Baltimore's BEST Havens for the Hungry Traveler
Written: Mar 20 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Scrumptuous food in comfortable surroundings
Cons: None
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| mrkstvns's Full Review: Baltimore |
Visiting Baltimore and wondering where to go to find the best food? Looking for friendly places that won't break the bank? Well, here's the list of my 10 favorite restaurants in Baltimore.
I lived and worked in the Baltimore area for several years, and still return to the area often to visit family and friends. While I don't pretend to be the most practiced restaurant critic in the world, I know that I like cozy, friendly feeling places with delicious, fresh cooking and good service. But be warned: I always favor distinctive, regional flavors and local hangouts over mass-market chain restaurants. If you're the kind of person who thinks Olive Garden is a good italian restaurant, then you might want to move on to another reviewer.
Haussner's, 3244 Eastern Ave. (Canton)
Haussner's has been a Baltimore fixture for so long that I'm sure Francis Scott Key and H.L. Mencken must have gone there for sauerbraten and rhubarb pie. What really makes this place stand out is its utter devotion to excess. Every nook and cranny and every square inch of wall space, from the basement to the attic, is covered with some type of artwork. There are paintings representing every imaginable genre and timeperiod, along with sculptures and folk art pieces. You could spend a week just wandering around looking at the walls! The menu too is a monument to excess. Tons and tons of choices, mostly German food, but with lots of American dishes too, including the ubiquitous crab cakes. Waitresses are mostly kindly old grandmas wearing the kind of starched waitress uniforms that you thought died out back in the 1954. Funky, traditional, tacky, and utterly delicious! Maybe a little old-fashioned, and definitely the kind of place your Uncle Bob would have gone, but still a must-experience place. Of course the waitresses will call you "Hon"...
Bottom Line: If there exists only one restaurant that is Baltimore, it's Haussner's: there is no substitute.
John Steven Ltd., 1800 Thames (Fells Point)
Good seafood and ambiance make this a no-brainer as one of the best places to chill out for an informal dinner with friends. When I was in college, this was a cool little hole in the wall. Now, almost 20 years later, it's a trendy little place with an expanded dining room and outdoor garden dining. There's a sushi bar in the bar area, and the menu is definitely oriented towards seafood. Last time I was there, they had a scrumptious Louisiana style crab etouffee with a sharp cayenne pepper sauce. There's also a good range of beers on tap, including some local craft brews plus some of England's best ales. Try a draft hard cider!
Brewers Art, 1106 N. Charles St. (Mt. Vernon)
Before I say too much about Brewers Art, I must confess that one of the restaurant's owners -- a real gentleman named Volker Stewart -- is a good friend of mine and is a fellow connoisseur of Belgian food and drink. Most appropriate given the emphasis on Belgian-style beers. This is a classy brewpub serving up innovative, modern food. I recommend trying the tapas platters, with a variety of light appetizers. The beers are always a treat! Complex with huge flavor profiles not found in typical American, English, or German style beers. There's a Rodenbach clone, a Duvel clone, a Hoegaarden clone, and lots more. Not only are the beers true gastronomic adventures, but this is one of the few restaurants that goes to the effort of serving each beer in an appropriately shaped glass! Few restaurateurs even know that the shape of a glass affects flavor and aroma perception. Hats off to Brewers Art for going that extra mile into the realm of passion! The dining room is wonderful with lots of rich dark woodwork, hardwood floors, and working fireplaces. Very elegant!
Sisson's, 36 E. Cross St. (Federal Hill)
I love the cajun food at Sisson's and always start off my meal with a hearty bowl of gumbo. For a light lunch, I'd recommend the po-boy. For dinner, I'm partial to the blackened redfish. I love sitting in the downstairs dining room, with its copper-clad tables that overlook the restaurant's small brewery, which turns out some light-bodied, but fairly typical English-style ales. I don't always care for their pale or amber ales, which are light to my palate, but I do like their subtly assertive Gunga Din IPA and I always recommend trying the seasonal offerings, which are often excellent.
Bertha's, 734 S. Broadway (Fells Point)
"Eat Bertha's Mussels". Anyone who has been around Baltimore for long has seen those tacky green and white bumper stickers. This is the Bertha's. Mussels, obviously, are the thing to eat here. You order a big bowl of steamed mussels, along with your choice of dipping sauces (or just some melted butter). Mussels along with a basket of hot, fresh-baked crusty bread and a pint of one of the many draft ales, and you're all set for a relaxing meal with good friends. They occasionally have live music in the bar. Great atmosphere, with sort of a nautical English pub type feel. Plank floors, wood walls, and tons of tacky old ropes, nets, and ship motif stuff round out the experience.
