicide.  If that doesn't appeal to you, manager Chuck Schumer will just take it off your plate and charge you for the grease stain.  Then the Chucks will give you atomic wedgies and ride you out of the café like donkeys. ...

The Bernie Madoff Sandwich – You supply your own bread, lettuce and cheddar then we stuff it full of bologna and put it in the window to attract other customers.  Tell all your friends!  Warning: Not kosher, but that should be obvious, right?

The Dow Jonestown Massacre – Scrambled eggs, scrapple and a soupçon of arbitrageur tears.

The AIG McMuffin – Too big to eat it, difficult to swallow, and keeps coming back up.  Open wide.
 
The Suze Orman Empowerment Pocket –  American cheese in a pita with sprouts.   This item screams economical. 
 
The Timothy Geitner Surprise –  Lime green Jell-O salad with marshmallows, chunks of Spam, and broken light bulbs.  What?  You don't want to eat it?  Tough, you ordered it. 
 
The Benjamins Bernanke Nachos – Special discount this week.  Throw your Benjamins at the wall and see what sticks.  Do a shot of tequila.  Repeat until everything looks all pretty and fuzzy.  What's the discount rate?  It doesn't matter, just shut up and drink.
 
CNBC Sundae – Rocky Road topped with refried nuggets from dubious sources.  I scream, you scream, we all just scream. 
 
Maria Bartiromo – A half-baked tart served in a shallow dish drizzled with Money Honey.
 
NASDAQiri – It's easily shaken and goes down fast.

The Raging Red Bear  – An exhilarating cocktail of Red Bull, absinthe, habanero juice and spider venom that will take you on a hallucinatory roller coaster ride leaving you dizzy, broke and slightly Marxist.

Jim Cramer Frappuccino – Extra foamy with a bitter aftertaste.  Three levels of foamentation – frothy, grand mal and Old Yeller.  
 
Knight in White Satan – In honor of financier Sir Robert Allen Stanford, the first American to be knighted by the nation of Antigua and Barbuda.  An exquisite melange of the finest Barbudian rums and fresh squeezed tropical fruit juices. Naaaahhhhhh, it's just dish water and grenadine.  LOL, suckers!
 

Photo by Getty Images

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (66)
        

Well, this is one of the weirdest "press releases" I've ever gotten. It's a help-wanted notice from Amicci's in Little Italy, which needs a bartender and a server. Normally I'd just trash it, but if I can help a reader of Dining@Large find a job in this economy, that would be cool.

See, you don't even need craigslist anymore.

Unfortunately, Google won't let me link to www.amiccis.com because "this site may harm your computer." Oh well, there's always the -- gasp -- Yellow Pages.

Let us know if you get the job.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

Columnist Susan Reimer is starting a new gardening blog this morning, Garden Variety.

Even if you aren't interested in gardening in general, you may be thinking of growing your own herbs or some vegetables this year. Susan promises me that at least one post every Tuesday will be devoted to the topic.

You can go visit, but please remember to return to me.

(Chiaki Kawajiri/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Yes, it's that time, boys and girls. Time to come up with another Top 10 Tuesday Topic. At the moment I'm thinking Top 10 Coffee Houses or Places to Get a Great Cup of Coffee because it would have to be made up completely of readers' suggestions.

I'm a tea drinker except for the occasional cup of after-dinner coffee at a good restaurant and a latte now and then, which doesn't really count because I always hope they'll forget to put the espresso in.

Of course, if you have a better idea for a Top 10, bring it on.

(Photo by José M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (55)
        

You may have missed this business story in today's paper about Dunkin' Donuts positioning its product as the recession version of -- oh, I don't know -- foie gras. Too bad the company has to spend $10 million to remind people it sells doughnuts.

Just in case you rolled your eyes and moved on, let me point out that buried deep in the story is the important news: For a limited time, doughnuts will cost 49 cents with a medium or larger coffee.

(AP Photo/Lisa Poole)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

Wow. It looks really weird to make a name that ends in three dots possessive, doesn't it? Anyway, I called the restaurant, and the owner I spoke to said that the building has been for sale since September.

Three... has a 10-year lease. Because business is good right now, and should be even better when the weather gets better, he said, he doesn't see why a new owner wouldn't want to honor the lease.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
        

I always have trouble finding my Table Talk column on the Web site on Wednesdays; that's why I like to provide you with a link. This week I talk in detail about the new Taverna Corvino where Juniors was. And, oh yes, please note the shout out to Zevonista's favorite charity. (See, there are perks to being a regular contributor to Dining@Large.)

While you're at it, it's always amusing to see last week's Top 10 translated to this week's print edition, and check out which comments were included.

As I was writing this, I got the following e-mail from Jerry: ...

Ms. Large,
 
I look forward to your trip to Frederick to review the Volt restaurant.   When Charleston went to a small plate menu, I thought it was well overpriced, even though the food was still delicious.  Wait till you see the portions at Volt.  Stuart, in the reader's talk back section, really nailed it.  I've often wondered why anyone would buy a bottle of wine at this type of restaurant.  There's certainly not enough food to accompany it.

That certainly makes me want to drive to Frederick as soon as possible. On the other hand, these aren't people I know personally, so I don't know what a normal portion is to them.

I wish you could see all of Jed Kirschbaum's beautiful photos from the Taverna Corvino shoot. Well, actually you will because I'll be using all of them sooner or later on this blog.

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
        

Brandt sent me the following e-mail about Baltimore's lack of rooftop restaurants, which struck a chord because I love them.

The only one I can think of in this area was at the now-closed Metropolitan in Annapolis. It was beautiful. The Metropolitan's successor, Jerry's Seafood, has kept the rooftop space for weekend dining; but I haven't eaten there. Maybe there are others I don't know about, but not many.

Anyway, here's his e-mail. I couldn't answer his question; maybe someone else can: ...

I am wondering why there are no roof top restaurants/bars in Baltimore.  Roof top decks have become enormously popular here and seem to be relatively easy to construct because so many of our urban buildings have flat rooftops.  I feel like a rooftop bar/restaurant would be a great idea.  It would provide extra space in the summer and could easily be closed in the winter.  It would also provide space for smokers now that we have a smoking ban.  I would think such a structure would become a selling point of any restaurant or bar.  

Nonetheless, none (or very few) places seem to have one.  Is there a building code that a rooftop bar/restaurant violates or maybe would insurance be too high?  Maybe owners simply don't want to risk the possibility of injury to their patrons.  I am wondering if you can help me by telling me why having a rooftop space at a restaurant or bar is so hard to find here in Baltimore.

(Gene Sweeney/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)
        

In today's guest post, our Shallow Thought Wednesday guru, John Lindner, examines a not-so-shallow question concerning the complexities of love, and quotes my favorite poet to boot. At least I think he's my favorite poet. EL

I bought a small brick of traditional English farmhouse cheddar, an Italian truffle cheese and a havarti at Trader Joe’s on Saturday. TJ’s isn’t my favorite stop for cheese, but I was there and so was the cheese.

While I was checking out, the cashier, a bright, sweet, raconteur of a young woman, asked what  my favorite cheese is. A type immediately came to mind, but then I thought, No, can that be right?

I love Campo de Montalban, which blends cow, sheep, and goat milk to wonderful effect (also, great with quince paste). But is it my favorite cheese? Some days, yes, undoubtedly.

The type I eat most is cheddar, but how can I say it’s my favorite when I’m not a big extra-sharp cheddar fan?

Mmmmm… Havarti (but not my favorite).

If I were marooned on some desolate isle and could have only one cheese, it would soon become my least favorite, I’m sure. But if I could have only one type, I think I’d choose cheddar. So maybe that’s my favorite.

"A poet's hope: to be, like some valley cheese, local, but prized elsewhere”
--W.H. Auden

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (55)
        

Dave from the Read Street blog just stopped by my desk any said, "Your people are out of control!" (I like the way I'm now responsible for all of you.)

He made this gesture with his hands and went "whoosh," as in how commenters here don't always, er, talk about restaurants. I guess he started reading Dining@Large when I posted the link to his places to eat-and-read post.

I just laughed at him.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (112)
        

If cancer is your biggest health concern, would a vegetarian diet be the way to go? A British study, published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that the vegetarians studied had fewer cancers in general than the meat-eaters. As you can see from the abstract, the research involved significant numbers of people. 

Strangely, though, the scientists also found that the vegetarians had significantly higher rates of colorectal cancer, which in the past has been linked to eating red meat.

Confusing. I know lifestyle factors are hard to study, but when I read something like that I can't just dismiss it out of hand.

I guess I'll keep on doing what I try to do now, which is be moderate in my meat eating and immoderate when it comes to fruits and vegetables. That's going to be a lot easier in a couple of months than it is now. Remember summer tomatoes?

Remember corn?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (32)
        

I just got an e-mail from Gailor entitled "safe & sound." (She didn't take a computer with her so this is the first we've heard.) I promise I won't bore you with constant updates, but since Regina kindly asked this morning, I'll share my daughter's e-mail with you in its entirety:

Will write more later (including a description of plane meals), but wanted to let you know we got here safe & sound.  Just finished Day One.  High point: great plenary session with reps from PEPFAR, EGPAF, etc.  Low point: got pooped on by a Marabou Stork.  Google it.  It's one mother of a bird.

