CH-CH CHANGES

The Corner Pantry Expands: Since it opened on Valentine’s Day in 2014, many Mt. Washington dwellers have made this breakfast-and-lunch spot a part of their regular routine. Come March, the cafe will offer even more to love by nearly doubling its footprint. The spot will expand into the vacant space next door and add an additional 1,150 square feet. With more room to breathe, husband-and-wife owners Neill and Emily Howell plan to add a second counter for faster service, optional private dining and meeting space, and an expanded kitchen that will allow them to amp up catering. Plus, there will be more opportunities to host events and cooking classes for customers.

“Since we opened nearly six years ago, we have been able to produce some really incredible food out of a 400 square-foot kitchen,” Neill said in a statement. “Our business has evolved based on the feedback and needs from our customers, and we know expanded seating and offerings are what we can add at this point in our journey.” The owners plan to remain open for most of the construction period, which will begin in January.

Cosima Brings Names New Executive Chef: There’s been a slight shift in the kitchen operations at this Southern Italian destination along the Jones Falls in Hampden. Longtime chef de cuisine Jonathan Hicks was recently promoted to executive chef. But, rest assured—Baltimore’s own culinary queen Donna Crivello isn’t going anywhere. She’s stepped into the role of concept director at Cosima, where she will continue the restaurant’s monthly cooking classes, add tutorials for children on the weekends, and oversee private events. “As the granddaughter of Cosima and daughter of a Neapolitan mother, I absolutely love the warmth of Southern Italian hospitality,” Crivello said in a statement. “Those ideals are at the root of the restaurant, and I’m excited to be able to maintain and expand them.”

Bird in Hand Adds Bar Program: Since opening near the Johns Hopkins University campus three years ago, students and neighbors have relied on this collaborative spot—from the teams behind the Ivy Bookshop and Woodberry Kitchen—for a strong latte, espresso, or pastry. Last month, the cafe added to its offerings by launching “Bird Bar,” a collection of wine, beer, and cider to pair with the food menu. In keeping with Bird in Hand’s hyper-local philosophy, the list features Baltimore purveyors including Peabody Heights, Union Craft, and Oliver Brewing Company.

OPEN

Ropewalk Tavern: For nearly six months, Federal Hill revelers have missed the strong drinks and lively piano bar at this neighborhood staple. The McFaul family—who also runs three Ropewalk locations on the Eastern Shore—closed their flagship in July to make some fun upgrades in honor of the bar’s 25th anniversary year. And at the grand reopening party earlier this week, the team unveiled refreshed bars, new arcade games like Skee Ball and basketball shoot-outs, and a bowling alley upstairs. Swing by to play some of the new games, shoot a round of pool, and sip one of Ropewalk’s 150 featured beers.

COMING SOON

Angels Ate Lemons: The weekend before Christmas, Socle—the Old Goucher complex that houses Larder, Sophomore Coffee, and beer garden and natural wine bar Fadensonnen—will welcome yet another attraction. This new weekend concept invites guests to taste some of the worldly wines from Fadensonnen’s storage room in a daytime setting. Named after a line in an Etel Adnan poem, the experience is meant to foster “deep conversation and togetherness,” according to a message posted to Instagram. Angels Ate Lemons marks yet another innovative bar program from Lane Harlan, who also oversees Clavel and W.C. Harlan nearby in Remington.

NiHao Baltimore: We’ve been keeping tabs on this Baltimore expansion from culinary icon Peter Chang, who began his career as a chef at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. He has built an empire serving Sichuan specialties at strip-mall restaurants throughout the DMV, as well as at his fine-dining spot Q by Peter Chang in Bethesda. Earlier this year, word spread that the chef and his family planned to take over the former Fork & Wrench space in Canton. Though the restaurant isn’t slated to open until February 2020, the family was given a warm welcome last weekend when they hosted a pop-up at Artifact Coffee—giving diners a sneak peek at what the menu might look like when NiHao Baltimore officially opens.

Tofu skin salad and Sichuan pickled baked rockfish were among the featured dishes from Peter, his wife, pastry chef Lisa Chang, and chef Pichet Ong. (Ong is the James Beard award-nominated chef behind Brothers and Sisters located inside The Line Hotel in D.C., which also houses Artifact sister-spot, A Rake’s Progress.) Stay tuned for more details on NiHao’s highly anticipated grand opening in 2020.

