SHUT

Bel-Loc Diner: Sadly,
this weekend will be the last for locals to sip piping-hot coffee at
one of the hallowed booths inside the Bel-Loc Diner. We can’t say we
didn’t see it coming. Last summer, a spokesperson for the 53-year-old
Parkville landmark announced that, facing retirement, owner Bill Doxanas
had entered into a deal to sell the vintage spot to Starbucks
Corporation—which planned to raze the building to make way for a coffee
shop with a drive-thru window. From there it was only a waiting game.
Despite a staunch effort from local nonprofit Preservation Maryland, the
current structure will not be able to be maintained when Starbucks
moves in. The Bel-Loc, fittingly named after the Baltimore beltway and
its location in Loch Raven, has long been a gathering place for locals
looking to scarf down pancakes, jam to jukebox oldies, and meet with
neighbors over paper placemats.
1700 E. Joppa Road., 410-668-2525

Cafe Cito: Hampden
locals took to social media earlier this week to lament the loss of
this beloved breakfast-and-lunch spot. “No words can describe our love
for your support over these past three years,” owner Dave Sherman wrote
in a message posted to Facebook. “To my Cito Crew, by far the best crew
I’ve ever worked with, one million thank you’s.” Sherman, who opened
breakfast stall Ground & Griddled inside R. House in Remington last
fall, has yet to disclose the reasons behind the unexpected closure. The
shop, best known for its Spanish-inspired breakfast sandwiches, will
operate its last service on Saturday, March 25.
3500 Chestnut Ave., 443-682-9701

The locally sourced menu at G&G will emphasize made-to-order brunch sandwiches, like a Wagyu beef breakfast burger topped with bread-and-butter pickles, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, and a fried egg, as well as build-your-own options featuring different sauces, cheeses, and meats. Sherman also says that he hopes to do more in-house baking in his new digs, adding fresh biscuits, cookies, and brownies to the menu.

In addition, the expansive beverage list will include affordable coffees, espresso, lattes, and on-tap cold brews sourced from craft roasters around the country.

Details about the interior of Sherman’s stall are still in the works, but it will include a barista station, bar stools, and funky wallpaper from Flavor Paper, a Brooklyn, NY-based business owned by his brother, Jon.

Baltimore-based Seawall Development Company, the corporation behind R. House, is hoping to launch the incubator in September and plans to announce each of the featured chefs individually in the months leading up to the grand opening.

“This is how I like to eat,” Sherman says. “My wife and I love places that give you the opportunity to try a lot of different things under one roof, and that combination is going to lend itself to a really cool new dining experience in Remington.”

If you never got a chance to eat at chef David Sherman’s now-shuttered but much loved Locust Point eatery Nasu Blanca, which featured a unique fusion of Japanese and Spanish flavors, make a trip to Café Cito, his new and less formal spot in Hampden. Located just off The Avenue, this charming spot—whose name actually means “small cafe” in Spanish—has much bigger aspirations.

In the morning, you can get a breakfast “sammy” with a fried egg and cheddar cheese. For lunch, soups and salads are featured—the butternut squash purée topped with sage crème fraîche; and the warm mushroom salad with arugula, roasted mushrooms and red peppers, goat cheese, and pine nuts were recent stars on the seasonal menu. But come dinnertime, the place transforms into one of those unassuming restaurants serving seriously fine food in unpretentious surroundings that you might stumble upon down a Barcelona alley.

Sherman, who has trained under Spanish chefs like Daniel Oliveira at the Thirsty Bear in San Francisco and cooked at local eateries like Tapas Teatro, obviously has a distinct culinary point of view, which he executes with passion and precision. I could taste it from our meal’s opener—a simple appetizer of piquillo peppers. The small, slightly sweet red peppers were stuffed with goat cheese and presented on a generous base of pesto before being sprinkled with toasted almonds. All elements of this dish worked together in perfect harmony, and we even sopped up the remaining pesto with Cunningham’s artisanal bread, which was crunchy on the outside, and chewy on the inside.

We were less impressed, however, with the spinach and apple salad, which suffered from too many sweet elements. The beet vinaigrette, apple slivers, and cranberries could have been toned down with more goat cheese and perhaps something more acidic and salty. Some of the baby spinach greens also appeared old and wilted.

While both salad and stuffed peppers were listed under “small” plates, we split several “medium” plates for our main courses. These included a pan-seared rib-eye, butifarra, and rock shrimp tempura. Even though we ordered the steak medium, it turned out slightly dry and chewy. It was somewhat redeemed, however, by the added flavors of roasted garlic purée, Gorgonzola picante, and beef stock reduction. But the accompanying sliced fingerling potatoes were roasted to perfection and dusted with a smoky pimentón, accentuating their earthiness.

David Sherman has a distinct culinary point of view which he executes with passion and precision.

Butifarra, which refers to a family of sausages that are a mainstay of Catalan cooking, proved to be much better. In fact, the smoked-duck sausage was a refreshing change from pork, pairing perfectly with the garlicky white beans, which, though nicely stewed, still managed to maintain their integrity and not become mushy. For an extra dollar, we ordered this dish with a fried egg on top, but what was promised as a runny yolk was ever so slightly overcooked. Still, the parsley oil around the edge of the plate provided a nice, flavorful detail. We also unanimously loved the rock shrimp tempura (a nod to the chef’s former restaurant), with its light coating and slightly spicy sauce, and the Artic char with lentils looked promising, too.

Of course, we couldn’t eat at a Spanish-inspired place without sampling the paella, of which there were two kinds. We passed on the more traditional seafood variety in favor of the vegetable paella that featured mushrooms, roasted red peppers, currants, and toasted pumpkin seeds. Saffron and stock had obviously been employed to marvelous effect, making the incredibly rich and flavorful short-grain Spanish rice, which absorbs three times its volume in liquid, the star of this plate.

The best thing about sharing small plates among three people is that there is usually room for dessert. On this occasion, Cito had two “sweets” on the menu so we tried both. The first was a scoop of malty peanut-butter ice cream from the nearby Charmery. The ice cream was salty-sweet and nutty, and a homemade chocolate-covered shortbread cookie supplemented the creamy scoop. We also indulged in the apple crostada, a light pastry folded up over a moist apple filling. Talk about sending clean plates back to the kitchen.

Café Cito continues Baltimore’s trend toward “micro” restaurants, where both the space and menu are small. The focus on a few dishes done well also fits in with the philosophy of keeping things local and seasonal. Small plates and a meager $5 table fee for BYOB helps keep the bill down, but the big flavors and excellent service will keep customers coming back. A town as laid-back as Baltimore deserves this kind of fine, unpretentious dining.