Sitting on a bar stool near milk crates of coiled cables and buckets of cleaning supplies, Cris Jacobs recalls the first time his band took the stage at The 8×10. Back in 2002, the circa-1983 Federal Hill club was morphing into the short-lived, so-called Funk Box. That’s when the spring-loaded dance floor was added and when Jacobs’ up-and-coming jam band, The Bridge, knocked on the door, looking for a gig.

“We would rehearse nearby and come ask whoever was hanging around if we could play,” says Jacobs, pictured, a 48-year-old singer-songwriter and Owings Mills native who ventured into the city to attend his first concert here at 17.

Luckily—for both him and scores of Baltimore music fans—they said yes.

Jacobs has been a fixture on the local music scene for more than two decades—bluegrass gigs as a college kid, with his cult-followed The Bridge, eventually as a successful solo artist. In that time, he has graced The 8×10’s stage more than any other artist—some 200 shows in total. But today, in mid-August, might be his favorite moment yet: getting a key to the front door.

Last winter, longtime owners Abigail Janssens and Brian Shupe announced that they would be ending their 21-year run and retiring on June 30. Fans lamented the loss of this hallowed venue. In its early days, Nirvana, Phish, and Lenny Kravitz all cut their teeth on Cross Street. And of course Jacobs knew how much the spot meant to the local music scene. So he and others—live-music industry veteran Chris Perella; his cousin, general manager Jeremy Rusen; and building owner Dave Rather—bought it.

Now, The 8×10 is ready to rock again. Doors re-open on Oct. 8 for their first sold-out show, fittingly headlined by Jacobs, which will kick off an already packed lineup through the rest of the year, including Baltimore electronic artist Dan Deacon and New Orleans’ Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band.

“The 8×10 is like home base,” says Jacobs, who has opened for iconic rock acts like Sturgill Simpson, played with members of the Grateful Dead, and performed everywhere from Merriweather Post Pavilion to the Hollywood Bowl, a far cry from this 300-capacity room. “You feel the crowd right up in your face. . . . There’s such an urgency and excitement that this place brings out of me.”

In more recent years, The 8×10 has become known as the jam-band place, but the new owners want to welcome all genres. “It’s essential that we foster that inclusivity,” says Perella, founder of the Philadelphia-based live-music production company Rising Sun Presents. “The broadening of the club’s horizons will be better for fans, the neighborhood, and business.”

It was his cousin who first reached out after learning of the club’s impending sale. “I told him, The 8×10 can’t die,” says Rusen, a Lutherville resident, local craftsman, and longtime concertgoer here. “It turns out a lot of people felt the same way.” Numerous bands, managers, and agents have expressed their appreciation, says Perella. “The live music industry needs more rooms like this, not less.”

And this room will have a modest makeover when it reopens this month. The sound system has been expanded, the soundboard has been upgraded, and there will be more room on the dance floor. The bars have been spruced up, and, for the first time, there will be food service. Plus, all four levels received a much-needed deep cleaning.

But Jacobs didn’t want to change things too much. For him, the scrappiness of this venue has always been a part of its allure.

“This place is Baltimore—it’s gritty, eclectic, soulful, intimate, and not stuck up. It encourages you to be your true self, both in the audience and on stage,” he says. “People have asked me if The 8×10 is going to be the same. I tell them, ‘No, it’s going to be better.’”

From the outside, Federal Hill’s Pizza Harbor looks pretty much like every other run-of-the-mill neighborhood pizza joint in every other neighborhood in the city. Its name, as nondescript as they come, also belies what’s inside.

The first clue that your assumptions are wrong appears when you walk through the front door and notice the far wall, painted yellow and blue. Art from the village of Petrykivka, in the Dnipro region of eastern Ukraine, hangs from it, and on another is a falcon carved in the shape of a Ukrainian trident.

Take a seat at the bar and behind it you’ll see up to 10 bottles of Ukrainian beer, which is about 10 more than we’ve seen in any other Baltimore bar. The drink menu includes a Kyiv Mule, and, along with the standard menu of pizza, sandwiches, and wings, comes another with stuffed cabbage, pierogies, and borscht.

A little more than a year ago, co-owner Myroslava Semerey took Pizza Harbor, once a part of the HomeSlyce franchise, independent. Her daughter, Iryna, joined the business and the two decided to add flavors from their native Ukraine to the operation.

“Not many restaurants in the area are able to present our Ukrainian cuisine, so people do not have to wait for the festivals in the summertime,” Iryna says. “They can come here anytime to have something special, homemade Ukrainian food.”

Something special indeed. While the pizzas and the like are solid, it’s Myroslava’s homemade Ukrainian dishes that truly shine.

Holubtsi is cabbage stuffed with rice and ground veal, beef, and pork. “Because it’s very time-consuming, [my mom] would always make it on Saturday evenings for Sunday lunch and dinner,” Iryna says. “I cannot eat any other stuffed cabbage; it is the best I’ve ever had.” We concur.

Chebureky is essentially a version of an empanada, a large, deep-fried pocket of dough filled with ground beef. “That is our version of fast food,” Iryna says.

Pierogies are better known around these parts, and Myroslava’s are among the best we’ve eaten. The secret? “The dough has to be soft and pliable,” Iryna says. “My mom makes it with potatoes, and she adds some cheese as well.”

The majority of Pizza Harbor’s customers are not Ukrainians, rather people from the neighborhood who have stumbled onto this gem and become hooked. In the last six months, sales from the Ukrainian menu have surpassed that of the regular one, Iryna says.

What’s more, she says, she and her family have received lots of moral support from customers who understand that, because of Russia’s ongoing invasion of her native country, it’s a trying time for Ukrainians everywhere.

“We have family members who have been killed in the war,” Iryna says. “For us, we are filled with worry every day because you never know what to expect. We are living once again through the history that’s repeating itself because Ukraine went through these turmoil times before.”

Half a world away, the Semereys are doing their part, through food, to ensure that no one forgets the plight—and the beauty—of Ukraine.

PIZZA HARBOR: 2 E. Wells St., Federal Hill, 443-230-4240 HOURS: Tue.-Wed. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Thur. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers: $7-15; salads: $10-15;
sandwiches: $12-17; entrees: $27-47; pizzas: $11-32; Ukrainian dishes: $8-15.

After working music festivals and pop-ups for few years, Will Fagg, a former Hopkins operating room nurse turned self-professed pizza nerd, opened TinyBrickOven in 2019. He had a bunch of loyal regulars, but it still wasn’t enough to sustain the business. And it didn’t help that he was having issues acquiring a liquor license in bar-hopping Federal Hill. So, last December, Fagg decided to call it quits.

“I had tried everything possible but still was not making any money,” he says. “I was going to close on Christmas Day and tell my regulars, ‘Please come in for free pizza,’ so I could give a sweet goodbye.”

That is, until social media celebrity and Barstool Sports One Bite Pizza reviewer, Dave Portnoy, wandered in for a cheese pizza just 12 days before closing.

“I had been wanting this guy to show up for four years,” says Fagg, who actively encouraged customers to recruit Portnoy on social media. And with good reason. Portnoy is essentially the fairy godfather of pizza joints. A single visit from him can turn around the fortunes of any struggling business. “His timing was incredible and all these emotions were running though my head. I started  thanking him for all the grants he gave to local businesses to help them stay open during the pandemic—we just connected.”

As per One Bite Pizza tradition, Fagg made Portnoy a cheese pizza to-go. Portnoy stepped outside the Light Street shop to record his reaction. After taking a few bites, he turned straight to the camera and said, “There’s no way this place should be going out of business.”

On the spot, he offered Fagg $60,000 to help him get through another year (donations later poured in, including $10,000 from New York hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman).

“This is wild,” said Fagg when the moment was captured on camera. “I am going to cry.”

(To date, the video of Portnoy’s visit to TinyBrickOven has nearly 600,000 views on YouTube.)

Now that Fagg has had time to dry his tears and is back in business (and busier than ever), we caught up with him one morning as he taught us how to make pizza.

Why did you decide to make pizza your specialty?
I was an Airbnb host long ago and had bartended at the Washington Hilton. I got the idea from working there—food and beverage were an important part of the hotel. And since I was running my own hotel with Airbnb, in my limited-budget way, I tried to have my own little Hilton.

In the beginning, I had cookouts with burgers and dogs from Sam’s Club. But as Airbnb became more mainstream, we started getting hosts who were more affluent. By then I was a “super host” and had hundreds of five-star ratings. When that happened, I realized my little Hilton was not keeping up with the food and beverage options. For a year, I thought about what kind of food I could make that would be more upscale, so I started cooking pizza in my backyard on an oven I built myself.

How did you become such an expert?
My first foray into making pizza started with this high-temperature oven, which is what you need for making great Neapolitan crusts. I had this book, The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani, I checked out of the library, because I was so broke at that point—it was like $26 on Amazon. At the beginning of that book, he mentions a three-day dough master class that he offers. But if you want to go take the master class at his studio kitchen in California, it’s like $9,000. Being broke, but having access to YouTube, I figured I’d do the master class on my own.

So, what is the secret to making a great pizza?
You add the right amount of sauce using fresh-packed canned tomatoes that have been canned within four hours of being harvested, plus Jersey tomatoes with extra garlic and spices, and cheese—we use a part-skim and whole-milk mozzarella blend and you bake it for the right amount of time using a deck oven with a pizza stone on the bottom so it’s really crispy. When you do it that way, using the right ingredients, you are following the traditions and recipes that Italians have been using for hundreds of years. It’s going to come out like a New York slice.

Tell me about the cheese you use.
We use what’s called an “East Coast blend.” When you bake the cheese at 550 degrees for six minutes, there’s a little bit of separation and you get this orange oil on top like most New York pizza. That’s from the beta carotene that’s in the grass the cows eat—it gets expressed from the oil in the cheese when you bake it. But if you look at Papa Johns’ cheese, they’ve added sugar cane fiber into the cheese mix—the wood pulp in the cheese absorbs the grease so the cheese stays white.

How did you perfect the oven that you first built?
I saw this propane-powered pizza oven at Home Depot. It was not that expensive, it just looked kind of pathetic, so I went home and did research and read Amazon reviews. People were saying that it didn’t get hot enough to make the crust.

I decided to build my own version of it. I took apart an old Weber grill, put fire bricks in the lid, a pizza stone below, and used this weed burner, so you could basically turn it into a blacksmithing tool to melt steel. It was way more powerful than we needed for a pizza oven but I got it up to 900 degrees—that’s a great temperature for making Neapolitan pizza.

You were a nurse long before becoming a pizza maker. Is there a connection between nursing and making pizza?
Nursing and pizza share this great history—things get passed down through tradition.

What has your comeback story taught you?
I was excited we could shine a positive light on Baltimore and be a story of resilience—there are a lot of resilient people in this city.

Locals Only oozes attitude. And the Federal Hill bar is unapologetic about it.

Start with the décor inside the space that previously housed Pretty Awesome Live Music (P.A.L.M.) and Social Pub & Pie. “Pizza is my Porno” screams one sign. On another wall hangs a portrait of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with several free-floating hands flipping the bird in the background. On another is a neon sign with a slice of pizza and the declaration “I licked it so it’s mine.” Message received.

