Getting people downtown again for shopping, dining, and events. Helping businesses reopen and rehire. Keeping commercial office and retail space filled.

Those are just a few of the challenges facing the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore (DPOB) as the business district tries to bounce back from the pandemic lockdown. But the economic development agency’s board thinks it has just the woman for the job: An electrical engineer.

Well, okay, Shelonda Stokes, just named president after serving in an interim leadership role, is no longer a practicing electrical engineer, but it was her major at Morgan State University. And she thinks that skill set can help DPOB dial up the voltage on the downtown area.

Named by the organization’s board of directors as its fourth president, Stokes replaces Kirby Fowler, who left to become president and CEO of the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore this past April. Stokes, a long-serving member of the Partnership’s board, became its chair last fall and was asked to serve as interim president when the COVID-19 pandemic shut the nation down in March. Prior to accepting that appointment, she was president and CEO of greiBO Media, a marketing and production studio based in Downtown Baltimore.

As interim president of an organization deemed “essential” during the shutdown by Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young, Stokes worked to outfit the Partnership’s operations teams with PPE and the proper safety protocols so they could return to providing public safety, litter removal, homeless outreach, and park maintenance services. She oversaw creation of the #CurbsideBaltimore gift-card program that has provided local restaurants and retailers with an infusion of cash, launched the #ArtofBaltimore public art initiative, and has taken over Heart of the Park, a service began by Harbor Park Garage and Pierpoint Restaurant that provides 250 free meals daily.

But what about that electrical engineering degree?

“I grew up extremely poor,” says the 48-year-old Baltimore native and mother of two. “I was the first in my family to go to college. And I went into that major at Morgan to make sure I’d be in a field where there’d be no question about employment. And, in fact, after I graduated, I got seven job offers. But, actually, the essence of many technical fields is about problem-solving. And I apply those technical skills on a daily basis.”

The Partnership is really two organizations. One focuses on marketing the downtown area, which is supported by revenue from events and membership dues from downtown businesses. The other is the Downtown Management Authority, which oversees improvements to public spaces in the 106-city-block area and is funded by a surcharge on the taxes of commercial properties downtown.

But because of business closures caused by the pandemic, the funding for the prior operation is facing real strains.

“So we have to figure out how we can offer more with less,” she says. “And that’s something we’re definitely focused on as a priority.”

Another priority is getting the word out that Charm City is open for business.

“Many people have learned to work from home, they’re saving gas, and they don’t have to dress up in the morning—that’s a reality,” Stokes says. “So we have to give them a reason to leave that and come back downtown and spend money.”

And how long will that take? The Owings Mills resident—who’s about to move to a new home downtown—says it’s hard to project.

“We’re still in Stage One. And the city has to find a balance between people’s health and the economy. It’s going to be a while, but we’ll see incremental progress.”

So how does it feel to lose the “interim” part of her title?

“It’s pretty funny,” Stokes says. “It’s like being a substitute teacher at work.”

On an early spring evening, Steve Monnier inspects a plate of poulet roit au foin—whole chicken roasted in hay and glazed with honey-brandy sauce—while a pastry chef at the pass pipes cream in between fine layers of puff pastry to build a Napoleon, and a line cook oversees the asador, where quail gets grilled above the sparkling embers of the wood fire. 

This is the scene at Chez Hugo Bistro, Monnier’s downtown dining follow-up to Hampden’s Arômes, where the focus was solely a pre-fixe tasting menu. In a sea of sameness, it was a unique restaurant concept at the time, but not everyone in Baltimore was ready for a menu in which the chef did all the deciding. So Monnier heard the people’s cri de coeur and closed his boîte at the end of last year to work on this new concept. If my first few visits are any indication, it was a bonne idée, indeed.

At Hugo, Monnier is cooking not only what he wants to cook, but also what others expect of traditional French bistro food. For daring foodies, there’s still a tasting menu (six to 10 courses for $85/per person), but Hugo’s main menu features a greatest hits of French-country cuisine—from pâte en croute to coq au vin and moules frites. And unlike the sometimes experimental Arômes, which often highlighted avant-garde ingredients such as lime ash and dehydrated scallops, the fare, although still fanciful (to wit, beets with wild rose vinaigrette and sour plums), needs little to no translation.

