Pizzazz Tuscan Grille was a great new find. Fresh, Organic and the crab fitters were light and delisious. This is a great and refreshing place to dine!

On Saturday, we went to the Helmand with my brother and his family visiting us from New York. He had been there before a couple of times and was eager to go again. His wife and son are both from Kyrgyzstan, where they eat lots of sheep, so we figured the lamb might be a good choice.

At 8pm, the place was packed to the gills. We were promptly seated at a table (reservation) and looked over the menu. The specials did sound really good (especially the seafood option), but I opted to get a bunch of appetizers instead as my meal (pumpkin, aushak soup, spinach, bowlani). My nephew ordered one of the specials; he was the only one at our table who did.

No big surprises here, the food and service were excellent. Actually, the only surprise was that my nephew's least favorite item was the lamb; he loved the beef and chicken. My wife and brother shared the beef with spinach (sabzy challow) and a chicken dish - they both preferred the beef. And my sister-in-law loved her lamb.

The place was JUST starting to empty out around 10pm; people were still getting tables at 9:30pm. None of the customers seemed to mind the (relatively) brief wait at the bar.

I went to the Blue Hill Tavern last night. I chose not to go with the Restaurant Week menu but I had a wonderful meal. But even better than the meal is how nice the place looks. This could easily be the nicest looking restaurant in Baltimore City, unbelievable. I wish the owners the best of luck and I can only imagine how much money the put into the place. The service was great, but I can't say enough great things about the atmosphere.

Shill at 1:03 and 1:04. click on her name and you get Pizzazz Grill's website. or would if it worked.

I went to Victoria's in Columbia for brunch. They had two menus, one for restaurant week and the regular menu. I ordered off the regular menu. I found the service to be above and beyond expectations. Very good. The food was very good and I would go back again. I got the french toast w/ bacon. Really good bacon

Went to Oceanaire on Friday night with several friends. There are no wait and we were seated promptly. The food was good; I had the Rockfish with guacamole and crabmeat. Sorbet for dessert was just okay. I don’t know if it is due to Oceanaire declaring bankruptcy recently, but the wait staff was just okay, not fantastic. My wife said she had a better time last year.

However, they do have bottles of wine for $20.10, which is a good deal. One bottle was Beringer, which is not a good deal though.

Last night, went to Aldo’s in Little Italy. A fantastic experience. My wife got the eggplant app, whole wheat fettuccine, and custard with peaches for dessert. I got the antipasto, swordfish, and apple tart. The swordfish was excellent, but the apple tart was one of the best desserts I have had in a while.

Also, they have $40 dollar bottles of wine, which is a deal there (their wine list is expansive and expensive).

I noticed they added 19% tip to the bill. Any other restaurants doing that for restaurant week?

I did Tio Pepe on Friday night and ate off of the restaurant week menu.

Positives: Seated immediately, several restaurant week options, Food was good however I assume the paella lacked fish and was dominated by chicken because of restaurant week, but the portion was good. The Walnut Roll at the end was fantastic.

Negatives: Our server genuinely appeared upset we were ordering off of the restaurant week menu. Garlic Shrimp appetizer was not as good as hyped.

Restaurant Week presented an opportunity to "afford" Tio Pepes and it didn't disappoint. Would I go back, sure, but this place to me is a once a year spot.

alizée

It was up to me to make the first choice for Restaurant Week. So, I spent some time perusing the site, comparing menus, and reading reviews to make the best choice I could to start the week. I had noticed the “Special Event” column on the site but just what the special events were was a mystery. Finally, buried is the text of the site I found the link to the special events page. That is when I saw that alizée was offering a cooking class and lunch on Saturday, and decided that would be the perfect way to kick the week off, so I made the reservations for a nice lunch.

We were greeted by the restaurant manager and served a nice cava rosé while we waited for everything to be ready. They set up a cooking station on a buffet table and the sous chef gave a demonstration on cooking a sesame-wasabi encrusted sea bass (no mention of the word ‘Chilean’) on a bed of wilted spinach with grilled fennel and a pomegranate reduction. Some nice discussion on technique and ingredients.

