I got the idea for this Top 10 when I noticed Chocolatea now has outdoor seating, and it's always filled.

If you're like me, you love to eat outdoors this time of year. I've done a couple of Top 10s on the best places, but they are all obvious. And therefore crowded.

This list is made up of some unexpected choices and new restaurants I went to recently and made note of the fact they would be a good place to eat once the weather improved.

If you have other suggestions that folks might not know about, please post below.

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

Continue reading "Top 10 Places You Might Not Think of to Eat Outdoors " »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (52)
Categories: Outdoor Dining, Top Ten Tuesdays
        

I've ignored Mark a couple of times when we've been talking about places to eat outdoors (sorry, Mark) because I just don't know if there are any local restaurants that ban smoking in their outdoor eating spaces. Maybe if I make this a separate entry, someone will tell us if there is any smoke-free al fresco dining to be had in Baltimore.

I'm more sympathetic to smokers than you might think for a nonsmoker, and expect people to be smoking if I eat outdoors. But once I was eating outside at the Newsroom, a vegetarian, organic cafe in Los Angeles, and was so startled to smell smoke, given the nature of the place, I turned around to look. ...

Continue reading "Smoke-free outdoors dining" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
Categories: Outdoor Dining
        

 
Gertrude's at the BMA is the place that comes to mind for most folks looking for a nice place to have lunch outdoors. I wanted to make up a list of other restaurants you might not have thought of that have scenic spaces beyond a few tables on the sidewalk. I'm avoiding Harborplace and the restaurants around the lake in Columbia; everyone knows about them.

I couldn't come up with 10 that no one would think of, but at least this will give you some alternatives for a good lunch in an attractive outdoor setting: ...

Continue reading "Top Ten Places to Eat Lunch Outdoors" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (21)
        

Realbaltimorefan posted this comment this morning under Next Tuesday's Top Ten:

I would like to see the "Top Ten Places You Probably Haven't Thought of to Eat LUNCH Outdoors (That Are Also Baltimore Finds)". I'm not sure if there are Ten places that fit this description, but Gertrude's at the BMA should certainly be considered. Personally, I prefer dining "alfresco" at lunch (hopefully sitting in the shade with the sun shining) rather than dinner.

While I'm not sure I could come up with 10 good candidates, especially that you haven't thought of, it's a topic worth discussing. My votes would go to spaces that have a lot of plants/flowers/trees around them. Art sculpture gets them bonus points. ...

Continue reading "Looking for lunch in all the right places" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Outdoor Dining
        

 
Do you know how much I hate it when any other part of the paper encroaches on my territory? OK, b (I refuse to put the name in bold as it does; is that childish of me?) isn't exactly part of the paper, but still.

Anyway, b's cover story is on places to eat outdoors. I know that's of interest to many of you, so I feel compelled to link to it. Don't say I don't take care of you.

Would it be childish of me to capitalize the b?

I guess so. 

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Outdoor Dining
        

Every week I get an e-mail from the Baltimore City liquor board about upcoming hearings. I'm struck by the fact that this summer every e-mail seems to contain more and more bars and restaurants with a "request to provide outdoor table service." (I bet they're reconsidering that today, ha ha.) This week's included Eden's Lounge and Kisling's Tavern. Baltimoreans are really embracing the al fresco dining thing this year.

I love eating outdoors, as you know; but even I was nonplussed by the tables outside Tapas Teatro and Sofi's Crepes last week when we went to a performance at Everyman Theatre. If I had been the people sitting at them, I would have felt as if I was eating in a construction zone. In fact, I would have been eating in a construction zone. But it didn't seem to bother any of the diners. ...

Continue reading "Eating outdoors" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)
Categories: Outdoor Dining
        

A lot of people won't be satisfied with this list because it doesn't have any Harborplace restaurants on it, and that's where their out-of-town visitors want to go. But I decided not to include any national chains, so that limited me.

If you want a great view of the water, you may have to settle for some good but not great food. My list took into account the view first, then the food.

Mark asked me to include whether smoking was allowed outside, which seemed to me to be a reasonable request except that I ended up making up this list yesterday, and I just didn't have the energy to also call every restaurant to ask. But if anyone knows, please post below.

Here's my list: ...

Continue reading "Top Ten Places to Eat on the Water" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (56)
        

As you know, Next Tuesday is the first Tuesday of the summer because Memorial Day is the start of summer. I'm not going to say "unofficial," because that's a weasel word. We all know it's the start of summer. I say when it's OK to wear white shoes, it's officially summer and forget solstices.

Anyway, in case you don't remember, Donny B. suggested best places to eat on the waterfront. I've got to get started on it if I don't want to be sitting at my computer all day next Monday when I should be grilling hamburgers or whatever.

Please post suggestions below, but stay away from crab houses because that's the Top Ten for Crab Week (June 3).

Sigh. That reminds me that one of my all-time favorite waterfront dining places was Gabler's crab shack on the Bush River near Aberdeen, but it's long gone. It had a sink in the dining room where you washed your hands after picking crabs.

(Kenneth K. Lam/Sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
        

Thanks to middlervmuncher for reminding me of the Oregon Grille's beautiful outdoor eating space. It should have been included in my list.  (The comment is under last Tuesday's Top Ten, but it was just posted today, so you might have missed it.)

I ate there last summer for the dining guide. Mark Henry's food is worth the trip anyway, and the terrace is such a nice place to enjoy it.

By the way, we're starting to think about themes for this year's dining guide. (Last year's was Hot Spots.) Suggestions welcome for what you might like to see covered; please post below.

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Outdoor Dining
        

It's Top Ten Tuesday again, and we're going through a spell of pretty good May weather -- just right for al fresco dining, as the high falutin' food magazines like to call it. I like eating on a beautiful terrace or well-landscaped patio so much that the setting is sometimes as important as the food in where I decide to eat this time of year.

Here are my current 10 favorites -- restaurants that have great outdoor seating -- in no particular order ...

(Michelle Gienow/Special to the Sun)

Continue reading "Eating outdoors" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: Outdoor Dining, Top Ten Tuesdays