Also, while Arômes’ environs were the cramped quarters of a Hampden row house, Hugo—named for Monnier’s 4-year-old son and on the site of the former Baltimore International College—has no such issues. Inside this historic building (originally a Methodist Episcopal Church, long before becoming the local culinary arts college), there’s a roomy bar for sipping an effervescent French 75 and a tony dining room with tufted, mustard-colored banquettes, cabaret chairs, French blue walls, mosaic tile floors, and original carved wood moldings. (Think Bordeaux meets Baltimore.)

Monnier, who hails from Reims in the Champagne region of France and worked in the kitchens of several Michelin-starred spots (Le Carré des Feuillants, Le Laurent, Taillevent), is able to showcase his culinary talents here. Of course, many fine-dining chefs have been classically trained in the Escoffier school of cooking, but there’s something about having an actual French chef at the helm that creates a kind of culinary verité.

While our trips to the table were beset by some minor missteps (on one outing, ours was among the first tables seated on a Saturday night, and already the kitchen was out of whole chickens), there were remarkably few for a restaurant in its first semester. On our dinner visits, servers were relaxed and gave good recommendations, including one for the soupe à l’oignon et son toast with sweet charred onions and croutons nestled under a cap of melted gruyère and a beef broth that takes two days to prepare. There was also a ringing endorsement for a simple salad of grilled carrots tossed with tangy grapefruit sections, fennel, and frisée. The citrus of the grapefruit offset the natural sweetness of the charred carrots, and the fennel added a nice crunch. 

On our first visit, the most outstanding entrée was the beef bourguignon, a masterpiece in composition with thick hunks of braised beef short rib on a plate punctuated by carrots, pearl onions, button mushrooms, and two thick slices of bread for mopping up the Bordelaise sauce. It was rich and comforting and a paragon of French home-style cooking. 

There are also nightly specials, including a lobster salad special for two. The $70 price tag was a bit steep, but the portion was large, and the preparation, employing brown butter and curry and placed on a bed of frisée along with a Japanese sweet potato, beautifully showcased the shellfish.    

But the pièce de résistance, and the reason for our return visit, was the aforementioned roasted chicken for two. It has long been said that the true test of a chef is his or her chicken. Nowhere is this truer than at Hugo, where a pasture-raised whole bird is roasted at high heat, then deglazed with white wine, cream and chicken stock. As we waited the requisite 45 minutes it took to prepare, the anticipation, and hunger, mounted. And when a fleet of servers arrived with the fragrant and flavorful chicken neatly sliced in a skillet and served alongside roasted broccoli and potatoes—plus au jus on the side to amp up the succulence and a small salad verte on the side—we ate with abandon.  

Though you’re likely to feel sated even without dessert, remember The French Diet (red wine, butter, chocolate). Consider the macaron au chocolat with chocolate ganache or the crème brûlée with its professionally caramelized crust and just the right level of vanilla swirled into buttercup yellow custard. The Paris-Brest, a donut doppelganger made with choux pastry and filled with praline cream, is equally divine. For next time—and there will be a next time—our sights are set on that Napoleon.

CHEZ HUGO BISTRO: 206 E. Redwood St., 443-438-3002. HOURS: Mon. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Tues. Thurs. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-9:30 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., 5-10 p.m. Sat. 5-10 p.m. PRICES: appetizers: $7-25; entrees: $23-32, plates for two: $50-75. AMBIANCE: French bistro. 

Despite chilly temperatures, hundreds of people gathered in the Inner Harbor Tuesday night to take in the sights and sounds of Light City Baltimore. As soon as the sun set and the exhibitions came to life against the night sky, visitors of all ages—bundled in jackets and scarves and clutching cups of hot chocolate to keep warm—explored the fourth night of the three-week-long free arts and innovation festival.
 

Riverside resident Laura Knapp, who has attended Light City since the inaugural festival in 2016, said she’s enjoyed watching the event grow from a few installations scattered near the waterfront to a citywide event.
 