Visual Art

Spring 2019 Design Soiree
For the past 15 years, the Design Soiree has given artists and creatives a change to interact, exchange ideas, and get feedback on their work. Reserve your spot early to experience the latest evening of artistic exchange at Y:ART Gallery. And don’t forget to bring some food and drink to share before you settle in to see presenters share their newest projects. Y:ART Gallery & Fine Gifts, 3402 Gough St. 7-10 p.m., March 20.

Logan Visionary Conference 2019: The Art of Parenting
Celebrate AVAM’s themed exhibition Parenting: An Art Without a Manual by soaking up some knowledge from a panel of luminaries including Dr. Daniel J Siegel of the UCLA School of Medicine and the Mindsight Institute, Alison D’Alessandro of the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, and Joe Jones of The Center for Urban Families. This yearly conference is free, but reservations must be made in advance. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. 1-4 p.m., March 24.

Literature

Blythe Roberson: How to Date Men When You Hate Men
Join Blythe Roberson at Bird in Hand for a discussion of just how weird it is to date men in the modern world. The New Yorker and Onion contributor’s new book features such helpful sections as “Real Interviews With Men About Whether Or Not It Was A Date” and “Definitive Proof That Tom Hanks Is The Villain Of You’ve Got Mail,” so you know it’s sure to be a good time full of great advice. Bird in Hand Charles Village, 11 E. 33rd St. 7-9 p.m. March 9.

Confessionals: Writing the Hard Stuff
Truth hurts, so they say, but this MoonLit event seeks to help writers put their true selves down on paper and learn the importance of doing so. Local poet Ashley Elizabeth will help guide the group through readings, writing, and a discussion on truth-telling, and editing/workshopping will be available if time allows. Greedy Reads, 1744 Aliceanna St. 7-9 p.m., March 27.

Dance

Addict
Seven dancers will each portray a different experience with addiction in this performance in support of Helping Up Mission, a Baltimore nonprofit that provides for those dealing with homelessness, poverty, and addition. Featuring a live accompaniment from Two Rivers Chamber Music, Addict seeks to address the portrayal of addiction in media and how people are affected by society’s lack of understanding. Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St. 8 p.m., March 12-13.

Music

That’s What She Said
Grab your best girlfriends, because this women-powered night featuring some of the best voices in town is not to be missed. Electro-opera duo Outcalls, gloom-pop group $100 Girlfriend, and New Jersey rocking sister act Nalani & Sarina will join forces for one night only at Motor House for a no-boys-allowed evening of comedy and music. Motor House, 120 W. North Ave. 7-10:30 p.m., March 16.

Inaugural Baltimore Old Time Music Festival
A Friday night concert, a day of workshops and intimate performances from headliners, and a Saturday evening square dance will celebrate the Old Time music that made its way from Appalachia and cemented its legacy in Baltimore during the 20th century. This foot-stomping new fest at Creative Alliance will feature acts such as Ken and Brad Kolodner, Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, Corn Potato String Band, and The Local Honeys, who are sure to bring out the best of Old Time with fiddles, banjos, dulcimers, and plenty of dancing. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. Times vary, March 22-23.

Chaunter Dream Dynamics LP Release Party
Get acquainted with Baltimore’s latest cool kids at this release party for Chaunter’s new LP, Dream Dynamics, featuring the dreamy sounds of songwriting duo Brooks Kossover and Jenghis Manning-Pettit. Nerftoss, Infinity Knives + Randi, Frogohmine, and Matmos will get the evening started before Kossover, Pettit, and the rest of Chaunter take the stage to share their creative sound and impeccable style. Metro Gallery, 1700 N. Charles St. 8 p.m., March 29.

Film

The Case Against Adnan Syed
Part one of this four-part documentary series revisiting the murder of Baltimore County teen Hae Min Lee and the conviction of Adnan Syed for the crime premieres March 10 at 9 p.m. on HBO. The series, directed by Academy Award nominee Amy Berg, has been in production since 2015 and includes new evidence discovered by private investigators and interviews with friends, family, and people involved in the case over the past 20 years of uncertainty. Part 1 premieres on HBO 9 p.m. March 10.