I know it makes some readers nervous when I write about anything but Maryland restaurants, and I appreciate that. However, if you think of Dining@Large as the blogging equivalent of Gourmet magazine, which has all those great travel articles, you might feel better. ...

Of course, I tend to take you to places like Sewanee, Tenn. and Vega, Tex. (pop.: 936), where I had lunch at a Diary Queen, but still.

Actually I was thinking this morning that it's seemed like a particularly long winter because I didn't travel to Los Angeles every six weeks or so as I did in the past when Gailor lived there. However, one thing about the current economy is that flights have gotten cheaper again; and if you have friends and family in various parts of the country you can take advantage of it without spending a whole lot of money.

I plan to do that, especially as I have some vacation to burn. (Hal Laurent VofR suggested doing so, and I always take his advice.)

Here are the trips we, and by "we" I mean "you and I," will be taking this year:

1) I plan to be at O'Hare to meet Gailor's plane on March 28.

2) Easter will be spent with my brother in Los Angeles. (The ticket was $219 round trip, taxes and everything included. It would have been more expensive to go to Ocean City.)

3) In May I'm going with a friend to Savannah. There should be some good eating there to tell you about.

4) This summer I'll spend a week in Sewanee, Tenn., as I do each year.

5) In August, Dining@Large's own Famous Foodie, Amanda, is getting married on the West Coast, and I plan to be at the wedding. I've begged her to make us one last video, but I don't know if she'll have time. (Check out her past contributions, one for Sugar Week and two for Crab Week.)

Keep your fingers crossed.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

"The Hidden Cafes of Baltimore" was the intriguing title Midnight Sun Sam gave me when he promised to snap pictures of any he came across in his travels. The first was E61 Espresso & Ice Cream (1043 S. Charles St.) Actually, the first I had heard of it was when Neighbor mentioned it in an offhand way in a comment last month. I meant to follow up on it but never did.

I do like the idea of little hidden cafes that only the immediate neighborhood knows about. I suppose even if you know of one, you wouldn't want to share it with us. ...

Sam got a little off track when he sent me the photo to the left of Mr. Yogato as part of the "series." Nothing wrong with it, Sam, except that it's not a cafe and not open yet.

Oh golly, I've gone almost two years on this blog without putting an emoticon in an official entry, which shows a remarkable amount of restraint on my part. But I'm home sick today so I can do whatever I want.

(Sorry, I got a little off track there for a moment.)

Anyway, the frozen yogurt franchise will be opening where Eclectic Elements was in Fells Point.

And just to throw out another place that isn't a hidden cafe and isn't open: Kitty Chen, a dietitian and Chinese cooking teacher who a long time ago owned a restaurant in the 300 block of Park Avenue, called to tell me that a restaurateur from Philadelphia will be opening a new Chinese restaurant at 323 Park Ave. a week from Friday, or Friday week as we say where I come from. I'll give you all the details in next week's Table Talk column (not tomorrow's).

He wants to revitalize the 300 and 400 blocks of Park Avenue as Baltimore's Chinatown -- which it once sort of was. In honor of the restaurant's opening, he's having a celebration starting at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 26, on the block, involving firecrackers (yes, he has a permit) and a Chinese lion dance. I hope to find out more when I get back to the office and can call him directly, so take this as preliminary information only and don't hold me to it. But put it on your calendar.

(Photos by Sam Sessa)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)
        

The other day Dave Rosenthal of the blog Read Street asked me to suggest great places to eat and read for one of his posts. I thought he meant bookstores that had good food, and the only one I could think of was the Red Canoe in the Hamilton//Lauraville area, although I'm sure there are others.

I had to laugh when I saw his post this morning. It had nothing to do with bookstores. He must have wondered why I couldn't come up with at least one other place where you can read while you eat -- like half the restaurants and cafes in Baltimore.

(Photo courtesy of the Red Canoe Web site)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

It's hard not to do a Top 10 list that has something to do with St. Patrick's Day when it actually falls on a Tuesday. But Best Irish Pubs? Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.

Midnight Sun Sam cornered the corned beef concession. Rob covered the beer.

The general consensus on Dining@Large was that potatoes would be the way to go, so here's a list of the best potato dishes I've had in recent memory in area restaurants. Readers suggested others under an earlier post.

Before you start yelling "WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!" please read this. And feel free to post your own suggestions.

Here's my list of great restaurant potato dishes: ...

* Crisp, salty house-made chips at Abbey Burger Bistro in Federal Hill

* Truffle potatoes at Crush in Belvedere Square

* Frites with parsley, minced garlic and lemon zest at the Grill at Harryman House in Reisterstown

* The golden wedge of potatoes au gratin, creamy and rich, at Henninger's Tavern in Upper Fells Point

* Fingerling potato salad with dill at Ixia in Mount Vernon 

* The potato puree finished with brown butter at Pazo in Harbor East

* Lobster, bacon and potato hash at Peter's Inn in Fells Point

* Greenberg potato skins at the Prime Rib downtown north

* Duck fat fries at Salt Tavern in the Butchers Hill/Patterson Park area 

(Photo courtesy of freefoto.com)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

For the next in our irregular series on Famous Foodies, I couldn't resist this plea by Anonymous:

Giada! Giada! Giada! (With pictures please.)

That would be chef and TV host Giada De Laurentiis. Anonymous is clearly obsessed, as I can tell from this post when no one had mentioned her name:

Don't you dare say anything bad about my Giada. 

So our first order of business is for someone to articulate her appeal for those who don't watch the Food Network. And please keep in mind this is a PG-13-rated blog ...

Giada is 39 years old, married with one child, and is the granddaughter of Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis.

She has a degree in social anthropology from UCLA , studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and shills is a spokeswoman for Barilla Pasta.

(AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

Anyone have some suggestions for Mary?

Hi Mrs. Large:

    I receive your blog in the mail each week and get a big kick out of the dining section.  Would it be possible if you could give me a few hits (places within the baltimore metropolitan area)  on where we [could get] good Polish Kielbasa and Gefilte Fish.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Mary

When she says she receives it in the mail each week, all I can think is that she gets SunPlus and our Top 10 lists.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
        

I was just sitting here reading my review of Fin Steak & Seafood in the Admiral Fell Inn and trying to decide whether to include its crisp-edged potatoes gratin or the fabulous mashed potatoes in tomorrow's Top 10, when I got an e-mail telling me that the Fells Point restaurant had closed a couple of days ago. Creepy.

And a real bummer. It only opened last summer. I don't give that many restaurants 3 1/2 stars for food, but I did Fin.

I called and a recorded message said, "Unfortunately we've had to close operations" and goes on to thank Fin's customers. I left a voicemail; if the owners don't get back to me soon I'll try the inn to see if I can find out anything else.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

I'd been hearing good things about Vito's Cafe in Cockeysville for awhile, but never gotten around tor reviewing it.

When Luca Pesci took over the kitchen after Boccaccio in Little Italy closed, it was time to pay it a visit.My review appeared yesterday in the Arts & Entertainment section.

For someone living in the city, I can't see trekking up to Cockeysville to eat there because I think you can find the same sort of food in Little Italy. But I imagine Cockeysville is quite happy that Vito's is in the neighborhood.

This is the place to let us know what you think of it, particularly if you had a different experience from ours.

(Lloyd Fox/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Monday Morning Quarterbacking
        

How did corned beef become both an iconic Irish food, as in corned beef and cabbage, and an iconic Jewish food, as in a fabulous corned beef and rye deli sandwich?

Bonus question: Is there another food two different cultures and only two cultures have embraced so enthusiastically?

(Karl Merton Ferron/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Next Sunday we take a trip to Middle River and visit Catches Restaurant, Grill & Wine Bar.

Pulaski Highway isn't exactly where you'd expect to find a purely seafood restaurant, and indeed Catches is much more than that: There are just as many steaks, pastas and chicken dishes as fish. Not to mention the unlimited salad bowl a la Olive Garden and breadsticks.

Did I mention the karaoke?

To find out whether I did my rendition of "Moon River" while we were there, you'll have to look for my review in next Sunday's Arts & Entertainment section.

(Lloyd Fox/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
Categories: Review Preview
        

If you don't have anything better to do today  and have a weird sense of humor, you can register for the Maki Madness sushi-eating contest at RA Sushi. Today is the last day to enter. There is something about a sushi pigout that is so antithetical to the whole Zen experience of eating sushi that you have to love it.

I desperately want someone either to enter or go watch next Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and then report back. My stomach isn't up to it. ...

The grand prize is free sushi for a year, but the place is probably banking on the fact that the winner won't ever want to look at sushi again, let alone eat it.

How is your day going so far? I hope better than mine. This is the day my daughter leaves for Uganda, so I'm a little grumpy. She told me that a friend of hers whose job takes her to Africa frequently has come back with parasites four different times.

When Gailor asked her whether she should be checked out by a doctor when she got back, the friend said, "Oh, don't worry. If something takes up residence in Casa Large, you'll know."

Casa Large. I like to think of my body as a temple, but not as a house for anything. Ugh.

And then I spent a lovely half an hour before breakfast having a live chat with Jesseca (with an "e") of Comcast. I know she wasn't in the U.S. from the patterns of her written English. This was after an hour yesterday before breakfast with Charisse38811.

