Suddenly, mussels and frites are everywhere. Belgian-themed restaurants, fry shops and bars have been cropping up in Baltimore lately. And now, Annapolitans have a new Belgian-inspired hangout.
The featured menu items at Baroak Cookhouse & Taproom, the big and brassy new restaurant inside the Loews Annapolis Hotel, are indeed mussels and frites, those just slightly crispy Belgian-style fries.
Baroak comes with credentials. The executive chef is Teddy Folkman, whose mussels and frites have been winning the hearts of Washington diners since 2007, when he began serving them at Granville Moore's. Folkman remains the co-owner of Granville Moore's, as well as its executive chef of record, although he has turned over the kitchen to that restaurant's chef de cuisine, Jeremy Kermisch.
Folkman is also the founder and chairman of the annual DC Beer Week. And Baroak offers an almost staggeringly large selection of Belgian beers, both on tap and in bottles, about four dozen in all.
On a nice Mid-Atlantic evening, you could find a seat in Baroak's spiffy courtyard or its front patio, order up a few bowls of mussels and a pint or two of Tripel de Garre or Ertvelds Wit, and forget your troubles. Baroak is best approached like this, as a sweet amenity for the inhabitants of a pretty town or the people visiting it.
After a recent midweek visit, I'm not ready to direct you to Baroak as dining destination. There's just not enough on the menu, beside the mussels, to warrant that. There are a handful of appetizers, a few flatbreads and small selections of sandwiches and entrees.
Baroak halfway succeeds at creating a comfortable and spirit-lifting dinner environment. It's a pretty, neutrally decorated room, with expanses of blond wood and copper tile. It feels more Scandinavian than Flemish, really, and there is something a little awkward about the table arrangement, which feels too scattered and loose. There is not a clear demarcation between the bar and dining areas, which sometimes works, but doesn't here. It just looks like bar patrons have wandered across an imaginary line.
So we went for the patio, which is covered and heated, when necessary, and offers a nice view onto the bustle of West Street.
There were no urgent issues with our dinner, but the food seldom distinguished itself or made us notice it much. We've seen this happen before at hotel restaurants, and it's never too surprising. A restaurant like Baroak has to appeal to both savvy citizens and wary tourists alike. I get that, and still it was disappointing.
There were some promising appetizers. I liked the tart tomato-truffle sauce Folkman paired with his crispy and pillowy potato croquettes. And I happily inhaled my share of the brisket taco appetizer, which made great use of tender, flavorful beef, homemade chili-lime tortilla shells and cool cilantro cream.
For a third appetizer, we took a half-order of Folkman's "bleu" mussels, a white-wine preparation with pork belly, crumbled blue cheese, leeks, spinach and preserved lemon. This broth was assertive and intricate, and we liked mopping it up with crusty bread and even sipping it with spoons. (I love, by the way, that our waitress brought us spoons just for this.)
But I wasn't convinced that the preparation worked with the mussels. The same was true of a full-size portion of mussels served with a cioppino preparation. We liked the peppery, saffron-scented broth, but there was something lacking about the dish as a whole. There were issues with the mussels themselves; they arrived less than piping hot and some of the meat had slipped away from the shells.
For other main courses, we chose the "meat lovers" flatbread, which had a slightly undercooked crust and definitely underseasoned meat and cheese toppings. An entree of smoked half-chicken had its strengths, namely wonderfully delicious collard greens and crispy-skinned chicken. But the chicken was dry inside.
The dessert list is just about negligible — cookies and milk, upside-down Oreo cheesecake and a coffee cake sundae.
So, why, readers may ask, does Baroak get 21/2 stars when the food was mostly just decent? For one thing, it wasn't very expensive. The top menu item is $23. And for another, we had a good time. We enjoyed being out on the patio, catching up on our lives. And Baroak managed to mostly stay out of our way, which is more than I can say about some places.
Baroak Cookhouse & Taproom
Rating: ✭✭1/2
Where: 126 West St., Annapolis
Contact: 410-295-3225, baroakannapolis.com
Open: Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner Mondays through Saturdays; open for brunch and dinner Sundays.
Prices: Appetizers $10 to $14; entrees $18 to $23
Food: Belgian-inspired fare and contemporary American cuisine
Noise/TVs: Normal conversation is easy in the dining rooms. There are two quiet TVs in the bar and a third near the entrance to the hotel lobby.
Service: Professional and courteous, with good ideas about ordering, especially from the voluminous beer list.
Parking: On street at meters, nearby lots and complimentary valet parking.
Children: A children's menu includes cheeseburgers, flatbreads, tacos and fish and chips.
Special diets: Gluten-free and vegetarian options, and servers receive training in how to handle allergies and other food sensitivities.
[Key: Superlative: ✭✭✭✭✭; Excellent: ✭✭✭✭; Very Good: ✭✭✭; Good: ✭✭; Promising: ✭]