Peter's Inn, Baltimore

[David McDuff]

This is my first contribution to the DC/DelMarVa forum, as I spend most of my eGulleting around the Philly forum. I was surprised to find nothing -- unless I just didn't look hard enough -- about Peter's Inn, located in Baltimore's Fells Point neighborhood. I've enjoyed it for years and recently had the opportunity for a revisit and write-up.

The following is an excerpt from a full write-up which can be found at:

McDuff's Food & Wine Trail -- My Favorite Baltimore Haunt.

Founded in its current iteration by Bud and Karin Tiffany in the early 1990s, Peter’s Inn is a former biker bar reborn as Baltimore’s strongest bastion of gastro-pub cuisine. At its heart, Peter’s is still a neighborhood tavern. If you can find a seat at the bar, there’s no problem with making it your shot and a beer haunt for the evening. Over the years though, the space has morphed slowly into more and more of a destination restaurant, in spite of never having shed its barroom feel. Diners now migrate in from the ‘burbs, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, to enjoy the Fells Point scene along with plates of good value and seriously tasty food.

From a tiny kitchen, Bud, Karin and their small staff turn out a small menu worth – usually just six or seven choices – of hearty yet creative dishes. Any single plate is enough to make a meal of, particularly when paired with the house’s signature salad and huge hunk of potent garlic bread. A hungry solo diner or small group could just as easily sample or share a couple of dishes to get a greater feel for the range of the menu. Steak, along with the aforementioned sides of salad and garlic bread, has a permanent spot, anchored at the end of the menu. The rest of the selections change regularly, according to season and availability of interesting ingredients from the kitchen’s favorite purveyors. On my most recent visit, I enjoyed a plate of pristinely fresh, Hawaiian tuna served two ways: blackened, rare medallions of loin set atop rich, creamy wasabi aioli on tortilla wedges; and a generously heaped martini glass full of highly seasoned tuna tartare.