I wonder why they picked those names? Especially the one with numbers. Very strange.

I never know what tone to take with them. I just want to get it over with quickly, but they are always so polite, even courtly, it makes me respond in kind. I used to use an American idiom or two just to see if they understood, since we were having the polite fiction they were Americans, but now that just seems mean.

I just want my DVR to work.

(Lloyd Fox/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (59)
        

How I usually come up with the Comment of the Week is very scientific. Starting on Sunday as I'm reading and posting comments, I save any one that seems to be a likely contender because it deserves more discussion or is funny, insightful or profound. It does need to be able to stand alone, though.

Then if another better one doesn't come along during the week, it's the one. ...

While there were some great back-and-forths this week, no one comment stood out. The exceptions were a few by my star guest posters (for instance, jl's under The Worst Mistakes Diners Make), but they get enough blog time and admiration from me. Early on I decided I better eliminate their comments from contention.

I just spent the last half hour or so enjoyably going through this week's posts and still haven't come up with a Comment of the Week, so I'm going to reprint one that also appeared under the Worst Mistakes:

Sorry to be off topic but couldn't figure out how to do a new post. We are looking for a (seafood) restaurant to visit with out of town friends in Annapolis this Monday night. Will have kids ages 9-15. We would appreciate suggestions from you and your readers.
Thanks!

Posted by: DKJ | March 14, 2009 6:10 PM

At least choosing this gives me the opportunity to a) explain that only I can do a new post on this blog, and b) say you must be a new reader if you think you have to apologize for being off topic.

Most readers, when they have a new topic they want posted as a separate entry and discussed, e-mail me with it (as Hungry Hungry Hippo did, probably to his regret). I try to get it on the blog if it's at all interesting and we haven't discussed it ad nauseum before.

Oh, and if anyone has an answer to DKJ's question, please feel free to post. I usually suggest O'Learys and Carrol's Creek Cafe when I'm asked this question; I've heard that the Severn Inn is much improved since I went there, too.

But check first. These may not be open Mondays.

(Photo courtesy of the Severn Inn Web site)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

When I checked my work e-mail this morning Hungry Hungry Hippo had e-mailed me this request:

A few weeks ago you ran “the ten worst service mistakes.” There were a lot of valid points made but in all honesty, most people don’t know how to eat properly at a restaurant. I would and most of the others in my profession (serving and bartending) would really love it if you ran a top ten list of mistakes commonly made by the diner, not the server. ...

I would be more than happy to provide as many as needed but if you could educate people on some things that they do that aren’t necessary. Like not removing a napkin so I could put a burning plate down in front of you. Or not holding off on the conversation so the order can be placed, and later blaming me for service being slow. I truly love it when I drop a check and go to pick it up, and the guest tells me that “there is a gift certificate in there and just put the rest on the credit card.” Do people really think they are the first ones to do this, and it’s not complicated, just because we’re servers (not real people) doesn’t mean we have zero common sense. I truly love it when I have refilled a coffee cup like 5 or 6 times, and each time the guest feels  it’s necessary to remind me decaf. Another popular one is “it’s his/her birthday, or anniversary, or celebrating getting a goldfish. I have a hard enough time remembering my wife’s birthday, what makes you think I want to know about his/her birthday? Also on that note, how shallow have we gotten as a society that you get upset if a complete stranger (server) doesn’t bring you a scoop of ice cream with a candle on it and wishes you an insincere “happy birthday”? I could go all day but I realize you have other things to do and this may not even interest you, but thanks for your time

Hungry Hungry Hippo writes with graciousness, but I know there are a lot of servers and bartenders out there that must feel real rage at their customers. Is this a relatively new thing caused by a change in how we treat each other these days, or has it always been there simmering under the surface? I honestly never realized what a battlefield the restaurant dining room was until I started writing this blog.

Is there any interest in doing an actual Top 10? Or would it make more sense just to discuss it further because this isn't a list I could make up from personal experience (never having waited tables)?

I have to admit that I like the idea of a Top 10 that someone else is writing.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (111)
        

Now everyone take a deep breath, because Bucky has an idea that will revolutionize Dining@Large. Here we go. EL

So, one of my 25 random facts, for you Facebookers out there:  Among my immediate circle of friends and co-workers, I’m known as Mr. B.I.G.  That stands for Big Idea Guy. 

The box has not been built big enough that I can’t think outside of it.  If this country were a box, I’d think of the world.  If the world were a box, I’d think of the solar system.  If the solar system were a box, well…you get the idea.

Today, I’m thinking of this:

(Are you ready?)

(Are you sure?) ...

The Sandbox Seal of Approval.

Suh-weeet idea.  Suh-weeet, BIG idea, don’t you think?

We are possessed, here in the Sandbox, of more expertise about more things than Wikipedia has vowels.  This, after all, is The Only Blog You’ll Ever Need. 

That expertise should not go to waste; we should leverage it.

I propose that we issue the Sandbox Seal of Approval to people, places, things and sometimes even dining- and/or food-related items that we agree rise to the level of iconic.  The crème de la crème.  The toppest of the tens. 

Now, before all of you naysayers and small-thinkers out there start coming up with reasons why this won’t work — reasons like, “we can’t ever agree on anything in the Sandbox” — take a deep cleansing breath, open your minds and imagine the possibilities.

As a pilot project, I’d like to run through a possible method by which we would award the Sandbox Seal of Approval.  What I’m thinking is this:

By way of our normal daily D@L pursuits, we would arrive at a nomination for the Sandbox Seal of Approval.  Hmpstd would research the nomination to ensure that we had not previously awarded the nominated thing the Sandbox Seal of Approval and just forgot that we had. 

Once cleared by hmpstd, the nomination would be placed on a ballot for a secret vote.  If a two-thirds majority of those voting agreed, the thing that was nominated would be awarded the Sandbox Seal of Approval.

Just to try it out, let’s assume that a nomination has been made, hmpstd has done his vital research and it is time for a vote.  Please go here to cast your vote.

We’ll report back on the results of the pilot project in a future Bucky’s World.

(Graphic Art by Aunt Martha)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

At least that's what one importer said about the new tariff on the French cheese. It was scheduled to go into effect on March 23 and would increase the price drastically. It and other related tariffs have now been postponed a month to allow further negotiations.

The tariffs are part of the payback for Europe's ban on U.S. beef containing hormones.

Perhaps even more significant for more people, the new tariff on S. Pelligrino mineral water could double its cost.

Unfortunately the latest skirmish -- or maybe I ought to use a stronger word -- in the long-running trade war between the U.S. and the European Union would affect every consumer who likes European gourmet foodstuffs. That would include such treats as truffles and fine chocolates. ...

"The beef over beef exports originally sparked the U.S. to slap tariffs on several European imports in 1999," says a story in the Chicago Tribune. "In January, the U.S. dropped tariffs on 10 items, but penalized 45 new foods.

"They were all slapped with a 100 percent tariff, effectively doubling their costs."

Roquefort, however, got hit with a 300 percent tariff because Americans kept buying the cheese in spite of the 100 percent tariff of a decade ago.

When I get around to it, I'll post a list of all the foods that would be affected, and you can give us your suggestions for the best American equivalent.

And if you're really unhappy about the tariff, you can buy a T-shirt protesting it.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

Last night a friend expressed surprise that Ceriello was my No. 1 choice for Italian cold-cut subs in the Baltimore area. I had to explain once again that The Top 10 List Is in Alphabetical Order (unless I say otherwise, which I rarely do). The problem is that in the print edition it has been decreed that all lists shall have numbers, which makes sense unless you're doing a Top 10 and they are in alphabetical order.

So once again, please let me repeat: Just because it says it's No. 1 doesn't mean it's No. 1.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
        

I first gave this the headline "Spuds, spuds and more spuds."

But I don't actually like the word "spud" much. It sounds like it wouldn't taste very good. Still, it was a clue in the crossword I was doing this morning when I should have been making my lunch or doing my dreaded back exercises or something more productive.

That seemed to me a sign that we should do Great Restaurant Potato Dishes as next Tuesday's Top 10, the St. Patrick's Day Edition. (I'll take any sign I can get.) ...

We have to give David credit for first making this suggestion:

Top Ten Potato Dishes or Potatoe for Dan Quayle fans.

Posted by: David | March 6, 2009 9:43 PM

But the idea got several echoes later on under the post where I asked for help.

So potato dishes it is. Suggestions not only welcomed but begged for. And if you have any great potato photos, send them along, too. For some reason our photo archives are short on restaurant potato dishes except for french fries, which, I think we'll all agree, we've covered ad nauseum.

(Lloyd Fox/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Hmpstd provided a link to Other Reviewer Richard's review of Mekong Delta Cafe earlier today in a comment, but there has been so much interest in Baltimore's newest Vietnamese restaurant I thought it deserved its own entry. Particularly as Richard gave the food 3 1/2 stars.

While I'm at it, I should direct you to Rob's takeout review of Maiwand Kabob, an Afghan restaurant. I liked the end of his review a lot, so I'm going to reprint it here:

I drove along Elkridge Landing Road, passed a Hampton Inn, and then saw some soldiers dressed in camouflage, marching toward the restaurant. I followed them and was happy I did.

