From behind their bars, they’ve seen it all. Blossoming love affairs and breakups. Fights and reconciliations. Joy and despair. They’ve served as amateur psychoanalysts, sounding boards for business ideas, and the voice of reason—some people need to be told when it’s time to go home While many people become bartenders for practical reasons—the flexible hours, the wide availability of jobs—others find the profession a calling.

“It takes a very special human to be in hospitality,” says Amie Ward, president of the Baltimore Bartenders’ Guild. “We enjoy putting other people’s needs before our own. We are creative in our solutions. We can empathize, actively listen to people. There’s nothing easy about that at all.”

Bartending has changed dramatically in the last decade. The dawn of the craft cocktail era has attracted those with creative and even scientific minds to the profession. The ability to make drinks using liquors and ingredients from around the world is finally treated with the respect it deserves by restaurateurs, customers, and critics alike. Although getting the perfect head on a beer is an art unto itself, engineering a cocktail using sous vide shochu with coconut, cantaloupe juice, yogurt fat-washed soju, and egg white, as Gabe Valladares can do at CookHouse, is something different entirely.

In Baltimore, designer cocktail bars like Rye, W.C. Harlan, The Coral Wig, Southpaw, Dutch Courage, and Kenwood Tavern peacefully coexist with beer bars and corner pubs. They are all important parts of our city’s social fabric, as are the people who work at them.

There are more than 610,000 bartenders nationwide, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statitics. We’re lucky to have some of the best of them right here in Baltimore.

Gabriel Valladares

CookHouse

Saturday nights at 10 p.m., Bolton Hill’s CookHouse transforms from one of the best restaurants in the city to one of the best cocktail bars…anywhere. The man responsible for this metamorphosis, Gabriel Valladares, is just 25 years old, but to sample one of his drinks is to taste the work of a wunderkind.

During the weekly three-hour sessions (and of course during  CookHouse’s regular dinner service), the self-taught Valladares’ creativity is evident in every sip. Each cocktail on the menu is a Gabe original.

Take for example The Cilantro. Valladares, CookHouse’s bar director, is a lover of mezcal, and he had begun to experiment with sous viding liquor.

“Mezcal is Mexican, and I wondered what else was in that realm,” he says. “Cilantro popped into my head, so I sous vided cilantro, a little bit of honey, and mezcal for eight hours. My friend Lane [Harlan of Clavel and W.C. Harlan] inspired me to do my own tepache, which is basically fermented pineapple juice.”

But Valladares wasn’t done. To garnish the drink, he added little pellets cleverly dubbed “lime caviar” on the menu. They’re made by combining sugary lime juice and the chemicals sodium alginate and calcium lactate, an idea he read about in a book published by The Aviary, the cutting-edge cocktail bar in Chicago. When the pellets pop in the drinker’s mouth, they add a kick of acidity to the smoky drink.

“It was a one-and-done thing that came together really well,” Valladares says of the concoction. But that’s not the norm. The ability to accept failure, he says, is a key component to being a successful mixologist.

“I’ve done so many cocktails that literally taste disgusting. They never make it onto the menu. Not everyone is going to like everything you do. That can hurt my ego. But putting your creative aspects [forward] brings people in.”

Judging by the crowds that flock to CookHouse, Valladares’ wins far outpace his losses. A former student at Maryland Institute College of Art, he’s also an avid photographer, and his beautiful shots of the restaurant’s food and drink routinely wow people on Instagram.

“I love when new people come into the bar,” he says. “My goal every night is to blow their minds and give them an amazing experience.”

Kim Vo

Dutch Courage

Kim Vo sees potential ingredients for cocktails everywhere. Over the summer, she challenged herself to begin making drinks with zero waste. This she took quite literally. Vo used corn as the backbone for the drink she calls La Cosecha, which means “harvest” in Spanish. Not only did she juice the kernels, but she turned the cob and all of the husk into a stock.

“When you put them together you get the most powerful corn flavor,” she says.