“We weren’t trying to overthink it,” Andrew Wheeler told Baltimore when he opened the pizza-focused bar in 2023. “I’ve been in the neighborhood for 15 years now, and I understand the clientele. They don’t want something that’s stuck-up or too fancy. They want cost-effective offerings that are fun, and a playful vibe to go with that.”

That playfulness permeates every facet of the place. The cocktail menu trends toward the sweet and offers several drinks not seen elsewhere.

Frosty’s Kinky Coco is made with Deep Eddy vodka, hot chocolate, and heavy cream and garnished with whipped cream, marshmallows, and chocolate sauce. It’s liquid dessert for grown-ups. Mint & Mischief is a peppermint espresso martini, and the one we drank was perfectly prepared. You don’t see many cocktails with Fireball in them these days, but the Fire N Cider uses the cinnamon whiskey to create a warming drink that especially satisfies on a chilly night.

A few wines and seltzers are available, as is a selection of canned beers. Orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit crushes are made with freshly squeezed fruit and they’re just $5 during happy hour.

Pizza is the focus of the food menu and Locals Only does it right. Creative combinations, fresh toppings, and a slightly pillowy crust make for solid pies. The Chimi Neutron was the pizza of the week when we visited in December. Topped with shaved rib-eye, red onions, peppers, and a garlic-bread crust, it was the secret ingredient—chimichurri sauce that made it great.

The Cheesus Christ features truffle ricotta, mozzarella, Parm, hot honey, hazelnuts, and herbs. The Golden Arches is a pie with ground beef, mac sauce, shredded lettuce, American cheese, pickles, red onion, and sesame seeds. Ronald McDonald would surely approve.

On the “Not Pizza” section of the menu, a plate of fries topped with Parmesan, truffle oil, garlic, and herbs stood out. Wings, burgers, and the Naughty Nugget, a chicken sandwich with honey mustard, also are available.

The clientele at Locals Only skews younger. On weekend nights the place can get packed. There’s a deejay spinning tunes, the tables downstairs are moved aside to make room for dancing, and the upstairs often opens for those who want to eat.

Despite a sign on the back wall proclaiming, “Locals Only—F*ck Off,” the bartenders we encountered couldn’t have been more friendly. They, like us, know that we’re all in on the joke.

April Fools’ Day marked the one-year anniversary of OctoBar, the Federal Hill bar and restaurant that’s deadly serious in its mission to bring elevated food and drink to the neighborhood. Owner Octavio Vazquez, a veteran of the city’s culinary scene, wanted to add something different to the area’s mix of beer and burger joints, and he’s succeeded.

Housed in a rowhouse formerly occupied by the Rowhouse Grille, OctoBar exudes a more sophisticated, upscale vibe than many of its bar brethren. While the bones of OctoBar’s space are familiar—the front room features a long wooden bar and a few tables, while a smallish dining room is in the back—Vazquez’s choice of darker wooden tones and a lacquered bar top stand out.

“I paid attention to a lot of bars in Europe,” says Vazquez. “One bar in Dublin caught my attention. It has the same colors, the same look. That was an inspiration. I also Googled the name OctoBar and a beautiful establishment in Belgium came up. So OctoBar has a little bit of European flair.”

Vazquez cut his teeth working at the late great Kali’s Court in Fells Point and was part of the team that opened Ouzo Bay and Azumi for the Atlas Restaurant Group. Aside from the places he worked, his favorite restaurant in the city is Fells Point’s Mezze, so he was intent on bringing tapas to Federal Hill.

“I always liked the fact that people can share food family style,” he says. “We have small plates from Spain and Italy. It started evolving and we have Mexican tapas as well.”

Like all continental meals, lunch (available on the weekends) or dinner should start with a cocktail, and there are plenty of great ones here. The Oktini is the bestseller. Made with vodka or gin, it includes cucumber water, Giffard elderflower, lime, and mint syrup. An Octofashion is made with aged dark rum, house-made orange bitters, pineapple juice, and vanilla syrup. It has a more tropical taste than a traditional Old Fashioned. Our favorite drink was the Wicked Pulpo, a combination of blanco tequila, jalapeño-infused syrup, lime juice, and ginger beer. It was tangy and left a spicy impression in our mouth.

Despite the last three letters of its name, OctoBar takes its food as seriously as its drinks. Chef Gerardo Gonzalez’s attention to detail is admirable. His crab eggrolls are lightly fried and feature filling more akin to crab dip than a crab cake. But perhaps the best part of the dish is the pineapple corn salsa—not a kernel was left on our plate.

Moroccan lamb skewers, frittata Espanola, octopus ceviche, and ostrich tartare show the diversity of the offerings. There are a few sandwiches and entrees as well, the star among them being the paella. Packed with mussels, clams, bay scallops, chicken, and sausage, it has a more liquidy base than other varieties we’ve tried, but it’s excellent, nonetheless.

Our evening ended with a slice of tres leches cake and an espresso martini. It was one of the best nights out we’ve had in a while—no joke.

From Afghanistan to Venezuela to Peru to Ethiopia, Baltimore’s dining landscape has become increasingly international. With the January opening of Ammoora, the newest country to join Charm City’s global gastronomy scene is Syria.

Even if you think you’ve never eaten Syrian cuisine, it will feel instantly familiar if you’ve ever sampled fare from the Middle East. Syrian food falls under the umbrella of Levantine cuisine. The Levant, historically along the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean (also known as “the fertile crescent”), includes the regions of Syria, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Cyprus. There are slight variations of spices (mostly combinations of sumac, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, and coriander) across the region, but the fare, dating back centuries, is similar from one country to the next. It’s colorful and aromatic, combining sweet and spice, texture and tang—and the plates are almost always shared.

Ammoora, set inside the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Federal Hill, celebrates the birthplace of tech entrepreneur-owner Jay Salkini. These are the dishes that he and his Damascus-born chef, Dima Al-Chaar, grew up eating. Influenced by old-school family recipes, Al-Chaar, who has opened restaurants from Dubai to Damascus, uses traditional ingredients and adds her own modern twist. The overall menu mission, says Salkini, is for Marylanders “to taste this amazing food that my mom and grandma made for us with style and with love.”

When you sit down to study the menu, you’ll likely crane your neck to see what others are eating. Go with a big party and order the recommended two to three small plates per person. We actually ordered more than that—and some of us left the table still hungry. (Be forewarned, the tab can grow shockingly high for what amounts to a lot of very small starters.)

That said, the oversized menu is filled with culinary treasures, including eight dips and a dozen or so hot and cold mezzes, plus flatbreads, soups, and salads. Vegetarians will rejoice that more than half the menu is plant-based. There are four entrees featured, but on each of my visits, my companions and I were too enamored with the appetizers to move on to the bigger plates.

SYRIAN FARE IS COLORFUL AND AROMATIC, COMBINING SWEET AND SPICE, TEXTURE AND TANG.

The dishes rotate every few months, so no two visits will be the same. On the dip side, among our favorites was the shrimp hummus, a creamy spread that adds a generous pile of crustaceans, as well as cilantro, lemon juice, and garlic, to the traditional chickpea dish—it’s the very best version of hummus you’ll ever have. The keshké—a thick labneh yogurt bolstered by bulgur, scallions, and walnuts and flecked with dried rose petals, is tangy and rich and offers a cooling component to drizzle onto almost anything else you order.

Another spread, the muhammara—roasted red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate molasses, tahini, and olive oil—is equal parts smokey and sweet and gets its zing from a hit of red chile paste. With its deep red and orange hue, it reminded me of a beautiful sunset. The kebbeh orfaliyeh—think Syria’s answer to beef tartare—was subtly seasoned with minced onions, bell peppers, marjoram, and red chile paste. A few of us at the table thought that it was slightly under-seasoned, while another dining companion deemed it “perfect.”

On the hot mezze side, everyone agreed that the beyti sujuk rolls—char-gilled beef folded into doughy lavash bread resting in a pool of piquant tomato sauce and dressed with a dollop of labneh—was a menu highlight, as was the clever knafeh shrimp deep-fried to perfection in kataifi dough (a shredded and spun phyllo dough usually used for Middle Eastern pastries), which provided an extra-crispy crust.

The shrimp, served with a tahini tajen swirled with chile oil for dipping, resembled mini corndogs. The Aleppo-style kebbet karaz hot mezze—lamb meatballs with bulgur, cinnamon, and mini meatballs floating in a sweet-and-sour cherry sauce—was terrifically tart and led to much negotiation over who would scrape the last bits from the bowl.

All the dishes are prettily presented. Many get dressed up with a sprinkling of nuts or a scattering of pomegranate seeds that glisten like jewels across the surface and make everything look elevated and extra elegant. The dips arrive with house-made pita served inside a Syrian mokhoul basket.

The space, all pink, rust, and cinnamon, with exquisite inlaid Mother of Pearl furniture and coffee carts imported from Syria, is as alluring as the food, though the front of the house is sexier than the back, which definitely channels more of a hotel restaurant vibe. The well-heeled crowd is diverse. Across various visits, we saw a table of Johns Hopkins professors, a Syrian family who drove in from Annapolis, as well as people who live at the Ritz Residences, all adding to the convivial vibe.

This is exactly what Salkini was after.

“Syria isn’t what you hear about in the news. We want to deliver the message that we have a lot of love, and we need to be loved,” says Salkini, referencing the recent earthquake in his country. “We wanted to bring the love and hospitality of the region.”

Ammoora—meaning “loving, beautiful, and captivating” in Arabic—truly embodies its name.  It’s a round-the-world flavor journey worth taking—just know that this kind of travel doesn’t come cheap.

AMMOORA 751 Key Highway, 410-872-6610. HOURS: Daily 5-10 p.m. PRICES: Salads and soup: $10-16; mezze: $14-24; entrees: $36-55; desserts: $9-12. AMBIANCE: Elegant.

On the back walls on the first floor of No Way Rosé, past the Instagram-worthy neon sign, beyond the wall of faux flowers and bistro-style tables, are oversized images of two titans of gastronomy. In one, Anthony Bourdain, bags under his eyes, is extending his right middle finger directly toward, well, everyone in the place. In the other, famed Michelin-starred French chef Paul Bocuse, his toque reaching the ceiling, points to a tattoo of a rooster on his right arm.

Message received. Ashish Alfred’s restaurant, bar, and lounge in Federal Hill is a French cafe unlike any other in the city.

“It speaks a lot to me as a cook,” Alfred says. “Although my background is rooted in very traditional French cooking, I don’t like to take it too seriously. There’s the grandfather of French cooking, Paul Bocuse, on the wall, and he’s being kind of playful. Just next to him is Tony Bourdain, who laughed in the face of all of that for a long time.”

Alfred, purveyor of the more decorous Duck Duck Goose in Fells Point, wanted his latest venture to have a bit of whimsy. The name itself is a clever nod to the restaurant’s location in the neighborhood, near the late great dive, No Way Jose. It opened last March, with a menu that included upscale offerings like beef tartare, bucatini, and burrata. But, as spring rolled into summer, Alfred noticed that it was drawing a younger crowd than at his other restaurants, and those patrons were as interested in the scene as they were in the food.

“It was a good gut check for me as a chef,” Alfred says. “You can make the best escargot, you can make the best duck confit, foie gras, but if there’s no market for it, it doesn’t matter. As a chef you can get caught up in your own juju. I just assumed that great classic French food would work here. It didn’t.”