(Gene Sweeney/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

I never stopped to wonder what Kellogg's would do with all those boxes of Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes with Michael Phelps' picture on them. I guess you can't just go ahead and sell them and say, "After we get rid of these he won't be our spokesman anymore."

It turns out, according to an AP report, that Kellogg's donated about 3,000 boxes of Phelps cereal to the San Francisco Food Bank.

The food bank should have sold them off as curiosities. People will collect anything. They probably could have made more money for charity than the cereal was worth that way.

Surely there wasn't a Phelps cereal recall, was there? Or were there no boxes on grocery store shelves yet? My guess is that there's more to this story.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

I have just one question for you, Owl Meat: Where do we sign up for these investment opportunities? EL

I woke up this morning after having a weird dream.  Due to some court-ordered arrangement the band Queensrÿche was living with me. 

Weird because I know absolutely nothing about them except for the inexplicable umlaut.  I think they are from the 80s.  I think about some distinctive keyboard sounds from then like the Farfisa or the ubiquitous Hammond B-3.  That made me think of the keyboard sound from "99 Luftballons" and I wondered who invented the balloon. 

Then I thought about filling balloons with flavor gas, and then I actually went to the U.S. Patent Office website which leads us to today's post. ...

Here at Owl Meat Labs we are constantly staring off into the distance, urrh, scanning the horizon for new trends and products. 
 
USPTO Application #: 20080317906
Beverage bottle and a method of operating the same
... the beverage including a light-sensitive additive which has an original color and under the action of radiation, changes its original color to a different color, and a device associated with the container and configured to generate a radiation which acts on the additive and to change the original color of the additive and therefore of the beverage to a different color.
 
USPTO Application #: 20080317911
Oral pouch product including soluble dietary fibers
The oral pouch product is filled with a botanical material. The oral pouch product is placed in the mouth to release the soluble dietary fibers directly into the user's mouth. [No idea!]
 
USPTO Application #: 20080317910
Microfoamed fruit or vegetable puree  [Mmm... fooooaaamy]
 
USPTO Application #: 20080317930
Creamy wine-based beverage
A creamy wine-based beverage comprises a mixture of the following ingredients: a blend of dairy vegetable cream base, beet sugar, fermented wine and sodium caseinate.
 
USPTO Application #: 20080317914
Food grade ink jet inks for printing on edible substrates

USPTO Application #: 20080305207
Method of producing artificially sweetened wine
 
USPTO Application #: 20080311275
Alcohol-containing wasabi

In my mind I'm already doing wasabi shots, printing some foie gras, and buying lady cyborgs glasses of Nuvo Beaujolac that changes color near my Polonium mood ring.  And then we dance.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

Anybody know anything about Gibson Island restaurants for this lady? I can't name one, I'm embarrassed to say:

I've never been to Gibson Island and am meeting a colleague there for dinner next week. I haven't had much luck trying to find any restaurant reviews on line for the immediate area, partly because I'm so unfamiliar with the territory. Do you know of any good restaurants? We're extremely adventuresome eaters, cooks, etc. In a word, serious foodies. Any recommendations you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
        

MrBilly2U would like to know the following:

1 When is the Sunpaper restaurant database going to be useful? I can never select a county and find a new place I would like to try. The selection is always limited.

2. Is it really hard to follow up on restaurants to see if the your original review needs to be up or down graded.

3. This is the most important. Why have you never ask me to go with you when you go to review a place. I feel so left out. I may need therapy.

Dear MrBilly2U:

Thank you for your thoughtful e-mail. ...

1) I hope you will think of it as a restaurant REVIEW database and not a restaurant database. It's simply a collection of the reviews the paper has run in the past year or so.

2) There won't be a follow up for another five or six years unless something drastic happens to the restaurant. That's about how often I get back. (That may change as fewer restaurants open up in this economy.) I hate to send you elsewhere, but something like the Zagat guide, which is updated yearly, might be more useful to you. Or, who knows? Maybe we'll start doing yearly dining guides again.

3) I can't take you with me because my husband might get jealous. On a brighter note, he is a therapist.

Thanks for reading,

Your restaurant critic,

Elizabeth

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

To elevate the discussion a little (from taco trucks), let's talk about the next generation of Latino restaurants in Baltimore. I don't know quite how to characterize them, but places like Mari Luna Latin Grille in Pikesville, South American Grill in Cockeysville and the proposed Cuadrado on North Avenue are all -- I don't know -- a little more ambitious than the small businesses in East Baltimore, delightful as they are.

I tell readers about two of these in this week's Table Talk column that appeared in the Taste section this morning. ...

I also have what's become a regular feature in the column, the Deal of the Week. I'd been doing it awhile and been sort of annoyed by it, because all the deals had started to sound alike: the bar/restaurant that has half-price nacho night on Fridays, for instance.

But now people (and not just restaurant owners) are starting to e-mail me about more interesting ones. In fact, I got one today that's the other end of the spectrum from half-price nacho night. I'll try to post it later.

My Top 10 Winter Restaurants from last week appeared in the Taste section but without comments. Maybe there wasn't room. Maybe they were too racy.

Too bad.

No, wait. I forgot you could read comments yourself on the blog. You don't need to read them in the print edition. There is something weird about reading a "story," in this case a Top 10 list, on the Web site more than a week after it appeared on the Web site (on my blog) because it appeared in the print edition more than a week later because of the print section's deadlines.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (58)
        

I'm tired of groveling.

Something snapped in me today when a reader e-mailed me complaining that I said Brasserie Tatin was in Homewood instead of Tuscany-Canterbury. (My thinking was that very few people outside the neighborhood know where Tuscany-Canterbury is, while most Baltimoreans know where the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus is.)

These neighborhood boundaries aren't handed down by God, are they?

So I did what any right-thinking Sun reporter would do. I went to Professor McIntyre. Here's what he told me.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (71)
        

Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel, no shrinking violet he, has issued 10 Commandments -- er, tips -- for restaurateurs to follow during hard times so as not to go under. What do you think?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

If anyone doubted for a second that the target market of Dining@Large is the elite upper crust of Baltimore, this guest post by our Shallow Thought guru John Lindner should put those doubts to rest. Plus, have you come up with a better use for Twitter? By the way, John, not sure what your fallback gig is: Starting your own barbecue motorcycle? EL

The Korean taco truck has “location, location, location” nailed.

It’s yet another harbinger of the coming of Ultimate Fusion in which all ethnic foods eventually cross and tender mutations, a sort of culinary Island of Dr. Moreau with two sides.

One truckavore (mobilevore? autovore? twittervore? (ooh, here comes the shark!)) said: “It’s like this Korean Mexican fusion thing of crazy deliciousness.”

I doubt some species will cross well. Spaghetti and corn bread comes to mind for some reason. Sushikraut?

The coolest thing: I’ve found a viable fallback gig.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)
        

I guess enough local is in season again to warrant a new round of the Eat in Season Challenge. This time Feast@4East is stepping up to the plate on March 19, 20 and 21.

Feast is the offbeat little restaurant (can I even call it that?) inside the 4 East Madison Inn in Mount Vernon. I liked Feast when I ate there, but it may not make you happy if you insist on a traditional restaurant experience.

I love the Eat in Season Challenge menu (below). Read along until you come to the shellfish starter and you'll get a good sense of the delightful wackiness of the place.

The other thing that amuses me is that on a locavore-centric menu (please forgive me for that description), bison is prominently featured. Yes, I know bison meat is produced, or grown, or whatever you do with it, in Monkton; but I just can't think of bison as a local delicacy somehow. ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

I posted too soon last night. What should be in my inbox this morning but this fine photo from Gailor(there are two bags because they came in a set, she told me) and this e-mail:

Pic attached.  I think the turkey jerky will be going back to Costco.

I feel sick every time I look at it. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

...a bag the size of a large bag of pretzels (her words) of teriyaki-flavored turkey jerky. Apparently that was the only size and flavor it came in.

There is no food in Uganda that could possibly be worse or worse for you than teriyaki-flavored turkey jerky.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)
        

Remember Georgie's of Canton? It was the last restaurant in the spot where Bruschetta and Gino Troia's had been.

I had hopes for it, but last spring it closed and nothing took its place. 

If you were wondering what would come next, it looks like it won't be a restaurant. Midnight Sun Sam sent me this photo.

I guess 2304 Boston St. really was a Location of Doom for eateries.

(Photo courtesy of Sam Sessa)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Good eater and local Zagat editor Marty Katz told me that Cynthia's in Severna Park was having what I think of these days as a recession promotion. Cynthia's, in case you don't know it, is a fine-dining restaurant with very good food. Unfortunately it's located in a Ritchie Highway shopping center, but don't hold that against it.

The promotion is three courses for $35. They consist of a Caesar or mixed green salad, a dinner entree from the menu and a dessert of either an "unconventional s'more" or baked toffee pudding. The menu is available Monday through Thursday through March, except for next Monday when the restaurant is closed. ...

Now this is a very good deal. Take a look at the dinner menu and its entree prices. However, two of you are still going to spend around $100 once you have a glass of wine and pay taxes and tips. It will be worth every penny, but for most of us that's still special occasion dining.