Since the muse of alizée is asian fusion, the chef commented on using sake instead of white wine in the dish. The other couple had never tried sake, so the manager bought us a sample of good sake from the bar, not the cooking sake, to taste. Also my cava was graciously refilled during the demonstration. The chef gave a plating demonstration and then we got to eat the sea bass. The fennel and sea bass matched very nicely and the sweetness of the pomegranate matched nicely with the slight spice of the wasabi. Secret: crushed wasabi peas.

The desert chef then gave a short demonstration on some plating techniques with coco powder and chocolate sauce. Finally it was time to eat. We were seated with the other couple from the class, which was nice as we got to talk about the food with other perspectives.

The restaurant menu featured items from the regular menu as well as items just for restaurant week. For starters we had a delicious peach gazpacho, that was smooth and just ‘off dry’ sweet served with a crab fritter, and the house special calamari, which was accented with banana peppers and was a good, unique take on the dish. My wife had initally been drawn to the salad but I was able to convince her that we should share the gazpacho and clamari.

Lunch entrée’s consisted of steak frittes, the sea bass, and a lemongrass chicken. Since we had already tasted the sea bass, we had the chicken and the steak. The steak was cooked a beautiful medium-rare and the soy glaze accented the meat and the fries were hot and crispy, good but not great. The chicken, breast and wing, came with crispy skin that was been treated right under the broiler, and was flavorful. However I found the rice accompanyment too sweet for my taste, or maybe I’m just not a pineapple fan. While the signature ‘fushi’ was not on the restaurant week menu, our dining companion was allowed to substitute a roll, for his entrée. He enjoyed it, but I’m not sure that I am sold on the concept. And, since the sushi chef is in the kitchen, you don’t get the show. During lunch a nice crisp savignon blanc found its way to me.

Desert consisted of a trio of sorbet berry – great, banana – good, and mango – ok, and a crème brulee which I only got one bite of, but the two people who ordered it almost licked the bowl.

Overall we had a great time, the food was good to very good, the atmosphere was very nice and comfortable. And, since we were special guest and were doated over by the staff and manager, service was great.

Went to Tibrizis on Sunday, it was okay, went to Wine Market last night, it was very good and the service was very solid.

Went to the Black Olive and all they had was their restaurant week menu. It was good but nothing like their regular menu nor their regular prices.

I went to Brewer's Art on Sunday and we had a good steak and a great piece of halibut as well as some tasty beer. I think it wouldve been like 5 or 10 bucks more if not for RW, but it was a good excuse to eat in the dining room for once!

My boy and I went to Abacrombie on Saturday and had a good meal, though there was one minor discrepancy (to us). For appetizers, we both had the panzanella. The tomatoes with large leaves of basil, fresh red onion, garlic, and still crunchy croutons in the juice and vinegar was quite delicious and obviously was made with a fresh and well picked local market tomato. I think they might have been Mr Stripeys.

For entrees he had the pan roasted hake with pablano and tomato relish and mashed plantain cakes and I had the squash spaghetti with cherry tomatoes, lemon, and basil. His dish was large and filling and the tomato relish with mashed plantains gave the fish extra flavor. My dish, while tasty, was quite small. It was probably half the size of his and not very filling. I hope it's not just me who would think that I didn't get my money's worth for a vegetable dish. I wanted to have more of that dish to get mostly full before dessert, because that's living. Instead, I ate more than a "taste" of the hake.

We followed that up with zucchini cake with cardamom mousse for me and chocolate buttermilk with mint ice cream for him. Both were delish, and the mint ice cream that I sampled must have had the purest source of mint I had ever tried. I should have gotten that.

A delicious meal all around, despite my small vegetable entree. My boyfriend's theory is that is takes a lot more intense effort to slice (grate?) the squash to act like spaghetti, that's why it was so small and expensive compared to the very filling hake. He's joking of course, but I do wonder.

SauceMonster, spaghetti squash grows like that. You cook it, then scoop out the strings.

Not my favourite squash, but I have friends who love it.

Lissa: indeed, but this dish wasn't spaghetti squash. It was more like long tiny slivers of squash, yellow and green. None of it was of the spaghetti variety.

Ah, my apologies, SauceMonster. I misunderstood. Yes, that would be quite the demonstration of knife skills. Or food processor skills (I don't own one, so I have no clue how they work).