So Alfred shuttered the restaurant in September and set out to reimagine the space for a younger audience. And it reopened in November with an entirely new feel.

While Bourdain, Bocuse, and those pretty pink flowers remain, Alfred debuted a new, more approachable menu. Entrees are still available in the dining room upstairs, but the downstairs space has been transformed into a bar and lounge exclusively. Live music and/or DJs are featured Thursdays through Sundays, and when they’re not there, upbeat music pumps through the speakers.

True to the restaurant’s name, rosé, which is clearly having a moment, is featured in some cocktails. The Menage a Framboise, a frozen combination of rosé, vodka, raspberries, honey, coriander, and cherry liquor, reminded us of an adult slushy. More standard albeit fancifully named drinks are available as well, like the Paris Loves My Oui Oui—mezcal with grappa, passion fruit, nutmeg, agave, and cherry bitters. If you want to be noticed, order the Serendipité, a bourbon-based libation that is finished using a torch lighter to smoke its contents.

Downstairs, smaller shared plates are available. Most of the ones we tried in November were quite good. Chicken-fried lamp chops are pounded flat in the kitchen, fried, and served with a tangy whipped feta and dill sauce. It’s among the most inventive takes on lamb we’ve encountered.

Another winner was the tuna tartare. Fresh pieces of fish doused in sesame oil, a bit of hoisin, and some lime juice pop when eaten on crunchy fried wonton shells. Poutine—fried in duck fat and smothered in gravy and cheese curds—is the perfect dish for the downstairs’ new party vibe. It’s a great accompaniment to a first drink, or a gateway to several more.

The mozzarella stick—quite likely the fattest one you’ll ever see—is hand-breaded and served with a pleasingly sweet tomato sauce and roasted garlic. Again, it’s a clever take on a bar food staple.

Although the entree selection is limited, the ones we ate on an earlier visit were excellent. As at his other restaurants, Alfred’s signature duck confit shines. Nearly identical to the version served at Duck Duck Goose, it was an impressively juicy piece of bone-in meat covered with crispy skin. It shows the simple yet sophisticated inclination that’s made Alfred a rising star in the culinary world, and it’s not to be missed. A bowl of mussels was also quite good, and the French fries that accompanied them were crunchy and tasty.

After dinner we were stuffed, but we forged ahead and ordered dessert. Pastry chef Ana Pino’s chocolate-hazelnut mousse was sweet but not overbearingly rich. We somehow managed to finish it all, and we’d like to think that Bourdain and Bocuse would have approved of our empty plates.

NO WAY ROSÉ: 31 E. Cross St., 443-438-6780. HOURS: Wed.-Sun., 4 p.m.-1 a.m. PRICES: Shares: $9-21; mains: $20-25; desserts: $14. AMBIANCE: A European party.

Walk up to the counter at Yeeros, the cozy Greek restaurant in Federal Hill, and you immediately see one of the main selling points of the place: the vertical roasting spits that give the restaurant its name.

Yeeros is not an alternate spelling for “gyros,” the traditional pita-wrapped sandwiches as well as the spits themselves, but rather a phonetic one. Owner Michael Taramas picked the name as part of his ongoing campaign to get people to pronounce the dish correctly.

“In Greece, you ask for ‘JY-ros,’” he says, purposely mispronouncing the word, “and they ask what that is.”

Taramas, who is from Thessaloniki, opened Yeeros in November, with a menu that is much the same as his family’s other restaurants, both called Souvlaki, one in Hampden and another in D.C. But while neither of the Souvlaki locations serve gyros, they feature prominently—unsurprisingly—at the spot that bears their name.

Taramas—who previously owned restaurants in his native Greece—is also a civil engineer. So, when he took over the Federal Hill location, he renovated the space himself, exposing the original bricks on one of the walls, adding blonde wood flooring, and hanging Edison-bulb fixtures. There are the requisite pictures of Greek landscapes on the walls.

The menu is traditional, featuring skewers and wraps, spanakopita and hummus, falafel, and Greek salads. What does distinguish Yeeros from many other casual Greek restaurants is the lengthy vegan menu, with vegan versions of the spinach pie and “befteki,” a meatless version of the savory hamburger dish, as well as crisp fried zucchini balls. The dishes are served on newsprint paper, with triangles of herb-dusted pita, and come with thick tzatziki—made in-house. In fact, everything is made in-house, with the exception of the desserts, baklava and kadaifi, which come from a Greek supplier in New Jersey.

Gyro-philes may be surprised to find their French fries inside the wraps rather than alongside them. “That’s how they serve it in Greece,” says Taramas, who lives in the Greektown neighborhood of Baltimore. The recipes come from family and friends, most notably his brother, a longtime chef. And the gyros are marvelous: a soothing combination of well-seasoned meats, creamy tzatziki, chopped red onion and tomatoes, and—of course—those French fries, with thick, good bread folded around everything like a bouquet.

While the vegan and vegetarian options are creditable—the zucchini balls are excellent, though the falafel is a bit dry—it’s the meat that excels here, notably the bifteki. These surprisingly flavorful savory beef patties come two to an order and are served alongside pita and a choice of sides. Pair them with a green salad, jazzed with feta, and tzatziki, then opt for an order of kadaifi, a syrup-drenched nut pastry built with fine strands of dough that make the dessert oddly reminiscent of a bird’s nest.

And if you need a coffee—Yeeros offers soda, lemonade, kombucha, and tea—there’s a Ceremony outlet across the street.

YEEROS 17 E. Cross St., 667-260-4998. HOURS: Sun.-Sat.: 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers: $3.95-8.25; entrees: $6.75-17.50; desserts: $5.50-6.75.

In 1982, Baltimore became home to a pocket of rock-and-roll paradise when the South Charles Street dive bar, Hammerjacks, established new roots in Federal Hill.

What had started five years prior in a rowhome as a rough-and-tumble watering hole would soon serve as a revolving door on South Howard Street for headlining acts like Guns N’ Roses, The Ramones, and Iggy Pop. Even before the move, Hammerjacks had become an impromptu destination for music royalty, with former Rockville resident Joan Jett filming her “I Love Rock ’N Roll” music video there in the early days of MTV.

Admittedly, Andy Hotchkiss wasn’t old enough to visit Hammerjacks during its fabled, metal-tinged heyday. But in 2018, the Rockville native, real estate broker, and lifelong music lover (pictured,) joined business partner Mark Dinerstein to bring the concert venue back to life, this time in the former home of another iconic Baltimore club, The Paradox.

The industrial building, housed on the 1300 block of Russell Street, has been in Hotchkiss’ family since the mid-1980s, “So it made a lot of sense,” he says. It’s also just about two-and-a-half blocks from Hammerjacks’ Howard Street location, which closed up shop in 1997 to make room for M&T Bank Stadium.

Much like its original iterations (a third, now-shuttered Hammerjacks also opened in Charles Village in 2000 with a starkly different dance-club vibe), this new space intends to put entertainment at the forefront.

“Hammerjacks is known for good times,” says Dinerstein, a veteran L.A.-based agent, who had heard about the venue through the music industry. “We want to keep the good times going.”

And since opening last year in the pandemic-friendly form of an outdoor venue, the newest brand of Hammerjacks has honored that tradition with prime tailgate space adjacent to sports stadiums, a stage to hold live music, and lawn games (think novelties like oversized beer pong).

Dinerstein recalls that in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, he and Hotchkiss made a choice to “flip the plan” and open Hammerjacks outdoors first, with an indoor space to follow. Still, they wager that the outdoor space will continue on as Hammerjacks expands its programming.

Hotchkiss shares that concerts, movie nights, and cornhole tournaments will fill the venue’s calendar, adding that he’s proud to resurrect a space with so much local history behind it.

“Obviously, [Hammerjacks] is never going to be what it used to be—the world is a vastly different place,” says Hotchkiss. “We hope the city puts their arms around us. People love good music and people love good times, and that’s what we’re hoping to provide.”

New Orleans is more than a city. It’s a world-renowned mecca for Cajun and Southern cuisine, the birthplace of jazz, and a destination for party-seekers from age 21 to 101. New Orleans is a town, true, but more than that, it’s a feeling.

That joie de vivre is precisely what co-owners Ricardo Jones and Matthew Lasinski hoped to capture when they opened NOLA Seafood and Spirits in Federal Hill last October. The restaurant and bar, housed in the Cross Street building that once was home to Ryleigh’s Oyster, aims to fulfill Baltimoreans’ Big Easy fix with a host of New Orleans-inspired cocktails and cooking.

The first thing you notice when you walk into the space, which retains Ryleigh’s framework but has been updated with stylish marble bar tops and other aesthetic touches, is the tunes. Music defines New Orleans’ sense of place. When we walked in on a cold night in December to the band Gramatik’s funky “Just Jammin’,” we knew we were in the right place. We sat at the bar and were handed a leather-bound folder that contained a plethora of laminated menus and a pad of paper ones for the raw bar.

Many drinks on the cocktail list will be instantly recognizable to anyone who’s been to Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest. The Cross Street Hurricane packs a punch just like the original one from Pat O’Brien’s on Bourbon Street that inspired it. There’s a Sazerac available, with the classic combination of rye whiskey and absinthe. We sampled several libations. Our favorite was the Raspberry Beret, made with gin, lemon juice, raspberry-rosemary syrup, and ginger ale. We couldn’t help but fantasize about taking a refreshing sip on a sticky Southern afternoon. A coffee Old-Fashioned was also well-made, but only contained a tiny hint of coffee. We could have used a little more jolt.

The food menu was shaped in part by New Orleans native Donnie Stykes, who is a friend of the owners. All your Creole classics are here—jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, red beans and rice, and a number of po’ boy sandwiches. We tried a bunch of appetizers and found the gumbo to be spot-on. The Mardi Gras Mambo shrimp, grilled shrimp tossed in house-made sauce served with really good French bread, were tasty, too. Other dishes fell short. The charbroiled oysters were overwhelmed by the bath of butter and Parmesan and Romano cheeses that topped them. And while an entree of salmon stuffed with crabmeat and crawfish was serviceable, the accompanying Cajun rice was bland. That’s a sin in any town, but especially so in the Crescent City.

New Orleans-style music is played on the sound system until about 10 p.m. on the weekdays and 11 p.m. on the weekends, when a DJ usually takes over. The scene can get lively, our bartender told us. Which is kind of the point, because, as Jones told Baltimore after the place opened, “I don’t know one person who doesn’t love New Orleans.”

When she was 8 years old, Sumayyah Bilal received a piano for her birthday and an Easy-Bake Oven for Eid al-Fitr, the annual festival that marks the end of Ramadan. Both gifts would shape the course of her life.

“I started taking music lessons and baking the same year,” the former music teacher, now bakery-shop owner, recalls with a laugh. “I was fascinated by cheesecake. It wasn’t like a cookie. It was rich. Luxurious. My brother, who is two years older, and I were Army brats and ‘latchkey kids,’ and we weren’t allowed to use the oven or stove after school, but I could use the microwave and learned to make cheesecake in the microwave,” the 31-year-old explains.