“I really like how many neighborhood exhibitions they had this year and that they’re growing that,” she said. “It’s a fun way for people to walk around the city together in places where they might not normally.”
 

While there was a steady stream of people snapping pictures of the multicolored exhibits, grabbing eats from local vendors and food trucks, and riding through downtown in Fireflies’ illuminated pedicabs, many said they waited until mid-week to visit the Light Art Walk to avoid lines or congestion around the attractions. 

Angela Montgomery, who started her first Light City experience by stargazing at the Solar Power/Solar System installation, said she and her group of friends wanted to beat the weekend crowds by coming on Tuesday night.  

“But it’s great that it gets people down to the city,” said Montgomery, who lives in Franklintown. “And it gives them a way to experience art in a way they haven’t before.”  

The night was packed with entertainment, from performances by the Cristo Rey Jesuit step team and Washington, D.C.-based band The Loving Paupers to a set by WTMD’s Sam Sessa on the Club Light City stage. At Pier 5, next to 400 inflatable swim rings floating in the harbor for The Herd installation, Baltimore’s beloved avant-garde group, Fluid Movement, performed a Herdling March for onlookers while wearing the blowup art pieces and flashing bulbs on their heads.  

Kathy Carducci, who lives in Locust Point and attended the event with her daughter, said events like Light City bring people from surrounding areas to Baltimore and are a great way to promote the city.  

“I love it. I never want to live anywhere else,” said Carducci. “I think it’s an awesome city and it’s been getting a bad rap lately, so I hope events like this help turn that around.”
 
 
 
 
 

Seth Adelsberger and Alex Ebstein are no strangers to the Baltimore art scene. They’ve lived in the city for the past 15 years and have been actively involved in its culture as students, visual artists, curators, and gallery owners. And for this, they’ve experienced firsthand the rise and fall of several artist live and work spaces that served as music venues and and galleries.

They lived in the H&H Arts Building for a solid decade, during what one might call its hey day, and five years of that was spent operating their gallery Nudashank there, one of a handful of gallery spaces inside the H&H that was open to the public.

These days, the public is not so lucky. 

When it comes to the underground warehouse spaces that the Baltimore art scene has become known for, there’s not much around anymore.

The H&H—in all its DIY music and art scene glory—faded out, as did the famous Copycat building, home to eccentric artists (spawning such legends as Wham City, Dan Deacon, and Ed Schrader) and housing several experimental venues. The Bell Foundry—where artists lived, worked, and held events—was condemned in 2016 by the city. In early 2018, the Post Office Garage studios building was condemned, artists forced out during a frigid few days in January.

Adelsberger would’ve been among those kicked out of the Post Office building, had he not left his studio there just a few months before its shutdown to open a new gallery, studio, and framing workshop with his longtime partner and collaborator, Ebstein, on Park Avenue downtown.

“It was sinking a quarter-inch a year into 83,” Adelsberger says of the Post Office building, acknowledging that he unknowingly dodged a bullet but other artists weren’t so lucky. “It shows how precarious the art scene is—because it’s a DIY scene,” he goes on. “And there’s not much of a safety net.”

Their new gallery, Resort, in an online description, is referred to as contemporary, and it’s the job of contemporary artists to be looking to what’s ahead. The result is an avant-garde space that serves as a catalyst for new ideas and community dialogue, as well as a legit venue for emerging and established artists to show their work.

The first floor is a public gallery, while the second is used for Adelsberger’s framing and fabrication work, and the third acts as a studio for both artists—Adelsberger for his large-scale abstract paintings, some of which were shown at the Baltimore Museum of Art in 2014, and Ebstein for her collages made from yoga mats.

Solo and group exhibitions are already lined up through the year, and additional events are being planned to make the space more than a destination for visual art. In an atypical curatorial move, Ebstein and Adelsberger chose artists based on past work rather than proposals for specific shows.

Currently on view is A Big Toe Touches a Green Tomato by Philadelphia-based Roxana Azar and former artistic director of The Contemporary Ginevra Shay. The exhibit melds human and natural forms through photography, sculpture, and ceramics that are often abstracted or conceptual pieces while maintaining a graceful beauty, if darkness, about them. A reception will close out the show from noon to 4 p.m. March 11.