From there she added mezcal and basil to the stock. Next, she put in a little watermelon. She even pickled the rinds for garnish so they too did not go to waste.

In November, Vo tapped into her Vietnamese roots to create the Snug Bug, her take on a Hot Toddy inspired by artichoke tea. She made a tincture using the artichoke heart and charred the leaves. Then she added carciofo, which is an artichoke-based amaro, and mixed in a cane sugar spirit, plum liqueur, and reduced cider syrup.

“It gets wild,” she says. “It’s toasty. It’s earthy. It’s just perfect for the season.”

The drink demonstrates the scientific way that Vo’s brain works. She earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University but gravitated toward the hospitality industry because she treasures the interpersonal relationships.

“Ultimately what I love about cocktail bartending is the connection with people, both the guests and other people in the industry,” she says.

After stints at hotel bars and the late, great whiskey-focused bar Bookmaker’s in Federal Hill, she’s been the bar manager at Dutch Courage in Old Goucher for three years. During her time in the industry, she’s seen the world of upscale cocktails change dramatically.

“Cocktailing was [once] kind of like a very exclusive practice,” she says. “You had to go to a speakeasy or a craft cocktail bar to find a good cocktail. But post-COVID, with Instagram and that whole boom with social media, it’s more accessible.”

She believes that the culture she has helped to create among the staff has contributed to Dutch Courage’s welcoming spirit.

“It’s a completely supportive environment, and it really lends itself to this uninhibited creativity,” says Vo, 33. “The owners are super supportive, and we have a very, very tight staff. And I think, honestly, our guests have the most fun because we’re all very happy.”

Charlie Vascellaro

Clandestino

There’s no mystery as to why people enjoy going to the tequila-centric speakeasy Clandestino in Belvedere or, for that matter, any of the other establishments where Charlie Vascellaro has worked over the course of his 20 years behind the bar.

He knows how to throw a party.

“I’ve always felt like, being the bartender, you are the host of the party, which I’ve had plenty of experience doing at home over the years,” he says. “I was always the kind of guy who hosted the parties, and everybody would come to my house, and I would make the drinks for them. When I first started tending bar and I was worried about my relative lack of experience, I used to coach myself and say, ‘Just make them like you make it at home.’”

That policy has served him well. At Clandestino, which he manages and helped open in 2022, he specializes in preparing cocktails with a Southwestern flair.

Vascellaro, 59, who spent much of his childhood in Arizona, originally started bartending because he liked the hours. They allow him the freedom and flexibility to pursue his other passion: writing about baseball. His work has appeared in The Baltimore Banner, Baltimore Fishbowl, and New York’s Village Voice, for which he writes about “the Mets and all of their travails.”

Each year during spring training he returns to Arizona, where he curates museum exhibits about baseball (one on the history of Japanese-American baseball history eventually made its way to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles) and organizes baseball-themed trips for groups of senior citizens. The groups of 35 to 40 people take in games at the spring training homes of the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, listen to guest speakers, visit museums, and eat all their meals together. It’s intense, Vascellaro says, but his bartending skills often come in handy.

“You’re kind of a public speaker as a bartender,” he says. “You’re a public persona. So if people have anxiety about public speaking, bartending can get you over that. And I think you’re also a peacemaker. You’re creating an atmosphere. I think the skills that you learn as a bartender definitely cross over in real-life situations quite often.”

There’s another perk of bartending, he says, that works out well for his hybrid career.

“I pick up a lot of writing assignments behind the bar, too. Editors, publishers, come into the bar and I get introduced to them not only as the bartender, but as a guy who does some writing. And before you know it, I’m working for people who were my customers at the bar before. It’s perfect.”

Dan Burks

The Prime Rib

Over the course of his dozen years behind the bar at The Prime Rib, one of Baltimore’s most venerable steakhouses, Dan Burks has developed a somewhat simple philosophy of bartending.

“The customers that come in are generally nice folks,” he says. “A lot of them have been coming in for years and years and we know them, and we like them. It’s easy to give good service to people that you like.”

