Baltimore magazine - Dining Reviews

Dining Review: Bond Street Social

Suzanne Loudermilk — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:56:03 +0000

A Fells Point restaurant provides a congenial setting for mingling over food.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

We were smitten from the beginning when a server brought warm mini-cornbread muffins with a dish of jalapeño butter “from the chef.” The kitchen was sharing a complimentary amuse-bouche. Soon, we were sharing, too.

Dining Review: Roy's

Suzanne Loudermilk — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:58:02 +0000

Roy's celebrates 10 years at Harbor East.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

"What?" "Huh!" "I can't hear you." That pretty much describes the noise level at Roy's Baltimore and a lot of our conversation during a recent dinner there. The cacophonous din is a sharp contrast to the soothing mango colors, soft golden lighting, and dreamy artwork of island flowers and palm trees in the restaurant's dining rooms. But if you're not there for a cozy tête-à-tête or to negotiate world peace, you can count on Roy's for a memorable meal that blends seasonal foods with the allure of Hawaiian cuisine and classical preparations.

Dining Review: Indigma

Suzanne Loudermilk — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:50:19 +0000

Indigma survives in a nearby Mt. Vernon location.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

What do you do if your successful restaurant is suddenly gutted by a raging fire? If you're chef/owner Tony Chemmanoor of Indigma, you take matters into your own hands and move across the street.

Dining Review: Grace Garden

Evan Serpick — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:17:02 +0000

Discover exotic, authentic cuisine in an unassuming strip mall.

By Evan Serpick

If you weren't looking for it, you would almost certainly pass Grace Garden without giving it a second thought. Situated in a strip mall in Odenton, adjacent to a chicken-wing joint, it looks like any of the countless Chinese takeout restaurants in the area. But if you were keen enough to notice the glowing reviews in the window, or the glorious aromas pouring out of the kitchen, you might discover some of the best Chinese food in the region.

Dining Review: Thames Street Oyster House

Suzanne Loudermilk — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:13:02 +0000

A new Fells Point restaurant serves up oysters and a taste of New England.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

For months, the tall windows and doors at 1728 Thames St. were plastered with thick brown paper. Construction trucks were out front, but curious passersby (including me) couldn't tell what was going on in the centuries-old Fells Point building.

Soon enough, there was a big sign announcing that a restaurant was opening. But construction dragged. It would still be many more weeks before diners got a glimpse of the inside of Thames Street Oyster House, the dream of owner Candace Beattie.

Dining Review: Vino Rosina

Suzanne Loudermilk — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:01:52 +0000

Vino Rosina hasn’t missed a beat with its new top chef.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

When a big-name executive chef leaves a restaurant less than a year after it opened, diners rightly wonder if the shakeup will change the vibe of the new place. After all, Jesse Sandlin brought her cooking verve, colorful tattoos, and Top Chef-status in great style to Vino Rosina in May 2010. All seemed well. But by early 2011, she was gone by "mutual beneficial agreement," according to owner Jim Lancaster.

Dining Review: Fair Hill Inn

Baltimore magazine — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:55:46 +0000

The Fair Hill Inn in Cecil County blossoms with its own produce—and more.

By Martha Thomas

Fair Hill Inn's farm-to-fork approach to a dish is simple: Fuss all you want around the edges, but don't mess with what's in the center of the plate. This isn't to say the food is plain. In fact, every dish boasts a handful of flourishes. But all the sauces, gastriques, and demi-glaces don't detract from the flavors of the main ingredient.

Dining Review: Chazz: A Bronx Original

Suzanne Loudermilk — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:04:02 +0000

Chazz Palminteri opens his first restaurant here

By Suzanne Loudermilk

For the month of June, Baltimore was star-struck. An actor came calling, and we rushed en masse to embrace him. We were thrilled that Chazz Palminteri had discovered us—and even more excited that he deemed us worthy of a restaurant.

Dining Review: The Olive Room

Baltimore magazine — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:03:40 +0000

The Black Olive’s owners open The Olive Room

By Bianca Sienra

When the Inn at The Black Olive—Stelios Spiliadis's long-awaited Fells Point eco-hotel—finally opened in March, buzz about its über-environmentally friendly construction (so advanced they call it "deep green") and its commodious Greek Agora Gourmet Market pretty much overwhelmed any talk about what sort of restaurant it would boast. That tells you how cutting edge this place is.

Dining Review: Te Amo

Suzanne Loudermilk — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:45:08 +0000

A Canton piano bar tunes up its act

By Suzanne Loudermilk

In many ways, Te Amo restaurant is like a frustrating beau who can be fun and thoughtful, but who sometimes doesn't get the big picture. And just when you're ready to dump him, he does something surprisingly intuitive.

The piano bar in Canton is like that. It first billed itself as a Spanish tapas bar, which confused people who were expecting food along the lines of Tapas Adela. Te Amo's small-plates menu is more casual and less focused.

Dining Review: Venegas Prime Filet

Baltimore magazine — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:38:55 +0000

Venegas proves to be a prime place for steak (and more)

By Bianca Sienra

Once upon a time, way back in the high-on-the-hog days before 2008, dining on massive hunks of pricey beef and sipping even pricier Cab in a posh steakhouse was a guilt-free pleasure, to be indulged in often and with gusto. But après le deluge, well, you know the rest of the story: When the age of austerity arrived, steakhouses suddenly seemed about as politically correct as burning $100 bills in a homeless shelter. If you could afford to do it, you sure didn't want to admit it.

Dining Review: La Scala Revisited

Suzanne Loudermilk — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:53:41 +0000

This popular Little Italy restaurant continues to impress.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

The romance and charm of going to Little Italy for dinner never wanes. Sure, there are newer, spiffier places in town dishing up Old World fare, but there's something magical about heading to this city neighborhood that looks as if it's been frozen in time with its Formstone row houses and decades-old restaurants.

Dining Review: Corner BYOB

Suzanne Loudermilk — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:39:21 +0000

Unleash your appetite with kangaroo, yak, and python at this new Hampden restaurant. Oh, my!

By Suzanne Loudermilk

I felt like I was channeling chef/adventure eater Anthony Bourdain as I carefully cut into a grilled kangaroo tenderloin at Corner BYOB in Hampden recently. My friends were a little aghast that I was going to eat Roo. Actually, so was I—though the medium-rare loin was lean and delicious. Like ostrich meat, I thought, determined not to think of the Winnie the Pooh character.

Dining Review: Mari Luna

Baltimore magazine — Sun, 15 May 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Mari Luna brings its suburban success downtown.

By Bianca Sienra

In a town not particularly known for a surplus of truly great Mexican restaurants, Jaime Luna and his family basically changed the landscape in the mid-2000s with not one but two wildly successful (and deservedly so) venues in Pikesville—the original hole-in-the-wall gem, Mari Luna Mexican Grill, and its more upscale (and more Pan-American) sister a bit farther down the road, Mari Luna Latin Grill.

Dining Review: Demi

Suzanne Loudermilk — Sun, 15 May 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Demi subtracted from Crush equals a separate restaurant.

By Suzanne Loudermilk

It's not quite like a secret club where you have to find a hidden door and give a password, but getting into Demi requires some know-how. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it's inside Crush restaurant on a lower level, and that you check in with the main hostess by the door.

You'll be led down a short flight of steps—glance to the right and you'll see the remains of the sliding board that once delighted a generation of kids when the place was Hess Shoes—into, voilà, Demi.