Baltimore Restaurant Week: January 20-29, 2012

Parsnip maple bisque with roasted apples and a cardamom creme fraiche

Where: The Brewer’s Art, located in a beautiful, old townhouse in the historic Mt. Vernon neighborhood.

The Deal: a three-course meal for $30 per person.

Why: We’ve been to their bar/lounge and had a good experience. Why not try their fine dining for a change?

Roasted beet and blood orange salad

I do love restaurant week in Baltimore. I try to go to a different restaurant every time one occurs. It’s a wonderful way to experience the cuisine and atmosphere of restaurants you’ve been wanting to try, are a wee bit out of your price range, or you just want a good reason to go back to them.

The Brewer’s Art is famous for their award-winning beers (the most popular being the ‘Resurrection’) which they brew on their premises. Their bar and lounge areas are fun, chic, and comfortable and their dining room, simply elegant. The food is quick to get to you (and hot) although I wish the wait staff were a little more attentive. My glass of water was left empty several times for quite awhile. But that’s such a minor complaint for some delicious cuisine!

Utz crusted cod with horseradish potato mousseline, sweet
and sour red cabbage, and mustard sauce

For variety, we each ordered different items and shared (although everyone receives the same dessert for the pre fixe menu). Our appetizers were a parsnip maple bisque and roasted beet and blood orange salad. The bisque was amazing- sweet, creamy, and lightly spiced while the salad was colorful and flavorful.

For our main dishes, Nick had baked kabocha squash ravioli with root veggies, bitter greens, pears, chestnuts, and brown butter sage cream. The subtle flavors and textures of this dish melded well. I had a mouth-watering, Utz (the potato chip!) crusted cod. The fish was very tender and well matched with the red cabbage, mustard sauce, and horseradish potato mousseline on which the cod sits, beautifully presented.

Tres leches cake and a chocolate torte

The desserts were a rich, dense (but moist), chocolate torte with a drizzle of raspberry sauce and a tres leches cake with a custard sauce that was just simply delectable.

I will definitely have to eat there again!

Check out the participating restaurants for Baltimore Restaurant Week at:

http://www.baltimorerestaurantweek.com/

Mexican Fare and Lighted Boats

To Christmas it up further, the husband and I went to the Baltimore waterfront, on Saturday, December 3, 2011, to watch the Parade of Lighted Boats on one of the piers in Fells Point. The parade is sponsored by the Fells Point Yacht Club. It was actually pretty darn fun. The boats came up to the pier, blaring music (some had choirs on board singing carols), one boat threw candy to the crowds on land, and all were showing off their flashy lights and decorations. I was amazed at how many boats participated.

After the parade, we stopped at Arcos for dinner. Arcos is a Mexican restaurant located on Broadway in Fells Point, in a somewhat sketchy area. I’ve been there once before, when I ate meat and enjoyed the experience. We thought we’d go back and try some of their vegetarian options this time around.

What we ate: quesadillas and vegetarian chile relleno (each dish came with a side of rice and refried black beans)

As far as Mexican food goes, Arcos was just average this time around, although their refried black beans were quite tasty. The quesadillas were, well, just quesadillas. They were stuffed with cheese and vegetables. Nothing fancy. Chile relleno is a roasted and fried, stuffed pepper, usually a poblano, which is stuffed with just about anything, but one of the most common fillers is cheese, or cheese and potatoes. At Arcos, the poblano pepper was stuffed with cheese and mixed vegetables. It was almost like eating a vegetable stew. Different, but not bad.

If you’re ever in Fells Point, I’d give them a try. But Fells is known for their many authentic Mexican (and other Hispanic) eateries, so you can try any place and it would be just as enjoyable.

Fireworks and Vietnamese Cuisine

Because I generally spend the holiday season in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio and not in Baltimore, this year I decided to get off my bum and make a move to get into the holiday spirit, Baltimore style!

Washington Monument- Baltimore, MD

The hubby and I padded ourselves down with winter garb and headed to the neighborhood of Mt. Vernon, just north of downtown Baltimore, on December 1st, to watch the 40^th Annual Lighting of the Washington Monument. The monument was the first ever erected to George Washington even before the monument in D.C. was built. Every December, the city holds a lighting ceremony, complete with Christmas choirs, laser light shows, food vendors, and fireworks.

Summer Rolls

After the lighting, we trekked down to a Vietnamese restaurant called Mekong Delta Cafe, which I’ve been meaning to try for awhile. It’s a small, family owned, hole-in-the-wall joint, located in downtown Baltimore, not far from the Lexington Market. As soon as you open the door, your nose is greeted by the wonderful, and subtle, smells of Vietnamese cuisine. The restaurant was busy. Unfortunately, we had to wait 20 minutes before getting a seat, suffering through the delicious aromas wafting from the open kitchen.

Noodle Soup

What we ate: vegetable summer rolls with peanut sauce, vegetarian noodle soup, and stir-fried mixed vegetables in garlic sauce

The food was very good and in heaping amounts. The vegetables in the soup and stir fry were fresh and still had a slight crispness to them. The flavors were light and warming (but not spicy) while the summer rolls were overstuffed and refreshing. I thought I was going to die from eating so much food.

Stir Fry

If you’re into inexpensive, good yet filling and tasty Vietnamese fair, with friendly service, I’d definitely recommend this restaurant. It’s also great place to eat for vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters alike. However, if you don’t like to wait, another restaurant may be best.

Local: The Book Thing of Baltimore

My husband and I agree that one of the best things in Baltimore, is the Book Thing. The Book Thing is a free bookstore that is open only on weekends and is within walking distance from our apartment. There are no catches- you can just walk in, peruse the aisles, and walk out, happy as a clam, with an armful of books. They of course, also take book donations and have a book dropoff outside their door for days that they are not open. They have three rooms of nothing but books, all for the taking! I often take out-of-towners there who enjoy reading.

At the Book Thing, I have found such treasures as National Geographic magazines from the 1940s  to a ton of Patricia Cornwell novels (which I love to read).

However, what I flock to first, upon entering, is their ‘Cooking’ section. Since the books are free, the variety of books they have changes frequently. (I have been known to not pick up a book then later decide that I do actually want it then proceed to go back the day I saw it or the next day and it would be gone. Generally, this results in me kicking myself for having possibly missed out on good recipes!)

Some days are better than others for cookbooks at the Book Thing. Every once in awhile, I’ve gone in and found nothing but microwave cooking cookbooks- a fad that never really caught on.

But some of my good cookbook finds are as follows: two 1970s Betty Crocker Cookbooks, Christmas Cookies, four Bon Appetite recipe collections, a fondue cookbook, salads and dressings, and a neat 2-in-1 Quiche and Soufflé Cookbook from 1972 (one of those cookbooks where the front is all quiche recipes then you flip it over and the back contains the soufflé recipes).

If you are in the Baltimore area, definitely check it out and pick up some free cookbooks (or any other type of book you might desire!):

Location:        

3001 Vineyard Lane

Baltimore, MD 21218

Hour of Operation: 9am-6pm Saturday and Sunday only

http://www.bookthing.org/