Calling All Baltimore Foodie Friends!

Have YOU ever wanted to be a food critic? Well here's your chance! Baltimore Magazine is having it's first ever dining-review contest. The contest is to find three restaurant critics to help Suzanne Loudermilk, senior food editor, review restaurants for the magazine’s annual Best Restaurants issue. The contest goes until Oct. 27. CLICK HERE for more info and to enter!

A few details:
To be selected as one of three winners, contest participants should write a review of their favorite Baltimore area restaurant in 150 words or less. The entries will be judged by Suzanne based on creativity, writing style, and food knowledge. The only rules are as follows:

• You must be 21 years or older to participate.
• Only ONE entry is allowed per person.
• Your work must be original and not more than 150 words.
• Baltimore magazine staff and family members, professional chefs and restaurateurs, food bloggers (we are not allowed to enter-- major bummer!!), and paid and published reviewers are not eligible to participate.

Hope one of our clever, funny, and discriminating readers ends up winning this thing. Will you tell us what its like to be FAMOUS??

More posts coming soon (pick your jaw up off the floor, thanks),
X

STL Eats: Gateway to Deliciousness, Pt. 1

by EP



As some of you may know, I spent four great years in St. Louis for college, and really loved my time there. Granted, I spent much of it on campus or in the immediate vicinity. There may or may not have been a few adventures to Illinois for some country line dancing (hello, Wild Country!) our senior year, but otherwise we lived in what was known as the “Wash U bubble.”
I revisited St. Louis in 2006 but that was pre-blog so I have no idea what we ate (except I do remember going to Jimmy John’s TWICE for some reason). A few weeks ago, I made my triumphant return with camera and a LONG list of places to eat in hand.

Summertime eats at B&O

by Erin

Last week we were invited to try some of the new summer menu items at B&O American Brasserie, one of our most favorite spots in Charm City. The evening was a bit more special since it was the night before my birthday and it really kicked off the slew of celebrations we had planned (one of which may result in a new BCD banner but that's still under wraps for now!).

We enjoyed some celebratory champagne while waiting for the other ladies in our party to arrive. We sat at a nice big table in the corner (right next to a mini-kitchen where the charming pastry chef was busily piping marshmallow onto butterscotch tartlets...but I'm getting ahead of myself!) and perused the cocktail menu for our second round -- hey, we were celebrating!

Our first course included the Heirloom Tomato Salad, which had compressed watermelon, parmesan, cherries, and basil from the Chef's rooftop garden. Very refreshing on the sticky July night. We also had two other new summer menu items during this course: the Jumbo Lump Crab on a bed of quinoa with sweet potato, salmon roe, and sea urchin aioli, and the Snapper Ceviche, with avocado carpaccio, puffed grains, and red pepper sorbet. Such interesting flavors and textures - like a feature film happening in your mouth! And what evil genius thinks of uni aioli??

Snapper Ceviche with avocado carpaccio
(picture obviously not taken by the BCD girls)

Jumbo lumb crab on quinoa with sweet potatoes and uni aioli

Second course was the flatbread course, and these are TDF. We seriously had to smack each others' hands away from going for seconds since we knew more food was coming. So. Irresistable. We had the Market Flatbread (which we've had before but it warrants mentioning again) with potatoes, smoked ricotta, baby arugula, and an egg on top. We also enjoyed the Smoked Crab Flatbread and the Confit Duck Flatbread with foie gras and cherries. Seriously drooling as I type this.

Next course we had the Braised Veal Cheek with a very interesting sous vide potato, mache greens, and creamed corn. Holy moly, this was great creamed corn.

We also got to try a bunch of their new mains, including some local Maryland Rockfish with crispy skin, avocado-oxtail risotto, and baby tomatoes; Bacon-Wrapped Amberjack, served with cherry-corn succotash, string beans, and a beer-foie gras vinaigrette. Also meat-wrapped was the "Surf & Turf" - a serrano-wrapped quail (also stuffed with duck I think?) and a perfectly cooked, huge scallop, atop a bed of pea puree and a side of cherry jam. Wow.