As a tween, she’d sell slices of her cake in the summer and make $80 on a good day. She continued her baking exploits through high school, experimenting with recipes and ingredient combinations while raising money for various causes. In college, she kept baking pans and cooking utensils in the truck of her car—whipping up desserts for friends in their apartment kitchens for fun—but her academic interests leaned more toward the concert hall than the kitchen.

She played clarinet in school, and later trumpet in the Baltimore Ravens marching band. Along the way she fulfilled her dream of becoming a music teacher, first at the Clara Muhammad School, a former Islamic school in Park Heights, and later in the Howard County public school system. All six of her siblings and both parents are teachers in some way. Then, COVID hit.

Teaching virtually because of the pandemic and without a school band to direct, Bilal increasingly turned to her other passion: baking. Ironically, she doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but she finds baking to be a stress reliever. “[And] I’ve always had to unload a lot,” she says with a chuckle.

In the fall of 2020, she quit her teaching job and launched Codetta Bake Shop, working out of Mindpub Café’s commercial kitchen in Federal Hill. Codetta is a term for a concluding piece of music, a small coda, in other words, and an homage to both her desserts and love of music. She’s focused mainly on catering and online sales to date—selling everything from cheesecakes, of course, in playful flavors (eggnog and nutmeg with a shortbread crust and a whipped creaming topping, for example) to one-of-a-kind cakes, cupcakes, and homemade ice creams (browned butter pecan), crème brûlée, and tres leches.

However, with the assistance of co-owner and life partner, Chris Burgess, a former mail carrier and South Baltimore native, Bilal’s also been operating a lively afternoon and early evening walk-up business, now in front of the Light Street Presbyterian Church from Thursday thru Saturday in Fed Hill. Bilal has expanded into wedding cakes, including baking a four-tier tower for a close friend’s recent big day.

“That one was two white tiers and two navy-blue tiers,” Bilal says. “Cardamom spice in a pistachio butter cream for the white layer, chocolate cake and raspberry puree for the navy-blue layer.” Bilal and Burgess placed the teetering cake in the back of Burgess’ minivan and drove it them- selves to the ceremony in Connecticut.

Earlier this summer, Codetta was one of five Black-owned businesses selected for a Downtown Partnership grant program designed to help Black entrepreneurs, and Bilal expects to open a bakery and café in Charles Street’s central business district fairly soon. (One of the other small businesses, NKVSKIN, a skincare salon owned by Nikia Vaughan, recently signed a Charles Street lease.)

Meanwhile, Codetta’s sidewalk stand business, which requires assistance from a pair of Bilal’s nieces and several friends to handle down-the-block lines, remains something of a scene. Codetta now has more than 8,000 Instagram followers and Bilal’s desserts have become a hit among local food bloggers.

On one recent weekend afternoon, cupcakes and frozen cheesecake pops (cookies-and-cream cheesecake dipped in chocolate and drizzled in white chocolate is Bilal’s personal favorite) are immediately pulled from their small bags and boxes after purchase, either for social media pics, quick bites, or both. Same day return customers are not unusual, either.

“I’m back,” says a fan in a Ravens’ jersey not long after the team’s big win over the Chiefs earlier that day. “Third time today, Carlos?” asks Bilal, smiling.

“Every time I get home, people keep stealing my stuff,” he says, grinning in half-hearted defense. “Let me have a pint of cookies-and-cream ice cream this time.”

For once, Spencer Horsman cannot escape. It doesn’t matter how much oxygen he stores in his lungs. It doesn’t matter how many keys he tries. Even the tiny one that dangles from the black lanyard hanging around his neck—a bittersweet souvenir from the childhood home he just sold—won’t free him. Not from these shackles.

It’s just after 6 p.m. on an overcast Friday in August, and Horsman has been holding his breath for 3,688 hours, four minutes, and 17 seconds. That’s how long it’s been since COVID first shut down Illusions Magic Bar in Federal Hill back in mid-March, preventing its owner/headliner from playing to a packed house every Friday and Saturday night, and from riding the tidal wave of momentum he’d gained as a result of his spectacular January appearance on America’s Got Talent: The Champions. That’s how long he’s been waiting for life as he knows it to resume.

In the meantime, just like the other seven billion people on the planet, he continues to fake it ’til he makes it.

“I’m flexible like Gumby,” says Horsman, repeating the words of his late father. A professional clown who joined Ringling Brothers straight out of high school and then spent two decades criss-crossing the Mid-Atlantic in a Ronald McDonald costume, Ken Horsman died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 58, but not before leaving his son a lasting legacy.

Growing up in the early ’90s, Spencer would hop off the Park School bus arriving from Brooklandville to the 1000 block of South Charles Street (“I was the token poor gentile kid from the city.”) and disappear into Kenzo’s Yogi Magic Mart, the retail shop where his pops peddled magic supplies and Halloween paraphernalia. He’d knock out his homework and then hang out until closing, watching card and coin tricks and soaking in tips from magicians who would pass through the store.

“Being an only child, I was just happy to find something to occupy myself,” says the 34-year-old in an energetic, high-pitched voice that makes him seem much younger. “I didn’t mind sitting in a corner and studying something for hours on end.” All that studying paid off quickly.

By the time he was eight years old, Horsman had scored his first TV spot, a 30-minute morning session with WJZ icons Marty Bass and Don Scott—and a puppet—in which the pint-sized prodigy showcased his unique blend of magic and ventriloquism. Three months later, his father managed to parlay the video from his local gig into a national appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. Billed as the world’s youngest ventriloquist, he found himself seated next to Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) and Grammy winner Peter Gabriel.

“We didn’t believe in baby steps,” says Horsman of the PR strategy employed by his dad that resulted in him doing two dozen national television shows before he was old enough to drive. Along the way, when he was 12 years old, he started dabbling in escapes as a means of expanding his repertoire. Surprisingly, he didn’t get any parental pushback.

“When I was first learning,” he says, “it wasn’t anything that included a danger element, because freeing yourself from something that seems impossible is impressive as it is (even if it’s not really that dangerous). The danger is a theatrical choice you add at the end—just to up the ante.”

BY AGE EIGHT, HORSMAN HAD SCORED HIS FIRST TV SPOT WITH WJZ’S MARTY BASS AND DON SCOTT.

Sitting at a dusty wrought-iron table tucked inside the vestibule at Illusions, Horsman runs his fingers through his slicked-back dirty-blond coif and takes a swig from a large Topo Chico bottle that’s been repurposed and is currently filled with cherry lemon Dopa Rush. Behind him, inside the bar and just before the entrance to the theater, stands a curio cabinet that’s filled with framed photos of him rubbing famous elbows: Larry King, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, David Copperfield. Next to the showcase is the tank that he used for his dramatic wet-cement escape on season seven of America’s Got Talent, the one that he had custom-built by Annapolis metalworkers specifically for the show.

Even though Horsman has only used it one other time in eight years since, it’s an investment that has reaped big dividends.

“AGT is advertising to put butts in seats for the live show,” says Horsman, referring to the weekend performances that he and wife Caroline stage in the cozy, 110-seat hall at Illusions. “TV is good exposure, but ultimately I love live performing.”

That’s why, last fall, when NBC execs approached Horsman about returning as a contestant on AGT: Champions, he balked initially. After all, the odds of winning were miniscule (he made the quarterfinals in season seven, but this time around the stacked field included high-profile contestants from AGT, plus more than a dozen international versions of the show), he already had the hit show on his resume, and the October filming would require him to spend a couple weeks in LA at a time when his Baltimore business typically kicks into high gear.

Ultimately, after haggling with producers over logistics, Horsman accepted the invite. Although he didn’t win (he was eliminated in the first round), he wound up with an invaluable consolation prize: first-class footage.

“It came out looking gorgeous on TV,” says Caroline Horsman of the video from her hubby’s dramatic underwater escape. For those who don’t have the stomach to join the half-million people who have already viewed the stunt on YouTube, or the 6.5 million who watched the original airing in January, it starts with Caroline handing bobby pins to her chrome-domed spouse. (Spencer had shaved his head the day before filming, thanks to a freak rehearsal accident that resulted in an urgent care visit and two staples.)

With handcuffs around his wrist and a padlock around his waist, Horsman then lowers himself into the tank. Two tense minutes later, he emerges just in the nick of time as the bottom of the tank—which is suspended 30 feet in the air—bursts open and sends 1,600 gallons of water crashing to the ground below. Pyrotechnics ensue. So, too, does recognition.

It’s not yet noon, but upstairs at Abbey Burger Bistro in Federal Hill, the Guinness is already flowing. After all, it’s five o’clock somewhere, including London, where all the soccer fans focus their attention.

The English Premier League club Arsenal is playing, and as they do every time the team takes to the pitch, its Baltimore supporters are gathered at Abbey. Today’s match kicked off at 11 a.m., but some start as early as at 7 a.m., which doesn’t dissuade the Charm City Gooners, a play on the team’s nickname, The Gunners, from cheering on their team.

Ten years ago, owner Russ Miller opened the bar one morning for a friend who wanted to watch an Arsenal match. “He asked me if he could bring in an Arsenal scarf and hang it up,” Miller says. “Somebody else saw the scarf.” That somebody was Mike Kavanagh, who founded the Gooners in 2009.

There are four locations of Abbey, but this one on Marshall Street is the club’s home. Early game days start with donuts or breakfast sandwiches. Beer—especially European brews—and whiskey are popular any time soccer is on TV. Most fans congregate upstairs, giving the atmosphere a clubhouse feel. Miller even had one wall painted red with the Charm City Gooners crab and cannon logo and the names and jersey numbers of notable players.

For a late-morning start like this one, Abbey’s entire menu is available, and that can mean burgers made from any kind of meat. A slider trio with wild boar, red deer, and camel—yes, camel—called out to adventurous eaters. Simon Torres, the club’s co-branch manager since 2014, is superstitious, so he always orders bison with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mushrooms. Although the fans are intensely engaged in the game—exalting when Arsenal takes a 1-0 lead, dropping an occasional F-bomb when Wolverhampton scores the equalizer—they’re not rowdy.

A fun, family atmosphere permeates the bar. (Kids are welcome.) “I tell people the wonderful thing about the Premier League is you can get up on a Saturday morning, you can hang out with your friends and family, go to a bar like the Abbey, watch soccer, eat, drink, and shout at the TV, and two hours later you’re done and can go about your day,” says Kavanaugh.

The match ends in a draw, an unsatisfactory result to many Gooners. In the EPL, not all ties are created equal. But if the smiles on the faces of the fans are any indication, it seems not all Baltimore Saturday mornings are either.

From the beaches of Charleston, South Carolina to a balmy sidewalk in front of an old Baltimore brewery in the 105-degree summer heat, Baltimore artist Crystal Moll has traveled far and wide for her work creating plein air paintings.

But on this Wednesday night, Moll is mingling with local artists, friends, and family at Sobo Cafe just around the corner from her gallery in Federal Hill. She’s not just there for dinner, though. Every two months, Moll rotates her work displayed throughout the space.

“We kind of packed the house, had some hors d’oeuvres, had some wine, and stayed for dinner,” Moll recalls later, mentioning some spectators who came from as far as Annapolis. “Since I wasn’t hosting it, I was able to just talk to people and enjoy the event.”

If you were to have told the 58-year-old artist in high school that she’d be a gallery owner and a painter full-time, she probably wouldn’t believe you. In fact, the Virginia Beach native barely touched a paint brush before college, with the exception of her father’s Saturday-morning painting sessions.