Maybe we'll have to stop thinking of Friday and Saturday as the nights to go out for a special occasion. Maybe Monday through Thursday is the new Friday and Saturday.

By the way, desserts are a specialty at Cynthia's. I don't usually get dessert when I eat out on my own, but here you would want to. The owner, Cynthia Bennington, is a wonderful pastry chef. Maybe those two desserts on the fixed-price menu don't sound like much, but here are the a la carte menu descriptions. Note the prices:

UNCONVENTIONAL S’MORE
dark chocolate semifreddo, graham cracker, warm marshmallow 9

BAKED TOFFEE PUDDING
brown sugar, vanilla, butter rum sauce, and vanilla whipped cream 8

(Algerina Perna/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (65)
        

"'The good news for the restaurant industry is that consumers typically get hungry about every four to five hours, generally three times a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,' [Bob Derrington, a securities analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co.] said. 'While consumers’ budgetary constraints have forced some to make do with less, it’s the systemic underlying demand that the restaurant industry serves which has and, we believe, will keep the industry’s chains active, [relatively] vibrant and ultimately profitable.'

"Derrington conceded that the industry is not nearly as robust as it once was — even a year ago — but it is still performing at higher levels than other consumer sectors."

Whistling in the dark or a legitimate point?

Discuss.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

Last week someone commented that I always use the same restaurants in my Top 10 lists. I was incensed because I try so hard for variety. But there's no getting around the fact that one reason good restaurants are good is that they do a lot of things well.

So this week I decided to do a Top 10 list that is made up of first-timers. None of these places has been on a Top 10 list before. I thought it would be useful to those of you who like to try new restaurants -- a list of the most promising restaurants that have opened up recently or are soon to open, and why they may be worth a visit.

Of course, I'm not saying when I'll get around to reviewing them.

Here's my list in alphabetical order: ...

* Alizee in Homewood. The boutique bistro and wine bar opened recently where the Spice Company used to be in the Inn at the Colonnade. Specialties include fushi, fusion sushi.

* Cuadrado on North Avenue.The owner of Joe Squared Pizza is planning to open a barbacoa (Mexican barbecue) with meats slow-cooked in banana and agave leaves. It will be across the street from his first place. With major renovations underway, Joe Edwardsen is looking at a fall opening.

* La Famiglia in Homewood. The northern Italian restaurant opened where Brasserie Tatin was. The owner and many of the staff came from the now-closed Boccaccio in Little Italy. Expect the same sort of food at slightly lower prices.

* Hell Point Seafood in Annapolis. Well-known D.C. restaurateur Robert Kinkead is opening a neighborhood seafood place where Phillips' was on the dock. Scheduled to open next month, Hell Point will be more casual than his Washington restaurant, Kinkead's.

* South American Grill in Cockeysville. Fans of Brazilian food will find authentic dishes here. (The owner's wife is Brazilian, and the two own another restaurant in Brazil.) The South American Grill is small, casual, BYOB and open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

* Sullivan's Steakhouse in the Inner Harbor. The latest entry in the steakhouse sweepstakes. Sometimes you just need a big hunk o' beef.

* Talara in Harbor East. This Nuevo Latin tapas bar will specialize in ceviche and have a lively bar scene. It's part of a regional group of restaurants. The opening date is set for late April or early May.

* Taverna Corvino in Federal Hill. What goes around, comes around. The Juniors space is an Italian restaurant again (when it first opened, it was Vespa) with Christopher Paternotte, formerly of Vin in Towson, as the chef. The place never really closed after it was sold; the new owners kept it open as a "test kitchen."

* Ullswater in Riverside. The owner of the Bicycle is planning to open an Italian restaurant in the spot where Soigne and the Sly Fox Pub were. There will be some New American dishes as well. No firm date yet, but when I ate at the Bicycle plans seemed to still be coming along nicely.

* Volt in Frederick. I've been meaning to get to this relative newcomer, but it's such a hike I've put it off till better weather. The food is high-end Modern American. It's back on my radar now that the James Beard Foundation has named it a semifinalist for this year's Best New Restaurant award.

(Photo of Brian Voltaggio, Volt chef, by Andre F. Chung/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

Ever alert reader and champion commenter Hal Laurent, Voice of Reason, has sent me this photo of a sign posted on the building where the Old Country Buffet used to be, next door to the Motor Vehicle Administration in Glen Burnie.

Whoa.

This could redefine the term "eclectic cuisine."

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)
        

Owl Meat suggested I do a regular feature on foodie TV personalities. The general frothing at the mouth over Rachael Ray and the page views it generated inspired him.

I thought was a great idea except that I would actually have to do some work since I don't watch the Food Network.

However, the interest in the discussion of Guy Fieri under my post on the Blue Moon Cafe (don't ask how they got there) made me think I should at least have a separate entry on him because some people read the entries but not the comments.

So if there's anything left to say about Guy Fieri, here's where to say it. ...

Guy Fieri (born Guy Ramsey Ferry)

TV shows: "Guy's Big Bite," "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," "Ultimate Recipe Showdown," "Guy Off the Hook"

Astrological sign: Aquarius

Family: married with two sons

Residence: Northern California

Restaurants: Johnny Garlic's California Pasta Grill, Tex Wasabi's

Spokesman for: TGI Fridays

The Look: Bowling shirts and bling.

(Photo: Business Wire)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)
        

More than a year later, Midnight Sun Sam is still brooding about the slights, real and imagined, we gave him when he sent me the exciting news about the China Harbor coming to Lombard street.

Well, Sam's optimism was justified. China Harbor did open. And we all owe him an apology. (Don't hold your breath, Sam.)

(Photo courtesy of Sam Sessa)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

I'm getting tired of the comments from people who never visit Dining@Large otherwise either praising or complaining about Darker Than Blue, the little restaurant in Waverly. None of the comments is quite objectionable enough simply not to publish, but I'm not comfortable with them. I feel a little used.

Under one of the first foie gras posts, I told Robert of Cross Keys that I would close it to comments if I could, but I didn't think it was possible. Then just now it occurred to me -- incredible insight on my part -- that I could simply ask our resident technogoddess if it was possible.

It turns out it is.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:08 PM | Permalink
        

Like other restaurants in this economy, the Bicycle in Federal Hill has had to make some changes. In its case, the changes were pretty major: a more casual, less pricey menu and for good measure, some cosmetic changes in the dining rooms and bar.

As you can tell if you read my review yesterday, we had a very good time there. If the Bicycle were in my neighborhood, I would definitely give it a shot as a "Honey, I don't feel like cooking tonight, let's go out" restaurant. 

But maybe you don't agree. It's still not exactly budget fare, in spite of the lead of my review. So if you want to tell us your impressions about the "new" Bicycle (I'm almost scared to use those quotation marks), this is the place to do it.

(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Monday Morning Quarterbacking
        

Faithful readers will remember that in January I bought a can of Baugher's locally canned peaches when I was in the winter doldrums. I don't think I've bought canned fruit in a hundred years because there are so many varieties of fresh fruit available year round these days.

But Saturday night my husband and I got to drinking wine and eating little snacks (you know, a handful of peanuts, a few tortilla chips, a Pepperidge Farm goldfish or two), and pretty soon I realized cooking the lamb chops I had bought for dinner was simply too much trouble. ...

We got out the cold asparagus left over from the night before, and I really exerted myself and doctored some mayonnaise with lemon juice and curry powder. We dipped the asparagus spears in the mayonnaise and ate them with our fingers, and then I cut up some carrots and we dipped those in, as well as a cut-up ripe avocado.

And then, for some reason, those canned peaches in heavy syrup, which had been languishing on the shelf, caught my eye.  I'm not sure whether they were the entree or dessert, but they tasted ambrosial.

Surely they aren't really that much better than other canned peaches, they just seem so because they're more expensive. But my husband agreed.

Of course, he has a special memory of canned peaches. One summer when he was in high school, he lived and worked on a Montana Indian reservation through an American Friends Service program. They had no fresh fruit or vegetables (or running water in the houses, for that matter), and canned peaches were the most wonderful treat imaginable.

I had been planning to put a spoonful of the Major Grey's chutney in the center of the peach halves with a little butter, stick them in the oven and have them with some sort of pork dish, but now that isn't going to happen.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)
        

Next Sunday I review Vito's Cafe, a moderately priced BYOB restaurant in Cockeysville that might not usually catch my eye.

But Luca Pesci, formerly of the now-closed Boccaccio, took over the kitchen and told me he was offering some intriguing specials and would eventually redo the menu. That sparked my interest.

My one regret, after looking at the photo to the left, is that we didn't get a pizza.

(Lloyd Fox/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Review Preview
        

The hint: If you use self-checkout, you can get your ecologically correct reusable bag credit now without going to the service counter. Under Produce Look Up on the computer screen, "bag credit" is one of the first buttons.

The deep thought: The marketing of frozen vegetables as magic health pills is really beginning to annoy me. I want a package of lima beans from Green Giant, not Digestive Health, Immunity Boost, Healthy Weight or Healthy Vision. Particularly if they are going to cost more than just buying broccoli, carrots and corn.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

This month's GQ magazine gives the Blue Moon Cafe in Fells Point some love.

The article is "The Most Important (and Tastiest, Cheapest, Damned Satisfying, and Still Truly Regional) Meal of the Day."

