Charm City is home to a colorful combination of cuisines, and this summer is the perfect time to expand your culinary palette. Baltimore Restaurant Week is back July 27-August 5, with more than 100 places bringing the best to your plate.

In its 13th year, the summer food frenzy is the longest running promotion in the region to offer delicious discounts. Participating restaurants will have special selections on fixed brunch, lunch, or dinner menus for the week, fueled by the collaborative support of the Downtown Partnership and Visit Baltimore.

For brunch and lunch, restaurants offer choices for two courses that range from a total of $12-20, and for dinner diners will have choices for three courses ranging from $20-$35. Reservations can be made online or through the mobile app Opentable, which is also partnering to sponsor the event.

New this year, nearby parking garages sponsored by LAZ Parking will have a $5 weeknight rate and a $10 all-day weekend rate, according to Jessie Krebs, Visit Baltimore’s public relations manager. While in years past the biggest obstacle might have been getting a parking spot downtown, Visit Baltimore wanted to make that easier.

“We realized that over time there has been perception that parking downtown can be a hassle for customers,” said Visit Baltimore president and CEO Al Hutchinson. “This year we wanted to show that that perception isn’t a reality. We’re hoping that that will be something special for this restaurant week.”

This summer, more than 100 restaurants are participating in Baltimore Restaurant Week, so we wanted to narrow it down to some of the highlights.

Unbeatable Brunch: Wicked Sisters
The brunch bites at this Hampden site are looking wicked good. We like french toast. We like muffins. We’re ready to try the French toast muffin. This first course menu option starts with a cinnamon sugar muffin, and is stacked with maple syrup bits, whipped cream, and Nutella powder. You just can’t make this stuff up. 3845 Falls Rd., $15-33, (410) 878-0884

Unrivaled Lunch: Tio Pepe
Stopping in for lunch at Restaurant Tio Pepe’s brings you straight to Spain. This year, the homemade Spanish cooking comes in several options for two midday courses at $15. Take time to try authentic dishes like gazpacho a la andaluza to start, and finish it off with tortilla Espanola Don Quijote or filete Tio Pepe. 10 E. Franklin St., $15-35, (410) 539-4675

Most Creative Menu: The Food Market
Does the idea of worms in dirt make you salivate? If your first thought is dark chocolate pudding with oreo crumbs, then you have the right instinct about dirt cups. The Food Market is making Restaurant Week extra fun with funky desserts and dishes like loaded nachos, duck confit potato skins, lobster-salted fries, and more. 1017 W. 36th St, $35, (410) 366-0606

Vegetarian-Friendly Place: Encantada
Last summer, this enchanting New American menu was our favorite sustainable option of Charm City’s restaurant week. And this year, not much has changed as Encantada still brings us back to basics of fresh eating, from vegan to vegetarian to virtually any diet. Through brunch, lunch, and dinner, the menus are almost entirely meatless, including choices like tofu tacos and cauliflower steak. Take your time atop the American Visionary Art Museum, and enjoy $15 bottomless mimosas, Bloody Marys, Evolution Craft Brewing drafts & sangria at brunch and lunch. 800 Key Highway, $20-35, (410) 752-1000

The Newcomer: Chez Hugo Bistro
The latest French bistro has had our hearts since its opening this past Valentine’s Day. Its spacious dining room is best for big parties and its semi-casual ambience is ideal for families, friends, and food. For restaurant week features, you’ll find French classics like soup à l’oignon, Croque Monsieur, and steak frites for lunch or dinner. 206 E. Redwood St, $20-35, (443) 438-3002

Outdoor Option: Cafe Fili
Fill up at Cafe Fili with mediterranean mezze meals that will make you want to come back for more. From paninis, hot dips, cold dips, and a baklava selection, the adventurous eats are ideal when paired with fresh air while dining al fresco out front. The cute corner cafe is modest and quaint, making for a casual outing in Mt. Vernon. Another bonus: its lunch and dinner menus have many vegetarian options. 816 Cathedral St., $12-20, (410) 244-1600