Crispy-skin Rockfish

"Surf & Turf" with quail and scallop

We loved the rockfish the best of those fish dishes, but one of the biggest hits of the night was a sneak attack from a Buffalo Duck! Yes, this was a deliciously cooked duck coated in a "buffalo" sauce (but much more sophisticated than that of Hooters just a few blocks away), topped with a lightly dressed coleslaw of napa cabbage and red onion and -- get this -- homemade tater tots. Unlike regular tater tots, they tasted like (gasp!) potatoes and were crispy and crunchy on the outside. Delish.

Quick note about B&O - they have daily specials Tuesday-Saturday, and Tuesday was "chicken fried steak" night, which both of us were eyeing. Unfortunately we didn't get it but it just gives us an excuse to go back, right? Other dailys include housemade sausage and champ potatoes, butter poached Maine lobstah, and sous vide lamb loin.

Finally it was time for a sweet treat -- or 3. The pastry chef came out and presented us with 3 beautiful plates: first we had the butterscotch tart with a bruleed marshmallow topping; we also had a "banana split" with chocolate ice cream, peanut butter tuile cookies, and caramelized bananas, and last we had a sweet corn cake with cherries and some other deliciousness I can't remember because I was slipping into a diabetic coma. All of the desserts were incredible; we loved the banana split and we both love a corn cake, be it sweet or savory.

At the end we were lucky enough to have a few minutes of Chef Reidt's time, so nice of him to stop by. We're looking forward to seeing him at the Crab Bash on Tuesday, 8/3 at 5:30! Did you get your tickets?? Rumor is they're sold out but there might be more at the door...hope to see you there!

Thanks to Amy and Chef Reidt for welcoming us again into B&O for really outstanding summer foods. I can't wait to see what Chef will do with all the cozy fall produce!


Here's to birthday banana splits -

EP

Great Event for a Great Cause!

If you are a regular reader you probably already know how much we love the B&O Brasserie, located in downtown Baltimore, at the fabulous Hotel Monaco. We blogged about it when it first opened, we live-Tweeted their spring menu, and we send anyone and everyone looking for a great meal or cocktail straight to B&O!

And now, we're urging all of you to attend their First Annual Crab Bash. It's summertime in Maryland, after all! This event, to celebrate the restaurant's first anniversary, will take place on Tuesday, August 3rd, at 5:30pm. Seven chefs from around the region will battle to see who has the best crab dish. Guests pay a $10 admission and get the privilege of tasting the competing dishes, enjoying a complimentary cocktail, and watching the battle! Also, guests are entered into a raffle for sweet prizes such as an overnight stay at the Hotel Monaco. The warm fuzzies you get from knowing that your $10 goes to support an awesome cause, The Great Kids Farm, are absolutely free.

More details below, including how to buy tickets. We'll be at the Bash and hope you will, too!

Chefs to Battle it Out in

B&O American Brasserie’s First Annual Crab Bash

Event to celebrate restaurant’s first anniversary,
Proceeds to benefit Great Kids Farm

(Baltimore) – It’s a fight to the death! Ok, not exactly, but it’s still going to be a good fight. In honor of their first anniversary, B&O American Brasserie will host their first annual CRAB BASH on Tuesday, August 3 from 5:30-8 p.m. benefiting the Great Kids Farm. Pitting seven chefs from the region against each other, B&O American Brasserie seeks to find the Best Crab Dish. The crab dishes will be judged by attendees and a panel of local celebrity judges including Baltimore magazine’s Suzanne Loudermilk, Mix 106.5’s Reagan Warfield, and national food blogger Dara Bunjon.

For an admissions fee of $10, all of which will benefit the Great Kids Farm, guests are invited to watch the chefs battle it out, sample the chefs’ dishes and enjoy a complimentary cocktail created for the anniversary by Head Bartender Brendan Dorr. Attendees will also be entered into a raffle for a one-night stay at the Hotel Monaco and a gift certificate for dinner for two, a $100 value, at B&O American Brasserie.