Lissa, I think a mandoline would be more useful than a food processor for that task.

Bass or alto mandoline, Hal?

Mandoline, Lissa, not mandolin. But I assume you knew that.

You know me, Hal. I can't resist a bad joke, especially if it involves strings.

But, hey, wouldn't it be fun to have a 6' long mandoline? I'm not sure exactly where one would get veggies that big (outside of a Woody Allen movie), but one can dream.

Hmm, I don't think thin slices of giant pumpkins sounds that appealing. :-)

I'm skipping out on RW this year.

1) There aren't restaurants listed that haven't been to that I feel like I want and need to try -- usually my primary impetus.

2) I'm not exactly starving, but a recession year ain't great for even discounted fine dining.

3) In recent years, I've enjoyed restaurants that aren't participating in RW -- less crowds, less rush, generally better food.

You don't believe in the Great Pumpkin, Hal?

On Monday, I grabbed lunch at Minato and used RW as an excuse to get stuff I wouldn't usually order there. Crazy Rock 'n' Roll, sake don and chocolate mochi ice cream. The latter is an amazing idea and really good. The sake don was sashimi salmon over a bed of rice. With a little wasabi and soy sauce to dip in, oh man, good stuff.

Last night, since I owed them a meal, I took my mom and stepdad to Brewer's Art. We had not been there before and were quite pleased. My mom and I both had the halibut (decided on a whim instead of the polenta) and my stepdad had the steak. It was really good. If only their famed fries were offered for the first course. I ended up ordering some for the table. Dessert was samples of the torte and cheesecake. The torte was thick and rich. My stepdad wasn't a fan, but oh man was it good.

Definitely going back there again. RW saved me a lot of money -- the entrees would have been $26-27 alone. The total bill came to $130 after drinks, tax and tip. Not bad for what we got.

Ten points to Tyler for his TWO excellent reviews and for bringing this back on topic. Thank you.

As unofficial Restaurant Week Rush Chairman, your Delta Taui Chi pledge name is of course ... halibut. Please come back and comment again. I live in a pineapple under the sea, so I don't get to many restaurants.

Four of us ate at Pazza Luna in Locust Point on Saturday, Aug. 8. I had the grouper which was absolutely delicious and cooked perfectly. The real surprise was the excellent calamari salad as a starter, fresh and done perfectly. The tiramisu dessert was good. Everyone praised the quality of the food. I don't live in Baltimore but we are planning to go back to the restaurant because of the great experience. The staff was also very friendly, helpful, and efficient. The one weakness was a martini not cold enough. Thanks to everyone at PL!!

Thank you.

Also, a little addendum to Brewer's Art. It's weird being there (at a place that advertises its booze in the name, no less) just one month from 21 and not being able to order the Resurrection everyone talks about. ...

We dined at Tabrizi's last night and had exactly the opposite experience of Dennis on a earlier post. The food and service were excellent. As Tabrizi promised, everything was off his regular menu. We peeked at it to confirm. Every entree from the regular menu was on the RW menu, with one addition that was a star of the meal.
My wife started with the fava bean and avocado on mescalun greens, which she loved. I had the fresh sardines -- the best I've had on this side of the Atlantic. My wife's calf''s liver was the added starter. It was almost as silky as foie gras. My rack of lamb was excellent, though not pink as I had ordered. Nevertheless I shamelessly picked up each chop (five) to get at every morsel.,
Dessert was a bit of a letdown. My wife's creme brulee was standard though a generous serving. My baklava was terrible -- dry and so hard I had difficulty cutting it with a fork.
Service was as good as the food. We tipped as if we were paying the regular prices. We'll be back for sure.

We went to Blue Hill Tavern on Monday night, because my daughter was only in town that night. We could not get into Salt, but we had heard good things about BHT. Without question, It was one of the best meals we have had in a long time. My mom always says either a cook has "taste" or they don't. Can't manufacture beautiful flavors. The chef here has "taste". Service was perfect, but of course being a Monday night, it wasn't packed. I wish they would put the black bean soup on the reg menu..it was delicious. Some ordered off the RW menu, some not. The waiter was happy to do either. Also, beautiful decor. Very glad we went.

