Highlandtown locals are used to seeing Sam White behind the bar at Gnocco, where he is usually shaking up Italian cocktails or uncorking worldly bottles of wine at the white marble bar. But regulars shouldn’t be surprised to see him sweating in front of a black steel smoker this summer.

Last month, White and his longtime friend Kevin James launched Scalawags Pit Meat—a side project focusing on barrel-smoked pit beef, turkey, chicken, and other carnivorous classics.

“It’s been fun going from a fine-dining thing to doing something more laid-back and hanging outside,” White says. “Pit beef is such a classic Maryland dish. It’s interesting to learn more about it and how people like their sandwiches—with horseradish or without. Onions or no onions. It’s really personal.”

The duo first started experimenting with smoking meats after James received a barrel smoker as a wedding present a few years ago. Since then, they have been testing recipes in his backyard, mixing different woods, proteins, and marinades.

“The pit barrel isn’t really a smoker and it isn’t really a grill,” James explains. “It’s this weird in-between cooking machine. But it’s pretty easy to use and all of the sudden I found myself firing it up every other weekend and turning out really tasty stuff. It really all started out with us having fun while drinking Natty Boh in the backyard.”

In July, Scalawags hosted its inaugural pop-up at Monument City Brewing in Highlandtown—eventually selling out of pit beef sandwiches, pork loin, turkey breast, and smoked corn with clarified butter. In the future, the duo is looking forward to adding ribs, whole chicken, and smoked bacon BLTs to the menu.

James says that perfecting the smoking technique is all about timing, temperature, and choosing the right wood chips.

“The way the environment is in the barrel itself makes for a really delicious product,” he says. “The juices from the meat actually drip down into the charcoal. When you open up the lid there’s just this mushroom cloud of smoke and deliciousness that really takes the cake.”

The next event for Scalawags—which was named after James’ former gig working on the Urban Pirates ship—will be at Gnocco on Thursday, August 23. James will serve up hearty sandwiches that White will pair with whiskey cocktails from Republic Restoratives Distillery in Washington, D.C.

The team is also looking forward to partnering with Old Line Spirits, another one of Gnocco’s neighbors in Highlandtown, to host a third pop-up and put more of a personal touch on some of the smoked meats.

“The distillers from Old Line reached out and offered to let us use wood chips from their whiskey barrels,” James says. “I was floored because it’s local and it adds a certain kind of flavor that you’re not getting anywhere else. It’s typical Smaltimore.”

The original Andy has left the building, but caterer Damon Chapman pounced on a chance to take over Hungry Andy’s in Fells Point last year.

You could easily walk past the modest storefront located a few blocks from the main thrum of Thames Street. The luncheonette setting with 18 seats may not have the trendiest décor, but it is spotless and cheery. And the personable staff, including manager and Chapman’s wife, Rashawn, are welcoming.

On the food front, Chapman is putting creative touches on a menu that stars casual American fare such as ribs, burgers, fried chicken, and Baltimore’s quintessential sandwich, pit beef.

Andy’s captures the nuances of the signature meat pileup that is usually sold at roadside stands: meltingly tender beef cooked to order, zippy tiger sauce blending horseradish and mayo, and pungent onions, either raw, sautéed, or both.

Rashawn proudly explains the process: A hunk of top-round beef is crusted with spices and cooked in a smoker for several hours until the interior is a succulent pink. It’s finished in the restaurant char-broiler, where the meat can be prepared to a customer’s preference.

It’s our go-to sandwich. Every time we bite into the pillowy roll and pliable folds of meat, we are reminded of our Baltimore culinary heritage. It’s the same with Hungry Andy’s crab cake. The six-ounce, broiled patty was moister than many, but it is studded with crab lumps. It’s also available in 4-ounce and 9-ounce sizes.

We paired the crab cake with a Caesar salad that may have wowed us more if we had asked for the dressing on the side. The vinaigrette, while silky and pleasantly garlicky, saturated the delicate ribbons of romaine lettuce.

A better side dish is the salty French fries. Chapman says the potatoes are fresh-cut and soaked in water to draw out the starch. The sticks are par-fried and then re-cooked for crispness. The result is a crunchy coating with a soft inside that is addictive.

Hungry Andy’s also offers lunch specials, which recently included a BLT, grilled ham and cheese, and chicken sliders with French fries and a can of soda or bottle of water for $7.30.

Other drinks are self-serve. It’s always difficult to decide between the homemade peach mango iced tea and the homemade lemonade. You won’t go wrong with either—or take Chapman’s advice and mix them for an original half-and-half beverage, a fun take on the Arnold Palmer.

Desserts feature offerings such as chocolate cake and carrot cake. They’re not made in-house, so we suggest heading across the street to Sophia’s Place in the Broadway Market for the classic Polish cookies called chrusciki.

Hungry Andy’s may have lost its namesake founder, but the new proprietor is carving out his own niche—one pit beef sandwich at a time.

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›› HUNGRY ANDY’S 629 S. Broadway, 410-558-1869, Mon., Wed., Thurs. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.