Burks, 47, has been doing just that since he started bartending in the late ’90s on the Eastern Shore. A music performance major in college, he had a feeling that he would gravitate to the hospitality industry. (“With that degree, you’ve got to eat, sleep, and breathe music,” he says.)

When he found his way to The Prime Rib, he knew he was home.

“I’ve had other jobs here and there, but at The Prime Rib it’s not like we’re slinging beers and shots to a rowdy crowd that is out partying,” he says. “It’s a lot of martinis, Manhattans, and Old-Fashioneds. Anything served in an up glass. I’ve made a million Cosmopolitans. We go through a lot of martini glasses.”

The art of being a bartender lies not just in mixing drinks. It’s also knowing how to interact with customers. At an upscale restaurant like The Prime Rib, that’s even more pivotal. The affable Burks has a natural rhythm and intuition that keeps the mood upbeat yet still gives customers space.

“The people that we know we talk to all the time. But with some folks, you have to gauge whether they’re doing something. Are they buried in their phone? But you get plenty of regulars that want to talk sports. Some folks want to talk politics. And some people you can see that they’re with friends and they’re just catching up and bullshitting.”

On a recent night, a customer paid Burks a compliment that stuck with him.

“We’ve been coming here for a long time,” the man said, “and while we love the food and the atmosphere, we come here for you.”

Amie Ward

The Healthtender, Southpaw

Amie Ward loves bartending, and she’s devoted much of her professional life to making sure others in the industry have the tools to love it as much as she does. Ward is the executive director of Safe Bars, a nonprofit dedicated to making bars, restaurants, and other alcohol-serving spaces safe and welcoming for guests and staff alike.

She also owns and runs The Healthtender, a company that provides business owners and those on the frontlines of hospitality with the tools necessary to care for their bodies and minds.

“I started working in bars because those were the kind of people that I liked being around,” says Ward, 42, who has a master’s degree in kinesiology. “I liked talking to strangers for a living. I was taking care of myself, but I saw my peers were not. I created The Healthtender to teach people in the hospitality industry to eat better, take care of their bodies, and talk about the risks, because we have access to excess, we have weird hours, all that jazz.”

Ward started tending bar in 2009, and she says it took her a while to learn to counteract the physical and emotional challenges in the profession. Remembering to hydrate and eat while working a 10- to 12-hour shift (she always keeps nuts in her pockets for a quick snack), avoiding afterwork drinking sessions, stretching, resting—all of it is important.

“Bartenders and people in the industry are like endurance athletes, but we treat our bodies worse than any athlete ever would,” she says.

For Safe Bars, Ward’s work focuses on teaching the staff of any alcohol-serving establishment how to do bystander intervention, deescalation, and intervene in safe and non-confrontational ways to prevent sexual assault, sexual aggression, and other forms of violence.

“My world has mostly transitioned to advocacy work for the hospitality industry, doing a lot of health and wellness for people to make sure that they can stay in this business that we love for so long.”

But because she so treasures the work, Ward still steps behind the bar for the occasional shift at Southpaw in Fells Point.

“I love creating ridiculously over-the-top drinks and really special experiences for people,” she says. “I’m just one of those weirdos who loves the community and loves the job. I still have those moments when I want to be bartending. I fucking love it so much.”

Andre Levon

Clavel

Andre Levon, 37, has been tending bar for nearly half his life. A native of upstate New York, he started working at Turp’s in Mount Vernon before arriving at Clavel nine years ago. After all those years behind the bar, he still savors the relationships he builds with his customers.

“I find myself interacting with lots of different types of people,” he says. “You meet engineers and all these literate people. If anybody in the industry tells you that at this point that isn’t still a part of their job that they dig, they’re [over it] because it still is such a great thing.”

Levon has helped the popularity of the renowned Mexican restaurant’s cocktail list keep pace with its food. He leads mezcal tastings each Tuesday and, along with the team, plays a big role in curating the cocktail list. (He’s also part of the reason that the taqueria has been twice nominated for a James Beard Award in the Outstanding Bar category.)

