Baltimore – Where to eat

[bavila]

My favorites in Balto are Helmand (Afghan, owned by the family of Hamid Karzai, incidentally) and Petit Louis(can't swear to the veg options, though). You would definitely need reservations at either one.

[DTBarton]

I like this place, good Margaritas and nice Mexican fare.

http://www.blueagaverestaurant.com/

It does get crowded on the weekends, don't know if you can get 12 in at 7 or 7:30.

[Daniel]

Leaving for Baltimore tonight.. Looking for some fun things to do this weekend.. First and foremost I am looking for a place to crack crabs with a mallet.. Me and my girl have visions of tons of crabs sprawled out on a table and hammering away at them.. We drove through there a few weeks ago and found a decent place.. But it was really expensive.. Secondly we are looking for the best crab cakes in the city.. Third we are looking for anything else we cant miss..

Also what is a really great restaurant that we should go to Saturday night that would still have reservations?

Thanks

[Al_Dente]

Best crab cakes? Easy-- Faidley's in Lexington Market.

It isn't the best time of the year for the mega-pile-of-crabs-on-newspapers experience. The crabs you get will probably be from down south.

And nowadays, they're ALWAYS expensive.

Oh yeah, hammers are for amateurs!

[Daniel]

What what.. Amateur! Sir, how dare you, sir.. hehe.. Thanks for Faidley's.. My girls father sent us a shipment from them not too long ago.. I just remembered there name after you told me.. They were excellent. Saltines for breadcrumbs if I am not mistaken..

[VenerableBede]

as for crabcakes, i'm a big fan of john steven's in fells point. . .they also have a good crab soup.

Edited April 1, 2005 by VenerableBede (log)

[Daniel]

I will be arriving tonight.. So i think we are going to go to Brewers Art till like 2.. Then i think tomorow we are going to go to Faidleys.. Still looking for a place to go to smack crabs and a nice dinner tomorrow night.. Then i think sunday we are going to have breakfast somewhere, have lunch in Philadelphia a second lunch in New Brunswick New Jersey and be home for dinner..

So i still need a crab place, and a nice restaurant.

[banco]

I will be arriving tonight.. So i think we are going to go to Brewers Art till like 2.. Then i think tomorow we are going to go to Faidleys.. Still looking for a place to go to smack crabs and a nice dinner tomorrow night..  Then i think sunday we are going to have breakfast somewhere, have lunch in Philadelphia a second lunch in New Brunswick New Jersey and be home for dinner..

So i still need a crab place, and a nice restaurant.

←

For your nice restaurant, Charleston might fit the bill. It's NewAmerican/Southern and generally considered among the best, if not the best, in Baltimore. There must be a thread on it here somewhere, though I haven't looked.

[DTBarton]

For crabs in the city, here are a couple of places:

http://www.obryckis.com/obr/stores/1/index.cfm - Old school

http://www.bobrooks.com/ - New school in gentrified neighborhood

For fine dining, I like Charleston as well. I also like Aldo's in Litle Italy for upscale (and pricy) Italian, but I've found it to be worth the price of admission.

http://www.aldositaly.com/recipes.html

[Daniel]

Charleston it is! Thanks everyone

[MicBacchus]

Do NOT smack them!!! Treat them with the respect they deserve, even if they aren't the Bay's finest

[Daniel]

We split the weekend between Philly and Baltimore so i decided to put the posting in adventures. I think that was the right thing to do. Thanks everyone for your help..

Weekend in Baltimore and Philly.

[afn33282]

Hey all, will be in Baltimore Memorial day weekend. Any rec.s for eating and drinking here? Thanks too much,

Chris

[afn33282]

Hey all, will be in Baltimore Memorial day weekend.  Any rec.s for eating and drinking here?  Thanks too much,

Chris

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Poinnt: will be leaving Monday P.M., but parents will be back in future, so all rec.s are really welcome. Thanks again.

Chris

[PatDC]

I like Kawasaki for sushi.

http://www.kawasaki-restaurant.com/restaurant/index.html

[JAZ]

Here's an earlier thread on the topic:

Baltimore recs

I tried The Brewers Art a year ago or so and was very impressed, both with the food and the beer.

[ludja]

Went to the Wharf Rat (bar) in Fell's Point a while ago--As I recall they have lots of non-domestic beers on tap, although I think they are more slanted to British brews.

[raisab]

We had dinner at Pazo last night. It was very good. Mediterranean small dishes, great winelist at resonable prices, personal pizzas and artisan breads from their woodfired oven. ALl very very good and original. The place itself is beautiful and the prices are resonable. I heartily recommend this restaurant.

[afn33282]

Thanks all. I just got back into Jacksonville and my Dad and I had a great time. We went to Phillip's buffet for dinner. They served movie-theatre popcorn butter with the crab legs but the oysters were delicious and it was lots of fun.

Best,

Chris

[bobby29]

We went to Phillip's buffet for dinner.  They served movie-theatre popcorn butter with the crab legs but the oysters were delicious and it was lots of fun.

Best,

Chris

?? Ouch.

[Joe H]

Phillip's buffet..........

[afn33282]

Hmm, yes well what can I say? I am deadly sure there are better places in Baltimore, but the company (my Dad) made it magic.

[Liz Johnson]

I've just been asked for recs for Baltimore. (Funny how people think I know where to eat no matter if I've never been there before.) I'll take a lot of these suggestions, of course, but are there any new ones? And my friend is into "fine dining" too. Is there another thread I should be looking for?

[DTBarton]

My two recommendations for fine dining would be:

http://www.aldositaly.com/home.html

http://www.charlestonrestaurant.com/

Seems like the pub grub is pretty well covered above.

[VenerableBede]

sorry, this isn't technically a reply for dining recs, but more just a musing on previous posts from last year (i don't remember reading them last year)-

1) i love john stevens. although, last time i went (june-ish?), i learned they got a new chef and changed their menu a bit. their crab soup was not quite as good as i remembered it, but their steamed shrimp and mussels, and crab cakes were still good. haven't tried the sushi though. and there are some good beer options, but for me, see number 3, below.

2) berger cookies. a friend who lives in fells brought some one time and the mrs. and i fell in love with them. they are fantastic, and if you run across them in a balmer store, buy them.

3) natty boh. i don't know what i can say about this that will do it justice. maybe i do have a soft spot for heileman beers (love me some old style when in chicago), or just for "local" beers (see old style, iron city, rainier), but there's something comforting about natty boh. maybe it's the sickly sweetness of the water, or mr. boh on the can. . .or maybe when i'm out in balmer, i like that i can walk into a bar (and say ouch), and have a great night out and spend only $10-15, all drinking natty boh. (aside- when i first moved out here from college in texas, i loved that asylum had a saturday night countdown with shiner bock. starting at 6, shiner was $.50 and price increased by $.50 every hour, topping off at like $3.50 or something like that for the rest of the night. sadly, shiner is no longer the beer used for the countdown, i don't remember what it is anymore. but, it was great, just being out of college, not having much extra money, but, get there early, and your done early and for cheap)

4) blue moon- they have some damn fine chorizo and eggs, and i do enjoy their biscuits and gravy. while they do seem crunchy and granola, you can find some fairly decent cooking for breakfast (note- their hours are weird, like, they aren't open in the afternoons, but are open all night).