Participating chefs are: B&O American Brasserie’s E. Michael Reidt, Salt’s Jason Ambrose, Brewer’s Art’s Dave Newman, Square 1682’s Guillermo Tellez (Philadelphia), Christian deLutis, Domaso’s Paul Healey (Arlington, VA) and Bambara’s Jay Silva (Boston).

Great Kids Farm educates Baltimore city students about maintaining a healthy and energy efficient lifestyle through a farm that the students, themselves maintain. For more information on the Great Kids Farm, visitwww.greatkidsfarm.org.

What:
B&O American Brasserie’s Crab Bash 2010
When:
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
5:30-8 p.m.
Where:
2 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Admission:
$10 entrance fee
Includes food and raffle ticket
100% of which will go to the Great Kids Farm
Tickets:
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased
by visiting www.missiontix.com or the hostess stand.
Contact:
For additional information, visit
www.bandorestaurant.com or call 443-692-6172.

Top Five Reasons to Visit Tangier's

by Xani

Recently Erin and I were invited to complimentary press dinner at Tangiers, a new French-Moroccan inspired restaurant in Canton. In our excitement to try this new spot, we BOTH forgot our cameras! So, please forgive the even-worse-than-usual photography, as we had to take pictures on Erin's Blackberry!

#5: Cuisine. Where else in Baltimore can you get Moroccan food? Not Mediterranean, not Greek, but Moroccan? NOWHERE, as far as I know. The chef was born in Casablanca and his grandmother, who provided many of the recipes, was born in Tangier.

#4:Great Atmosphere. This large, well-appointed space makes you feel welcome the moment you walk in. There is a large bar and a spacious dining room, with comfortable, cozy tables and flattering lighting (even better if you remembered to bring your real camera!). There are also a number of outdoor tables under big umbrellas, for those days when its UNDER 100 degrees.

#3:Sangria

When it's OVER 100 degrees, like this week, stay in the air-conditioned bar and enjoy a glass of Tangier's tasty red or white sangria. The white was sweet and refreshing, the red (Erin's fave) was more traditional but with a nice, fruity kick!

#2:Briouates Cigars.


By far our favorite savory dish of the evening, these crispy rolls stuffed with flavorful, spicy ground beef were unlike anything I've tasted in recent memory. They came out hot and fresh, and had perfect crunch and spice. Get two orders!

#1: Dessert and Tea.


Absolutely the high point of the meal, the gorgeous tea service and adorable plate of mini-desserts was the perfect end to the meal. We were blown away by the assortment of unusual pastries, candies, and fried treats that arrived after dinner. Even stuffed from our meal of chicken tagine, those tasty Cigars, a couscous special, and a number of other dishes, we couldn't help but dig into this pretty plate. In fact, we would highly recommend you drop into Tangier's for a little dessert and tea al fresco once this heat wave moves along. Hopefully sooner than later!

Keep cool folks,

X

NOLA Pt. 2: Evenings on Frenchmen Street

by Erin



Everyone knows about the French Quarter in New Orleans, but just around the corner from the Quarter is an area known as Frenchmen Street, a place where the locals hang and there's music everywhere. I had heard about Frenchmen Street on my first visit to the Big Easy with Xani in 2007, but had never had a chance to check it out until our most recent trip.

One evening we had a work gathering at an awesome bar called Molly's at the Market -- we liked it so much we went back every night thereafter! Molly's is a friendly bar with great drinks including a Pimm's Cup made with ginger beer, a Bloody Mary with a splash of Guinness and pickled green beans, and a frozen Irish Coffee with vanilla ice cream, baileys, and brandy. YUM! We enjoyed these beverages many, many times :)





One of the best things about Molly's is that since we went every night, we became friends with the bartender, who gave us great tips on where to eat and where to go to hear great music. The first time we went to Frenchmen Street we had a list of recommendations from Christie, our bartender at Molly's.