“I actually come from an artistic family,” Moll says. “When we were kids, my father would have art class on Saturday mornings. So that was the beginning.”

Moll stumbled upon the gallery business, and the neighborhood, accidentally. When a French-inspired cafe on South Charles Street closed 10 years ago, the landlord asked Moll to hang her paintings in the front window. She was inspired, so she told herself that she’d hang a few and give it until the end of the month.

This year, the gallery celebrates its 10th anniversary, but like any successful business, longevity doesn’t come without sacrifice. For Moll, her greatest challenge is finding time to do what she loves: paint.

Today, the mother of two cats doesn’t regret quitting the advertising business to paint full-time, but she does acknowledge that there are daily obstacles she has to overcome. We sat down with the artist to talk about her trajectory, the challenges of owning a gallery, and finding beauty on Baltimore’s streets:

What makes a good landscape painting? What do you look for when you’re scouting one?

I typically paint what I call “urban landscapes,” because I’m usually in the city. What strikes me usually has to do with a lot of light and color. It’s usually the effect of light on the surface that makes it a warm color, and then shadows become purpley colors. So, it doesn’t really matter what I paint, but that’s actually what makes me excited about the things that I choose to paint. I used to paint a lot of still life and interior work and then I started dragging all of my equipment out onto the streets because I had moved to Baltimore and people painted their houses great colors. I was like, “Instead of spending all this time setting up a still life, I could just find it.”

So, what exactly is plein air painting?
Plein air is actually just painting on location. It’s a French term that means “out in the open,” and hundreds of years ago, artists adopted it as their term. So, even though in general it could be doing almost anything outdoors, really plein air painting means you’re painting and being influenced by what it is that you are perceiving. Across the country, there are plein air events all over the place. One of the biggest is in Easton, Maryland, and they pull artists from all over the world to participate. We do a plein air show here at the gallery every summer. So that’s usually about 30 different artists, who all paint on location.

You once described yourself as more of a slow plein air painter. How long does it take you to finish a piece?
I am very slow. In fact, that’s why I don’t do a lot of plein air events because a lot of artists will do a painting in a couple of hours and they’ll knock your socks off. When I first started painting on location, I told myself, instead of sitting in a studio and working on a painting, I’m just going to go sit outside and work. In a studio, you might go back to a painting day after day until you’ve finished. So that’s what I do. I go back day after day and I go back at the same time.

What’s the most important thing that you learned while studying at Moore College of Art in Philadelphia?

Well the biggest thing was that I learned to see color with light on it. In a very simple Painting 101 class, [one of my professors asked us] to paint eggs using just black, white, and yellow ochre. But I kept thinking, “what was the yellow ochre for?”

Then, there was a girl in the class who brought in her pieces and the yellow was where the light was hitting it—I saw the warmth of that. After that class, I walked around for probably three days with everything in front of me changing color. Literally, as if I had taken a drug. People’s faces were yellow where the light was, and greens and purples, I mean, it was wild. Then it calmed down, but that actually was a major light bulb being turned on. I probably could have left school after that class, but I stayed for the next three years.

Why did you move to Baltimore?
Because I married [my husband] Bob. He lived here, and I lived there, and he didn’t love Philadelphia like I did. The only way he could get me down here was to marry me.

What was the inspiration behind opening the gallery 10 years ago?
The gallery was sort of an accident. There was a wonderful gift store in this space called “Le Petit Cochon,” but the recession killed a lot of businesses. In December of 2009, the people who had the shop closed it. Wayne Brockie, who is my landlord here, called me up and said, “Would you put a painting in the front window? I just don’t want it empty for the holidays.”

He owns these three buildings connected. So, I met him, and I said I’ve always thought about a gallery, but how do you run it and still do your artwork? And how do you pay for it? So, I said, “Why don’t I put up a lot of art? I won’t pay you any rent. I’ll give you a percentage of sales, we’ll try this till the end of January and we’ll see where we go from there.”

How do you manage your time, then, and still make sure you’re able to paint?
It’s pretty tough. I don’t paint as much as I used to, and part of that’s okay because then when I do paint, I’m so excited about it. In the last two years we’ve been trying to change things a little bit so I can eventually get back to painting more. Part of that is actually having a few exhibitions with a lot of different artists. So, we’re doing smaller shows and letting them run a little longer. It’s a major balancing act, and now I’m personally trying to take more time off with my husband and trying to have a little bit of life outside of the gallery, too.

What would you say is the hardest thing about running a gallery?
Probably the hardest thing is just tapping into the buyers. The point of this is to sell artwork, it’s not just to show it. When I started painting full time, my husband and I made the decision, because I was running my own advertising business, that I was going to quit that, and I was going to paint. I love to paint, but also the bottom line is, it’s for a living.

In recent years, people interested in moving to South Baltimore had two primary rental options—apartments or rowhomes. But in September, the 28 Walker Development team added a new alternative to the mix with Baltimore’s first co-living apartment building, Wheelhouse.

This sleek property on South Charles Street allows residents to rent by the room in one of its 29 furnished apartments, ranging from studio to four-bedrooms, which come equipped with everything from a flat-screen TV to a silverware set.

Similar to co-living spaces in other cities, residents are encouraged to interact with one another in Wheelhouse’s common areas, including a coworking space and a shared kitchen.

“Living in a studio or a one-bedroom apartment can be challenging for young people today because they are pretty pricey, and while you can usually find an affordable room within a rowhouse, you have to have a group of people ready to rent together,” says Scott Slosson, director of development for 28 Walker. “We created a rental product that was a hybrid of the upside of both South Baltimore options.”

That being said, all of Wheelhouse’s perks, including a bike for every resident, come at a price, as the cost of a private bed and bathroom lease runs between $797 and $1,117. Slosson says the concept is marketed toward renters like Maame Aba, one of the building’s original tenants, who had recently moved to Baltimore and was looking for a built-in social community.

Wheelhouse hosts weekly events ranging from fitness classes to whiskey tastings for its tight-knit group of residents to connect. “[Wheelhouse] is, and has, the potential to be a great social living place for like-minded people,” Aba says.

As of January, the building was filled to about 40 percent capacity. 28 Walker is building a second co-living location in the development across from The Shops at Canton Crossing, testing another neighborhood full of high rental prices and millennial renters. “We want to be responsive to the changing ways that people live and work, and our hope is that [Wheelhouse] hits the sweet spot,” Slosson says.

Maybe you’ve seen him on his block in Federal Hill, or somewhere else around Baltimore, a city he helped plan for four decades: the man who is tattooed entirely blue.

His name is Jim Hall, and he began the art project of tattooing his skin blue in the 1960s. He finished tattooing his entire body—save for the bottoms of his feet—40 years later with his face and hands after he retired as a city planner.

Local cinematographer and director Jonathan Bregel met Hall two years ago, when Bregel moved back to Baltimore after spending a decade in New York. Bregel was Hall’s new neighbor in Fed Hill.

“I was walking around and saw this guy sitting up on a hill, and it was shady, but he looked blue,” Bregel says. “I couldn’t tell completely if he was, though. So I just asked him. ‘Are you blue?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah!’ And he started telling me about it. Within 30 minutes, he basically told me everything that makes up the film.”

Last summer, in an effort to tell Hall’s story and to meet other creatives in the area, Bregel and filming partner Steve Hoover joined forces to create a short film about Hall, “out of the blue,” which premiered in January on Vimeo as a Staff Pick.

The duo, known as friendzone, have also submitted the film to the Maryland Film Festival returning in April and—as of publication time—are still waiting to hear whether it has been accepted. Bregel was inspired to create the film after seeing a screening of “Balti-Shorts” at the festival last year, which comprised five Baltimore-made films.

We sat down with Bregel to chat about his admiration for Hall’s openness, exploring judgements of others, and the impact he hopes the film has on audiences.

When did you realize you wanted to make a film about Jim?
I think it was always in my mind from the first time I met him. I just thought, ‘This guy is so unique,’ because on the surface he’s so different from anyone you meet—and the most friendly person. It’s this contradictory experience. You want to judge him in one way because he’s so dramatically different.

It was that flex of emotions and feelings that kept drawing me back to him. But I didn’t know how I wanted to tell the story. That’s when I got Steve involved. Steve’s experience in storytelling was really what made it possible, more or less. From the second I met [Jim], there was a curiosity to explore my own judgements.

Did it take any convincing on your part?

Not really. It just took a lot of patience. He talks for long periods of time and often doesn’t stay on a single track. I was wondering at points, is this going to be possible? But it didn’t take convincing. He was interested. He says we immortalized him. (laughs)

What’s something that you think people should know about Jim that didn’t make it into the movie?

My hope is that people get a sense of how genuine of a guy he is. But something they should know about is his accomplishments in the city of Baltimore. For example, he designed Key Highway. It was his idea. He did the drawings and got the federal funding to make Key Highway. He’s an unsung hero of Baltimore, but he’s so humble. He’s extremely passionate about people and communities.

You spent quite a bit of time with Jim (and still do). How have you seen others react to him when you’re out?
Mainly people just don’t understand that it’s a real tattoo. People get spooked out or get curious. You can see people double-taking all the time. The more I get to know him, I don’t see him so differently anymore. It’s just interesting how judgmental people are. That’s how I initially felt. Now he’s just a guy that just did what he wanted to do.

What do you hope viewers take away from the film?

The old adage of don’t judge a book by its cover. If people are judging him beforehand, I hope afterward, by the end they respect this guy. We wanted to take people on that journey. From comments so far I feel like we’ve accomplished that. Maybe we’ll get people to be less judgmental about others who look different or do things differently.

In response to the fried chicken wars that have recently played out on social media, we have only one thing to say: Eat your heart out, Popeye’s. Baltimore has a long-standing love of fried chicken. Chicken boxes are a Charm City staple that dates back to the 1930s. (One of the earliest records of the tradition, which is believed to have derived from the packed lunches of the Great Migration, is a 1933 Baltimore Sun ad for a $1 box of fried chicken and a loaf of toasted bread.) And the rise of Royal Farms has put us on the map as a bonafide drumstick destination. Locally, there are plenty of restaurants that take this reputation seriously.

Among them is BRD (pronounced Bird), the R. House chicken-sandwich concept that was part of the Remington food hall’s opening roster when it debuted in 2016. In October, owner Alex Janian officially spread BRD’s, well, wingspan with a second location on the bottom floor of the new Wheelhouse apartment complex in Federal Hill. Designed by PI.KL Studio, the same firm that built the Remington stall, the new space carries over a similar aesthetic with light woods, touches of red and black, communal seating, and the same counter-service model as the flagship.

But, when it comes to the menu in the larger spinoff space, there are plenty of new additions to savor. Of course, loyalists can count on old standbys such as the “Bmore Bird” sandwich—an inevitably messy but filling affair that stacks two hefty hunks of crispy-fried chicken with house-made pickles, Old Bay, and the signature BRD sauce reminiscent of spicy mayo. There’s also the Japanese-inspired “Katsu Sando” layered with cabbage and a tangy katsu sauce, as well as the “Angry Buffalo” dripping with hot sauce in between a soft potato bun.

