OPEN

Clean Juice: Located just a stone’s throw from CrossFit, REV Cycle Studio, and the Under Armour Performance Center, this new Locust Point juice bar has already become a favorite for post-workout fuel. Now open at McHenry Row, the first Maryland location of the North Carolina-based chain was brought to the neighborhood by former NFL safety (and Under Armour intern) Anthony Walters. He and his wife, Kaitlyn, offer a variety of juices, smoothies, açaí bowls, and signature toasts topped with everything from avocado to almond butter. Taking a Friends approach, the organic menu lists smoothie options like “The So Basic One” (almond milk, banana, maple syrup, and strawberries) and “The Coffee One,” mixing cold brew coffee with banana, dates, and almond milk. 1702 Whetstone Way.

Michael’s Cafe White Marsh: This decades-old Timonium staple known for its crab cakes, Crushes, live music, and spacious outdoor patio recently widened its footprint to White Marsh. The second location officially opened inside the Greenleigh at Crossroads development off White Marsh Boulevard last month. At about half the size of its flagship, the new space offers a slightly scaled back menu, but diners can still expect the same crab soup, colorful salads, raw oysters, prime cuts of meat, and jumbo lump crab cakes that have been passed down in owner Michael Dellis’ family for four generations. Similar to the original, the new Michael’s is also equipped with a fully stocked bar (everything from local beer and cocktails to an extensive list of rye and Irish whiskies) and plenty of flat screens for game-watching. 720 Concourse Circle, Middle River. 410-335-5370

COMING SOON

The Civil: An elegant dining destination is taking shape in the former home of Warehouse 518 in Mt. Vernon, which briefly operated as G.A.Y. Lounge until the fall of 2017 when co-owners Robert Gay and Joshua Persing closed amid landlord disputes. Come spring, the building at 518 North Charles Street will debut as The Civil, a renovated concept featuring craft cocktails, New American brunch and dinner dishes, live DJ sets, and private VIP spaces on its mezzanine level. The renovation yields stylish upgrades such as refinished original wood floors, glass chandeliers, sleek black furniture, and pops of gold throughout. 518 N. Charles St.

Bentley’s: On the heels of Dear Globe Coffee opening on Antique Row in Mt. Vernon last summer, this new jazz club is also readying for a debut on the 800 block of North Howard Street. The former home of Cooker’s Music Bistro is being revamped by cousins Glenda Laws, Mark Bynum, and Glenn Bydume, along with their family friend Maurice Stokes. According to Baltimore Fishbowl, the vision is for the spot to be a modernized version of their family’s neighborhood bar from “back in the day.” Opening this spring, the full bar and restaurant will focus on fare with Southern, Asian, and Latino influences downstairs, and a lounge and bar for live music performances upstairs. 885-889 N. Howard St.

Refocused: Since New America closed its doors last year, its former diner aesthetic (regulars remember the checkered floors, counter seating, and local artwork) has been replaced with repurposed woods, earthy gray tones, and ring-shaped light fixtures. The cafe space on North Eutaw Street is being converted into Refocused, a plant-based palace from local owner Jerel Jefferies. Although the restaurant isn’t expected to open its doors until March, it will host a preview night on February 16 to coincide with the the this year’s Vegan Restaurant Week. Jefferies, who won the inaugural Vegan Mac-and-Cheese Smackdown in 2016, plans to serve vegan sandwiches, wraps, salads, burgers, and, of course, his dairy-free spin on the classic oven-baked mac and cheese. 429 N. Eutaw St.

EPICUREAN EVENTS

3/1: Mardi Gras Masquerade
Mark your calendar for this festive Mardi Gras celebration benefiting the Living Classrooms Foundation’s BUGS Program—an after-school initiative which teaches students a combination of cooking, gardening, STEM, and creative arts. The New Orleans-inspired fundraiser at Ampersea in Fells Point will highlight creole cuisine, boozy hurricanes, raffles, live music by DJ Impulse and Black Dandelion, and desserts crafted by the restaurant’s executive chef Casey Williams. 1417 Thames St. 7-11 p.m. $70

3/4: Cocina con Amor Pop-Up at Ekiben
In a heartfelt message posted to social media earlier this week, the owners of Ekiben expressed their support for Fells Point neighbor Cocina Luchadoras—whose owner Rosalyn Vera received arson and personal death threats last week because of a political poster hanging inside her restaurant. “The Ekiben family wants to put this out there: Threats of violence against businesses who choose to express themselves genuinely and honestly will not fly here,” the post reads. “Not in Baltimore; not in our neighborhood.” To celebrate the diversity of the community, Vera and Ekiben chef Steve Chu are teaming up to host a one-time-only lunch pop-up that fuses the flavors of both restaurants. The event at Ekiben will run from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on March 4. “Ekiben is honest and quirky and creative in a way that we believe is uniquely Baltimorean,” the post reads. “This is because Baltimoreans recognize realness and authenticity over everything. And because Baltimoreans recognize the value in our differences.” 1622 Eastern Ave.