Sweet Spot: Kora Lee’s
Even the most savory items are prepared with a sweet spin at this gourmet dessert cafe, which is perfect for our indulging our inner sweet tooth. For a $15 lunch, options include ricotta heirloom tomato tart, blueberry feta salad and pineapple Thai chicken. But bring your appetite for brunch if you want a really tasty treat, like the Nutty Buddy banana pudding French toast. Yum. 602 N. Howard Street, $15, (443) 602-0167

Neighborhood Spot: Annabel Lee Tavern
While restaurant week is the best time to try something new, it’s also great to get deals at your local favorites. And Annabel Lee is a classic we can’t get enough of. The traditional American tavern is offering a $28 three-course dinner. Start with Old Bay gazpacho, an ode to Maryland heritage, and find other fan favorites like the crab cake platter or petit filet mignon. 601 S Clinton St., $28, 410-522-2929

Biggest Bargain: The Black Olive
The authentic Greek fish tavern in Fells Point offers an array of elegance and fine dining. Their menu is still in the works, but you’ll feel especially fancy with their upscale seafood options, for no more than $35 at dinner. 814 S. Bond St., Price TBD, (410) 276-7141

Best Beverages: Petit Louis
Last but not least, Petit Louis completes our week with French food and fabulous wine—oh la la! Imagine you’re sharing a tartelette aux peches or mousse au chocolat blanc. You’ll need a perfect wine to complement your dessert, and Petit Louis’ selection of pairings is set at $19. 4800 Roland Avenue, $35, (410) 366-9393

As the largest free outdoor arts festival in the country, Artscape will be once again painting the streets this July, with a color palette that’s overwhelmingly green.

In its 37th year, the free festival is making considerable sustainable efforts. Its agenda is threefold, according to Kathy Hornig, Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts’ (BOPA) festival director, as these environmentally friendly efforts will be seen in its food and drink operations, transportation options, and visual arts exhibits.

For the first time, attendees can sip drinks through paper straws, as all BOPA vendors will be stocked with them and the remaining food stalls will be highly encouraged to do the same.

The initiative complements the successful ban of Styrofoam products among vendors, which the festival started two years ago, Hornig said.

“We were ahead of the curve on that one,” she added. Since then, the independent nonprofit Trash Free Maryland has led a bill to ban polystyrene foam in Baltimore. The organization works to create legislative and policy-driven initiatives to combat trash pollution.

“Often times, there’s something you can do—not in addition to—but differently,” said Ashley Van Stone, executive director of Trash Free Maryland. “Like using a different material.”

Along with using eco-friendly material, BOPA is partnering with Monument City Brewing Company to streamline recycling efforts, piggybacking off their partnership from Light City. The brewery will provide about 50 clearly labeled recycling containers.

With an estimated volume of 350,000 attendees, preventing trash pollution was a priority. The receptacles will help outline how to separate materials and make it easier to sort trash out.

“I think the Artscape attendees want to support sustainability,” Hornig said. “They just need clear, visible units to make that happen. With the addition of these assets, we find the crowd is as into being sustainable as we are.”

In line with celebrating Baltimore’s own sustainability efforts, Artscape will also make use of the new permanent bike lanes up Mount Royal Avenue. Starting this year, BOPA will have free pedicab rides going up and down the hill.

“It’s completely human-powered, sustainable pedicabs—a free way to get up and down the hill,” Hornig said. “We’re hoping that festival goers will use those to maybe see something at Artscape they haven’t seen before.”

Up at the top of Mount Royal, the festival features local bands, food vendors, and indoor art venues. Its footprint is “symbolic” of the culture Baltimore has to offer, including local sustainability practices.

“Whatever the best practices are for our city in general, festivals should try to accommodate those,” Hornig said. “As a showcase and celebration of everything that makes our city great, sustainability efforts should certainly be a part of that.”

Looking at Artscape festivals to come in the years ahead, the team hopes to continuously add more environmentally conscious efforts.