But, the second location—which is open until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays to accommodate Fed Hill revelers after last call—also wisely highlights expanded offerings, including an Indian-influenced “Bombay BRD” sando with cilantro and curry sauce, wings tossed in maple honey mustard and Carolina barbecue sauces, hand-spun milkshakes (banana split and PB&J flavors are a hit), and “BRD Bites”—Janian’s version of chicken nuggets.

After a recent visit to Mothers’ Purple Patio to catch a Sunday afternoon Ravens game, we made our way across the street to sample an order of the nuggets alongside an overflowing box of piping hot, seasoned fries. Although either would have been satisfying on their own, in this case, the dipping sauces took them to the next level. You can’t go wrong with a side of orange BRD sauce, but in an effort to get out of our comfort zone, we tried the maple mustard—which provided just the right amount of sweetness to enhance the dunkable snacks to the next level.

While enjoying the eats in the space, diners will notice a glowing neon sign that reads, “Fried and True.” It’s a fitting mantra—because if you’re going to run a fried chicken joint in Baltimore, it has to be the real deal.

›› BRD 1104 S. Charles St., 667-210-2222. Mon.- Wed. 5-10 p.m., Thur. 5-midnight, Fri. 5 p.m.-3 a.m., Sat. 11- a.m.-3 a.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.

Bulgogi Bánh mì, al pastor tacos, or Baltimore’s biggest jaw breaker? Can’t make up your mind? We’re here to guide you through all the decisions that need to be made at the newly revitalized Cross Street Market. You’re up next, Lexington.

What’s the history of Cross Street Market?
Thanks to the growing population of Federal Hill in 1838, residents petitioned for a new market. At the time, the closest market was the now-defunct Hanover Market. In 1846, a long open-air shed was built between Charles and Patapsco Streets, where vendors sold meat and poultry, seafood, and vegetables. By 1871, the market was rebuilt as a two-story Revival-style building, with the market space on the first floor and a meeting hall (with a basketball court!) on the second floor. After a fire in 1951, the structure was rebuilt as the 31,800-square-foot structure that still stands today.

What’s the story behind the sign outside?
The cool, retro neon sign outside of the market on Charles Street is a modern riff on the original neon signage that was part of the market after it was rebuilt in the 1950s.

Who’s the oldest tenant?
There are three tenants who have occupied the space for decades, including The Sweet Shoppe and Steve’s Lunch, but Fenwick’s Choice Meats, founded in 1952, has been there the longest.

Where should I go if I’m a vegetarian?
Cross Street Market has numerous vendors with vegetarian-and vegan-friendly fare, including Annoula’s Kitchen and Sobeachy Haitian cuisine. For diehards, Gangster Vegan features an exclusively vegan, organic, soy-free, gluten-free menu, including juices and smoothies, as well as salads and bowls. (Try the beet burger.) There’s also Annoula’s Kitchen with its artisan salads and sandwiches. What’s the difference between a food court and a food hall? A food court consists of chain restaurants and is often located in a mall. A food hall is typically a more upscale version of a food court, with artisan restaurants and other food-related vendors under one roof.

If I want something to-go, what do you suggest?

Most food is eaten better on-site, not so The Cross Street Grinder at Annoula’s Kitchen. Stuffed with ham, pepperoni, chicken, greens, hot peppers, and roasted garlic mayo, the sub roll improves with age and is best consumed an hour or so later, after all the fix-ins have had time to saturate the roll.

Is there alcohol for sale?

Yes! Cans Filling Station will, well, fill all of your imbibing needs. There’s a large selection of craft beers, wines, on-trend hard seltzers, kombuchas, and ciders. Drink it there or get it to-go in a reusable can (with a $2 per can refill credit). The market boasts many other spirits-serving vendors, too. Highlandtown’s Old Line Spirits recently debuted its satellite cocktail bar, where you can sip local beer and wine, as well as classic cocktails using the distillery’s acclaimed whiskeys and rums.

Where can I go if I just want to hang out on my laptop?

Ceremony Coffee Roasters has two other locations in the city, but this locale has tons of sofa seating, and you can always pick up something from the food hall if you plan on parking yourself there all day.

RELAX: Similar to meditation, you’re guided into a deep rest before addressing concerns.

PREPARE: Some sessions can get emotional, so be sure to give yourself the time and space to regroup afterward.

MIND-BODY CONNECTION: Wellness centers use hypnosis as a complementary treatment to relieve physical ailments.

With almost daily changes at the renovated Cross Street Market in Federal Hill, there’s a lot to keep track of. We caught up with master developer Arsh Mirmiran of Caves Valley Partners to give us the 411 on the revitalization project—which currently offers everything from coffee and candy to pizza and pho all under one roof—and the yet-to-open vendors slated debut by spring.

What’s the story behind the retro sign outside of Cross Street Market?
The current form of the market is in many ways a modern interpretation of the 1952 iteration of the facility. [The market was rebuilt after a 1951 fire.] The signs outside are a modern interpretation of the original neon signage that was part of the new market in the 1950s. They were designed by a local, but nationally renowned, firm called Younts Design owned by Ronnie Younts. The reintroduction of natural light to the formerly bunker-like market was through the removal of block that had been used to fill in the original windows.

Are there any fascinating facts about the history that you can share?
Anecdotally, the market building that burned down in 1951 had a basketball court on its second level and many South Baltimore residents and children played up there for fun.

Which current tenant has been around the longest?

Fenwick’s Choice Meats opened with the newly constructed Cross Street Market [after the fire] in 1952. Steve’s Lunch opened roughly a decade later, in 1964. We are excited to have their legacies preserved in the new Cross Street Market.

How do you account for the food hall trend across America?
Back in the day, people went and did their grocery shopping and got raw materials at the market, but with the advent of the grocery store that functionality went away. Cross Street had become like a bad mall food court, but the vendors were selling so little produce and seafood that the quality of what they put out wasn’t good anymore. With the increasing urbanization of cities and more people living downtown in dense areas, food halls have become more like gourmet grocers. It’s not a place to go do your grocery shopping, but it’s a perfectly good place to go and get everything you want for a dinner party.

What’s the difference between a food hall and a food court?
To some extent, it is subjective. There is a “you know one when you see one” aspect to it. We have pledged from day one that Cross Street would remain a market. While we lost a certain number of our true market vendors, we are going to have even more market offerings than the facility did before. With Fenwick’s Choice Meats remaining and able to increase its offerings and inventory due to increased traffic and returning customers, Annoula’s Kitchen offering fresh baked goods, Atlas creating what will surely be the single best seafood market in the Baltimore area with Atlas Fish Market, and the recent addition of Rooster & Hen, a true farm store, Cross Street Market will be a place which one can purchase any typical market offering.

How does the renovation of Cross Street fit into the scope of the other city markets being renovated?
The city and the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation (BPMC) have made the renovation and revitalization of the public markets system a priority. Some markets (including Lexington and Northeast) are being handled directly by BPMC, and some markets (Broadway, Cross Street, and Hollins) are being renovated through public-private partnerships. Interestingly, Baltimore has one of the best markets infrastructures I’ve seen in the country.

How do our markets compare to other cities?
Since working on Cross Street, I’ve visited cities with highly acclaimed markets—it’s become part of our travel plans in my family—and I’ve discovered that we have a more robust market system than many other cities. Baltimore has more neighborhood markets than any other cities I’ve been to. Many cities like Seattle and San Francisco have one market as opposed to a system of markets. We have a really great market system. We’ll have the one big anchor market with Lexington, but we’ll also have tentacles that reach into the neighborhoods to augment that market. Our markets weren’t just plopped here, they’ve always been here serving our city.

Why was it decided to allow Royal Farms a presence when no other chains are represented?
Quite simply, Royal Farms Chicken is an iconic local food product and it is a Baltimore City-based business with deep roots in the Baltimore community. The company’s willingness to adapt their concept to be a true market stall gave us great comfort that they’d be a successful and a welcome addition to the tenant mix.

What can patrons look forward to as the holiday season approaches?
We will be improving our holiday displays relative to recent years and working to make the market a special and festive place for local residents and tourists to visit. We hope to improve on these displays as the years go by and we hope that Federal Hill regains its spot as the most festive neighborhood in Baltimore during the holidays. We also intend to have a true grand opening celebration once we are at full capacity next spring, with the opening of the Atlas Restaurant Group concepts and the remaining stalls that are being leased.

Which vendors are still to come?
Three additional vendors (Sobeachy, Old Line, and Burger Bar) will be open in September. Rooster & Hen, our farm store anchor across from Ceremony Coffee, will open later this fall. The Atlas concepts are all planning to open next spring and are currently under design by BCT Architects and Patrick Sutton. We have two additional letters of intent signed and are actively seeking to round out the tenant roster for the two remaining stalls. Our goal is to be at 100 percent when Atlas opens next spring.

What’s the one item you must try if you’re stopping by the market?

This is a tricky question with so many great options, but I am going to say the not-yet-unveiled flavor of Taharka Bros. ice cream that is being developed to be sold exclusively at Cross Street Market. The ideas being thrown around so far are that it might be named “Cross Street” and be a cross between two or more iconic Baltimore flavors. You’ll have to stay tuned as the team from Taharka develops the flavor to be sold at The Sweet Shoppe, another one of our legacy vendors.

By projecting movies on buildings or piers, Baltimore has developed a summer tradition of hosting movies in the fresh air. While the city continues to add to the history of free summer movies, there is a new celebration going on this season.

Eddie’s of Roland Park will show Wallace and Gromit and Jaws outside of its Charles Street and Roland Ave. locations to celebrate the store’s 75th anniversary. Founded in 1944 by the late Victor Cohen, the store has become beloved for its specialty food and locally inspired sandwiches. Still family owned, it is now led by second- and third-generation family members.

“Chances are, if you’re a fan of Eddie’s of Roland Park, you’re also a fan of food,” says marketing director Jared Earley. “So it’s not a far leap to assume we can all identify with the cheese-obsessed Wallace and Gromit, or the insatiable appetite of a monstrously ‘hangry’ fish.”

But that’s just one of many movie series gracing the walls and screens of Baltimore institutions this summer. Mark your calendar for these film fanatic events.

Eddie’s of Roland Park Celebrates 75 Years: Bring a chair or blanket and head to Eddie’s of Roland Park for a free neighborhood screening of films. At dusk, the independent grocer will encourage the community to join them in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Store hours will be extended and refreshments will be available for purchase inside. Free. July 17-18, July 24-25.

Mt. Vernon Movies: The picturesque Mount Vernon Place is the ideal backdrop to escape into cinema. First up is the wildly popular Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, followed next month by the Hitchcock classic Rear Window, and concluding with favorite fantasy film Labyrinth. As an added bonus, MVP will offer free popcorn. Free. June 27, July 26, August 22, 7:30-11 p.m.

Federal Hill Flicks: Visit The American Visionary Art Museum for Flicks from the Hill, which projects outdoor movies every Thursday night during July and August. The Hughes Family Outdoor Theater puts on a show with a 30-foot screen that you have to see from the massive hill to believe. Come early for free admission to the museum before the main feature at 9 p.m., which this year includes family favorites Coraline and Mrs. Doubtfire. Free. July-August, 9 p.m.

