After 20 years of working together at Pete's Grill, a Waverly comfort-food landmark, sisters Cathy Carter and Debbie Crum took a gamble and opened their own restaurant, Two Sisters Grille, in nearby Remington.
The offerings and atmosphere of Two Sisters resemble the restaurant they left behind: good, cheap food, with an emphasis on fast, filling breakfast fare such as egg sandwiches ($3), pancakes ($4.50) and French toast ($4.50).
Lunch includes meatloaf ($7.95), as well as half-pound burgers ($4.30), liver and onions ($6.75) and tuna sandwiches ($4.40). The menu could have been created in the 1950s -- there's not a scrap of ethnicity or a hint of recent trends on it, just simple, homey food. The front cover even boasts a charming line drawing of the two owners, who grew up in Hampden, smiling and standing close to each other.
Below that drawing is a bold claim: "The New Home of Baltimore's Best Breakfast!" The morning meal, a focal point for the restaurant, is served until 3 p.m. And to the restaurant's credit, customers can certainly fill up on scrapple ($5.50), waffles ($4.50) and grits ($1) without breaking the bank.
But best in Baltimore? Sorry, no. The pancakes, available with blueberries or chocolate chips for an additional buck, have an almost too-sharp buttermilk tang, and are not particularly light or fluffy. The waffles aren't really large enough to be properly called Belgian, as the menu claims, and the link sausages are fatty.
On the plus side, a veggie omelet ($5.50) (like others at the restaurant, made with only two eggs) was filled with fresh, still slightly crunchy green pepper and onion, as well as bits of tomato and potato. The grits were creamy without being overly rich, and the French toast ($4.50), dusted with confectioner's sugar and gently flavored with cinnamon, was close to perfect.
These dishes arrive without garnish -- not even a chunk of pineapple or sliver of orange to break up the blandness of the plate. Ordinarily, that would be fine, but if you want to be known as the best, you have to give a little something extra.
Even my chocolate milkshake, which should be a home run at a place like Two Sisters, was more like a run batted in. It was thin and tasted strongly of chocolate syrup. And it arrived in a tall glass, not the metal milkshake canister, and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. That's not standard milkshake protocol.
None of these problems are serious, and most could be remedied by creating a different boast on the front of the menu. Instead of bragging about the breakfast, why not call attention to the excellent, friendly service (food is delivered by one or both of the sisters) and the freshly made items, such as turkey breast that's roasted on site, meatloaf made by Crum and home fries created from scratch every morning?
Two Sisters suffers a bit from its odd location, not far from the Baltimore Museum of Art and Charles Village, but not close to other business ventures either. To get the word out, Crum and Carter have started offering a free spaghetti dinner on Thursday nights. That's right. Free. Customers pay nothing at all for a plate of spaghetti with marinara sauce. A meatball will run $2.50. As another lure, Saturdays are karaoke night. The owners are also trying to build up their dinner business and have started adding nightly specials.
Carter said she and her sister, who are five years apart in age, rarely fight, but opening a restaurant has been stressful, especially since the two women do it all themselves, with Crum usually in the kitchen and Carter running the front of the house.
They have their spats, Carter said, but "we're both still alive. We work pretty well together because we've done it so long." Two Sisters may be a work in progress, but it's built on experience and affection, and those are good places to start.
Two Sisters Grille
Where: 127 W. 27 St., Baltimore
Call: 410-467-0550
Hours: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday, 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday
Credit cards: Cash only (there's an ATM inside)
Prices: Soups, salads and sides, $0.75-$6.50, entrees $1.35-$7.95
Food: ** 1/2 (2 1/2 STARS)
Service: *** (3 STARS)
Atmosphere: ** 1/2 (2 1/2 STARS)
[Outstanding: **** (4 STARS) Good: *** (3 STARS) Fair or uneven:
** (2 STARS) Poor: * (1 STAR)