Had dinner last night at Pazza Luna. My meal was almost the same as Steve L's and I agree that the calamari salad app was the standout course; tender calamari and the vinaigrette was fantastic. The grouper was very good, but the vegetables it was served with were a bit too oily for my liking. Fish was cooked wonderfully though.

I usually don't order dessert when I go out to restaurants, but I ordered the panna cotta. It was a nice light bite of sweet after the meal.

Staff and service were great! We'll go back after rest week is over. They are only serving the RW menu.

We went to Ruth's Chris on Saturday night. We're not fans of steakhouses in general, but we had $50 gift cards we needed to use and RW seemed like a good way to get rid of them. My husband and brother both ordered strip steak and they were gristle-fests. The best course was dessert. Service was icy. Sure glad I didn't have to fork over any of my own money for the meal.

Last night we went to Crush. Not a perfect meal, but we have always found the place to be uniformly very good. Lobster mashed potatoes are delish!

Tomorrow night: Meli.

Cinghiale is bracketing restaurant week with a fixed-menu, wine-included Pugliese dinner for $59 (I think), one seating (at 7:00, of course) Friday and Saturday last week and this coming one.

DId anyone go to that last weekend? How was it? We'll be doing it this Friday.

We went to Abacrombie last night and it was quite tasty. As SauceMonster mentioned, the panzanella salad was delicious! My husband got the corn bisque, which was cold, sweet with a slow burn.

For the main course, I had the pork belly, which was good, with peaches and arugala. My husband had the half-chicken which was definitely the better of the two options. It had lots of flavor -- I assume it was brined -- and a crisp skin. The accompanying heirloom tomatoes and cornbread were delicious and a great compliment. Best of all was the fact that he couldn't eat the whole half-chicken and ended up with a good chunk to bring for lunch tomorrow!

Dessert was delicious -- I had the chocolate cake which was good, but the mint ice cream was definitely the star of that plate -- creamy and very minty. My husband had the zucchini cake with cardamon cream -- the cake turned out to be more of a muffin so it had lots of crisp edge to it.

My wife and I had a lovely meal this afternoon at Crepe de Jour although it started awkwardly. I was primed for the duck confit listed on the RW website. But it wasn't on the menu. So I reverted to the regular menu and had a deliciously hearty crepe stuffed with brie, artichoke, onions and garlic. My wife stuck with Restaurant Week, enjoying a rich seafood crepe, a salad with peaches, candied walnuts and a zingy dressing (which I helped finish) and a citrusy crepe suzette (which I again volunteered to see did not go to waste.) The owner came to our table to say that he'd made three phone calls attempting to have his RW menu corrected -- and would try again. That apparently worked because the right menu is up now. Despite my obsession with duck, I'm sorta' glad about the mistake. Otherwise, I wouldn't have enjoyed what Crepe de Jour does so well. Will I return? But of course. There are about a half dozen of those well-stuffed Gallic blintzes I'd now like to try.

Went to Louisiana in Fells Point last night. The food was top notch! I had the field greens salad, sea bass, and beignet. My date had the crab bisque soup, duck confit, and bread pudding. Everything was good but the crab bisque and duck confit were exceptional. The service was a little on the slow side but nothing to complain about. The restaurant had ~5 bottles each of specially priced $25 and $35 wines. We ordered a $25 pinot noir and were not disappointed.

I'd definitely go back again.

I wonder how many shills are posted here

A subtle shill, we wouldn't catch, party pooper. However, they do tend to not be subtle.

Also, Elizabeth does know what IPs people post from, and if she doesn't know how to do a reverse DNS lookup, she knows people who do. So, if there is a comment about how awesome Ted's Steak House and Creperie is, how it is going to change the paradigm for fried chicken and martinis on the entire east coast, etc., and it comes from an IP address associated with TSHAC, well, that would be a shill.

Lissa makes sense -- as she usually does. Shills tend to go so far over the top in raving about a restaurant that it defies belief. Most of the mini-reviews on this thread seem legit --or a darned good imitation of same.

Five of us went to Da Mimmo's and will not be returning. The waiter was abrupt and we felt not important enough since we were having the specials. We were the only table there upon arrival. Food was mediocre but the entire experience was not pleasant. Don't waste your money.