There’s something special about sharing a meal beyond the four walls of a restaurant. Sure, we love a sun-drenched dining room or spacious outdoor patio this time of year. But for diners who are craving even more of a change of scenery, the local food scene is offering plenty of ways to enjoy a top-notch culinary experience while also connecting with nature.

This week alone, Ampersea in Fells Point is hosting a wine-and-charcuterie tasting on its patio followed by a boat cruise aboard the Lady Maryland and City Seeds is throwing an outdoor Dinner in the Woods at Patapsco Valley State Park.

“We really wanted to give our guests the opportunity to just take a deep breath,” says Deborah Haust, vice president of culinary enterprises at Humanim, the umbrella company for City Seeds. “Something where they could really leave their day behind and remove themselves from the bustle of the city.”

The outdoor dinner will be the first of its kind for City Seeds, a culinary organization that employs residents with barriers to entry—including those who were formerly incarcerated or lack a high school degree—to prepare meals for catering clients in its commercial kitchen.

Located just 25 minutes outside of downtown, the five-course meal prepared by chef Aharon Denrich will feature seasonal dishes such as sweet pea gazpacho, a local heirloom tomato salad, roasted squash with quinoa and goat cheese, confit chicken leg, and a watermelon poke bowl, all served with worldly wine pairings.

“The chefs and all of our cooks will be right there preparing the food on site,” Haust says of the rural setting. “So everyone will be so closely connected, not just to the food, but to our social impact. You’re going to see what City Seeds is actually trying to do, all while enjoying the meal.”

Fostering connection is also a goal for chef Ben Lefenfeld of La Cuchara, who is prepping for the second installment of the restaurant’s Farm Dinner series at The Zahradka Farm in Essex later in the month.

“It’s important for people to visit the farms that their food is coming from,” he says. “Lots of us go out to different restaurants and see the names of farms and suppliers on the back of the menus, but this is a great way to put a face to the name.”

Though Lefenfeld is used to working with wood in the kitchen of his Meadow Mill restaurant, he admits that cooking over an open flame at the farm took some trial and error. At the first installment in June, the family-style menu featured a whole-roasted lamb cooked on a vertical cross.

“At the farm, you’re working with a lot of indirect heat,” he says. “And you need to deal with the wind, so if that changes you might need to bring the lamb around to the other side of the fire to make sure you’re getting the right amount of heat on it. It’s a really long, but interesting cooking process overall.”

Another technique that Lefenfeld relies on while cooking outdoors is using a plancha—a thick, steel grill typically used in Spanish cuisine. For this week’s dinner, the chef will be using the tool to sear comté, a soft cow’s milk cheese, and a sourdough pumpernickel beet bread made by La Cuchara’s head baker Carrie Goltra. There will also be roasted zucchini with a tomato and charred herb salsa, as well as a corn panna cotta made with Zahradka’s bicolor sweet corn.

Perhaps the best part about these dining events set in unconventional places is that they have the potential to extend past the summer. Haust says that she hopes to make the City Seeds dinners quarterly, activating other spaces including Humanim’s headquarters inside the American Brewery building and the Remington warehouse that houses Brick + Board—a sister organization that reclaims wood from vacant city homes.

“Chefs get great exposure in the typical restaurant space because the public can go there any time,” she says. “But there are some very talented chefs that work for catering businesses and institutions like universities and hospitals who don’t get the same recognition. This is a great opportunity to showcase the people who work behind the scenes.”

For Lefenfeld, whose series will continue at Zahradka into the fall, the event is a way to encourage diners to break out of their comfort zone and explore produce grown beyond city limits.

“On one hand, it’s about having a great evening,” he says. “But it’s also about letting people know that these places are not that far. There are lots of hidden experiences that are just outside of the city.”

COMING SOON

Limoncello: The swanky Anthem House apartment and retail complex in Locust Point recently announced yet another restaurant tenant. Joining the likes of craft beer and coffee spot Amber and Korean fried chicken destination Jazz + Soju will be Limoncello, a casual Italian trattoria and wine bar whose flagship is in St. Michaels. Slated to open in summer 2018, the 120-seat restaurant will feature fresh seafood, an array of pastas (everything from gorgonzola gnocchi to penne caprese), and classic Neapolitan pizzas inspired by the Amalfi Coast. 900 E. Fort Ave.

