Forgive us if cynicism sets in when a new restaurant purports to have captured the culinary soul of an entire continent. Cooking styles and gastric sensibilities can vary greatly from region to region, let alone from country to country, so when Points South Latin Kitchen opened earlier this year in the previous home of Anastasia, we were a bit skeptical. Two visits to the restaurant, which has been beautifully revamped into a festive, two-level space with multiple dining rooms and bars, erased our doubts. Owner/managing partner Bryson Keens and chef Scott Stauber have created a menu that’s inspired by the spirit of South and Central American cuisine, but doesn’t feel confined by it. Take the Costillas de Res en Asado Negro—beef short ribs that are braised in chocolate sauce. The meat arrived so tender we could—and did—cut it with a spoon. In the hands of a lesser chef, the dish could easily be gimmicky, but here, the hint of bitterness combined with the sweetness only enhanced the meat’s flavor.

Ten small plates featured on the dinner menu range in ambition—and price. We can imagine eating the wonderful Carimanolas—fried croquettes filled with yucca mash and ground beef—on the streets of Panama City or Bogota, where they’re popular. The
Cangrejo y Aguacate, chunks of lump crab and avocado served on a crispy yucca cake, seems a bit sophisticated (and at $16 for one, a bit too pricey) for street food. Crab purists might object to its mojo sauce, which some may feel overpowers the crab’s natural taste, but we found it to be a tangy twist on the local favorite.

Nightly meat, seafood, and fried whole-fish specials highlight the entree selections. We opted for a bowl of bouillabaisse, which arrived piping hot and filled with generous portions of shelled mussels, clams, shrimp, and large pieces of snapper. Its lime broth was refreshingly subtle. Another staple in many Latin countries is grilled chicken, and Stauber’s take is solidly spiced. Chimichurri, a green sauce associated with Argentina and usually made of chopped parsley, minced garlic, oregano, and oil or vinegar, provides a nice acidity to the crispy skin. The bird comes with Peruvian-style potatoes, an addictively good salad of Amarillo cheese sauce, eggs, and olives that is served warm.

The cocktail program includes several variations of a margarita. Our favorite was the signature combination of whiskey, spiced pear, ginger liqueur, and fresh citrus that’s mixed and bottled daily. Having more than one can transform your tame dinner into a fiesta, during which you’ll feel right at home among the restaurant’s colorful murals and mosaics. Despite its price point (near the upper echelon of Fells Point restaurants), a relaxed atmosphere envelops Points South, which succeeds in paying homage to, rather than trying to rigidly replicate, the food and drink of our neighbors to the south.

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POINTS SOUTH LATIN KITCHEN 1640 Thames St., 443-563-2018. HOURS Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Lunch: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner: Mon.-Wed. 5-10 p.m., Thu.-Sat. 5-10:30 p.m. CUISINE Latin American. PRICES Small plates: $12-17; entrees: $26-36; sides: $8. ATMOSPHERE Latin flair.

While there are plenty of pizza purveyors around town these days, few get it just right. One place’s crust is too toothsome, another’s too flimsy. And ovens that are perfectly capable of generating the immense energy that a properly blistered and charred crust necessitates are often set at a pedestrian 500 degrees.

Enter Paulie Gee’s. The Hampden location was originally slated to be the first franchise of the original restaurant in Brooklyn, but the opening was pushed back for a few (painful) years to this past summer, and it is now the fifth outpost of the pizza palace. At the Hampden location—the cavernous building that once housed the Hampden Republican Club—two ovens serve as the restaurant’s centerpiece, with dark wood paneling all around. (And with the exception of two salads, pizza dominates the menu.) Seating consists of a mix of long communal tables and bistro tables, with a spacious, lounge-y bar located in the rear.

The aforementioned ovens are fed a steady stream of logs, stacked high and contributing a pervasive campfire whiff to the air. Coal proponents can rest easier knowing that cooking temperatures hover around 900 degrees, right in the money zone for pizzas to develop leopard spots in 90 seconds or so of cooking time. This ripping heat is kept at a safe distance from the pizzaiolo via extra long peels used to rhythmically rotate the pies, which are ultimately swung around in a graceful pirouette onto the counter, where finishing touches are dotingly added before being served.

The other critical component to good char is, of course, the dough, and the dough here is the real deal. It’s the right mix of good flour and water to respond well to intense heat, it’s tender with chewiness, it has the right amount of bubbly poofiness and savory flavor indicative of a slow, steady rise, and it’s sturdy enough to support the toppings even while cardstock-thin.