Elkridge Furnace Inn

The location “BWI Airport” next to the Elkridge Furnace Inn on the restaurant week site caught my eye. I work nearby and thought it would be a great escape for lunch. So I wrangled a couple of coworkers from the cube farm and we headed over for a break in the day. I was delighted to find a big country house on a manicured lawn just off the busy highway. It was a nice departure from the drab office park building where we work.

We were seated in the front room, but there are multiple rooms in the house that are used for service. The restaurant menu consisted of items from the regular menu, and comparing the regular prices to the restaurant prices we essentially got a free desert.

Dining with people for the first time can be an enlightening experience, when one coworker asked “What is polenta?” I was happy to explain, but only after giving him a “Do they still make people like you?” look.

For starters we had the calamari, fine but nothing special, a cream of crab, served with a nice portion of crab meat on top, which the guy who didn’t know what polenta was really enjoyed, and the salad carpese, with good fresh mozzarella, red and yellow grape tomatoes, and micro basil. The one flaw was a single slice of raw garlic hidden under the mozzarella, which shouldn’t have been there and led me to wonder how “clean” the kitchen was working.

My coworkers had the filet tips dijonaise with creamy polenta, which led to another non-foodie comment “This taste like it has mustard in it.” I stole a bite and the meat was tender and the sauce was buttery delicious, the polenta however was bland for my taste. I had the gnocchi Provencal served with roasted tomatoes that were concentrated little bombs of flavor.

Since we failed to inform our server that we had a meeting we had to get the dessert to go. I do not often order dessert, and never to go. I was delighted to open my to go container at 2:30 and find a “plated” lemon-sour cream cheesecake, complete with the sauce decoration, piped whipped cream and berries. A nice sugar rush to get me through the afternoon.

Service was good, except for the fact that one coworker was seated on a bench against the wall and the server kept apologizing every time they delivered or removed a plate, replaced a utensil, or refilled a glass. One “Sorry” is enough, 14 is overkill.

The questions I’m left with:

I will grant the dijonaise is a foodie word, but is polenta?

How many star points would you lose for the raw garlic?

How many times should you say “I’m sorry”?

I'm sorry, DurhamSt, I don't know.

I envy your 2:30 dessert, though. Even if I did split a very pleasant white pizza at Maisy's (great service, too) for lunch with a co-worker.

We went to Meli on Tuesday night. The service was slow and we weren't seated until almost 45 minutes after our reservation time (we didn't mind). Once we were seated, our waitress was friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable. The food was excellent, as was the wine.

For starters I had the lobster Mac and cheese, which was rich and delicious, but the bacon flavor overpowered any lobster that might have been in the dish. My wife had the seared scallops appetizer which was cooked perfectly. For entrees, I had the steak au poivre, which I had cooked rare (waitress recommended I order it a step below what I wanted) which was enormous, delicious, and cooked exactly right. My wife had the honey glazed salmon, which was also excellent, probably one of the best salmon dishes we ever had.

Overall, a great Restaurant Week experience.

Love means never having to say you're sorry!

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time -- It's easy.

All you need is love...

We had lunch today at Crush in Belvedere Square and it was excellent. I ordered off the RW menu and my friend ordered from the regular menu. We both had their tomato soup with grilled cheese croutons, which were fabulous.

I wrote about it here, where you can see the pictures of our lunch and a lagniappe.

Made a last minute decision to go to Talara last night. Both of us had the RW menu. We both enjoyed the chorizo wrapped scallops and steak over polenta. DH's corn and avacado appetiser was also good, as were our desserts. But the hands-down-best,-no-question-I'll-be-back-for-this plate was the Asian Tuna Tartar. Tuna was fresh and meaty, the sauce had just the right kick; little mouthfuls of pure yummy.