Next up, the space will host the group show Noise Margins and Sophie Friedman-Pappas’ solo project Broken Eggs beginning March 17.

Ebstein says visitors to the gallery’s first reception on January 20 were pleasantly surprised with the space. She also jokingly told them that she might not remember any conversations that night; it had been a long week (months, really), leading up to the opening.

When the building at 235 Park Avenue became available, Ebstein and Adelsberger knew it had potential, but they also knew it would require a lot of work to transform the space. There were flimsy walls and poorly made ceilings. There was one electrical outlet per (massive) floor. There were pigeons and asbestos. There was no heat.

“When the toilet froze over, that was kind of it for me,” Ebstein says. “People would come in and just couldn’t see it. People were coming in two, three weeks before the [January] show and just saying ‘good luck.’” (Just check out some of their early Instagram posts for proof.)

But that is what artists do best: transform. They transform blank canvases and other people’s garbage into works of beauty or thought-provoking pieces (or both). They transform themselves and the people who interact with their work. They transform buildings that have fallen into disrepair into new venues, and in so doing transform what once was boarded up, condemned, or otherwise abandoned into new places to think and play.

One evening after local developer Scott Helm finished a meal at Arômes in Hampden, he put in a request to speak with the chef.
 

“Our server Gilles [Mascarell] came back to the kitchen and asked me to come out and talk with him,” recalls chef Steve Monnier. “And I was just like, ‘It’s Saturday night, I don’t have time.’” 

Little did Monnier know, Helm was looking for someone to head up a new restaurant at a historic property that he had acquired downtown. Luckily, Helm came back for another meal with his family soon after.
  

“He was like, ‘Do you have time now?’” Monnier recalls, with a laugh. “We talked about it, and I came out to see the space and fell in love.”
 

Monnier closed Arômes in November to fully focus his energy on the new project, Chez Hugo, which is named after Monnier’s son and makes its official debut next week (reservations are full for opening night on Saturday, but the spot will reopen for dinner service Tuesday) inside the historic Merchants Club building at 206 E. Redwood Street downtown.
 

The building neighbors the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, where Helm sits on the board. Monnier is looking forward to providing a pre-show dinner spot for theater-goers, as well as partnering with the troupe for special events—like a kids’ tea party that will precede an April performance of Alice in Wonderland.  

The property’s early 20th-century roots shine through in the bistro’s layout, which preserves touches like dark wood moldings and vintage sliding doors. But designer Matthew Compton of local firm Foundry Architects had his work cut out for him when transforming the space—which was most recently used by Baltimore International College—into a full-fledged restaurant.  

Compton, whose work is also showcased at Parts & Labor and Belvedere Square Market, added elements like an open kitchen with a wood-burning hearth oven, private tasting room, main dining area with marble tabletops and yellow banquettes, and custom-made floor tiles to evoke a classic bistro feel. The 4,000-square-foot space can accommodate 60 people, with an additional 15 seats at the front bar.  

Though Monnier says that the bigger space provides an opportunity to continue his commitment to local sourcing (he frequently works with Monkton’s Karma Farm), the experimental dishes that he became known for at Arômes will no longer be the focus at Chez Hugo. Instead, he is taking a classic approach to bistro fare.  

“It’s a continuation,” he says. “With Arômes, it made me realize that you cook for the people of the city, you don’t cook for yourself. Here, I want to make sure I don’t scare people. I want to go classic first, and then evolve later.”  

In the kitchen, Monnier, along with chef de cuisine Jeff Schultz, will take inspiration from many different French regions and rotate dishes seasonally. The opening menu, which includes a daily plat du jour, features takes on classics such as escargots with butter and parsley, grilled hanger steak frites, winter squash wrapped in brioche, foie gras terrine, and duck pithivier—which Monnier describes as a savory King Cake. In-house pastry chef Theresa Louis will craft desserts like chestnut mousse with an almond macaron and maraschino caramel.  

