I'm biased. I make no pretense to the contrary. Maisy's, 313 N. Charles St., is my favorite go-to lunch stop within reasonable walking distance of my downtown Baltimore office. The menu has never disappointed in quality and care. There've been days when I thought the service a bit relaxed, but then they've never seemed busy enough to get the staff adrenal glands really pumping. Nevertheless, much as I love Maisy's, it's not the very first place I'd send someone who's in a hurry. With that in mind, I deliberately put the screws to Maisy's to see how they'd fare in a luncheon time trial.
12:04 p.m. We enter Maisy's. We're greeted and seated. Four minutes later, we're sipping iced tea. Three other tables are seated, and a fourth walks in a few minutes later. To round out the scientific research aspect of our visit, we decide to order starters as well as a main course. This accomplishes three crucial objectives. One, it puts a little extra pressure on Maisy's to get us in and out in an hour. Tick tock. Two, it gives us a wider sense of the menu. Three, it will help assure we don't leave hungry.
12:10 p.m. We order. My fellow investigative diner orders the blue cornmeal calamari fritti and the chopped salad. I pick the bison carpaccio, the pronunciation of which I mess up in a vain attempt at worldliness. I meant to say carpaccio, but my brain sent out signals for cannibal and things got fouled up at the tongue. Our waiter did not smirk. For a main course, I picked the brick-oven pepperoni pizza, not something I'd normally consider for lunch, but I've tried most of Maisy's sandwiches. I wanted something different. The waiter left and returned in a nonce to inform us that they were out of bison carpaccio.
After a brief pause to absorb the letdown, I glanced at the menu. How had I missed the duck egg roll? I love duck.
It seems like the city's been working on Maisy's side of Charles Street since it opened. The cyclone fences that made businesses on the east side of the block look closed for months are down. But work continues. The day we visited, swarthy men with big cool toys were surfacing the lane abutting Maisy's curb. At one point, our host stopped by and apologized for the heavy odor of hot tar macadam. I've never seen Maisy's crowded for lunch. I've often wondered if the roadwork outside its door has something to do with that.
12:22 p.m. The starters arrive. The calamari is perfect, tender, lightly breaded, and the pomodoro sauce has a distinct and delightful nutmeg note. The duck egg roll is huge and hearty. Its hoisin coulis adds spicy zip. This starter could easily be a finisher; it's big enough for a main course. My bias remains intact.
Twelve minutes later, the salad and pizza arrive. The pizza is enormous, covering the dinner plate on which it's served, and good, beginning with an excellent crust that reminded us more of pastry than pizza. Pomodoro sauce, mozzarella and 2-inch wide pepperoni disks are a nice addition. My friend liked his salad — generous avocado, a nice creamy dressing — but did not rave.
My pizza came in at $13, which is not something you want to get addicted to, but we were dining for research purposes and journalism, so money was less of an object. The good news is, there's enough of a Maisy's pizza for two. Even after sharing with my fellow researcher, most of mine left with me in a box. Also true, at $8.25 and $7.95 respectively, the calamari and duck roll each represent the cost of the average tavern burger. But either one would make a good lunch, so if you're looking to break the burger/sandwich cycle, they are options. The chopped salad was $7.95.
1:02 p.m. Bill paid, the clock stops. In and done in just under an hour. Cut 12 minutes for the starters and we'd be left with 14 minutes walking time. No problem. In this visit, my fellow researcher and I were amazed by the service, to the point that I wondered if maybe we'd been made. But for the life of me that seems absurdly unlikely. Or maybe Maisy's is paying a bit more attention to the clock these days.
The thing is, if I did get in trouble for getting back late from Maisy's, it'd be worth it.
Where: 313 N. Charles St.
Contact: 443-220-0150
Lunch hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily
Lunch entrees: $9-$15
Food: ✭✭✭
Service: ✭✭✭
Atmosphere: ✭✭✭
[Key: ✭✭✭✭: Outstanding;✭✭✭: Good;✭✭: Fair or Uneven;✭: Poor]