Friends Lydia, Max, and Cezar and I headed to Frenchmen and checked out the menus of a few places we were considering for dinner. Then we came to Adolfo's, a creole-Italian restaurant atop a music venue (a recommendation from Christie, who said it was "quirky and weird with terrible service - but in a good way"). We walked upstairs to check out the menu and were immediately hit with the intoxicating scent of garlic. Needless to say, our decision on where to eat dinner was made. We sat in the dimly lit, cozy space and our waiter explained the rules: no credit cards, and no oysters tonight. Got it.

The waiter brought a plate of garlicky bread while we perused the menu. My friends ordered eggplant parm (very good, cheesy, and spicy), escargots (very garlicky and buttery), and a fish dish topped with shrimp, crawfish, and crab in a creamy creole sauce -- a house specialty.



Eggplant parm - spicy and SO cheesy!



Blurry, buttery escargots



Shrimp with seafood topping, pasta on the side

I got linguine with a creamy, spicy sauce and shrimp and crawfish. Divine! It was just what I had been craving and it really hit the spot. I highly recommend Adolfo's for good, down-home Italian in a laid-back atmosphere.



Spicy, creamy pasta with fresh seafood -- irresistable!

After dinner, we wandered across the street to listen to some music at The Spotted Cat, where St. Louis Slim was playing his steel guitar along with a band that included a WASHBOARD and a tuba! We listened all night long and enjoyed the evening breeze and a beer. Great, great night.



So great, in fact, we tried to recreate it the next night! It was our last night in NOLA and we wanted to go out with a bang. We headed over to Frenchmen Street around 7 to catch some of the earlier acts. We ended up at d.b.a. and listened to two great artists/bands: first we listened to Luke Winslow-King, who reminded me of a young JFK (but hotter), who played some great blues/bluegrass with the same washboard-player/percussionist from the night before!



Next, a band called Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes played some great blues/funk and had the whole crowd on their feet. No shortage of cute musicians here either.



After a couple hours of music and yummy beers at d.b.a. (they have over 20 on tap, lots more from around the world in bottles), we were looking for some late-night eats. We walked about a block to 13, the sister restaurant to Molly's. And sister resto to Molly's = late-night frozen Irish Coffee!!

We got some great food at 13, including Tater Tachos (nachos made with tater tots instead of chips - GENIUS in concept and in name), pizza, a veggie po' boy, and a breakfast burrito. I got the best chicken salad sandwich I've ever had - it was an Asian chicken salad with sesame oil, sliced almonds, and fresh greens on toasted multi-grain bread. A-mazing.



Tater tachos!!



Veg po' boy





Asian chicken salad sandwich on toasted multigrain bread

Some of the best times of the trip were had on Frenchmen Street - great friends, great food, great booze, and great tunes. Can't wait to get back there! And I was so inspired by the great music, I recently signed up for swing dance classes!

More NOLA posts coming soon! Hope everyone had a fantastic 4th!

Happy tater tachos -
EP

NOLA Eats: Part 1 - Adventures in Po Boys

by Erin

Hey BCD fans! Remember us? We're those slacker girls who sometimes blog about food...



Anyway, speaking of food, we just got back from one of the culinary epicenters of our country: New Orleans!! A big bunch of us from work (including Xani) were attending the National Urban Area Security Initiative conference (not Xani - she was just there for vacation!) and got to spend almost a whole week in the Big Easy! This was my fourth visit to NOLA (longtime readers will remember previous visits) and my longest visit, so I was ecstatic to spend 5 whole nights in one of my most favorite cities in the world.



Now, we did a lot of eating while in the Big Easy (or, as we came to call it, "The Big Sweaty" since it was SO HOT and SO HUMID), so we'll do several posts about some of the great food we enjoyed. Tonight I'm writing about two of my po boy experiences.

