Baltimore magazine - Food & Dining

Best Restaurants 2012

Suzanne Loudermilk — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:57:56 +0000

We pick our very favorite 45 places—and rank our top 10

Edited By Suzanne Loudermilk. By John Farlow, Henry Hong, Suzanne Loudermilk, Jane Marion, Karen Nitkin, Bianca Sienra, Martha Thomas, and Mike Unger

Decisions, decisions! That’s the challenge we face each year as we reflect on which restaurants should be included in our annual “Best Restaurants” list. There are so many choices in a town that’s finally getting national recognition for its food scene. We debated our findings and came up with 45 Baltimore-area restaurants that we think are the crème de la crème. But 10 of those rose a bit above the rest, and we couldn’t resist ranking them.

A Touch of Class

Baltimore magazine — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:37:03 +0000

Channel your inner Giada or Emeril at these area cooking programs

By Jane Marion

What’s cooking in Baltimore? From sushi to Thai food to homemade pasta, pretty much every cuisine under the sun. Lucky for us, Charm City is blessed with an array of classes for fledgling cooks and experts alike.

People are heading home to the range for a couple of reasons. “The meteoric rise of the Food Network helped fuel foodie awareness and enthusiasm,” says Jay Blotcher, a media specialist for the Culinary Institute of America in New York, a leading training ground for chefs.

Sea Change

Jess Blumberg — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:58:49 +0000

Heavy Seas beer expands its brand with a new alehouse

By Jess Blumberg

Back in 1989, Hugh Sisson opened Baltimore’s first brewpub, Sisson’s. After several years, he decided to leave the pub, move his beers to a larger platform, and established Clipper City in Halethorpe, which is the area’s largest brewery and home to Heavy Seas beer.

Now, more than 20 years later, Sisson is coming full circle by opening Heavy Seas Alehouse this month, a branded restaurant located in the old Holland Tack Factory.

Cocina Cubana

Suzanne Loudermilk — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:27:50 +0000

The country’s cuisine comes to the market

By Suzanne Loudermilk

Before Marta Ines Quintana opened Havana Road Cuban Café (8 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Towson 410-494-8222), she had a line of products in stores offering a taste of her native land—from savory mojo to sweet dulce crema. Now, she’s taken another step in sharing her authentic cuisine. She recently introduced refrigerated packaged meals to area Whole Foods Markets. Of the nine microwavable dinners available, including vegetarian options, we sampled two and were pleased with the results.

Grapevine: February 2012

Baltimore magazine — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:24:21 +0000

Big love: Celebrate Valentine’s Day with bold wines

By John Farlow

“How deep is your love?” the Bee Gees once asked. The same could be asked about your choice of Valentine’s Day wine. Are you planning a cozy fete to express your feelings or do you require a vinous prelude to a night out on the town? Whatever the case, here are three bold wines to represent your big love.

Off the Eaten Path

Baltimore magazine — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:22:59 +0000

Manor Tavern

By Bianca Sienra

Imagine the perfect food-lovers’ expedition: A ride through the rolling hills of Maryland horse country, and, at the end of the road, a quaint, pre-Colonial stone house turned restaurant. It’s a place that grows its own vegetables in expansive gardens on the property and sources its meats and dairy products from local farmers. Imagine that there’s a creative young chef in the kitchen, who, guided by that farm-to-table ethos, turns out dishes that highlight pure flavors and proper cooking rather than fussy preparations and heavy sauces.

A Woman’s Place

Suzanne Loudermilk — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:17:41 +0000

Bringing back the past in food and spirit

By Suzanne Loudermilk

Irene Smith is a go-getter. She was on board last year for the food-truck trend with her Souper Freaks mobile van. Then, she set her sights on the vacated dining space in the Woman’s Industrial Exchange (333 N. Charles St., 410-244-6450). In December, she officially opened the Woman’s Industrial Kitchen, an homage to both the comfort food once served by doting waitresses and to other Maryland women—famous and unknown. Tables, for instance, pay respect to Billie Holliday, Emily Post, and Nancy Pelosi with photos and passages. The menu reveres women, too.