He starts working on drinks three months prior to a menu change, a process that often includes traveling to Mexico, which is where he came up with the inspiration for the drink Tuba Por Favor. It’s based on the Filipino alcoholic beverage tubâ, which is made from the sap of palm trees and was introduced to Mexico centuries ago.

Levon’s cocktail combines tepache, coconut liqueur, lime juice, housemade kümel, and honey. It’s served shaken in a Hurricane glass.

“It’s a good amount of volume,” he says. “It’ll put a little buzz on but for the most part I designed it to be something that someone could enjoy for a while without getting too drunk.”

Although there’s no mezcal in that drink, it’s clear that the agave based liquor holds a treasured place in his heart.

“Mezcal is, of course, an agricultural product, but mezcal is a cultural product as well,” he says. “We have Mexico so close. We’re on the same continent, you know? And it is so vastly different from us. In a way, being able to drink mezcal connects me to this other culture in a really serious way in language, in art, and in cuisine.

“It doesn’t hurt that it’s delicious.”

This piece appeared in our March 2024 issue. For more great Baltimore stories, consider becoming a subscriber.

Standing on Bolton Street, while waiting for CookHouse to open on a spring night, my husband and I eagerly studied the menu as the bartender, Gabriel Valladares, with his smiley-face nail design, taped the night’s offerings to the window. Moments later, as we stepped inside the sun-dappled space with its velvet teal banquettes, mirrored backlit bar, and watermark-style wallpaper, we smiled, too. We had come full circle.

Almost two years since our first visit in mid-March, we had returned to the same spot. At the time, I had set out to review the Bolton Hill restaurant on the site of the former B Bistro. The spectacular space had been years in the making. Co-owner-chef George Dailey, who bought the 19th-century building, a former pharmacy, and his wife, realtor Jessica Dailey, had poured their heart and soul—and a ton of sweat equity—into the historic building, transforming every inch of it down to the last detail. When the restaurant finally opened in February 2020, the timing couldn’t have been worse. As we dined on Dover sole that day in March, Dailey went from table to table, and we naively told him we were looking forward to a return visit. “That’s if we’re still here,” he said, his voice catching.

It would be my last restaurant meal for the foreseeable future—and the last one that CookHouse would serve for months to come. Forty-eight hours later, the heartbroken chef, who also owns and operates On the Hill cafe, laid off his entire staff and shuttered in accordance with a city regulation banning indoor dining. Of the hundreds of meals I’ve eaten as a reviewer, that’s one I’ll always remember.

So here we were, back at CookHouse—so named because a century ago kitchens were set apart from the house in case of fire. The place looked the same. But of course, nothing was the same. Dailey was no longer wandering around the dining room with his head in his hands, but hard at work back in the kitchen. Long gone was the delicate dish of Dover sole, in favor of fare that was more casual, more comforting. We were changed, too—wiser, less critical about the small stuff, more moved by what mattered, like sitting in such a convivial space with such a diverse community of diners, all of whom were clearly happy to be there. The England-born, Venezuela-raised chef is happy to. “We’re on a roll right now,” he says. “We’re packed every day.”

Dailey’s original vision was to have an everyday cafe serving three meals a day to his Bolton Hill neighbors. When he was forced to close operations for daily dining, he transformed the space into a hybrid marketplace/coffee shop that really showcased his range, from smoking his own salmon to making pot pies and large jars of mango chutney, an ode to his English mother. Ultimately, he settled on dinner service four nights a week and a no-reservations policy.

The concise menu rotates weekly and changes with the season. But despite the size of the menu, from gnocchi with beef Bolognese to pork chops with sweet potato purée, there’s truly something for all palates, and you’ll rarely find the same preparation from visit to visit. Even the vegetarian option, a lovely mushroom tikka masala swimming in a tasty coconut sauce, was fantastically flavorful. The seemingly simple endive salad with ribbons of the vegetable tossed with hearts of palm, blue cheese, and pecans, was bright, light, and nicely dressed with a vinaigrette. It was a great way to start the meal without being overly filling.