Visual Art

Young Blood
Art has the power to reflect the culture in which it was made, often expressing ideas that cannot be articulated as effectively through words alone. In the case of the exhibit Young Blood at Maryland Art Place, we see—through painting, sculpture, installation, photography, and animation—what inspires and stimulates the minds of our local creative youth culture. Each year, MAP celebrates recent Baltimore-area masters of fine art grads with an exhibit of their work.

This year’s Young Blood showcases pieces by graduates of Maryland Institute College of Art; University of Maryland, College Park; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Towson University, including Caroline Hatfield, Mollye Bendell, Mitchell Noah, Madeline Stratton, Ryan Lytle, and Sara Kaltwasser. Through Aug. 25, with an opening reception from 6-9 p.m. July 11 and an artist talk at 1 p.m. Aug. 18 at MAP, 218 W. Saratoga St.

Sondheim Artscape Prize exhibition
From sculpture to photography to painting, fiber art, and video installation, work by this year’s Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize finalists is visually spellbinding, and the artists don’t shy away from exploring such issues as spirituality, race, gender, and immigration. Baltimore-area visual artist finalists Erick Antonio Benitez, Nakeya Brown, Sutton Demlong, Nate Larson, Eunice Park, and Stephen Towns are each exhibiting selected works at the Baltimore Museum of Art through August 5. The winner will be announced during a ceremony at 7 p.m. July 14 and awarded a $25,000 fellowship. Exhibit runs through Aug. 5, awards ceremony at 7 p.m. July 14 at the BMA, 10 Art Museum Drive.

Summer ’18
The current show at C. Grimaldis Gallery in Mount Vernon revisits the exhibitions shown over the past year while giving a little preview of what’s to come. This survey exhibition features pieces by British sculptor Anthony Caro, abstract expressionist Grace Hartigan, and Korean light artist Chul Hyun Ahn. It also debuts work by 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Rania Matar, Colin Van Winkle, and 2017 Rome Prize recipient Beverly McIver. Through Aug. 18 at C. Grimaldis Gallery, 523 N. Charles St.

Intimate Women
Intimate Women, currently on view at Full Circle Gallery, explores the relationship between women’s minds and bodies through photography-based collage and sculpture by women artists. Their inner worlds are revealed through stories of culture, gender roles, and sexuality. As curator JiaJia Chen puts it in a statement about the show, “Every work in the exhibition is an adjective, presenting personal but universal subject matter from different perspectives.” Artists include Asha Holmes, Jianan Liu, Layla Choi, Michelle Cuevas, and Rachel Hartman. Through Aug. 4 at Full Circle Gallery, 33 E. 21st St.

Music

Jack Novotny Sextet
The Jack Novotny Sextet will bring their original music, composed in the spirit of the great jazz masters, to An die Musik. They’ve studied the nuances, style, and flavor of works by icons such as John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Wayne Shorter, Charles Mingus, and Ornette Coleman, and expand upon and integrate those ideas into their own pieces, rather than duplicate the originals or even replicate improvs.

“Performing new material that has never been heard is exhilarating for our group,” says Jack Novotny, saxist in the group. The sextet also includes bassist Juini Booth, pianist Benito Gonzalez, trumpeter Marlon Jordan, tenor saxophonist Edwin Bayard, and Baltimore drummer Nasar Abadey as a guest, filling in for regular drummer Mark Lomax II. Novotny will play tenor/soprano saxophone and flute. 8:30 and 10 p.m. July 12 at An die Musik, 409 N. Charles St,.

Literary Arts

John Lingan
Rockville-based John Lingan, who has written for the Oxford American, New York Times Magazine, and others, brings us his debut book, Homeplace: A Southern Town, a Country Legend, and the Last Days of a Mountaintop Honky-Tonk. Lignan spent four years researching the early-American town of Winchester, VA, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He first went there to seek out Jim McCoy, a honky-tonk owner and the DJ who first gave Patsy Cline airtime. What he uncovered though was a story about a town facing an identity crisis. He’ll launch his book tour this month with a reading and signing at Bird in Hand. 7 p.m. July 17 at Bird in Hand, 11 E. 33rd St.

Miscellanea

Cirque du Soleil Crystal
Cirque du Soleil’s show Crystal explores the artistic limits of ice through jaw-dropping acrobatics on the ice and in the air—synchronized skating and adrenaline-pounding extreme skating will be performed alongside traditional circus arts like trapeze. This dreamlike world is brought to life with visual projections and an original score. July 5-8 at Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St.

