Weekend of Non-Stop Eating

Christmas Street  (34st Street in Hampden- Baltimore, MD)

Acting goofy and ready to dip!

Two Ohio friends of ours, Adam and Katie, came to Baltimore for the weekend and what better way to experience a city then through its food and culture? We took them to the Lexington Market (a 200+ year old market), Edgar Allen Poe’s grave, the Waverly Farmer’s Market, and also to the overly bright and fantastic 34^th Street in Hampden, i.e. ‘Christmas Street’, which takes Christmas to the extreme (http://www.christmasstreet.com/). It was a little bit too cold and windy to do outdoor activities, mostly, so it was inside we stayed, playing games, and eating the time away with gusto!

Photo by Katie

The weekend highlight was Nick’s 31^st birthday. We held an ugly sweater and fondue party for the occasion, on Saturday, which turned out wonderfully. Everyone donned an ugly sweater and a friend and I made two different cheese fondues (a white wine and Swiss fondue and a cheddar beer fondue) and a chocolate amaretto fondue for dessert. Two fondue pots were set up at each end of the table and friends brought the dippers. There were sides of Sriracha devilled eggs (made by Adam), salad, cheese and crackers, and potato salad. We ate until we all felt like we were going to pop, while 70s music and funk blared from the stereo.

And, finally, the restaurants we attacked this weekend with our friends:

Pete’s Grill (there is a previous review of Pete’s in my blog)

Papermoon Diner

Cinghiale
Golden West

Me enjoying my cranberry ginger pear bread pudding at Papermoon Diner (Photo by Katie)

Papermoon Diner is one of my favorite places to take out-of-towners in Charles Village. It’s good diner fare in a kitschy, multicolored atmosphere, where your menus come to you within recycled (and modified) old children’s books and toys cover everything. And I do mean everything! It’s a vegetarian friendly restaurant. They have decent prices and give you a ton of food that is not your usual diner fare (although they do have the traditional stuff too).

Bruschetta sampler from Cinghiale (Photo by Katie))

For more upscale dining, we feasted at the Italian restaurant Cinghiale at Harbor East. Three of the four of us opted for the three-course meal option for $29, which includes several types of bruschetta for the appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. Katie had squid ink farfalle and grilled calamari. The dessert, a brown sugar bonet (think flan) with candied bourbon pecans was amazing. Unfortunately, Cinghiale has very few vegetarian options on their menu, but they are willing to modify their dishes to suit your needs (we had both the waiter and manager come over to assist us in vegetarianizing our order).

Teriyaki Brussels Sprouts with a black bean burger and garlic fries at Golden West Cafe (Photo by Katie)

I’ve never been disappointed in Golden West Café in Hampden. The food is a hodgepodge of different types of cuisine. Although it mostly resembles Mexican cuisine there are also American style foods on the menu as well as Asian. Their garlic fries are outstanding. They’re like a garlicky version of carnival fries. And I even got my husband, Nick to try the teriyaki Brussels sprouts. Even though I didn’t order it this time, the Aztec Burrito is definitely worth trying.