“We would like to just keep doing a better job year after year,” Hornig said. “We’re interested in the possibilities of solar power for some of our temporary power moving forward. We just want to continue to do the good work.”

OPEN

Pickles Pub: One of Baltimore’s best baseball bars is expanding and it’s kind of a “big dill.” Making even more home-baked goods, The Big Green Doughnut Machine is popping up next to Pickles Pub with pastries perfect for the Camden Yards crowd. The townhouse next door, currently used as the pub’s storage, will house the holey treats. There will be a separate entrance and one connecting it to the main pub, making the deliciousness all more easily accessible. Additionally, the bar also announced that it will be opening a second location in Dundalk later this summer, the first of many new franchised locations to come.

Manor Hill Tavern: Nearly a month after the flooding of Old Ellicott City, Manor Hill Tavern reopened this past weekend. Located just off of Main Street, the restaurant sustained minimal damage and has been offering support to devastated neighbors, like bringing them cold water and free lunches. Now the mid-19th century building is bringing back grilled-up classics.

NEWS

Alonso’s Changing Owners: For 85 years, Alonso’s has been serving up specialty burgers unlike any fast casual competitors. With dressings from peanut butter to pesto, their 20 plus options make for unique perfection. And now owner Steve Summers is ready to retire after purchasing the place in 2009. Binod Uprety, the owner of neighboring Namaste Baltimore Indian Cuisine, will be taking the reins running the historic restaurant, and isn’t planning any significant changes.

Tagliata Named Top Restaurant: There’s nothing to whine about whenever taste-testing at Tagliata. Bringing Baltimore’s largest wine list, it’s no surprise the Italian staple was selected by Wine Enthusiast magazine as a top restaurant for wine in the U.S. Its upscale ambiance is always top notch for charm city, with live music and private dining.

Seacret’s Named Top Beach Bar: Thinking of drinks like “Jamaican Iced Tea,” “Bahama Mama,” or “Island Time,” brings us right back to spring break. But at this Ocean City waterfront beach bar spring break is all summer long. Daily Meal rated the Jamaican-inspired joint as one of the top 25 beach bars in the country, with bars, stages, and a nightclub all in one.

EVENTS

LatinoFest
6/22 and 6/23: The 38th annual arts and culture event is back this Friday and Saturday, celebrating Latino heritage in support of EBLO, a nonprofit benefitting educational opportunities for hispanic students. Peruse through Patterson Park for music, dancing, games and food. Cuisine will be offering tastes from the Caribbean to the Americas.

UTZ Cheese Ball Cookoff/Fundraiser
6/24: Omelettes can get experimental with meats, veggies, and cheeses. But have you ever thought to make yours with cheeseballs? Baltimore Taphouse is challenging Baltimoreans to get creative with their own cheese ball-infused dishes, which will be judged by local chefs and food talents. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be donated in support of the Oskar Blues Can’d Aid Foundation Bike Build Program.

Month-Long Island Room
TO 7/29: If it’s going to be a hot and humid Baltimore July, we might as well drink like we’re in the islands. Beginning on Friday, June 29, Pen & Quill will be offering tropical food, drinks, and music for an entire month. The Baltimore Whiskey Company and Lyon Distilling are partnering to provide popular cocktails to cool down in the summer heat. The tropical pop-up is designed to be a local “getaway,” with leisurely events like month-long limbo.

SHUT

Alewife Baltimore: It was the final closing time for Alewife after Saturday’s last call. The beloved bar announced its ending unexpectedly in a Facebook post over the weekend, thanking Baltimore for “being home for eight years.” Their home was known for happening happy hours during the week and an exclusive mug club, which customers could join after tasting 150 different beers chosen by the restaurant. For many, these mugs will become a special keepsake after cheersing good-bye to Alewife.

For 80 years, there was a building with 57 beds, open 24 hours a day, on the 1100 block of North Calvert Street. But the Booth House Emergency Shelter by The Salvation Army will finally close its doors on July 2.