Artscape
Our beloved Artscape returns this month, taking over 16 blocks of Baltimore and boasting three outdoor stages, 11 indoor venues, over 200 concerts, an artist market with more than 150 vendors and craftspeople, plus large-scale projects showcasing visual and performing arts, visual art exhibitions, film, street theater, and youth-focused entertainment. Performances include theater, dance, comedy, and more. And all of the above is free. It’s a great way to celebrate the city and all the arts in one fell swoop. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. July 20 and 21, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. July 22 at Mount Royal Avenue & Cathedral Street, Charles Street, Bolton Hill, and Station North Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods.

Ratscape
After a two-year hiatus, the wonderfully bizarre Ratscape will return this year in conjunction with Artscape. A lineup of more than 40 local bands spanning rock, rap, punk, experimental, hardcore, and more will perform free shows at the Ynot Lot, an outdoors venue in Station North, throughout the weekend: JPEGMAFIA, Jeff Carey, and Bound by the Grave on Friday; Butch Dawson, Joe Bidan, and Homosuperior on Saturday; Wume, Sneaks, and HexGirlfriends Sunday. The grassroots festival is produced by Baltimore Music Preservation, aka Joshua Christy Schuelpner, Mike Franklin, and Caroline Devereaux. 2 to 10 p.m. July 20-22 at the Ynot Lot,1904 N. Charles St.

The partnership between Gjerde and The Ivy Bookshop dates back to 2013, when Ed reached out to Artifact Coffee about hosting its monthly “Starts Here” reading series—which will officially relocate to Bird in Hand once it opens. Inspired by the relationship between books and coffee, Gjerde suggested embarking on a more permanent venture.

“With digital media and internet sales, it’s no secret that the book business is very tough,” he says. “But Ann and Ed have completely reimagined and transformed their business into this nexus for all of the cool things happening around literature in the community. Ed talks about writers the same way I talk about farmers. He has the same kind of relationship with them, but also a love for what he does. It comes out at the Ivy and I think it’s going to come out here.”

The shop’s 2,500-title collection includes everything from children’s works to educational books hand-picked by Johns Hopkins professors. Ed says that, as the shop evolves, the selection will rotate based on community feedback.

“We know from experience that the single largest concentration of writers in Baltimore is in Charles Village going down to Station North, and we want this to be their center of gravity,” he says. “But we’re going to learn a lot. This community is so diverse, and they’re going to tell us what they want this store to be. We’re very good listeners.”

While the Berlins have taken the lead in curating the shop’s collection, Gjerde’s team will oversee the kitchen and coffee operations. In keeping with Gjerde’s sustainability motto, the menu, executed by chef de cuisine David Speegle, will highlight locally sourced sweet and savory pastries, puffed cereals, a line of house-baked French bread pizzas, and sandwiches ranging from pastrami on rye to an open-faced smoked trout tartine with pickles and herbed mayo.

“In college I remember having terrible food,” says managing partner Corey Polyoka. “So I’ve always wanted to build a place near a college campus and with great food. It’s exciting to be an influence for college kids and show them what can happen with food and space.”

The beverage program will use North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee for its espressos and pour-over drinks, and also highlight fresh-pressed juices, Spirit Tea Company teas sourced from Chicago, and a variety of herbal tisanes blended in house.

In addition to the food, Gjerde hopes that his farm-to-table mantra will be reflected in all other aspects of Bird in Hand, including its literature (some of Gjerde’s favorite titles exploring the environment and farming will be on display), reclaimed wood furnishings (highlights include 19th-century Hungarian wood tiles) and its signature events—some of which he says will be similar to the roundtable-style talks currently hosted at Artifact Coffee.

The owners are excited for Bird in Hand—which is named after a town in Pennsylvania that houses a number of Gjerde’s go-to growers—to be a hub for everything from readings and art exhibits to live music and spoken-word performances. The shop’s first-ever event will be a reading by Spanish-Argentine writer Andrés Neuman on November 10.

“You can do so much more when you design a place with intentionality,” Gjerde says. “This is going to be a place where people really come to be together, be creative, and exchange ideas. It gives me chills just talking about it.”