We arrived on Sunday evening, checked into our hotel, and hit the French Quarter, which was about a 10-15 minute walk -- a walk we did often. We tried to hit Johnny's Po Boys for sandwiches, but they were closed. So, we headed to a place called Coop's Place for Po Boys. It was definitely a down-home, local place and we had to wait a long time for a table. We finally got two tables and chowed down!

First we started with a couple bottles of Abita beer, which was a staple in our diet for the week. We started dinner with this sampler platter called "Coop's Taste Plate" that had Seafood Gumbo, Shrimp Creole, Red Beans & Rice, Rabbit and Sausage Jambalaya, all topped with a piece of Cajun Fried Chicken. YUM! The red beans and rice had such a delicious hammy flavor and a great texture. But the fried chicken took the title - it was incredibly juicy, crunchy, and SPICY from all the great creole spices in the coating. Popeyes, you're outta here.



I got a Shrimp & Oyster Po Boy as my main, and while it was great to have some great fried seafood, I was not overly impressed with the sandwich overall. There were no condiments -- no glue, if you will -- to keep everything together.



A yummy mayo or other topping would have really spiced it up. There was some mayo on the shelf next to our table but it was about 90 degrees out and wary of tableside mayo. I tried a little on my sandwich but in the end just enjoyed the seafood, minus the sandwich.





Fried shrimp Po Boy of a colleague; you can see they are very generous with the portions!

A few days later, I ended up on a journey for more Po Boys with friends and colleagues Cezar and Paris (both of whom are great travel buddies, aka great eaters!). Paris had heard about a place called Parkway Bakery & Tavern that supposedly had GREAT po boys. Parkway is located in a part of the city called Mid-City, so we hopped in a cab and arrived a few minutes later. There was a bustling lunch crowd in the sunny, comfortable diner. We stood in line and tried to decide what kind of sandwich to get. Since I always get some sort of fried seafood po boy, I decided to go for a specialty of theirs: the roast beef po boy.

For some reason I was expecting deli roast beef on a bun. Boy was I mistaken. This sandwich (on house-baked bread, BTW) was overflowing with incredible roast beef brisket, plus gravy. And of course I got it "fully dressed" - lettuce, tomato, pickle, mayo.



And speaking of being "dressed," I practically was wearing the sandwich by the end of it - messiest thing ever! (Sorry no pics - I was so excited to eat this sandwich I forgot!). I had to eat it with a knife and fork after about 1 bite, but it was so good.

Cezar and Paris got fried shrimp po boys that looked amazing and were overflowing with sweet, crunchy shrimp. We got some regular fries and some sweet potato fries to share and they were both excellent (and you know I'm a fry snob!). Last, Cezar got a piece of rum cake, which he shared with me and Paris. It was very good - not too sweet, not too rummy.



In short, Parkway is SO worth the $10 cab ride across town. It's down-home, delicious, and better than most things you'll find in the Quarter.

More posts about NOLA coming soon! We did a lot of eating and drinking, including one of my new favorite drinks: the Pimm's Cup! Why the hell don't we have that up north?

Happy NOLA eats -
EP

Pit Beef: The Research Continues

by Erin

Readers might recall that a few months ago, I went to Chaps BBQ to try their infamous pit beef sandwich. Since then, I have been to TWO other pit beef stands to try their beef, fries, and tiger sauce. Here are their stories:

Pit Beef Stop #1: The Canopy (9319 Baltimore National Pike, Ellicott City, MD)

As I mentioned in the Chaps post, I have fond memories of going to Canopy with the BCD family when I was younger, often after a lacrosse or field hockey game. After reading my post about Chaps and my reference to the Canopy, friends Bryan and Laura suggested we hit up Canopy since it was near their house and -- amazingly -- neither of them had ever had it before! I was excited to go back to The Canopy after having been away for so many years. We arrived and the smell of the pit welcomed us.




I ordered my usual: pit beef sandwich, medium rare, with tiger sauce, and an order of their boardwalk-style fries for the group to share. There are no tables at the Canopy anymore (there used to be but since it burned down and was rebuilt, the tables have been removed), so we grabbed a bit of sidewalk nearby and had a little picnic.