Thai Restaurant, 3316 Greenmount Ave. (Waverly)
Ten years ago, this was the only thai restaurant in Baltimore. There are others now, but this place still serves up tasty lunch specials at good prices, and I used to go here often with friends from work, so it holds warm memories for me. I love the chicken in coconut milk soup with a light lemon grass flavor, and I always go for the subtly spicy Pad Thai with its bit of peanut flavor. The decor is a bit dated, the exterior facade uninspired, and the neighborhood is slightly marginal (park in back -- there's a convenient back door). Nonetheless, the place is friendly, the food is excellent, and the prices can't be beat.
Birds of a Feather, 1712 Aliceanna St. (Fells Point)
This is a restaurant with passion, but because of that, I hope you'll only go here if you are the kind of person who shares the passion. This place is eclectic. It's distinctive. It's got character. There are weird things on the menu: game birds, venison steaks in pepper sauces, homemade game sausage, and the like. It helps if you are seriously into scotches. Not just any scotch, but Single Malt Scotch Whisky. If you think Johnny Walker or Cutty Sark is good scotch, then this is not the place for you. Birds of a Feather has a Scotch list that's more extensive than most restaurants' wine lists. More than 100 single malts. Know the difference between a 21-year old speyside and a 10-year old islay? If so, then you owe it to yourself to go to Birds of a Feather now!
Wild Mushroom, 647 S. Montford St. (Canton)
Two words: Portabello Pizza. No, this is not pizza with portabello mushrooms on it. It's the heads of giant portabello mushrooms serving as the crust for a pizza topped with a rich tomato sauce and lots of veggies, other mushrooms, or other toppings. Mmmm! Good selection of beer too, with a decided emphasis on the Belgian styles. For some reason, I always find myself gravitating towards a bottle of Corsendonk when I'm at Wild Mushroom. Small, friendly place located in a residential area.
Akbar, 823 N. Charles St. (Mt. Vernon)
Long-time pioneer in bringing Indian cuisine to the denizens of Baltimore, this restaurant in a rowhouse basement in trendy Mt. Vernon has been around for more than a decade. Walk down a short flight of stairs and open the door into a world of curries and pungent spices. They've also got a wonderful lunch buffet where you can try several different kinds of food, as you try to figure out what best suits your own palate. If you're not comfortable with curry, or other pungent indian spices, I'd recommend getting the Tandoori chicken, which is the classic pink-colored chicken, coated in a yogurt sauce then baked in a stone oven.
Tio Pepe, 10 E. Franklin St. (Mt. Vernon)
Tio Pepe is a very upscale spanish restaurant that's been popular with Baltimore's movers and shakers for some 20 years now. (This is the only really expensive restaurant on my list.) Top-notch service and a dedication to authentic spanish cooking are what sets Tio Pepe's apart from the crowd. They have an excellent wine list featuring several of Spain's top vintages. My favorite dish is the seafood paella -- a bed of saffron scented rice covered with shrimp, mussels, clams, bits of lobster, and more. Sheer decadence!
Where to Go Tonight, Where To Go...
There are lots of other good places around town to eat, but when I'm looking for someplace reliable, these 10 restaurants are the places I go. There's some big gaps though -- whole neighborhoods where I don't have a favorite place, or popular kinds of food that aren't on my top list.
Here's a few extra gap fillers:
* Crabs: Obrycki's -- see my epinion about wearing a bib for info about Baltimore's best place to eat crabs.
* Inner Harbor: Capitol City Brewing -- I'm not crazy about their beers (too light), but the food is almost always pretty good, if a bit overpriced
* Pizza: Al Pacino's -- middle-eastern wood-fired brick oven pizza with some unusual topping combinations...how about some caviar and salmon on that pizza??
I don't claim that my list represents the trendiest places in town. They aren't the fanciest restaurants, they aren't the most innovative, they aren't the flashiest, and most of them probably won't show up on the "best" lists of most local restaurant critics. What these restaurants represent are places where I feel at home. Places where I get good food, good drinks, good service, and all at good prices. They're the kind of places that I take friends, and that's why I'm telling you -- my epinions friends. Provecho!
Recommended:
Yes
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