Across two visits, we enjoyed a first-rate crab cake sandwich served on a house-made roll bathed in beurre monté and a satisfying truffle burger doused with truffle aioli, topped with porcini-truffle cheddar, and stacked with fried shallots on a brioche bun held together by a toothpick threaded with fabulous house-made pickles. (The accompanying fries were a bit standard issue.) The swordfish steak served with paella-style bomba rice doused with lemon-garlic sauce, flecked with green olives, and kissed by saffron, offered a burst of bold flavors. Small details, like the frisée greens poking out of the burger or the steamed shrimp appetizer served in an adorable basket and split down the middle for easy shelling, were evidence of the care that comes out of the kitchen.

We also enjoyed a round from Valladares’ gorgeous cocktail menu, including his bracing version of a Manhattan (almost blackened by Foro Amaro). On our most recent visit, we indulged in the crema Catala (think Spain’s version of crème brûlée). As we settled with our server, she asked if we’d enjoyed the meal.

“We’re excited to come back,” we said. And as we headed out into the night, we knew with certainty that CookHouse—and its wonderful staff— would be there waiting.

Before George Dailey opened CookHouse on the site of the former B Bistro, his hope was to offer an everyday cafe for Bolton Hill denizens and visitors. “Then the pandemic happened,” he says.

In fact, mere weeks after opening CookHouse, the England-born, Venezuela-raised chef, who also owns the nearby On the Hill Café, consolidated his operations, as they struggled for survival.

“I married On the Hill with CookHouse, which has more space,” he says.  It also has a liquor license, so “we can sell liquor and wine.”

In all the uncertainty, Dailey was forced to let go of most of his team. To date, he is one of three people on staff and the only person handling food preparation, from smoking his own salmon to making lasagna family meals.

Tables, once used ever-so-briefly for indoor dining, are now pushed aside for a hybrid café/market. In their place are baked goods in a display case, to-go soups in the cold case, and dry goods like pasta and wine stocked high on the shelves.

In the months ahead, Dailey is hoping to restore On the Hill as an all-day café and recast CookHouse as a full-service restaurant, as he’d always intended.

“I have to start from zero,” he says. “Hopefully it will work out.”

Where did the name CookHouse come from?
One hundred years ago or so, kitchens were not in the same building as the house because of fire. They called it the “cookhouse.”

What was your plan when you reopened?
When I reopened, I didn’t have a plan. I just went into the restaurant and reorganized everything and made a little market. I started working and people were coming in to get coffee. What they were really missing was a latte, so I started making that and added pastries.

With so many varied offerings, how do you decide what’s on the menu?
I was raised in Venezuela, so I know a lot about Latin cooking, and I thought, “Let’s make something that people can grab and go that’s easy.” I make hand pies and pot pies and things that people can take to go. I’m not saying I’m happy that this happened, but it actually opened my mind to making other things, like doing 10,000 gallons of tomato sauce and selling it in the jar or smoking my own salmon. I make whatever I want.

How did you learn to cook?
My mom, who passed away in 2019, was my inspiration for cooking. She taught me everything. She lived in England for many years and did a lot of English cooking. She made her own mango chutney. I found her recipe in her apartment and started making it. Now, I have quart jars and pint jars. I’m making curries for family meals and making curries for pies. Also, reflecting the Latin part of my upbringing, I make empanadas. But I don’t have many set menu items. One day it might be Cubanos, another day it might be a Swedish meatball sub on a pretzel roll.

Can you share a favorite memory of your mom?
She was an amazing cook. She had a black pot with a blue lid. You knew that when you saw it, something good was cooking. She taught me a lot about many things, like how not to burn the garlic and how to brown meat. She had people saying, “My god, this lady cooks like heaven.”