The meal is breakfast, of course -- no surprise there if you know Blue Moon. ...

The story lists various places around the country to get various breakfast specialties. Here's what it says about Blue Moon:

THE MARYLAND CRAB BENEDICT at Blue Moon Café in Baltimore, because in this tiny, no-nonsense place you’ll experience the one thing that Baltimore will always be able to lord over every other city in America.

I always wonder how the national media pick one local restaurant out of so many that do something well, in this case breakfast. Nothing against Blue Moon, which offers an excellent breakfast, but I'm sure you can name five more places that could have been used in the article as well.

Is this another example of the Obrycki Effect that we've discussed before? Or maybe the authors just looked in Zagat and picked the breakfast place with the highest rating for food?

If you're wondering why I didn't link to the article, I asked and apparently it's not going to be posted. And here's something weird. When I Googled the cafe to get its Web site, Google took me to an entry on FoodandWine.com, the magazine's Web site. I wonder if the Blue Moon Cafe had to pay for that. I sure wouldn't call it "the area's favorite greasy spoon," though. That would be Jimmy's, wouldn't it?

(Algerina Perna/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (31)
        

There were so many excellent comments under "Deep thought on picking apart a rotisserie chicken..." I could never highlight just one. If you missed the exchange, I urge you to go back and read it. You'll be laughing out loud by the end of it.

There were other conversations almost as good this week, but this isn't Discussion of the Week, so I decided on a free-standing winner.

Ta-da: ...

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
        

A day like this makes me want to run over to the Waverly Market, open until noon today, as it is every Saturday of the year. I'm probably not going to make it -- I have too much to do -- but if you do, tell us what's available this time of year.

I've been waiting all winter for a Saturday snowstorm so I could go over there with my camera and show you that, yes, even in a snowstorm the market is open and at least some vendors show up.

It didn't happen this winter so far, and I don't think it's going to. Blame it on global warming.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

...instead of getting up and starting the laundry.

Menu for Gailor's birthday party, age one: chicken salad finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off, fresh fruit cup, homemade blackberry jam cake with caramel icing.

Menu for Gailor's birthday party, age two: Cheetos, birthday cake from the Giant with blue icing roses made from God knows what.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

I try not to be mean about ignorant mistakes on menus (unless it's a fancy restaurant). I'm more concerned about whether the owner knew enough to hire a good cook than a good copy editor. But, hey, it's the end of a long week and I deserve one cheap shot. I won't identify the restaurant where I found this statement on the menu:

Please ask your server about our selection of "desserts." ...

I had a few happy moments wondering what "desserts" were. Were they so bad the writer couldn't honestly call them desserts without putting the word in quotation marks?

I can understand why most grammatical errors and misspellings happen, but the random use of unnecessary quotation marks eludes me. WHY ARE THEY THERE?

You may know that there's a blog devoted to examples, if not to answering this very question -- just another reason you have to admit this Internet thing is really cool.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (41)
        

I'm sitting here brooding about not next Tuesday's Top 10 but the following Tuesday's Top 10. I kind of liked the idea of Top 10 Caesar Salads in honor of the Ides of March, and I'm definitely going to do a post, although not a Top 10, along those lines on Sunday, March 15.

But, much as I would like to, I can't ignore the fact that Tuesday week is March 17, the actual St. Patrick's Day.

Top 10 Irish Pubs? Too obvious. Top 10 Places to Get Corned Beef and Cabbage? Didn't we just do that? Top 10 Anti-St. Patrick's Day Restaurants? Too mean.

I went back to see what we did last year, but that was no help. I wrote about the Irish food I ate when we were in Ireland, something of a cop out. 

Help.

(Glenn Fawcett/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (46)
        

I get that Bucky has a larger point here, but all I can think about is a toasted peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Also, what's a Frito pie? No, don't tell me. I just want to imagine. Anyway, here's our guest poster. EL

So, I was looking for the peanut butter the other day because all morning I had been thinking about toasted peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  But there was none in the pantry.  This was odd, because I distinctly remembered having bought peanut butter a couple of weeks ago, making sure we had the kind that wouldn’t kill us.  And I didn’t remember having had toasted peanut butter sandwiches but one time since.

I also didn’t remember having had any peanut butter cookies lately.

So I did what I normally do in situations like this.  I yelled, “Hey! Kaikala!  Where’s the peanut butter?”  ...

She did what she usually does in situations like this as well.  She ignored me.  I was sure she was thinking, “It’s in the pantry, you dope.”

So, I decided that a BLT would be okay for lunch.  I opened the fridge and looked in the meat drawer.  No bacon.  “Kai…” I yelled.

No response. 

But I thought to check the freezer side to see if maybe we bought bacon when it was buy-one-get-one-free and put the extra one in there.

Lo and behold, right there on the top shelf of the freezer was the jar of peanut butter.

I hate it when that happens, and it seems to be happening with increasing frequency in my life.  Right in the middle of putting something somewhere — for instance, my keys into my pocket — I’ll lose my train of thought and the keys will end up in, say, the dishwasher.

I’m thankful that, so far at least, I’ve neither frozen nor power-washed the cat. 

Anyway, the peanut butter was so cold it couldn’t be spread and there was no bacon in the freezer, either.  So I settled for a Frito pie, which I’ve never been able to figure out whether it's an entrée or dessert.

(As it turned out, Kaikala wasn’t ignoring me.  She was gone.  It was her bridge/lunch day, something I found out after she got home.  But, yes, after figuring out that she was missing and wondering all during lunch where she might be, I did check the dishwasher.  You can never be too cautious is what I think.)       

(Uncle Larry's Photo Gallery)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (59)
        

Carlos sent me this request for bouillabaisse for Lent, which I said I would post to get some ideas from you:

I had a tough time finding a restaurant serving this great french fish soup. Rusty Scupper says they do, as does a place at 1606 Thames Street (Kalis?). Any others you know of? 

I'm not sure how many more he needs. There are only five more Fridays in Lent, right? Does Good Friday even count?

The only other ones I could come up with looking in the archives were the seafood saffron bouillabaisse at Jack's Bistro in Canton (pictured) and the Thai bouillabaisse at Kings Contrivance in Columbia, neither of which is traditional. We need at least one more.

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
        

I know my paper must love my extolling the virtues of another paper's dining guide, but, hey, we don't have one at the moment.

I urge you to get hold of the City Paper's print edition this week, which has the glossy (ooh, I have paper envy) and informative Eat inside it. I know you can call it up online -- after all, I did give you the link -- but the paper version would be nice to have around. ...

I'm impressed by how many restaurants the reviewers covered (more than 170, according to the introduction), and their mini-reviews are very readable. The only complaint I've heard is that the choice of restaurants is "strange," but that was from someone who has the money to eat anywhere he wants to. This guide focuses more on the funky and affordable, although not exclusively so.

My guess is that the reviewers didn't have much of a budget to work with, so the reviews aren't comprehensive. But they do give you the info you need and some sense of what the restaurants are like, along with the recommendation of at least one dish. And they are organized by category, which is helpful.

As a bonus, Henry Hong has the March 4 cover story on tamales and where to get the best ones. (The dining guide is an insert.)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

Poor Richard. He didn't have a particularly great or a particularly awful time at Julianna's Bar and Grill from what I can tell from his review, which appeared in today's paper. Those are the toughest reviews to write, as I know from many, many years of having to write them.

It sounds like Rob Kasper had a better time of it, traveling north to Fallston to try Andrew Maggitti's gourmet market, deli and bakery for his takeout column. Yum. You may know Maggitti as the former chef of the Brass Elephant.

(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Owl Meat's Funtastic Thursday guest posts are getting darker and less game-filled, but also more thought-provoking. However, Owlie, sometimes a carrot is just a carrot. EL

Today's topic is food nightmares.  
 
I don't have many nightmares about food, but considering my diet, a little late-night duck vindaloo or chicken-fried weasel might give Morpheus some extra traction. Here are some random thoughts on the subject: ...

In dreams I often go grocery shopping, usually at the Rotunda Giant. (Wow, talk about a subconscious diet buster – the Rotunda Giant.)  In real life I haven't shopped there since college.  I go down the aisles and pick out perfectly mundane things that I need.

I did have a dream a few weeks ago where the Rotunda Giant was part of a German POW camp and I was the leader of group of POWs who were escaping, but first I needed to fill a suitcase full of cheese.

I dream-shop at other supermarkets, too; and there always seems to be a cheese issue.  J'aime le fromage. Ich liebe Käse. Amo el queso. 

I have invented recipes in dreams. Good ones like my flying squirrel caramel swirl.

Can everybody taste in dreams?  I can.

Any interesting food dreams out there?  
 
Here's something from New Scientist to chew on:

"Chocolate may aggravate a sleep disorder in which people unknowingly act out violent nightmares, thrashing about and shouting as they dream.  About 1 in 200 people suffers from the disorder, called rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder, or RBD. Most sufferers are men.  In a report due to appear in Sleep Medicine, Vorona suggests that the caffeine in chocolate helps to block the natural process called atonia that paralyses us during dreams. This leaves the sleeper more free to move."

Yes!  Research is cool.  In addition to the phrase, "Why you gotta be like that, baby?" I can add, "It was the chocolate, baby.  I thought you were a succubus sent by Morpheus to lead us out of the Matrix."  