Chez Hugo: It’s been a few weeks since French-born chef Steve Monnier turned over the former Arômes space in Hampden to chef Chris Amendola. (Amendola’s green-themed spot Foraged debuted in the space on Chestnut Avenue last week.) Since the transition, Monnier has been hard at work setting up his new 4,000-square-foot restaurant, Chez Hugo, which will open downtown at the corner of Calvert and Redwood streets next month. Featuring an open kitchen with its own hearth oven, the bistro will be divided into a 60-seat dining room, eight-seat tasting room, and 15-seat bar—which will be helmed by beverage director Adam Litchfield and serve French beers and cocktails. The space will have a belle époque vibe, and highlight Monnier’s rotating menu of French classics like duck a l’orange and aged prime rib with pomme soufflé. Chez Hugo will open with a special tasting menu for dinner service on Valentine’s Day. Stay tuned for more details. 206 E. Redwood St.

Waffie: Just when we thought Hampden had everything (from pizza and pasta to tacos and bubble tea), The Avenue will soon boast its own dessert waffle spot. Slated to debut later this month, the new shop from owners Minje Suh and Tommy Choe will feature handheld Liege-style waffles that diners can customize with toppings like buttercream, jam, and cookie butter. To wash down the eats, Waffie will also offer an array of coffees and hot chocolate. 839 W. 36th St.

CH-CH CHANGES

Ampersea: Best known for its sustainable focus and partnership with The Living Classrooms Foundation, Waterfront Kitchen in Fells Point has long been a destination for a seasonal harborside meal. But now, a major facelift is in the works at the property. Owner Chuck Nabit has enlisted the help of Fells Point designers PI.KL Studios and Seth Barkman of MiY Home to transform the space into Ampersea—a play on the word “ampersand” inspired by the restaurant’s community-focused vision. The new concept will be headed by chef Nelson Morton, most recently of Bookmaker’s, whose menu will offer Maryland classics such as Suckling Pig with pickled apples, and lump crab cakes with homemade tater tots and greenhouse greens. Although the theme will change, the restaurant will maintain its hyper-local spirit—with murals by local artist Kelly Walker—and preserve its ties to Living Classrooms’ urban farming programs. In fact, Ampersea also plans to open an accompanying outdoor cafe in the courtyard of Living Classrooms’ Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park in the summer of 2018. 1417 Thames St., 443-681-5310

EPICUREAN EVENTS

1/15: Noodle and Dumpling Night at Wet City
Next week, The Local Fry owners Kevin and Elizabeth Irish are taking over Wet City for an evening of ramen and dumplings. Retreat from the cold temperatures and warm your soul by slurping down miso (yuksu bone broth, shiro miso, thick wavy noodles and sesame pork belly) or budae jigae (hot dog, thick noodles, spam, bean sprouts, and soft egg) ramen. There will also be plenty of pork, vegetarian, and shrimp dumplings to go around. Wet City, 223 W. Chase St., 6-10 p.m.

1/15: Haenyo Pop-Up at Dylan’s Oyster Cellar
This Korean-fusion pop-up is back at it, this time putting its own spin on the Mid-Atlantic dishes at Dylan’s Oyster Cellar in Hampden. Make your way over to the corner spot to feast on locally sourced offerings such as Korean spicy crab soup, clam pajeon, shrimp dumplings, and warm seaweed salad. All dishes will range between $8-20. Dylan’s Oyster Cellar, 3601 Chestnut Ave., 5-10 p.m. 

1/18: Origins: A Speaker Series
Spike Gjerde’s sustainable speaker series returns next week with special guest Michael Twitty, a culinary historian whose book The Cooking Gene delves into the true roots of Southern cooking. Listen to Twitty share stories of his research and travels before sitting down for a family-style meal in Artifact’s private dining room. Artifact Coffee, 1500 Union Ave., 6:30 p.m., $60. 

SHUT

Ryan’s Daughter: St. Patrick’s Day won’t be the same this year without this Belvedere Square pub, which will pour its final pints on January 21. For the past 14 years, the bar has been a gathering place for Irish eats, pints of beer, and game-day watch parties. Management took to Facebook to announce the closure earlier today, hinting that a new venture is on the horizon. “We see it as a chance to start something else, and we might see you sooner than you think in another location,” the post reads. “From day one, we wanted the pub to serve as a place where friends and neighbors would feel at home—we feel that was accomplished.” 600 E. Belvedere Ave.