COMING SOON

CookHouse: Bolton Hill locals have long been waiting for the debut of this all-day restaurant from chef George Dailey—who also owns On The Hill Cafe in the neighborhood and has lived there for nearly 20 years. For months, the English-born chef has been hard at work spearheading the remodel of the former B. Bistro space, and he has finally set a grand opening date of Tuesday, February 11. Boasting a custom built bar, blue velvet banquette seating, and artsy light fixtures, the 75-seat space will offer breakfast and lunch service during the day, and a menu of European-inspired fare—including steak frites, lamb ragú, and house-made pastas—by night.

Water Song: You might be one of the lucky diners to have caught this authentic Chinese food purveyor, which emphasizes dishes of the Yunnan province, at pop-ups and festivals around town. But come spring, Water Song’s Mixian rice noodle bowls—traditionally served a touch of meat and lots of chili oil—crispy battered fried pork chunks, and other fan-favorites will be easily accessible from a new brick-and-mortar shop in Federal Hill. Taking over the former home of The Local Fry on East Cross Street, the restaurant is currently being renovated and expected to open in March.

NEWS

Larder Launches Brunch: This sustainably-sourced eatery in the Socle complex, which also houses Fadensonnen and Sophomore Coffee in Old Goucher, recently began offering Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Expect options like buckwheat blintzes with apple butter, sweet potato with a miso mousseline sauce, and scrambled eggs with house pickles and sourdough toast. And, of course, prepare to wash down all of the eats with a strong drip coffee from Larder’s neighbors at Sophomore.

SHUT

Plug Ugly’s Publick House: After eight years on O’Donnell Square in Canton, this mainstay pub is closing its doors later this month—but not before having one last blowout to celebrate its run. A closing party on February 22 will offer a complimentary buffet, drink specials poured by original bartenders, and $3 shots every hour from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. in honor of every year the bar has been open. Though the celebration will mark the end of Plug Ugly’s as we know it, owner Mark Bogosh recently told the Baltimore Business Journal that he has plans to rebrand the bar with a Western theme this spring.

L’Eau de Vie Organic Brasserie: Sadly, this Valentine’s Day will be the last for L’Eau de Vie, the plant-based restaurant that has been open just over a year in Fells Point. In an email announcement, owner Elena Johnson explained that the decision was made amidst irreconcilable negotiations with the building’s landlord. “Even though this chapter is ending, we are grateful for every guest who appreciated our vision for a sustainable, ethical business model,” the message reads. For those unable to redeem gift cards before the restaurant closes on March 1, Johnson is offering for customers to use them with restaurant’s catering business, Nourrie Cuisine, which offers personal chef services, classes, and prepared meals.

The idea is for CookHouse in Bolton Hill to be the quintessential buzzy neighborhood hangout—featuring all-day service, outdoor seating, a full bar, and a thoughtful carry-out program. But there is one thing that chef/owner George Dailey says diners shouldn’t expect to see at his forthcoming restaurant.

“We’re not going to have TVs in the place,” says Dailey, a Bolton Hill resident who also operates mainstay cafe On The Hill in the neighborhood. “You’re there to eat, not to watch TV. They’re just really impersonal.”

Aside from wanting the focus to be on the food, the English-born chef says that he wants CookHouse to be the type of place where neighbors of all ages can come to connect and converse with one another. “They will still have their phones, though,” he says with a laugh. “So maybe nevermind that.”

CookHouse is slated to open in the former home of B. Bistro on the corner of Bolton and Mosher streets in October. Dailey and his realtor wife, Jessica, purchased the building from the Karzai family last year, and have been working to transform the look and feel of the space ever since.

“We removed everything and started over,” Dailey says of the slow-and-steady construction process. “It’s an old building, so it takes a lot of work, but we’re really hoping people’s expectations are met.”

One of the larger tasks that the team took on was breaking up the open floorplan with a mix of banquette and table seating, a newly built bar, and a seperate area for takeout service.