This time around I was too busy/ stressed/ notfeelingfoodieish to pick through menus or make reservations, so I just ate somewhere that I would have eaten anyway (because the food is decent, the staff is cool, and it's right there) - Todd Conners in Fells Pt. Normally I order a burger or sandwich, but for RW I go for an entree. Todd Conners simply goes with half-price entrees and dinner salads, though this is not as great of a deal since a couple months ago they slashed the number of entrees they offer. I chose the crabcakes (same as last RW) and my cohort had the mac n cheese with blackened chicken. I already know their mac n cheese to be hearty and satisfying, and their crabcakes are my personal #2 crabcakes - mixture of lump and shred with a drizzle of red pepper aioli. The total cost of our two entrees plus one beer and tax came to $24, less than the regular price of the crabcake entree alone.

me and my girlfriend made our way over to Salt friday night (she had been before but i had always been skeptical of a place that has a $15 slider with kobe beef/truffle oil/foie gras...i mean why don't you just announce that you're gonna inflate the price by putting a bunch of the most expensive things together?)

that said, i had nothing short of a great dinner friday night and take back any bad thoughts i had of that place.

we started off the night with a couple drinks from the (great) bartender, who did me the favor of recommending the recently released duvel green (which was an amazingly crisp summer beer). the decor was nice, and their location made me remember why i missed living in the butchers hill neighborhood (quaint is the word that comes to mind)

here's the course breakdown:

1st course:
My girlfriend had the corvina ceviche, which was made with a meaty white fish that tasted quite nicely with the citrus acid. It was also served with, what appeared to be raw white corn (which was ok, but kind of had an overly starchy taste to it...i know ceviche is supposed to be raw ingredients, but i think the corn might have been better cooked).

I had the pork empanada which was really really tasty. great seasoning on the pork and served with a nicely contrasting sweet sauce on top of the empanada.

2nd Course:
My girlfriend had the marinated lamb with chick peas and curried carrot fritters. It had some other items, but i was too enamored with my dish to pay attention. I tasted some of the fritter, which was pretty tasty, with the carrot giving it a semi-sweet taste, and the lamb was cooked perfectly with some solid seasoning.

I had the peanut braised pork shank with udon noodles. wow. At first i was skeptical of ordering this dish, as sometimes when peanut is involved in something it can become too overwhelming, but thanks to the suggestion of our wonderful waitress, i took the leap. Glad i did.

Not only was the peanut not overwhelming, but it was more of just a faint taste of peanut, just enough to give it that "can't put my finger on it" mystery ingredient that accompanies some of my favorite meals (did i mention it was fall off the bone?). Not to be overdone by the protein, the udon noodles were served with green and red peppers and a similarly subtle warm peanut flavor that i later found out (the waitress was nice enough to ask the chef) was the result of adding some butter to cut the peanut flavor slightly. i could eat 3 bowls of that stuff.

3rd course:
My girlfriend had the goat cheese filled doughnuts with sea salt and a side of coffee ice cream, which was pretty good. Nice to see a savory type dessert on the menu, and it worked nicely.

I had the fresh berries with lemoncello whipped cream and sweet croissant. also another really really good plate. the lemoncello was placed in the middle of what looked more like sweet biscuits with fresh berries on top, and what a perfect ending to a meal.

Lemon is also like peanut in that it can be overwhelming, but once again subtlety was king here, and it made the dish. with the faint taste of lemon in the cream mixed with the berries and sugary (light) biscuits, it was a perfect match.

overall a great dinner, one which succeeds from a restaurant week standpoint, as before this was a place i wasn't sure about going to during a non-restaurant week, and now i will surely be heading back.

Ate at Petit Louis for RW. Food was extremely salty and I really enjoy salt! Last year during RW we ate there and the Duck Confit was perfectly flavored. I ordered it this year and it was like someone dumped a salt shaker on it. My wifes roast chicken was equally salty not to mention my wife's salad that had so much salt you couldn't even taste the lettuce leaves. Only our other guests bistro beef, also a restaurant week special, was perfectly seasoned. It seems that more restaurants these days think a lot of salt equals very flavorful food. To me that's a shortcut to which relies less on prep time and other flavorful ingredients.

I went to the Ambassador last night and had a scrumptious meal.

1st course: Meat samosa. The triangular fried pastry was crispy without being greasy. The ground lamb filling had some herbiage mixed in (I'm guessing parsley) which cut out any sort of gaminess which might've been there otherwise, even lambophobes would enjoy it! The viscous brown sauce that accompanied the samosa was sweet and tangy, but somehow worked well with the meat despite seemingly divergent flavors.