“Yeah, you’re going to find things like onion soup,” Monnier says. “But food is like fashion—it evolves. With French cuisine, we’re reinterpreting things all the time.”  

Accompanying the food will be a bar program led by beverage director Adam Litchfield, a 15-year industry veteran who followed Monnier from Arômes. The bar is equipped with four taps, two of which will be devoted to regional beers from Oliver Brewing Company and Right Proper Brewing. The others will either be rotating local varieties, or French brews.  

The cocktail menu will also reflect the theme, incorporating French spirits like pastis and chartreuse. One of Litchfield’s signature drinks, “Rimbaud’s Vice,” is named after famed poet Arthur Rimbaud from Reims—the same region as Monnier—who “was legendary for sitting around drinking absinthe in the middle of the afternoon,” Litchfield says.  

Of course, Litchfield’s wine list has a French slant, but also includes approachable picks.  

“Some people just want to come in and drink a California cab,” he says. “We want to make sure everyone feels welcome. Generally, there is this perception that French food is stuffy and fancy. We really want to emphasize that everyone who walks through the door is going to have a great meal.”  

Above all, the staff stresses how important it is for the space to be inviting.  

“There are no VIPs,” adds general manager Chad Gentile. “If a couple saves for an entire year to come out for one dinner, it should be just as extravagant as if the President of the United States comes.”

Even before you bite into your octopus po’ boy slider or a take of sip of the rummy Promised Land, you get a good sense of the story Ida B’s Table is trying to tell. There’s the hostess who oozes Southern hospitality as she greets you at the door, an indoor wrought iron “fence” that evokes the porches of the Deep South, and Baltimore artist Ernest Shaw’s portrait of the restaurant’s titular heroine and triple threat—newspaperwoman/suffragist/co-founder of the NAACP Ida B. Wells—presiding over the place. Next to her portrait is an inscription that reads: “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” 

While shining a light on soul food, Ida B’s is also redefining the genre. Owner/chef David Thomas (formerly of Parkville’s Herb & Soul) and his wife, Tonya, offer up a new, modern take on a complicated cuisine, whose origins go back to slavery, when heavy seasoning and spices helped extract the flavor from the scraps and rations slaves received. 

Chef Thomas, whose Greensboro-born grandmother, Anna Poole Thomas, was the daughter of a slave, grew up watching her toil in the kitchen as she ground her own salt, spices, and cornmeal. In many ways, this spot is built on the memories of his grandmother’s soulful cooking. 

Have a conversation with the chef and you’re likely to get a history lesson. He will tell you that the term “soul food” is most commonly used when describing the foods from the Deep South and was coined in the ’60s, when “soul” was commonly used to define anything affiliated with Black-American culture. And while his restaurant is on a mission, Thomas’ goal is to provide a narrative that doesn’t, in his words, “hit people over the head.” 

Melding the traditions of Africa, Europe, and the Americas, soul food is one of the original fusion cuisines, but Thomas takes it a step further with his own interpretations. 

Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch, the menus—compact, but wide-ranging—cleverly carry through a newspaper theme not only to honor Ida “B” Bell Wells-Barnett, but as a nod to the partnership between the Thomases and The Real News Network (with which it shares a building). On the dinner menu, appetizers are “Leads,” entrees are “Features,” sides are “Sidebars,” and desserts are “Final Edits.” (Sure, it could be hokey, but it makes the menu a fun read.)

Over several visits, I was most impressed with the intensity of flavor in each and every dish—Thomas does his grandmother proud. In the Leads section of the menu, we enjoyed the clever take on Buffalo wings—crispy curry wings with sweet and spicy curry glaze. Another hit was the Herb and Soul Rolls (pulled jerk chicken paired with Liberian greens, candied yams, and house-made barbecue sauce tucked inside a deep-fried spring roll wrap). Within minutes, the plate was completely clean.