Dining Review: Waterfront Kitchen

Suzanne Loudermilk — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:47:20 +0000

A Fells Point restaurant offers a feast for the eyes and palate

By Suzanne Loudermilk

The view at Waterfront Kitchen is stunning. It may be the best vantage point along the harbor. Expansive windows showcase the water, boats, cityscape, and Baltimore’s iconic Domino Sugars and Tide Point signs. Even our waitress says that when she has a free moment, she relaxes by looking out at the postcard scene from the west Fells Point location.

Dining Review: Wit & Wisdom: A Tavern by Michael Mina

Suzanne Loudermilk — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:41:52 +0000

Baltimore’s newest hotel restaurant (mostly) shines bright

By Suzanne Loudermilk

With all the gushing going on about the new Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore, it’s no wonder that expectations were high for its restaurant Wit & Wisdom: A Tavern by Michael Mina. Opening parties and dinners were held in mid-November, luring the glitterati with freebies and tours. People were awed by the swank, contemporary space that some have dubbed a “museum.”

As Easy As (Pot) Pie

Suzanne Loudermilk — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:28:45 +0000

Restaurants embrace the comfort-food dish

By Suzanne Loudermilk

Pot pies may be a well-known diner staple, but lately they’ve been showing up on the menus of some of the fancier places in town, including Waterfront Kitchen in Fells Point. The new Woman’s Industrial Kitchen also serves pot pies, reminiscent of its former tea-room days. But when you mention pot pie in this town, many people immediately think of Casey’s Bar and Restaurant in Parkville (1742 E. Joppa Rd., 410-668-1616) and ask reverently, “Have you had their pot pie?” Now, we have. And it’s a doozy.

Winging It

Baltimore magazine — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:31:58 +0000

Without much training or education, Bill Bateman has turned a tiny bar into a multi-million dollar franchise.

By Mike Unger

Bill Bateman never donned a cap and gown, never shifted the tassel from one side of the mortarboard to the other, never clutched a diploma.

He’s revealing this, the regret evident in his eyes, as he sits at a table sipping a glass of HobNob Pinot Noir at the Parkville restaurant that bears his name. There are 17 other such restaurants scattered from Edgewater to southern Pennsylvania, a mini chicken empire that has rendered Bateman’s name synonymous with Buffalo wings in this city.

Sweet Spots

John Lewis — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:08:28 +0000

Local candy companies pull back the curtain and reveal how they're the real Willy Wonkas of Baltimore.

By John Lewis

Around the Christmas and Valentine’s Day holidays, a curious thing happens outside a Wilkens Avenue row house near Saint Agnes Hospital. Before sunrise, people brave the frigid temperatures and line up in front of what appears to be a garage behind the house. Outfitted in winter garb, they’re in surprisingly good spirits despite being exposed to the elements. Baltimoreans have been making this pilgrimage for decades, because the row house—its blinds drawn and curtains pulled—doubles as a candy factory, and the garage houses the city’s legendary candy shop, Rheb’s.

Grapevine: January 2012

Baltimore magazine — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:37:51 +0000

Break the ice with these wines

By John Farlow

Freezing conditions outside inspire us to have a closer look at ice wines. These decadent dessert wines are made from the juice of frozen grapes. Since most of the grape’s moisture is locked up as ice, only a small amount of sweet nectar is extracted when the grapes are crushed.

Off the Eaten Path: The Lost City Diner

Baltimore magazine — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:30:40 +0000

By Martha Thomas

The Lost City Diner in Station North has finally revealed itself after being unwrapped from the brown paper that clad the building for, oh, so many years.

And whether you are in the mood for a juicy cheeseburger with fries slathered in gravy, a roasted pepper stuffed with quinoa and walnuts, or an authentic egg cream, you’re in for a treat.

Catering to a Dream

Baltimore magazine — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:26:55 +0000

Larry’s 1332 reflects its owner’s vision

By Karen Nitkin

Before the massive sandwiches arrive, but after the Maryland crab soup with knuckle-sized crab lumps is devoured, Larry Schwartz emerges from the kitchen at Larry’s 1332 (1332 Sulphur Spring Rd., Arbutus, 443-304-2841), the cafe he opened last summer. He’s dressed charmingly casual in a worn black sweatshirt as he stops at each table, not seeking praise but instead asking what he can do better. Sorry, Larry, but we wouldn’t change a thing.