The closing of Lennys Chop House last Saturday has gotten all the press because it was so high profile, but we've lost several other restaurants in the area.

The Tuscany Grill, which opened last summer in Timonium, is dark now, and the phone has been disconnected. I can't say I'm surprised -- the competition was stiff. And even though the food was upscale and good, the place looked like a chain eatery on the outside.

Appetite, which opened in October, has also closed. It was Billy Himmelrich's restaurant in the Stone Mill Bakery in Green Spring Station (formerly Ecole).

A reader writes to tell me that Restaurant Peninsule in Shady Side ("Great French dining" and "excellent atmosphere," he says) is gone. I haven't heard anything else about it, but the phone has been disconnected.

Crazy about mom

Just in time for Mother's Day, Tony Guarino has named Federal Hill's newest bar after his mom. The bad news is that it's called Crazy Lil's (27 E. Cross St.). Not to worry. It's a loving nickname. Guarino is the owner of Dooby's Bar & Grill in Canton, and the new place will eventually serve much the same bar food. (That's once the kitchen is completed -- he's hoping it will be in a couple of months.) But Crazy Lil's won't, he says, be quite as much of a restaurant as Dooby's is.

Best light desserts

On newsstands now is American Health magazine and its "Best of Everything Healthy Coast-to-Coast Awards." Baltimore gets a nod among the best light restaurant desserts. The winner: Spike & Charlie's banana tart. Sliced bananas, phyllo pastry, caramel sauce and fewer than 300 calories.

Table Talk welcomes interesting tidbits of restaurant news. Please send suggestions to Elizabeth Large, Table Talk, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278; fax to 410-752-6049; or e-mail to elizabeth.large@baltsun.com.