While next week’s Light City Baltimore festivities will focus primarily on arts and innovation—highlighting a 1.5-mile light walk, six-day conference, and jam-packed performance lineup—the local food scene is also getting in on the fun, using the event as an opportunity to get creative with colorful cocktails and cuisine.
In honor of the inaugural celebration, March 28-April 3, restaurants everywhere from Little Italy to Hampden are offering diners food and drink deals that reflect the festival’s theme.
Aside from the obvious increase in foot traffic from tourists and locals alike, Cafe Gia owner Gia D. Fracassetti says that she wanted to get involved to help promote the creativity of the Little Italy community as a whole.
“We’re a neighborhood in transition, but we’re still a neighborhood of culture,” she says. “We have that rooted in our identity and it’s vital that we capture that energy as we continue to grow.”
Fracassetti has been instrumental in Little Italy’s participation in the festival, spearheading plans to hang vibrant lanterns on all of the neighborhood’s lampposts, and working closely with resident artist Joe Reinsel on his signature Light City Neighborhood Lights installation, which will be projected onto the front of St. Leo’s Church.
Throughout the week, all Cafe Gia diners will receive a complimentary limoncello from 8-10 p.m. In addition, Fracassetti’s neighboring wine bar Pane e Vino will highlight festive cocktails such as the Fire and Ice Negroni (Campari with Bombay Gin shaken and served on the rocks) and The Green Lantern (Green Chartreuse, Bombay, Luxardo cherries, and lime juice). Customers will receive $2 off of both cocktails each night from 8-10 p.m.
A bit closer to the heart of the festivities, Bryan Voltaggio’s Family Meal will feature a $10 Light City Burger topped with a colorful slaw that fuses red cabbage, carrots, and cilantro. The comfort food spot will also offer $7 Light City Wings, made with a blend of Chesapeake Bay-inspired spices. The restaurant will announce additional daily deals on social media throughout the event’s run.
“We love this city,” says Family Meal general manager Amanda Leddon. “Although we’ve only been here for a year, we’re really excited to be a part of the city and get involved in the community’s celebrations.”
Aggio, Voltaggio’s Italian establishment up the street, is also participating, offering half-priced appetizers and cocktails after sunset all week long.
Up north in Hampden, Arômes chef Steve Monnier, known for his inventive French concoctions, is whipping up a $45 three-course prix-fixe menu inspired by a few of Light City’s most anticipated installations.
Among the specialty courses is a dish meant to reflect the spirit of Voyage by British artists Aether and Hemera, which incorporates a purple sweet potato cannelloni stuffed with wild herbs and house-made ricotta. The menu’s dessert course, egg yolk confit in sweet clover syrup with almond financier and crispy milk skin, was inspired by the Laser Lotus—a mechanical sculpture by local artists Brian Gonzalez and Nisha Ramnath.
Neopolitan pizza spot Verde is celebrating in Canton with a handful of weeklong lunch and dinner specials, such as a 10 percent-off discount for all patrons wearing Light City conference badges. Beverage director Christian Stoddart, formerly of Encantada, has also created a color-changing cocktail for the occasion, which he has dubbed the Indigo Spirit.
Gin-based and mixed with maraschino liqueur, the cocktail infuses anthocyanin compounds (typically found in blueberries) that cause it transform from a velvety blue to dark pink color as you drink it.
“In the food community, we value our jobs as bartenders and chefs, but also as artists,” Stoddart says. “There’s something to be said about that creative spirit, and having an event to base a cocktail off of really pumps me up. I love being able to create something people don’t see often.”
While taking in all of the sights and sounds, festival-goers can also look forward to sampling Light City’s official cocktail, the Blue Hour (Van Gogh gin, grapefruit liqueur, lime juice, cardamom bitters, and tonic) created by B&O American Brasserie’s Eric Fooy. The drink, inspired by an installation of the same name by New American Public Art, will be available at multiple bars near the main stage and Harbor East stage, as well as at the official Blue Hour Bar on Pier 1.
Check out the full list of restaurants offering Light City specials here.