The Wine Bin Screenings: Wine Wednesdays have been moved to Saturdays. Join the Wine Bin for a sip and a flick June through September. Every Saturday, the outdoor movie series opens up parking 90 minutes before the show for drive-in style viewing. After that fills up, there is still plenty of room for to set up camping chairs and blankets. This summer is filled with a wide range of films including A Star Is Born and Beauty And The Beast. Free. June-September, 9 p.m.

Fells Point Films: Another year of films on the pier starts up on July 10 with a showing of a childhood classic—The Princess Bride. Bring your own chairs, wine, and food to turn this event into a romantic date or a night out with friends. Take part in this weekly, Wednesday event through August and enjoy other movies like Oceans 8 or Captain Marvel. Free. July 10-August 28, 8:30 p.m.

Lakefront Summer Shows: What better setting for an outdoor event than Columbia’s idyllic Lake Kittamaqundi. Check out a different movie every Monday and Friday this summer, including Disney’s Tangled and the Avengers blockbusters. Free. Through September 7, 8:30 p.m.

Bel Air Airings: Join The Bel Air Downtown Alliance for fun, film, and—now—food. For the first time, summer movie nights include Bel Air’s only food truck rally. Try some local fare from the trucks parked along Lee Street from 5-8 p.m. Six times a year, the community comes together to watch family-friendly movies like Incredibles 2 and Trolls under the stars. These movies are not only free, but also come with popcorn and face painting. Free. June-August, Sunset.

Moonlight Movie Series: Spend time with the whole family this summer in the parking lot of the Shops at Kenilworth. Every other Monday from June 24-August 19, enjoy a movie playing at sunset in the open air, including animated features like Minions, Zootopia, and Inside Out. Free. Sunset.

Merriweather Movie Nights: Normally, you would catch your favorite band at Merriweather Post Pavilion, but now you can enjoy the lawn throughout the summer with its movie nights in Columbia. After kicking off the series in May with a Sound of Music sing-a-long, the next showing is Smallfoot on July 7. The film will be screened on the lawn, so grab a blanket and friends to join the fun. In the event of rain, the movie will be screened inside the pavilion. $10. May 25, July 7, August 16, 5:30-8 p.m.

Pics in the Park: Join the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore for feature film night, on select Saturdays in June through August on the lawn in downtown’s Center Plaza. Movies begin at sunset, but exact start times will be posted on the event’s Facebook page on movie nights. The plaza is bike-, stroller-, and pet-friendly and movie-goers are encouraged to bring a picnic, lawn chairs, and blankets. Free. Times vary.

Chances are, you probably know someone who gets their brows, lashes, facials, or all of the above done at The Loft in Canton. That’s because, over the past four years, owner Natalie Sams and her team have established themselves as the experts in perfectly sculpted brows, sky-high lashes, and flawless skin care. Not only are the services well-executed, but the space—filled with lush greens, modern furniture, and world music—ushers clients into an instant state of relaxation.

And now visiting The Loft just got a lot easier with a second location that opened in Federal Hill in May. “I am so excited to be in Federal Hill and to connect with a new community of people,” says Sams. “There is nothing really like us in this area, so I think it will be a great fit.”

The new location offers all of the same services, including brow design, brow henna, facials, peels, lash lifts and extensions—with a new service called volume lash extensions that splits a regular extension into three for a lightweight feeling that creates a full and feathery look.

With growth still on the horizon for Sams, her plan for maintaining the quality of her service is to use only the best supplies in the industry while still making sure each client feels cared for.

“We are in the human connection industry,” she says. “It’s important for us to be intentional with our services and to customize them for each and every client. We think women should have the freedom to feel confident—whether that means working out, putting on a sexy outfit, or spending a little more time on your eyelashes, we fully support it.”

When Planit agency founders Matt Doud and Ed Callahan moved their offices from the Inner Harbor to Federal Hill, their new digs included all the modern-day workspace accoutrements: a billiard table, wall-mount bike racks, gumball machines, bathrooms with showers. But one thing was sorely lacking on their block: a coffee shop.

“When you’re considering a space, you look at all the typical things,” says Doud. “You ask, ‘Is it close to I-95? Does it have good parking? Does the Circulator come here?’ And it was like, ‘Yeah, but there’s no coffee shop.’”

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, so faster than you can say demitasse, the lifelong friends who met in third grade at Cockeysville’s St. Joseph’s School decided to go into the bean business. Open since last October, Order & Chaos Coffee, now part of Planit but open to the public, features a long list of boutique brews (Café Gommosa is espresso over marshmallows) and smoothies, as well as heady house-made Belgian-style Liège waffles sweetened with pearl sugar.

While deciding to join the bean scene was a natural for the entrepreneurs, settling on a brand name was more difficult. Inspired by their architect, Ehren Gaag of Gensler, they eventually settled on Order & Chaos. “When we were designing Planit, he said we should think of the firm as a skate park to describe how Planit works. It’s pretty fluid, it’s sometimes artistic, and it’s a little scary. He used order and chaos as an example of what it’s like to ride in a skate park. In admen times it was ‘the suits’ and ‘the creatives,’ so, for us, the suits are order and the creatives are chaos.”

While building the Order & Chaos brand, another challenge was to distinguish the spot from the plethora of Baltimore’s joe joints. “Coffee is hot, brown water you can get in a lot of places,” says Doud. “We asked ourselves, ‘How do we create an experience that connects with people?’

We wanted to make it approachable. A lot of the trends in coffee now are a little intimidating, a little condescending. I want to go in and not feel weird if I order it wrong, so I think it’s cool to have a place that’s not that way and that’s happy to teach you the difference between an AeroPress and an espresso.”

The ultimate perk? Planit employees get free cups of coffee. Not that Doud and Callahan are complaining. Jokes general manager Ryan Herzing, “Productivity is now though the roof.”

Some Like It Hot!

And some like it cold. Some fun facts to go with your cuppa.

From the beginning, R. House in Remington was meant to be a launchpad for aspiring chefs and restaurateurs to grow their budding food businesses beyond the communal food hall. A solid example is Alex Janian, the owner of BRD and Amano Taco who is expanding his fan-favorite chicken sandwich stall to South Baltimore this summer.

Though he was solely focused on getting the two concepts up and running inside R. House when it opened in 2016, as time went on, Janian started to think about how BRD could translate into other neighborhoods.

“We saw customers really latching on to it and coming back all the time,” he says. “And that’s when I really started thinking this could be something cool for Baltimore to experience in other parts of the city.”

Featuring BRD’s drool-worthy chicken sandwiches, wings, and fries, the Federal Hill shop will be located on the ground floor of Wheelhouse—a five-story apartment building currently under construction on the corner of South Charles and Cross streets. The late August debut will come at an ideal time for the neighborhood’s dining scene, which will also welcome the newly renovated Cross Street Market just across the street this spring.

Given the restaurant’s location in the heart of the Federal Hill bar district, Janian plans to stay open after last call on weekends.

“We want to be there when people want it,” he says. “We don’t want to close when people are hungry. We want to be there when the crowds are there, and we want to be enjoying the night right along with them.”

Diners can expect to see the same globally influenced sandwiches and wings (everything from spicy Japanese katsu to Jamaican jerk chicken), as well as the Old Bay-seasoned “Bmore Bird” and French fries with vinegar inspired by Janian’s local upbringing. But the new menu will also grow to include crispy chicken tenders and thick milkshakes to wash down all of the eats.

Taking up 1,700 square feet of Wheelhouse’s ground-level retail space, the eatery will offer 40 seats and feature the same counter-service model that BRD does at R. House. In fact, Janian says that many aspects of the new space will take inspiration from the food hall flagship, developed in part by his brother, Chris, founder of Vitruvius Co.

“We’re going after a similar vibe,” he says. “The developers at R. House did such a great job creating a communal space where people can come and stay for hours. We want that convivial atmosphere where people can rub elbows with friends, or even meet people they don’t know.”

Designed by Kuo Pao Lian of PI.KL Studio—the same local firm that dreamed up the interior for R. House—the new spot will offer all communal tables, warm woods, and pops of red and black throughout.

“It’s going to be a space that’s both modern and very comfortable,” Janian adds. “It really centers around the communal table and the counter so that the focus is still on the food and the people sitting next to you.”

Janian, who says opening restaurants has been a dream of his since he was young, is looking forward to spreading the BRD footprint throughout his hometown.

“I’ve lived in Federal Hill before and I know the energy that’s there,” he says. “That’s the exact energy we want for BRD—people who love their food, love having a great time, and really just have a love for Baltimore.”

Noticeable changes have taken shape since Caves Valley Partners began its revitalization of the 173-year-old Cross Street Market in Federal Hill last year. Most recently, retro signage that harkens back to the market’s original rebuild—after a fire destroyed it in 1951—went up around the exterior.

While the neon logos are a reminder of its storied history, the renovated interior will bring the market into the present with a diverse lineup that reflects the breadth of Baltimore’s current dining landscape.

“As a team, it was important for us to keep it Baltimore-centric,” says Nick Alevrogiannis of Cana Development, which handles leasing for Cross Street Market. “We wanted authentic and artisan, and we’re seeing a pretty big swing of that growing here.”

By keeping an eye out for unique concepts at local pop-ups and farmers’ markets, the firm was able to bring on vendors that span multiple different cultures and cuisines, many of which are minority and female-owned and operated.

According to the Project for Public Spaces, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities sustain public properties, public markets are a great entryway for chefs and restaurateurs—especially minorities, immigrants, and women—to grow their businesses.

“A lot of small businesses want to be able to grow, but the capital required and the vetting process from landlords to get your own brick-and-mortar is typically really expensive, and the liability is huge,” Alevrogiannis says. “But with a market, capital requirement is significantly less to get in, which promotes small businesses from the beginning.”

When it reopens this spring, a number of veterans that operated in the market pre-construction (think Fenwick’s Choice Meats, Steve’s Lunch, and The Sweet Shoppe) will be joined by a new class of budding businesses. There will be Baltimore spinoffs including Burger Bar from the team at Southside Diner in Riverside, Annoula’s Kitchen from the owners of Sobo Cafe across the street, Cans Filling Station from the operator of Taps Filling Station at Mount Vernon Marketplace, and a new Ceremony Coffee location.

But diners will also be able to expand their knowledge of global cuisine with Hawaiian grinds from Ono Poké, Mexican eats from Taco Love Grill, Southeast Asian dishes from Rice Crook, Vietnamese fare from Phubs, and authentic Haitian cuisine from Sobeachy—a JFX farmers’ market favorite founded by husband-and-wife duo Chanel and Leo Fleurimond.

“It’s really important to have all of those different flavors,” Chanel says. “When people think of Caribbean food, they automatically think of Jamaican food. So for us, it’s great that we now have an opportunity to be there alongside every other diverse, ethnic option and bring a different Caribbean island to Baltimore.”

The owners are looking forward to introducing diners to their eclectic blend of African and French flavors, which is showcased in stewed meats, chicken wings, stuffed plantain cups, “Cod Yatti” sandwiches (deep-fried cod on a cocoa bread bun with mango sauce), and “Pati Kode,” a veggie or meat-filled turnover similar to a fried empanada. Sobeachy will also be able to serve its fresh juices and alcoholic Island drinks in its new stall.

Other new vendors are excited about the move, even if they’ve been around for a while. Take brothers Chuong and Paul Nguyen, who established their Vietnamese soup and sub shop Phubs in Hanover five years ago, but are enthusiastic about the benefits of joining a communal market.