My friend got the Mulligatawny soup, which was light but flavorful, and the perfect viscosity.

Main Course: was the chicken tikka masala, and it was also top notch. The chicken was sliced cutlets of breast meat, void of any sinewy tissues or chunks of fat, very clean and tender. The sauce was a great balance of spices, and the rich creaminess helped tone down and blend everything together. You best believe I used the accompanying naan to soak up every last bit off the plate.

Speaking of the naan, it was fresh, airy, pliable, slightly chewy, with a very light bubbly crust. Just the way naan should be.

Desert: was a thin slice of cake with layers of sponge cake, hazlenut cream, chocolate mousse, all covered in chocolate ganache. It was a good ending to the meal but very small.

My only minor complaint was the portion sizes of the appetizer and desert, but my stomach is a black hole...

The outdoor setting was beautiful too.

Does anyone actually read non-expert reviews this long or did I just participate in an exercise of inflated self confidence and importance?

As you can see above I used variations of the word "viscosity" in consecutive sentences. Totally amateurish move there. Such a mistake screams out, "hey look at me I used a foody word to make it look like I know my sh*t!"

I don't expect yall to seriously consider anything I ever post here again. My sincere apologies to everyone.

See my "obvious" post - you're not alone...

Corey - Why all the hate on yourself? I thought that was a wonderfully descriptive review!

Corey, I'm still reading, and I'll bet the brown stuff with the samosa was tamarind chutney.

Viscosity is a foodie word? I last used it discussing grades of motor oil in a parts store.

Corey--don't beat yourself up. I enjoyed reading your review! This isn't deathless prose here, nor does it aspire to be.

Thanks for the kind words Trixie, Lissa, and Dahlink, I was being a bit facetious, I'm glad you got something out of the review!

Lissa, you're exactly right, that was tamarind chutney. Did you know because that's the traditional accompaniment to samosa or because my description was so vivid and spot on!?

Both, Corey. And I'm a fan of tamarind chutney, although I'd usually go for mint chutney with a meat samosa.

Yea, especially with a ground lamb samosa. However, in this instance the tamarind chutney worked.

Now I'm hungry again, I'll provide a detailed review on the banana from 7-11 I'm about to purchase later.

If life were just, Corey, there would be bananas and samosas in 7-11s.

It's not 7-11, but Punjab Groceries & Halal Meat on 33rd has great samosas - nice and peppery. I believe they're $.85.

Lissa, your post made me think of London, where all the good corner stores have samosas. And they're mahvelous.

I need to get over there, sean. I'm out of mango chutney. Their samosas were a bit greasy and stale when I last had them. Maybe I just hit a bad day.

The new 48 bus should make Waverly a bit more convenient to get to.

What I really want is bhel puri on every corner. Yes, I'm hard to please .

Last night, I had one of the best restaurant dinners of my life. Right here in Baltimore. Yes RoCK, I ate out on a Tuesday. A friend and I went to Rocco's Capriccio, where we dined on fine, carefully prepared dishes, served without fuss or fanfare in a relaxing, civilized dining room.

First came a basket of bread accompanied by an aromatic tapenade, redolent with capers, garlic, and a most virginal olive oil. Then a plate of Prosciutto Di Parma, thin slices of superb prosciutto, its saltiness mellowed by peak-of-the-season cantaloupe. Also as an antipasto, we ordered the Vongole Alla Marinara which to me was the highlight of the meal: clams, still tasting of the sea, in a fragrant broth of late summer tomatoes, basil, garlic, and that terrific olive oil, the distinct flavors combining in complex layers, deep and gentle as a lover's touch.

After such marvelous appetizers, we were not let down by our entrees. I had the Red Snapper braised in white wine, tomatoes, leeks, and fresh tarragon. I also tried a bite of my friend's Filetto Di Barolo, filet mignon in a robust red wine sauce with earthy mushrooms. Cooked rare and perfect.

We ate our fill with plenty left over to take home. No room for dessert. We drank a lively Chianti with our meal; it suited all the dishes wonderfully and transported us one step closer to Italy. That, and the genial presence of Rocco himself, made for a most memorable evening.