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

We had a brief in Monday's paper about a Woodlawn restaurant damaged by fire. I noted it, but then I got this moving e-mail from Stan, which told me a lot more. EL

...Early yesterday morning, fire struck another unique dining place [the first one being Salsa Grill. EL], just a block or so from Salsa Grill. This time it was O's Place, a Halal Pakistani (and Chinese) place on Whitehead Court, just behind [yuck] Wendy's.
 
We've known Mr. and Mrs. Rana since they moved the restaurant to this spot nearly four years ago. If you haven't had the pleasure of eating there, you have missed the warm hospitality of this Pakistani emigré couple. Whether or not you write anything about the fire, I urge you to have a look at WMAR's video coverage of the fire, and interview with the Ranas. ...

You see Mr. Rana in this interview as a man who is not afraid to show his emotions. He has always greeted us warmly, and managed to visit briefly every occupied table in the place. He's one of the kindest men I have had the pleasure to meet. On on occasion, a large group had just left, and there were tables to be bused and put back into place. Mr. Rana has a sonorous voice that can be heard across the room even when he is not trying to project it. I heard him say to the wait staff, "Girls, you have done a wonderful job and worked hard. Please sit down and rest for a few minutes and let me take care of this."  With that, he proceeded to bus the tables and refresh the linens.
 
The video also shows how protective Mrs. Rana is towards her husband. They are a couple of gems, and I wish them the best in getting the place rebuilt. Will keep you posted if I learn any news. (The fire is said to be "under investigation," and since it started in the dining room in the dead of night, I must wonder whether the place may have been set afire by someone with a prejudice towards Muslims. God knows, that's alive and well here in Woodlawn, but too complicated a story to relate here.) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was the apple of her mother's eye. The princess was an adventurous sort; and when she announced she was going to travel to the western lands to seek her fortune, her mother, although sad to have her daughter so far away, sighed but didn't say anything.

When the beautiful princess then decided to go deep into the north country to further her education, her mother bit her tongue. ... 

But the queen mother was clever in one respect.

Because she knew her daughter was a wanderer, the mother never, never let her know there was a land far across the sea called Africa. Her daughter's cousin had gone there in public service and come back with river blindness, and the fair cousin's husband, whom she had met there, returned with an illness called malaria. So the mother never told the daughter about this strange land, and also forbad any spindles in her own land on which her daughter might prick her finger and fall asleep for a hundred years.

And then one day in late winter the beautiful princess came to her mother, who was reading in her bed chamber, and said,  "Hi, Mom, I'm going to Uganda for two weeks through my Global Immersion in Management class. The program is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."

As for the spindles, it turned out her daughter had found them on her own, and had had needles for yellow fever, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, polio, meningitis and, oh yes, malaria pills.

Her mother wept and pleaded, but the beautiful princess simply kissed her brow and promised to return on March 28.

(Illustration by Arthur Rackham)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (47)
        

I'm a little grumpy because I got an e-mail from a reader complaining about my "review" of Alizee in today's paper.

He disagreed with my "rhapsody" about the new restaurant. Apparently he wanted an inexpensive neighborhood place in the Colonnade space (I can see his point), and what he got was a boutique bistro. He ended with this pleasant sentence:

Will it last a year? A disappointment, as was your review.

I'm afraid I got on my high horse when I wrote him back (it was the end of a long day), saying that my Table Talk column isn't a review, I haven't been to Alizee yet, and he's welcome to tell me how disappointed he is in my review when I've actually eaten a meal there and written a review. ...

Anyway, if you want to read the offending Table Talk item, here it is, along with news about the soon-to-be-opening Talara in Harbor East and Hell Point Seafood in Annapolis.

I also thought you might be amused by what I had to do to the Mardi Gras Top 10, so here it is with selected comments.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
        

When I read that headline, I realized I was just grateful our Shallow Thought guru and guest poster John Lindner wasn't talking about one of my reviews. As for his combo assignment idea, that's what I thought this blogging thing was. Here's John. EL

I’m nonplussed, as in the aftermath of a ball-peen thwap to the forehead, by the strangest restaurant review I’ve ever read.

Did he really call the nice African woman with degrees from Harvard and Oxford an “ingredient”?

On the other hand, this is sort of an interesting economic move, combo assignments!

“Large, you’re interviewing Dixon at the dinner theater. We need backgrounder, a story, Q&A, review the meal, critique the play, work up a 10-incher on the architecture of the place ... Oh, and see Bill about a camera.”

OK, now I get it.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)
        

Would a Top 10 of greatest meatball subs be different from the Top 10 of Italian cold-cut sandwiches? I don't think I've ever had one (a meatball sub, that is). I got to wondering about this after reading the comments under the Angelina's closing post.

There are foods that I might say "Gack" about in another month or so that sound pretty good right now. A meatball sub is one of them.

(Photo of Vinnys' meatball sub by John Makely/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (37)
        

Did you ever wish there were a Christian version of kosher salt? I thought not. But apparently a retired barber, Joe Godlewski, did.

Godlewski, who lives in western Maryland, has named his new product Blessed Christian Salt. It went on the market this week.

It's simply sea salt that's been blessed by an Episcopal priest, which is kind of an odd choice of denomination when you think about it. I would get a celebrity TV evangelist for more endorsement power. ...

You can buy Blessed Christian Salt on the Internet or in Christian bookstores. Apparently some portion of the proceeds will go to charity, according to an AP story, but no one is saying how much or which charities.

Also according to the AP story, Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, kosher administrator for the Chicago Rabbinical Council, said he doesn't blame Godlewski for seizing a business opportunity, even one that plays on public misconceptions about kosher products. (Certified kosher foods aren't blessed by rabbis.)

If the salt does well, Godlewski is planning to introduce a whole line of Christian-branded products, although so far there hasn't been a large market for the ones already around, like scripture candy and Christian fortune cookies.

(AP Photo/Jason Turner)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (52)
        

This is like the cameras at intersections that show you running a red light, although it's a lot more vague -- basically two photos of your car and the announcement that you were going 41 mph in a 30 mph zone and you owe Montgomery County $40. Both times the "vehicle speed" was 41 mph. How likely is that?

The vehicle could have been going 41 mph or 21 mph or been at a complete stop. The photos are taken one second apart. Who knows?

I wonder why they aren't more worried about the people going 80 mph on I-95. As Rich O'Mara, a former Sun staffer, once said to a cop when he was stopped on 95 for speeding (I'm paraphrasing here), "What's wrong, officer? Were the other cars going too fast for you to catch?"

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
        

Now that I'm home and on a computer where the resolution is such that I can actually see the art I'm publishing, I took another look at a photo I posted earlier today and said to myself, "What is that dish?"

I'll repost it here for your viewing convenience. Feel free to give us your best guess.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
        

Last night a friend took me to the movies (The International) at the Landmark for my birthday, and afterward we had dinner at the Lebanese Taverna in Harbor East.

I was going to post one of the photos I took of the restaurant, but they were so terrible I decided to show you the lovely tulips that I got from her as a birthday present instead.

Remember spring?

But back to the Lebanese Taverna. I noticed that tonight, and the first Tuesday of every month, the restaurant has a happy hour with complimentary hors d'oeuvres from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

I'm a little worried that there weren't more people there last night (of course, the weather was a factor) so I wanted to give the place a plug. If you've done this once-a-month happy hour, let us know if it's a good deal.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (49)
        

We overuse the phrase, but Angelina's Restaurant on Harford Road really was, in its day, a Baltimore fixture. It was an Italian restaurant and Irish pub known for its crab cakes.

Now the building, furnishings, name, liquor license and even the "legendary" crab cake recipe are being auctioned off on March 18.

I know some restaurants stay open  under these circumstances, but when I tried to call and found the phone disconnected, I next called the auctioneer, who confirmed that Angelina's is indeed closed.

(Photo of legendary crab cake by Nanine Hartzenbusch/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)
        

Occasionally someone will make a heart-stopping comment under one of my entries. Such a one was posted last night by hungry hungry hippo. (Great user name, by the way.)

In almost an aside, hhh casually mentioned that we had lost Abacrombie along with Saffron and Nasu Blanca. Abacrombie is the kind of tucked-away restaurant that might close quietly and I wouldn't hear about it right away, but I was still startled. Add that to the fact that Abacrombie didn't make Baltimore magazine's Top 50 list, as I would have thought it would if it was still open. So I quietly worried.

First thing this morning I called the bed and breakfast that houses Abacrombie, and to my relief it is definitely still open, still under the same management with the same chef as it has been for the past three years.

My guess is that hhh was thinking of Abacrombie under the original owner/chef Sonny Sweetman. He was, indeed, a loss to the Baltimore dining scene. But the current Abacrombie is also, in my opinion, a delightful restaurant.

(Doug Kapustin/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
        

In case you missed it, Lisa Astrin posted this comment under today's Top 10:

It seems like all the restaurant are the same all the time, no matter what the category...there has to be more that 20 restaurants in Maryland...please change them up

This was one time I didn't add a link to the Official Disclaimer because I thought there were enough different choices on it not to make it necessary, like Bertha's, Wharf Rat, Josef's Country Inn and Elkridge Furnace Inn.