“Vietnamese food in general is getting more popular, but it’s still not super mainstream,” says Chuong. “With the market being so diverse, it requires people to come in with an open mind. Those are the type of customers we want.”

Phubs will continue to offer its signature banh-mi sandwiches and pho with all the fixins, but the owners are adding a few new twists that cater to the market’s clientele. Specifically, the eatery will offer its bone broth in coffee-sized cups for diners in need of a hangover cure or quick energy boost.

“We simmer the bones for 24 hours because that’s how our parents did it growing up,” says Chuong, a Columbia native. “We ate pho weekly, and always felt great the next day. But it’s really all about the broth and making it the right way. We didn’t want to get away from that.”

In addition to providing that authenticity, vendors agree that the market environment fosters a more personal relationship between makers and customers. In the future, organizers hope to strengthen the community focus by activating the space with more startups (a new wave will join the scene summer 2019) and launching an outdoor farmers’ market in April.

“To me, what sets a market apart from a food court is that it’s interactive and engaged,” Alevrogiannis says. “You have to tell that story. Just having good food and good service isn’t working anymore.”

Online clothing shopping may be convenient, but getting the right fit is the eternal struggle—especially if you wear an atypical size. That’s why when Alex Dekowski opened her contemporary women’s boutique, Hello Addie, in Federal Hill this past summer, she decided to offer complimentary alterations to her customers.

“We do our best to find brands that fit most people, but everyone’s bodies are so different, and we really want anyone who comes in to be able to find something in the store that makes them feel comfortable and confident,” says Dekowski. “Shopping can be miserable, but with the in-store alterations, if something doesn’t fit you perfectly, we can tweak it so that it does.”

Dekowski, a business major who worked in banking after dropping out of college, always had a love for fashion and decided to open the boutique in Federal Hill this past July after testing the waters with numerous pop-up shops throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland. “I think the fact that I don’t have a huge fashion background is an advantage and allows me to see the needs of the consumer that people who have been in the industry wouldn’t necessarily see,” she says.

The store, which is named after Dekowski’s grandmother, is full of on-trend items from brands such as Sage the Label, Matisse Footwear, Line & Dot, and Pistola Denim. Every week, the team at Hello Addie does an Instagram Live video where they all try on new arrivals and discuss the materials, fits, and quality of the items in real time.

“Everyone that works here has very different body types, so we like to show our girls what each piece could look like on them,” Dekowski says. “We have customers who come in the next day and say, I saw this on Instagram and I would’ve never thought I’d like it, but it looked good on everyone here, so I need it.”

To further her goal of inclusion at Hello Addie, Dekowski has plans to create her own line sometime next year. “Being a buyer for the first time, I noticed quickly that there is no single line that makes something in regular and plus sizes,” she says. “I plan to carry many styles with each piece offered in extra small through plus size. We don’t want anyone to have to walk into the store and have to find their section. We want everyone to be able to look through the same racks and to find something that they can leave feeling great about.”

When it comes to interior design and home furnishings, Charm City was, for a long time, a pretty conservative town, its aesthetic rooted in 300 years of European tradition. But you won’t find much of what the antique dealers call “brown furniture” at Design Distillery’s newish Federal Hill space.

Instead, there’s a live-edge dining table shorn from the trunk of an acacia tree, and owner Karen Graveline’s current favorite, a black homage to the Windsor chair with a curved spindle back, molded from plastic. Then there are bar stools, bedside tables, and tufted sofas with clean lines and slender legs, all in an array of colors from turquoise and cocoa to beige.

What you won’t find here is the stuff your parents are pushing on you: the carved mahogany sideboards, bedroom sets in turned walnut, or the dining-room table with extra leaves—which speaks to the current dictum, “Your kids don’t want your brown furniture.”

With designs inspired by 20th-century icons Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Florence Knoll, the showroom houses staged vignettes showing clean, airy living spaces with soft shag rugs and arched matte-black floor lamps.

“Our roots are in modernism,” says Graveline, who recently rebranded the business she started as Home on the Harbor in 2002. “It’s really about design that is functional, simple, and sustainable.”

Graveline, who grew up in a modern house in Montgomery County, learned to love design from her architect father. The family attended Orioles games in the city, and, as they made their way through Baltimore neighborhoods to Memorial Stadium, Graveline loved seeing people sitting on their stoops and decided she wanted to live here. Graveline studied interior design at University of Maryland but became a graphic designer. When she and her engineer husband, Stanley, bought a rowhouse near Riverside Park, she says, “That’s when I got interested in furniture again.”

She would buy mid-century modern castoffs from auctions and estate sales to fix up and sell at the Antique Center at Federal Hill. Then, when she and Stanley saw a store (with an apartment upstairs) for rent in the neighborhood, they decided to give retail a go, opening Home on the Harbor in 2002 with a unique niche—smaller, modern pieces made to scale.

But in a country of giant rooms and giant furniture, they had some ’splainin’ to do. “Back then,” she says, “people didn’t know what to make of us. So I said, ‘It fits in rowhouses.’” That, she says, became the hook: “furniture that fits.”

A couple of years later, she opened a second store in Mt. Washington, then relocated to a repurposed industrial space in 2010, and doubled the store’s size to 9,500 square feet in 2016, while also renaming the business.

When she’s choosing furniture for the store, Graveline has an important requirement: “I have to picture it in a Baltimore home.” While, at one time, that simply meant a sofa had to fit through the narrow door of a Federal Hill rowhouse, she has refined the notion over the years. “Baltimore wants proven design,” she says, but nothing too fussy. “Baltimore tends to be informal.”

Last night, Mayor Catherine Pugh, City Council president Bernard C. “Jack” Young, interim police commissioner Gary Tuggle, City Councilman Eric Costello, and dozens of South Baltimore residents packed the gazebo at Riverside Park for a community meeting to address gun violence in the city.

During a subsequent Safety Walk down Riverside Avenue toward Digital Harbor High School, residents stopped to take a moment of silence for all of the city’s homicide victims this year. Among them was Timothy Moriconi, a 25-year-old who was fatally shot while walking home from a relative’s house in Riverside around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 27.

The tragedy, which Baltimore City Police Department chief spokesperson T.J. Smith called “a deplorable act of violence,” is part of a recent spike in homicides throughout the city, which has seen more than 200 this year.

In the wake of the shooting, the Federal Hill community has bonded to memorialize Moriconi’s life with candlelight vigils, while also pushing for a higher police presence in the neighborhood.

“A lot of people’s emotions are shifting toward frustration and anger,” says Brian Acquavella, a Federal Hill resident, who owns Blue Agave and One Star Country Club in the neighborhood. “We feel very hopeless. How do you prevent something like this happening at 7:30 on a Thursday evening on a highly populated street? We can’t prevent anything. This is up to our leadership in Baltimore.”

On Tuesday, October 2, Acquavella and the team at One Star are hosting a fundraiser from 4 p.m. to close, donating 100 percent of all food and drink proceeds to the family of Moriconi, who was a regular at the bar.

“He was a great customer and became friends with a lot of the staff,” Acquavella says. “When you see someone a couple days a week, it’s hard to not become friends with them.”

In an attempt to raise as much money as possible, the bar will not be offering any particular food or drink specials.

“It’s not about us,” Acquavella says. “We’re not keeping any of this money or trying to drive business, we’re just trying to make as much as we can for that family. We’re going to open our doors like normal and hopefully we can bring a lot of people in.”

Bartenders have even pledged to donate their tips to the family, and some staff members are coming in on their day off to assist with the crowds. Acquavella says that his team is an example of the resilience of the Federal Hill neighborhood, which has been known to come together in the wake of tragedy.

“That is a shining light in all of this,” he says. “South Baltimore is never going to be a place where everyone gets along and has the same views 100 percent of the time. But when tragedy does happen, this is definitely a neighborhood that will do anything for anybody when needed. That’s what I love about it here.”

Though Blue Agave Restaurante y Tequileria has been a Federal Hill fixture since 2000, most might be surprised to hear that the cantina didn’t serve tacos until Brian Acquavella took over in 2012.

“It was a Mexican restaurant that didn’t think tacos were authentic,” he says. “So our number one goal was putting them on the menu. The previous owners weren’t really hitting the mark of Federal Hill. It’s a high-energy place, and Mexican restaurants are supposed to be fun.”

Acquavella has certainly brought plenty of good times in the six years since he took over the Light Street staple. Aside from revamping the menu and building up a bar program with a lengthy list of tequilas and mezcals, he introduced one of the neighborhood’s most popular happy hours.

“From college all the way on, I remember the Mexican restaurants as the places where you would get the best happy hour,” he says. “You get some tacos and margaritas—maybe do a couple of shots. We wanted to be that destination place.” 

To celebrate the six-year anniversary of Acquavella’s ownership, the restaurant is throwing an all-out bash this week complete with nightly specials, karaoke, tequila tastings, and hangover brunches. Though the restaurant’s official birthday falls in March, the team held off on a celebration so that it could overlap with Cinco de Mayo this year.

“This is the biggest we’ve ever gone,” Acquavella says. “Having Cinco de Mayo fall on a Saturday this year has made us realize that we can do so many fun things the week leading up to it.”

Leading up to the big day, Blue Agave will offer a $25 discount for bottle club members on Wednesday, May 2, live mariachi music and special tequila pairings on Thursday, May 3, and authentic food specials by chef Fidel Arias on Friday, May 4. The bar’s official Cinco de Mayo bash on Saturday, May 5 will occur in conjunction with the annual Federal Hill Fiesta block party, which has moved from Cross Street to the new Stadium Square parking lot on West Ostend Street this year. On Sunday, May 6, the restaurant is offering 15 percent off all brunch checks to diners who bring a receipt from Blue Agave’s Saturday fiesta.

“We’re trying to do something to hit as many different people as possible,” Acquavella says of the week’s festivities. “It’s also a great opportunity for us to play around with new dishes and celebrate the culture of Mexico. I’ve been there 11 times now and I love it.”

In particular, Acquavella says his trips to Mexico have sparked an affection for authentic tequilas and mezcals.

“The first time I had mezcal in Oaxaca, I didn’t even realize what I was drinking, but I knew I loved it,” he says. “Two years ago, you couldn’t find anyone who was drinking mezcal here. But now it’s finally something that people are starting to understand. We’re up to 20 behind the bar, and it’s always exciting when people hear we have a new one and come in specifically to try it.”

Among the many Mexican-inspired cocktails at Blue Agave is the pineapple-raspberry margarita, which features an Añejo tequila infused with pineapple and vanilla bean that Acquavella created alongside head bartender Pabis Reyes.

“The infuse is something that we came up with a year ago, and we’ve found that people love it by itself or in the margarita,” Reyes says. “It’s really refreshing for the season and has a great combination of flavors.”

If you can’t make it to Blue Agave’s festivities this week, here’s the pineapple-raspberry margarita recipe:

– 2 oz. Añejo tequila pineapple/vanilla bean infuse
– 1 oz. Blue Agave house margarita mix
– .5 oz. raspberry liqueur
– fresh raspberries

Combine tequila pineapple/vanilla bean infuse, margarita mix, and raspberry liquor in a shaker with ice and shake well until chilled. Pour into glass with fresh ice and top with raspberries.