We also enjoyed the inventive so-called Southern sushi, a concoction of rice, blackened chicken, and pickled vegetables rolled in a collard exterior and perfect for the non-red meat eater at the table. In the Features section, the fried chicken, dredged in flour, Old Bay, and garlic powder, was exactly what we’d hoped for—velvety on the inside and crackly on the outside. The dish (offering excellent value at $12 for two pieces) arrived with Tonya’s buttery house-made buttermilk biscuit and a choice of sides. Our server suggested we pair it with the mac and cheese with penne and aged cheddar and the Liberian greens (spiced collards), and she did not steer us wrong.

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THE COCKTAILS
Technically they’re not a “dish,” but don’t skip the well-crafted (and cleverly named) cocktails by Chelsea Gregoire including The Seventh Son with gin, lemon, lavender, and berries.

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Seafood offerings included a beautifully plated piece of local blue catfish that is served on a bed of stewed tomatoes and nicely offset by a rich cheddar faro risotto. The seared scallop special—five fat pieces of shellfish bathed in brown butter and burrowed into a bed of red quinoa—was also fantastically fresh and flavorful.

A visit at lunchtime revealed other gifts from the kitchen. Among them, a Southern spun kale Caesar salad dotted with cornbread croutons and heads-on blackened shrimp. The ultimate fusion dish was the Southern Seoul Reuben. Thick slices of pastrami were piled between two slices of marble rye and slathered with mustard aioli, then topped with crunchy collard kimchi.  It was a playful soul-food-meets-Korea-meets-Jewish-deli take on the classic Reuben.  

If you want to end on a sweet note, keep in mind that Tonya turns out all of the house-made desserts, so it’s best to save the diet for another day. The coffee-cake bread pudding drizzled with crème Anglaise and topped with sorghum whipped cream was possibly the most delectable dessert we’ve eaten all year. 

Adding to the exceptional experience, service was impeccable without feeling intrusive. On our lunch visit, we particularly enjoyed meeting Dave and Tonya’s server son, Brendan. Despite the lunchtime rush, he remained attentive, informed, and effortlessly amiable. Above all, the restaurant succeeds in its mission to serve as a much-needed gathering spot. Somewhere out there, Ida B. is smiling. 

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IDA B’S TABLE 235 Holliday St., 410-844-0444. HOURS Sun. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Tues.-Thurs. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; 4-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 9 a.m.-3 p.m.; 4-10 p.m. PRICES Appetizers/salads: $5-10; entrees: $12-32; desserts: $2-9. AMBIANCE Artsy industrial.   

Pâtisserie Poupon has been known as one of Baltimore’s best bakeries since its opening in 1986 on the outskirts of Little Italy, so we found ourselves saying, “ooh, la, la” to the news that an offshoot bistro, Café Poupon, was springing up in the heart of the downtown district. Tucked in a storefront space, the cafe recreates the charming bistros of Paris’s Left Bank with its oversized French exhibition posters, baskets of baguettes, and rows of too-pretty-to-eat petit fours on display. The menu exudes a similar culinary vérité. Whether you want a light bite or something heartier, there’s something for everyone here, though it won’t be easy to select from among the items including smoked salmon salad with capers and hard-boiled eggs ($13.95) and shrimp salad tossed in lemon mayonnaise ($13.95).

We went for the most classic offerings on hand, including a salad niçoise ($12.50), a ham sandwich ($6.95), and a petit 5-inch spinach quiche ($7). My companion, who honeymooned in Paris last year, was impressed by the salad’s authenticity with its moist albacore tuna, niçoise olives, and steamed string beans on a bed of mesclun, while several untraditional elements—including crostini with olive tapenade and fresh artichoke hearts—added a nice touch, too.

The just-out-of-the-oven spinach quiche was certainly among the best we’ve sampled in the city, with its savory shell and creamy custard. The ham sandwich—stacked with several thin slices of comte cheese and served with a nose-clearing, Dijon French mustard on a crusty baguette, was for discerning Francophiles as well.

Though we’d had our fill, we couldn’t resist taking a few desserts to go, including a macaroon—an airy almond flour cookie pressed around a passion-fruit filling—and a caramel Napoleon, or milles-feuille (a thousand leaves) as the French call it. And speaking of sweets, parting filled us with sweet sorrow, but c’est la vie—we are counting the days until we can return.