There's a reason my esteemed colleague and grammar guru John McIntyre is paid to run the copy desk and not write about food.

BECAUSE HE THINKS CINCINNATI CHILI IS THE WORLD'S GREATEST FAST FOOD.

Gak.

John, John. Let me remind you of the hamburger. And while I'm at it, the slice of pizza. The taco. Fried chicken.

Instant noodles, for heaven's sake. Speaking of which, did you know there's a World Instant Noodle Association? But that's a subject for another post.

(Photo of a three way by Michael E. Keating/Cincinnati Enquirer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

 
Whoever came up with those days of the week on the Baltimore Summer Restaurant Week Web site ought to get a raise. OK, it doesn't take much to amuse me on a Friday.

This post is basically just a reminder that Restaurant Week starts tomorrow. There are some new features at  many of the 90-plus restaurants participating this year, such as wine pairings, cooking classes, and tasting menus. Also look for specials at city parking lots. ...

Continue reading "Yumday, Chewsday, Winesday, Thirstday, Fryday, Platterday, Dim Sumday" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Along with the other losses of friends and colleagues in the next couple of weeks, which I'm trying not to burden you with, we're losing the current food service, Sodexo, at The Sun cafeteria. Today is its last day. This wouldn't have bothered me so much a few years ago, when I was always going out to lunch. But since  Dining@Large started, I'm so much busier I find it cheaper and easier to eat downstairs most days. Quality of food has almost nothing to do with it.

A new food service will be in place Monday, but I consider this to be The Sun cafeteria, and it's like losing an old friend. An old friend you wouldn't want to introduce to your newer, hipper friends; but you are secretly fond of. ...

Continue reading "Goodbye, Sun cafeteria as we know it" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                    

Tim the Classic Music Critic, my deskmate and sometime dining companion, walked in just now and said, "What recession?"

A friend had a gift certificate to Christopher Daniel in Timonium, and they went last night. The place was packed, Tim told me. Every table was taken on a Wednesday night.

He, and I, find that pretty amazing given that a) Christopher Daniel isn't a cheap restaurant, b) in mid-July a lot of folks are away and c) there's supposed to be an economic downturn. ...

Continue reading "What recession?" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

I haven't heard from Owl Meat today with his usual Funtastic Thursday game. He hasn't been commenting as much as usual either. Perhaps he's actually involved in something important in the real world. I hate that.

I was thinking about him and his mystery ingredients yesterday when I was reading the pint carton of skim milk from Giant I was having for lunch. It was very mysterious. ...

Continue reading "The mysterious milk carton" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                    

Continue reading "The Zagat 2009 survey is out with some surprises" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)
                    

Well, maybe not really. But it does seem like Frederick has more than its share of excellent restaurants for a sleepy little Maryland town. Which, of course, it isn't anymore. Frederick's notable restaurants include but are not limited to Acacia Fusion (Asian fusion), Cacique (Mexican and Spanish), Cafe Nola (American), Isabella's (Spanish), Monocacy Crossing (American), Orchard (emphasis on healthy),  the Tasting Room (American) and more, but I'm getting bored with linking to them.

Now Volt is opening this Friday. Talk about cutting edge; just take a look at the Web site. And I'm about to call Michael Tauraso to find out about his new barbecue place and grill, Black Hog, which is supposed to open in mid-August.

This could be worth a story like the one I did on all the excellent upscale Eastern Shore restaurants. 

Why Frederick? Probably because it's become a bedroom community for DC, at least that's my best guess. If you have any other ideas, please post below. 

(Photo courtesy of Volt) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

My favorite part of John's post today was the bachelor salad. It opened up whole vistas for me that I never suspected existed.

We all, of course, know about normal examples of singles cuisine: eating directly out of the ice cream carton, eating directly out of the peanut butter jar, drinking directly out of the milk carton.

Also weird definitions of meals, like calling a bowl of cereal dinner. (I never did this because I'm not fond enough of cold cereal even to have it for breakfast, but that's the only reason.) 

I'm amazed no one yet has posted his or her really awful example of singles cuisine. Well, this is your opportunity. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)
                    

Clearly we haven't exhausted the sandwich theme yet. I should have had a Sandwich Week this summer instead of Crab Week. Who knew?

Anyway, Multimedia Editor Etc. John Lindner has taken this opportunity to weigh in on the subject by sending me a few Shallow Thoughts about his favorite places to eat...yes...sandwiches. (He was, by the way, the first person I ever heard refer to them as "sammies.") ...

Continue reading "Shallow Thought Wednesday" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                    

OK, so not everyone was enthralled at the idea of a Top Ten about cheese plates, although some posters were more polite about it than others. (I'm not counting Donny B, who had me laughing so hard I fell off my chair.)

Wing was ready to move on to a new subject:

I looked through the archives and didn't see any mention of this before in your posts, but have you ever considered a "Top Ten Bagel shops" or breakfast sandwiches? I struggle to find a decent place every time i want one.....

Bagel shops that aren't chains are, as regulars know, problematic; we've discussed them ad nauseam before. But "breakfast sandwiches" is a category I hadn't thought of. ... 

Continue reading "The breakfast sandwich" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (45)
                    

You know how I'm always asking for mini-reviews of restaurants I haven't been to and I never get any? Well, this morning there were two in my mailbox.