“B didn’t have a bar, so that was the first thing that we thought the place needed,” Dailey says, adding that the bar will highlight beer, wine, and classic cocktails like a Negroni and French 75. “It was also an open dining room, so when you entered, it was kind of like you were standing right in front of somebody having dinner.”

The “classic yet modern” design of the 75-seat restaurant (which will also have outdoor sidewalk seating) will pay homage to the historic architecture of the building, while also incorporating neutral tones, warm woods, marble accents, and textured wallpaper.

In addition to the drastically remodeled space, the food will also be unrecognizable to Bolton Hill locals. Dailey says that the menu of European and American staples will be completely different than the sandwiches, soups, and burritos that diners have become familiar with at On The Hill.

For starters, the CookHouse menu will be much smaller. It will offer full breakfast plates (think eggs cooked to order, French toast, Belgian waffles, and steel-cut oats with berry compote), and a curated list of salads and burgers for lunch.

The restaurant will close briefly from 3-5 p.m. before reopening for dinner service, which will feature more intricate dishes like steak frites, steamed mussels, Beef Wellington, and a classic sole meuniere with lemon and brown butter sauce. For the more adventurous eater, there will also be a small section of nose-to-tail cooking with dishes like pig’s feet and veal kidneys: “It’s this whole philosophy of, if you’re going to butcher an animal, you better eat it all,” he says.

Learning from his experiences at On The Hill, Dailey is also streamlining a takeout program with dishes that are specifically designed to travel well. “There won’t be any soggy fries or things like that,” he says. “I want people’s food to arrive in a good state.”

That focus on hospitality is a major part of the mission behind CookHouse. Because there aren’t a ton of commercial restaurant spaces in the area (Noona’s recently opened near Mount Royal Station and The Tilted Row will soon debut in the new Jordan apartment building), Dailey feels lucky to be able to offer two eateries in the place that he and his family call home.

“I fell in love with the neighborhood when we first came here,” he says of his move from Boston nearly 20 years ago. “What really drives me are the big beautiful buildings that have so much history behind them. You try to picture this neighborhood 100 years ago when there were horses in front of the houses and you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’ We really want to honor that.”

OPEN

South Point: Take full advantage of the end of the summer at this new outdoor hangout that officially debuted in Port Covington last week. The recreation space offers waterfront wellness classes, group games like jumbo Jenga and Connect Four, old-school arcade games in a mobile shipping containter, and, of course, a lineup of drinks and eats crafted by former Bluegrass Tavern chef Patrick Morrow. Focusing on South American barbecue cuisine, the menu lists dishes such as fire-roasted jerk chicken wings, smoked mozzarella on crispy bread, hot smoked salmon in a salsa-verde vinaigrette, and roasted mushrooms and cauliflower with cashews. The weekend pop-up will be open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 5-11 p.m. through October. 101 W. Cromwell St.

Dahlak: Longtime Upper Fells Point locals most likely remember Arcos, the well-known Mexican restaurant that shuttered its doors at 129 S. Broadway back in 2014. Now, the space has shed its tacos and tequila in favor of Eritrean fare—a close cousin of Ethiopian cuisine. New owners Solomon and Yonathan Weldekirstos opened Dahlak earlier this summer, serving up authentic Eritrean dishes such as awaze tibs (tender lamb with tomato, jalapeno, and garlic sauce) and doro wot, a traditional chicken stew in a red pepper sauce served with boiled eggs. The spot also offers vegetarian platters, pasta dishes, sandwiches, a full bar, and weekly community events ranging from movie nights to live music performances. 129 S. Broadway. 301-512-6217

COMING SOON

Stupid Delicious Desserts: Come September, travelers will be able to grab a treat from this Parkville-based sweets shop while passing BWI Airport. Owner Tanya Davis expects to unveil a new Stupid Delicious kiosk near the food court on Concourse A on September 17. Davis—who can often be spotted pedaling her dessert cart at various farmers’ markets around town—will sell the bakeshop’s signature toffee, non-dairy chocolate chip, and vegan and gluten-free oatmeal cookies at the new spot. While she is looking forward to adding another local option to the dining destinations at the airport, Davis is also excited to introduce the brand to out-of-towners. “We can ship the cookies anywhere,” she says. “So we’re loving the idea of expanding our awareness beyond the Baltimore region.” 7812 Harford Rd, Parkville. 410-215-6564