Of course, Lisa has a point. The same restaurants do keep reappearing. One problem with doing a Top 10 list about Baltimore restaurants week after week is that -- as Other Reviewer Richard once so wisely pointed out -- good restaurants do a lot of things very well; that's what makes them good. Should I put the Outback on the best beef restaurant list instead of the Prime Rib just for the sake of variety?

I do do a little of that, just for the sake of variety, but it isn't really fair to our best restaurants. ...

However, your restaurant critic is always the kind of person who makes lemonade out of lemons -- not -- so Lisa's comment gave me a great idea for next week's Top 10 Tuesday: The Top 10 Restaurants I'm Looking Forward to Reviewing But Haven't Been to Yet.

Let them complain that I keep using the same restaurants when they read that one.

Suggestions, as usual, are welcome.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I don't care if by the end of the week it reaches 60 degrees. Today it's still winter. Brrr.

In honor of that fact, I've made up a list of places where you can stay warm, get cozy and be comforted by homey dishes. Some are high-end; others are little more than a bar.

Nobody I talked to could quite define "winter restaurant," but we all agreed it involves more than just a fireplace. (See Red Maple.)

Your list may be different, and feel free to tell us what you would add or subtract, but here are my 10: ...

* I want a bowl of pho right now, so I'm going to include Baltimore Pho in the Hollins Street Market area. Maybe it's just the remnants of the Mother of All Colds talking, but the idea of hot beef broth and soothing flat rice noodles, spiced up with a few Asian green chiles to clear the sinuses, sounds mighty fine.

* Midnight Sun Sam's description of Bertha's hot buttered rum makes the Fells Point pub a must-include on this list, not to mention the afternoon tea and cozy booths. To make the drink, they put a lump of butter rolled in brown sugar at the bottom of the mug, fill it with rum and hot water, and stir it with a cinnamon stick.

* I just learned that Brewer's Art in Mount Vernon has a working fireplace, the one in the lounge. I hadn't realized that, which made up my mind for me. (When I ate there last I had a good meal, but it was a bit drafty.) The haute comfort cuisine and the heavier artisan beers make it a natural for this list.

* I wanted to include one Lauraville/Hamilton restaurant because they tend to specialize in comfort food. I settled on Clementine because of the charcuterie. That's the gourmet side of a winter restaurant. The downside is the Fabulous Gut Buster: chili over mac 'n' cheese ($10). I know, I shouldn't knock it till I try it.

* A friend here at the Sun joked that the Elkridge Furnace Inn in Elkridge should be on the list because of the name, but it's actually a good choice. The prix fixe winter menu has a sausage trio (duck, venison, and boar sausages) and braised veal risotto, among other hearty dishes. The historic setting is another plus.

* If winter makes you think of Old World restaurants and German cuisine, consider Josef's Country Inn in Fallston. It's not a German restaurant, more Continental/fine dining Old World style, but there are three German entrees on the menu, and German dishes are often specials.  

* When I did an informal survey, two out of the first three people I asked said the Milton Inn in Sparks when I asked them to name a winter restaurant. It was the first one that popped into my head, too. The Hearth Room (pictured) is certainly one reason, but dishes like apple and sauterne pork chop and grilled filet of beef don't hurt.

* Lively, noisy, crowded can be good things when it's cold outside. Petit Louis in Roland Park is all those things, and French bistro comfort food like onion soup and duck confit is very appealing this time of year.

* Best fireplace, budget edition, has to go to the Wharf Rat in Fells Point -- it has the biggest one around. Don't confuse this with the Wharf Rat on Pratt Street, which has a new owner and will soon have a new name. The food runs to burgers, meatloaf, fish and chips and roast chicken, all good winter fare.

* The fact that Ze Mean Bean in Fells Point has a fireplace isn't as important as the hearty Eastern European fare it serves. Sure there are more nouvelle dishes on the menu, but we're talking about Hungarian goulash and cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef. The tiny dining room is cozy, too.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Top Ten Tuesdays
        

This seems to be my day for linking to Baltimore magazine, but the 50 Best Restaurants in Order list is up, and I can't resist starting a conversation about it.

Before we begin, here is senior editor Suzanne Loudermilk on the method used to choose the restaurants.

The fact that the list isn't ad-driven makes some of the choices, and their rankings, even more intriguing. ...

For instance, I wonder why Shula's Steakhouse is No. 16, while Morton's, Ruth's Chris and Fleming's didn't even make the list. I think this struck me particularly because we've been talking about steakhouses so much lately on this blog.

So what do you think? Any glaring omissions? How would you rearrange the rankings? What would you label the biggest surprise on the list?

As for that last, I would say Darker Than Blue -- simply because I thought it would never last this long given the location. I'm delighted to be proven wrong.

(John Makely/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (47)
        

I should start a new feature called Closing of the Day. The casualties are beginning to pile up. The latest is Mehek, the Indian restaurant in Fells Point. I heard about it from a couple of readers, but I haven't gotten around to posting anything till now.

Here's what Suzanne over at In Good Taste had to say.

(Chiaki Kawajiri/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Gailor just sent me a link to a photo that I can't post on a G-rated blog. Grandmothers and small children might be reading.

If you have a strong stomach, you may click here. (I didn't get what it was for a moment. I had to ask her.)

Don't panic, Sun editors. It's an ad, so it must be OK, right?

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

...by the Weather Event. (I love euphemisms.) Because of my unpleasant experiences this morning, I'm going to give winter one last gasp and create a list of Top 10 Restaurants for Winter Dining.

Even though I know it's supposed to be 60 by this weekend, tomorrow morning's forecast low of 12 has me in a non-spring mood. The only thing keeping me going is that last night Gailor and I finalized our plans to meet in LA for a ladies weekend in April.

I'm not sure what this category of winter restaurants is going to include, so suggestions would be welcome; but I need them quickly. I'm starting my list now.

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
        

I headed out for a tennis game this morning and got as far as Northern Parkway and Loch Raven before I turned back. Even though the roads don't look that bad, I skidded badly going slow with brand new tires and Loch Raven was blocked with two accidents. I give everyone permission to stay home today.

I thought I might as well just come on in to work since I was in the car and get started on an exciting Top 10. At least I got a great parking place. But I feel self-conscious in the little white tennis skirt, so I'm going to head across the street to the Downtown Athletic Club now to change. ...

I like the photo Jed took this morning. His caption was "The arrow on Orleans St. may have pointed away from work but an employee at Johns Hopkins Medical Center uses the skywalk to avoid the elements on his way to Hopkins Hospital."

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
        

Yesterday my review of Brasserie 10 South appeared in the paper. We've discussed the place so much on this blog, I'm not sure that there's anything left to say. My review was actually scooped by several comments.

However, if the earlier conversation persuaded you to give it a try, I'd be interested in what you thought. And let us know if there were any other customers when you went after the owner's invitation.

(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Monday Morning Quarterbacking
        

Your restaurant critic, ever vigilant in reporting important events like the impending White Death and its consequences, has just returned from an exploratory trip to the Giant for milk and saline spray.

I am happy to report that no one seems to believe the forecast, or else they all converged on the supermarkets earlier today in a panic. It seemed like the normal Sunday turnout. My husband, of course, blamed the economy.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
        

Next Sunday I review the reinvented Bicycle in Federal Hill, to see how its new lower prices and more casual fare compare to the old Bicycle's prices and menu. I last reviewed the restaurant a few years ago when current owner/chef Nicholas Batey took over.

It's not exactly a budget restaurant these days, and it's still a fine place for a special occasion meal; but a real effort has been made to make the menu more appealing and affordable to casual diners, particularly neighborhood folks who are being careful about eating out in this economy.

The photo, by the way, is of a caramelized onion naan pizza, which may look a little weird but is really tasty.

(Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Review Preview
        

Whoa. I was just quietly getting a cup of tea with the Weather Channel in the background (I love the Weather Channel) and suddenly they're forecasting five to eight inches of snow. When did that happen? Actually I happen to like one big snow a year because we have to go into work no matter what, and it's kind of interesting figuring out how to get there. It's the nibbled-to-death-by-ducks kind of winter I can't stand.

Anyway, did you happen to notice the Top 10 database that was added to the right of the page? It's such a better way to look up old Top 10s than the category listing. I was using it this morning for inspiration because I suddenly realized we never came up with a Top 10 subject for this Tuesday, something I have to report (if restaurants need to be called) and write tomorrow. Assuming I can get into work through the White Death. ..

I also went into my "unpublished entries," where I label entry "forms" with headlines for future posts when I get an idea for something but don't feel like writing it right away.

Here are old Top 10 ideas that I thought at the time might work: Top 10 Restaurants with Former Versions, Top 10 Restaurants for a Pig Out, Places to Eat at the Bar, Deals on Wine, Restaurants You Wouldn't Expect to Be Kid Friendly (But Are), Independently Owned Coffee Bars, Restaurants for People Watching, Restaurants for Winter Dining and Top 10 Restaurants with Great Carryout (as opposed to great carryout places).

When I first went through the old ideas, I thought it was too late for the winter dining one, but after going downstairs and turning on the Weather Channel, I'm thinking maybe I'm wrong.

Votes? New ideas?

(Monica Lopossay/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)