Saxton family and their sandwiches!

The sandwich was great - well-cooked, charred on the outside, with a strong smokey flavor from the pit. The tiger sauce was PAINFULLY horseradish-y, but in a good way! Who needs sinus-clearing meds when you have this stuff?



Sunset-lit pit beef sandwich

Bryan and Laura also got pit beef sandwiches, which they also enjoyed. Baby Noelle had her first pit beef too! Bryan reported that the sandwich wasn't big enough for him. I think next time he should get a pit beef sandwich AND a pit turkey sandwich and report back to BCD fans.

Like I said, we shared the fries and while we ate them all (quickly), they were not as awesome as I remembered from back in the day. They just weren't hot enough or salty enough for my taste...



Before...



After!

Overall, a great experience on a lovely spring evening! I loved hanging out with the Saxton family and having a satisfying sandwich, fries, and trip down memory lane. I definitely recommend The Canopy if you find yourself amongst the chain restaurants of Rt. 40 and want a good, down-home, Maryland classic for lunch or dinner.

Pit Beef Stop #2: Pioneer Pit Beef (1602 N. Rolling Road, Woodlawn, MD)



Last week, co-worker and friend Ben suggested that we go to this pit beef shack off of Security Blvd. He couldn't tell me the name, just that there's a shack with "pit beef" written on the side, and that it's really, really good. Amazingly, the Yelpers helped me out (see link above) and I determined that the place is called Pioneer. The reviews echoed Ben's feelings on the pit beef and I was excited to see for myself.



We gathered a crew from work and headed to the shack, which is only open from 11-5, Monday-Saturday. Even on a gloomy, muggy Friday, the line was long and all the picnic tables beside the shack were packed.



Again, I ordered my usual pit beef sandwich, medium rare, with tiger sauce. This time, I also got thinly sliced onions on the sandwich. I'm not a huge fan of raw onion in general, but it IS a traditional topping and I decided to add it on this time at Ben's urging.

The line moved slowly and we moved into the shack foot by foot. It was like waiting in line for a ride and the anticipation was building. I may or may not have danced around a bit in excitement. When I got to the first little window to order, the guy was right there at the window with the deli slicer. I said medium rare, he slices off a piece of thin, juicy, perfectly-cooked beef and hands it to me to sample. Ridiculously good. Needless to say, the excitement dance continued in line on the way to the cashier's window.

One thing (of many) I liked about Pioneer was that they dressed the sandwich for you, so you could just grab it and go. They were also super-sweet and organized, and tried to keep the line moving without being brusk.

We had to take our lunch to go since we had to get back to the office (and also because there weren't really any seats outside) so when we got back to the office, it was go time. Like the sample earlier promised, the sandwich was GREAT! The meat was perfectly cooked, the bun was fresh, and the thinly sliced onion added a nice bite to the sandwich. A slight criticism was that the horseradish sauce wasn't strong enough for me, could have been a lot stronger. But overall, a great sandwich.





Again, however, I was unimpressed with the fries. Is it me? Are my standards so ridiculously high that no one except for Brewer's Art, 5 Guys, and Xani can make fries that I deem acceptable? Perhaps it was because they were not fresh due to the trip home, but I made a point of nibbling them before we headed home for that very reason, and even then I was not that impressed.



Ben got gravy fries, another old-school Maryland treat



So, where does this leave us in the hunt for the best pit beef? I think Pioneer takes it over Chaps or Canopy. The beef had the most flavor and juiciness; I am STILL thinking about that sample they gave me. Although Chaps and Canopy had better horseradish sauce, perhaps I could ask for stronger/more horseradish next time I go to Pioneer to make the ultimate pit beef sandwich. And don't worry, there will be a next time.

If I hit up anymore pit beef stands (recommendations welcome!), I'll be sure to let you know where it falls in the heirarchy.

Viva la pit beef!
EP