This one was from Meg, about Lucy's Irish Pub near the Hippodrome, which used to be Maggie Moore's:

...visited the old MM's on Sunday (now Lucy's) - found the menu largely the same and still good food...love the atmosphere! We had a rehearsal dinner there in December and it was spectacular!!! Found out that John and Maggie are still here (live in Silver Spring) but her mom is ill in Ireland and she's going back...Owen promised us an update when we return. They hosted a cast party for Rene Zellweger on Saturday night and had fun! We live in Gaithersburg and we had NO Irish places here at all, which is why we schlepp over to Charm CIty all the time!!

And then Claire sent me the following about Fins in Canton, where the Granite Bar used to be, not to be confused with Fin in Fells Point. (Fins may very well have a Web site, but just try Googling for it.) ...
 

Continue reading "Two guest reviewers review Lucy's and Fins" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
                    

I love cheese. The problem is that when I'm reviewing, cheese plates aren't something I order much because they usually aren't the restaurant's specialty and they are often meant to be shared, which means one fewer thing I can try.

So I turned to someone who's a cheese expert, LIVE reviewer Richard Gorelick, and asked him. I had actually thought of the ones he mentioned, but it was nice to have them confirmed. Yes, they are for the most part the usual suspects, but as Richard put it so well:

...[They are] more or less obvious choices, and I know you like to mix it up, but isn't it funny how good restaurants are good because they do so many things well...

Here's the list.  A couple of these restaurants have siblings; I decided to choose one. If you don't agree with all the choices, blame me, not Richard: ...   

Continue reading "Top Ten Places to Get a Great Cheese Plate" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 4:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (48)
                    

Jon Parker raised an interesting question under an earlier post that's worth an entry on its own.

It's a bit more cosmic than I'm willing to tackle in your typical 15-inch review, but eminently blog-worthy, since here we discuss life, the universe and everything, including whether Baltimore needs another mostly American steak and seafood place like the new Fin in Fells Point.

I guess the marketplace will answer that even if we don't. Certainly Baltimoreans didn't flock to Nasu Blanca, the first example that comes to mind of a (dare I say unique?) restaurant that failed recently. Its specialty was Japanese and Spanish food.

I'm sure there were many reasons Nasu Blanca didn't make it, but one of them was that it didn't have a wide enough audience to stay in business because it was too off beat.

(Karl Merton Ferron/sun photographer) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
                    

There are many things in my inbox that don't amuse me when I sign on Monday mornings, but this e-mail from Julie did:

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
                    

For some reason my review of Riptide by the Bay in Fells Point yesterday got people so excited they started talking about it under the Next Sunday's Review post. I think it was the crab cake sandwich with bacon that did it for them. Currently the question under discussion is whether it would be better without the remoulade sauce.

Anyway, now it's Monday morning and we can continue talking about the restaurant or the review under this post, or about anything else that occurred to you over the weekend. (I don't know why I bother throwing in that last option. Like any of you would be shy about veering off topic.)

(Amy Davis/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
                    

I just got back from my weekly trip to the supermarket (OK, semi-daily), and I think there has to be a law passed about what constitutes 10 items in the express lane. With police intervention and possibly a jail sentence for violators.

Now, I'm not an unreasonable person. I myself have more than once said, "Well, 11 is almost 10." And that's true. I just pretend I miscounted, or can't count. I would never get angry at someone having 11 items, or even 12.

Is the definition of 10 twelve items or fewer? ... 

Continue reading "Define "10 Items or Less"" »

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (67)
                    

The dining room in the basement of the Admiral Fell Inn is most famous for being the place where Cindy Wolf of Charleston first made a name for herself in Baltimore. The series of restaurants that occupied the space after her Savannah closed were all pretty good as I remember, but none seemed to strike the public's fancy in the same way.

The latest is Fin Steak & Seafood, a not-so-memorable name for a restaurant whose kitchen can produce some memorable food. For more on Fells Point's newest fine-dining spot, please read my review next Sunday in the Arts & Life Today section. 

(Elizabeth Malby/Sun photographer)

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 5:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
                    

I'm finally catching up with what my other favorite colleague-bloggers are doing, and I want to point out two food-related posts in case you missed them.

One is John McIntyre's. He's always been remarkably friendly to me even though I'm a troublemaker. But anyone who indulges in both shameless self-promotion and nepotism in one post has my undying respect. Besides, his son has a great name for his new food blog: Eat, Drink, Man, Weblog.

The other is my friend Midnight Sun Sam, who I'm grateful isn't leaving after all with the recent staff reductions. If he left not only would I be the world's oldest teenager, I'd be The Sun's only teenager.

Sam just did a post on the Little Morocco Cafe, which I had never heard of. Anybody know anything about the food? (Not interested in the tobacco.) 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

Here's the link to my Artscape story on the Green Food Court. If you read it in the print edition, you'll notice that the Fig Leaf Farm is called the "Big Leaf Farm" in the photo caption, although it's OK in the story.

I think we can all agree that "Fig Leaf" is a much better name, and a correction will be forthcoming.

Yesterday was a very difficult day for a lot of people with the staff reductions being announced, so I'm not surprised a mistake slipped in. 

And, no, I'm not going anywhere. 

Posted by Elizabeth Large at 7:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)