Roughly 15 families housed at the shelter have been relocated in shelters and low-income housing throughout the area, according to Maj. Gene Hogg, the commander for the Central Maryland division of The Salvation Army. The decision to move away from temporary housing was a few years coming, he said.

It was the result of “a culmination of things,” Hogg said. After losing government funding in 2016 and falling short of the budget, The Salvation Army no longer felt that the Booth House was accomplishing its mission.

“We had been operating on a pretty stagnant budget since then,” Hogg said. “The Salvation Army began to take a look at moving toward more [long-term] programs.”

Originally, The Booth House, like most other Salvation Army housing programs, was designed to help the homeless population help themselves. It provided not only warm beds and three meals a day, but also services like job assistance, financial advice, and classes in parenting and nutrition.

“I think we’ve accomplished a great deal—we changed many lives,” Hogg said. “But when focuses change and funders change we have to be willing to adapt to that as well.”

Adapt they had to, when in 2016 the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) started to direct funds toward permanent housing programs instead. After losing $155,000 of HUD money, the Booth House could no longer mandate their additional services.

“People were opting out of all of those programs,” Hogg said. “We felt like that wasn’t accomplishing our mission. Our mission was to bring people to self-sufficiency, not just to warehouse them.”

The funding diversion also led to an initiative called Pathway of Hope, which places stronger emphasis on taking action to break the root cause of poverty, offering long-term solutions instead of temporary fixes. For the Booth House, it became all the more clear that money dedicated to operating the shelter would be better spent helping families in Baltimore become financially stable for years to come.

“Over the next couple of years we’re going to be working with the city to answer, ‘What’s the next step? How should we do it?’” Hogg said. “Those are questions that are going to take a long time to answer. But eventually we’re going to have a place where people can call home.”

We can think of no better food to carry around a festival than a steamed bun stuffed with curry fried chicken, spicy slaw, and flavor-packed sauces. This weekend at Firefly Music Festival, our very own Asian fusion spot Ekiben will give music lovers just that.

Ekiben is delivering a bite of Baltimore to the Delaware festival, as they head the food lineup for the first time. After serving at big events like Artscape and Moonrise, this might be their biggest break.

Since its start in 2014, the Fells Point joint has been serving up specialty buns and bowls unique to the area. At Firefly, their stand will be all their signature sandwiches, so that festival go-ers will get to taste their most popular items.

“It’s a great honor, and we’re super happy that we’re able to put Baltimore in a more positive spotlight,” co-founder Steve Chu said. “We’re all about loving Baltimore.”

Catering is well inside Ekiben’s comfort zone. Customers will be able to get fan favorites including the Neighborhood Bird, iced Vietnamese coffee, and Tofu Brah (for the vegetarians!).

With just one location in Baltimore, the company expands its brand through its food trucks and catering business. When they started out, their low funds had them serving out of a hot dog cart, Chu said, and then they had a spot at the Fells Point Farmers’ Market before opening a brick and mortar location.

“The city really supported us in our endeavor,” he said. “We have so much gratitude, we don’t take it for granted.”

And just like that, four years later, Ekiben was “hit up” by Firefly, according to Chu.

“One day I woke up, I looked at my phone, and they had tagged us in a post,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Wow, we’re headlining this?’”

Their food stands will be alongside some other “really great talent,” Chu said. Beloved burger chain Shake Shack and Eminem’s pop-up Mom’s Spaghetti are up top with Ekiben, as must-have meals.

Partnering with Chu are managers and chefs Ephrem Abebe and Nikhil Yesupriya, making a young, fun trio of co-owners. It’s easy to tell the guys are doing what they love, with so much enthusiasm. Across their various social media accounts, they stick to caps-locked messages, like they’re shouting out everything out with joy.

“YO EKIBEN IS HEADLINING FIREFLY FESTIVAL ALONGSIDE KENDRICK LAMAR, EMINEM, AND THE ARCTIC MONKEYS,” they wrote on Instagram. And their post was met with similarly excited comments.

For the early eaters, Chu is giving out a limited amount of Ekiben-branded EDM masks to wear around the festival. They will be located in the food tent cluster a stone’s throw away from the main stage.