I highly recommend Rocco's Capriccio to anyone looking for properly prepared Italian food served in a comfortable setting.

were you touched by your server?

No unbelievaboh, nor did we touch him. And we still got great service.

Jeez, between Laura Lee and Corey, I feel like I have been reading food porn. Beautifully written, so descriptive I could practically taste the food..."clams, still tasting of the sea...", I love it!

Brava, Laura Lee! You write so beautifully and deliciously-- always.

I've always wanted to write pornography film scripts!

Mostly vowels, I think, Corey.

Corey, wouldn't porn film scripts be incredibly easy to write? Not much brilliant, witty dialogue, I imagine (not having watched any myself, after all -- I am sweet innocent little YumPo, don't forget). Unless you meant FOOD porn...

There's another avenue you could explore: erotica..but that's another story...or stories.

Don't know where to put this, and it wasn't originally going to be an RW dinner, but since the Sun paid for my dinner at the Prime Rib last night, I have to say something.

Short form - just go already. If money is tight, go for RW. It is so worth it.

I went with a regular here, who can say who they are if they wish (I forgot to ask if they wished to be named). They had trouble parking, but no worries, there is free (of course, one should tip) valet parking.

Walking in was...intimidating. I was raised extremely formally and immediately knew I was underdressed, underformal and not their usual clientele. All those years of being your typical leftie downwardly mobile lesbian have left their mark, I guess. Of course, it would have been tacky of the staff to reinforce any of this, or even to notice. The service was attentive, very good and formal.

I had a similar reaction, not quite as strong, walking into The Oceanaire for RW. The Prime Rib's service was more formal, less welcoming but not snooty (although I can see how some would take it that way).

After deciding the RW menu was fine (although everything on the regular menu was very tempting), we both started with the roasted tomato soup. This was a very generous bowl of, well, competently done roasted tomato soup. It wasn't trendy or exciting, no fusion ingredients, it was soup. It'd be great on a cold winter day.

We also both had the prime rib. I never knew beef could taste like that. It was, quite simply, the most exquisite piece of meat I've ever had the pleasure of eating. At home, I eat dry aged, very good beef. This was light years beyond that. Supermarket beef? Please, this slice of succulence had less in common with supermarket beef than I do with Dick Cheney.

My rare, preciousness came with sides of creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. The latter were, well, very nice mashed potatoes. The creamed spinach was the freshest, most well-balanced creamed spinach I've ever had the pleasure of eating. I suspect people who don't like spinach would still enjoy it.

My companion enjoyed their key lime pie for dessert. I had the creme brule, a dessert that is seldom done correctly. This one was. It was a light, tasty end to a very nice meal.

We had coffee with our desserts. French roast, brewed very strong, the beans were about 4-5 days stale, but, really, at that roast point, it doesn't matter. There is room for improvement there, but at least it wasn't your typical anemic, aged restaurant coffee.

We were the youngest people in the room. I thought the music was too loud, but I don't like noise. It was pleasantly dark, with mirrors everywhere (I'm not fond of mirrors). The seats were cushioned leather.

But, frankly, I'd wear a dress and heels (neither of which I've owned in over 20 years), line dance and go to a disco for another slice of that prime rib. Especially if it came with that creamed spinach. There are very good reasons why the Prime Rib has the reputation it does, and everyone should go eat them for themselves.

Splendid review, Lissa. (I was the dining companion). I second everything you said about the food, though I think the coffee beans were perhaps only 2-3 days stale. The prime rib was glorious.

I'm glad you got to the Prime Rib. It really is the best restaurant in town.

I would have ordered the same as Lissa with the one addition of a glass of pineapple vodka.

Great review, Lissa. I may have to dust off that gift certificate I've been hoarding.

Lissa, I think I missed something. How did you get the Sun to pay for your dinner? And I'm very jealous that you got to eat with the divine Laura Lee!

Dahlink, I think Lissa won one of the "some number of posts" prizes. She did better than me. All I got was a Baltimore Sun coffee travel mug. But it was a really nice travel mug that I still use to this day. :-)

Yes, Hal, I remembered that just after I posted my question. Duh--Friday after a long week!

The 3:52 comment is spam.