Pie Time: Farmers’ market fiends have been visiting local baker Max Reim for years—whether he’s peddling his handcrafted pies on Saturdays in Waverly or Sundays under the JFX. In the coming months, diners will be able to indulge in Reim’s sweet and savory treats any day of the week, as he is planning to open a brick-and-mortar shop on East Baltimore Street in Patterson Park. Reim recently told the Baltimore Business Journal that the menu at the 20-seat cafe will be similar to the pop-up with a few additional sides and salads thrown into the mix. Construction on the shop won’t begin until the fall, but, until then, there will be plenty of peach-blueberry, old-fashioned apple, and savory slow-roasted tomato pies at local farmers’ markets to hold you over. 3101 E. Baltimore St.

CookHouse: It’s been nearly a year since B. Bistro shuttered its doors in Bolton Hill. And now, husband-and-wife team George and Jessica Dailey—who also own On The Hill Cafe in the neighborhood—are planning to breathe new life into the space. Liquor board documents indicate that the new restaurant, which is expected to open by winter, will offer all-day service with dishes such as Belgian waffles, sandwiches, soups, salads, and heartier dinner entrees. Stay tuned for more details. 1501 Bolton St.

NEWS

Charles Village Pub: Get ready, Charles Village. This neighborhood watering hole is on the road to recovery after a tragic grease fire shut it down in May. A sign posted to the front door (which prompted this heartwarming note from regulars) indicates that it won’t be long before locals are invited back in for affordable drafts and daily deals on pub grub. “We’d like to thank Charles Village for holding tight while we’re in the final stages of the rebuild,” reads a recent post to Facebook. “We’ll see you in a few weeks.” The spot is expected to reopen by the end of the month. 3107 St. Paul St. 410-243-1611

EPICUREAN EVENTS

8/17-26: Vegan Restaurant Week
On the heels of this summer’s Baltimore Restaurant Week festivities comes this dairy-free dining promotion that is being embraced by more than 20 eateries throughout the city. Returning for the third time, Vegan Restaurant Week encourages local restaurants to offer meatless menus in order to increase awareness about the accessibility of a plant-based diet. Spots everywhere from Riverside to Hampden will be offering special menus throughout the week, which will close out with the 5th annual Vegan Soulfest at Clifton park on August 25. Multiple locations.

8/19: BarkHappy Baltimore Paws on the Patio

Walk your pooch over to McHenry Row in Locust Point for this afternoon happy hour with drafts provided by World of Beer. Sample local and international brews while mingling with other owners and getting to know some of the dog-friendly services around town. The benefit for the Baltimore Humane Society will feature tons of free swag including chew toys, puppy bandanas and sunglasses, a $50 gift card from Dogtopia in Canton, and free dog massages from Luckie Dog Wellness. 1724 Whetstone Way. 2-4 p.m. $12.

8/24: The Local Oyster Stout Documentary Low Budget Screening Party
In one of the most epic collaborations that Charm City has ever seen, Waverly Brewing Company, The Local Oyster, and True Chesapeake Oyster Co. teamed up to create the Local Oyster Stout—a roasty, dark stout dosed with the shells and meat of real Maryland oysters. The project was such a game-changer, in fact, that filmmakers Jena Richardson and Mark Burchick decided to make a documentary about industrial process of producing the beer. Next Friday, head to Waverly’s taproom to catch a screening of the film (which just so happens to feature a cameo by Baltimore digital editor Jess Mayhugh) while slurping ‘sters and sipping the namesake farm-to-glass beer. Check out the trailer for the film here. Waverly Brewing Company, 1625 Union Ave. 7-10 p.m. Free. 443-438-5765