Wherever they land, they’ll be the place to be for snack breaks in between bands. And remember them when you get back to Baltimore, because they will be around no matter what.

“We never asked for any of this,” Chu said happily. “We just make sandwiches.”

Though Jason Hisley has been baking confections since he was 5 years old, this spring marked the first time he has truly found his sweet spot.

After adventures in TV and owning few shops around town, Hisley has opened Cake by Jason Hisley in Timonium—offering both tall-tiered cakes and grab-and-go pastries—to get back to his small-batch roots.

“We want to position ourselves as the place you can come and get high-end, insanely boutique cakes, like with rockets coming out of the top or pouring into a teacup,” Hisley explains. “Or you could come and just get a dollar coffee and hang out in the lobby. The most challenging thing is being able to balance those two worlds.”

Combining a modern vision with traditional family-friendly values proved to be easy, too. Hisley himself comes from a family of foodies, he said, and if kids want to come in and smash donuts on the floor, he wants them to do just that.

“As a kid, I just remember always working with [my grandmother] and my aunt, being 5 or 6 up on a table mixing these big bowls of bread dough,” Hisley said. “I just thought it was the most fascinating, coolest thing ever. A combination of a science experiment and food.”

His grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia, and was a baker herself. She would bake for her community and sold bread to locals. Those ideals stuck with Hisley throughout his life.

He recalls first being trained in making heavier, European pastries like those of his grandmother’s. But adapting to people’s palettes has been a task he’s taken on head first.

His passion for baking landed him a job at the high-end Flavor Cupcakery in Cockeysville after high school. While working there, he caught the attention of the Food Network and ended up competing on—and winning—an episode of Cupcake Wars in 2011.

With a newfound confidence, Hisley opened his own boutique store La Cakerie in Towson when he was just 22. Then, the Food Network and the Cooking Channel began to build a narrative around the young baker and business owner—who has since appeared on 10 shows.

Six years after opening La Cakerie, the shop had gained considerable national attention and expanded to a bigger space in Towson, along with two new locations and a food truck venture. But the fame, he says, cost him small city charm.

“What I lost was standing behind a register and saying ‘Hello,’ and giving a customer a cup of coffee every day,” Hisley said. “Or working with a cake designer directly, one-on-one, making a crazy elaborate cake, and then delivering it and getting to see a customer smile ear-to-ear. I missed that.”

And so he set out on a new journey with La Cakerie’s then-wedding and events coordinator Kelly Sokolis. Hisley sold his ownership in La Cakerie, and Sokolis joined him as a co-owner and wedding and event director for Cake, which officially debuted in April.

From there the duo began to form their team, or as they refer to themselves on their site, “the gaggle of misfits, artists, experts, perfectionists, and friends.”

Hisley speaks highly of his staff, like cake designer Elena Fox, who could paint a museum-style painting on a pastry. His production manager Jeff Courtney is “a jokester,” and will have everyone laughing while he’s simultaneously stirring 200 pounds of frosting and mixing chocolate cake batter.

They have a like-mindset, to put out a quality product, which has been well-received by the community, Hisley said. Numbers and sales have doubled what he originally anticipated and customers appreciate the experience of visiting the neighborhood bakery, which hosts frequent workshops and fundraisers.

With help from interior designer Stephanie Bradshaw, Hisley created a homey store, mixing high end elements without being stuffy, as he puts it. A bright neon sign reads, “Celebrate the Sweet Life,” and reclaimed woods tables stretch across a brushed concrete floor.

“When you walk in it’s like nothing else,” he said. “It has this industrial chic vibe.”

From Flavor Cupcakery, to La Cakerie and now Cake, Hisley has watched himself, his co-workers, and his businesses grow. And that reward has been sweeter than anything.

“I love what I do,” said Hisley. “When people talk about work, I feel so spoiled because 95 percent of my day I have a huge smile. I love going into work, I love the people I work with, I don’t know how to put into words how happy I am.”