Whatever pizza you pick (there are 22 varieties in all), toppings are all high quality. We’re talking excellent fresh mozzarella, Berkshire guanciale, simple slices of lemon, and brisket supplied from Blue Pit BBQ. Toppings are paired thoughtfully and applied with deliberate precision, balanced in both arrangement and flavor. Judicious applications of honey or hot chili oil provide provocative punctuation. Yet the outstanding crust is never overdressed. This is the faithful, skillful expression of this style of pizza that we’ve been waiting for.

›› Paulie Gee’s 3535 Chestnut Ave., 410-889-1048. Hours: Tue.-Thu., Sun. 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Prices: $9-18.

Long before foraging became part of the local lexicon, chef Chris Amendola was wandering the woods, his backpack brimming with ramps, fiddleheads, and chanterelles, as well as paper and mesh bags to hold his forest finds.

And while there are many who say they forage in Baltimore these days, Amendola is the real-deal forest whisperer. Go hunting with Amendola and you’ll quickly see that he knows how to “read” the trees, taking note of microclimates and searching for chanterelles under maples, or chicken of the woods protruding from fallen oaks.

Although Amendola seems to have a fungal fixation, he embraces anything that’s been locally sourced and is quick to share that there’s a whole generation of people who’ve forgotten where their food came from. “Food comes from somewhere,” he’s fond of saying.

It’s not surprising that Amendola’s idea of opening a seasonal eatery started to take shape at the same time he was learning the art of foraging from James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Brock (of McCrady’s in Charleston). It’s also fitting that the former Fleet Street Kitchen chef went for a straightfoward approach in naming his tiny, 26-seat boîte Foraged: A Hyper-Seasonal Eatery.

As you enter the space on the former site of Arômes, the décor sets the scene: Black-and-white photographs of farm animals hang against exposed brick walls, carved wooden mushroom sculptures adorn the tables, and window boxes and a verdant hydroponic plant wall overflow with violets, nasturtium, basil, and bee balm that not only bring the place to life but are featured in the food.

The farm-to-table concept is a lofty one, but when some chefs realize what’s actually entailed, it can get the best of them in the off-season. It’s also the true test of a chef’s ability to be resourceful in tougher times—and Amendola, who works closely with local growers to get the freshest, most local products, proves that he has what it takes to make the concept successful in any season.

In fact, Foraged opened in late December in the dead of winter (“I had bills to pay,” says Amendola). Several winter visits convinced me that this is a chef that you want with you if you’re ever stranded on a deserted island. (He also convinced me to disregard the caveat “never trust a skinny chef,” because the man is reed thin.)

While the menu is concise and rotates daily, there’s plenty to pick from for every palate, including everything from innovative vegetarian dishes to a slew of pig parts (jowl, socket, cheeks). Know before you go that even the bigger entrees are on the smaller side, but pricing is fair (most dishes are below $20), so order accordingly and save room for one of Amendola’s signature seasonal shortcakes for dessert (and also a sweet surprise that comes with the bill).

There’s a whole generation of people who’ve forgotten where their food came from.

In the depth of December, a plate of sunchokes topped with goat cheese, lemon, herbs, and hazelnuts was bright and beautiful. And diners were no worse for the winter as bowls of rich and earthy mushroom stew studded with pine nuts and ricotta gnudi and topped with a poached egg arrived at the table, while the half chicken with roasted root vegetables was exactly the kind of stick-to-your-bones, satisfying dish you’d want in cooler climes.

Spring saw lighter plates such as sea bass with spring vegetable stew and mushroom buns, while summer starred country ham and melon salad and earthenware plates stacked with fried corn fritters. A recent fall visit ushered in dishes such as fried oysters with pickled radish relish and basil purée and an unctuous plate of braised short rib ravioli tossed with the last of summer tomatoes. Toasted baguette slices and a bowl of house-made ricotta with diced peaches also offered a final farewell in the days that bridge the two seasons.

With so many so-called farm-to-table spots offering beet this and kale or cauliflower that, we can experience dining-out fatigue on occasion. What differentiates Foraged is that whatever—and whenever—you eat here, it will always be interesting.

As fall turns to winter and back to spring, Amendola will, no doubt, go into the woods to bring back the best of the bounty—and we can’t wait to see what he does with whatever it is he finds.

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FORAGED EATERY 3520 Chestnut St., 410-235-0035. HOURS: Tues.-Sat. 5-10 p.m. PRICES: Starters: $9-13; small plates: $12-18; mains: $18-23; desserts: $3. AMBIANCE: Greenhouse chic.

The Red Boat, which bills itself as Vietnamese fusion, takes the fusion part of its mission quite seriously. And not just food-wise. Is it a restaurant? A bar? A fast-casual spot? A take-out joint?

The answer is yes. It’s all of those things.

We visited the Mt. Vernon location of this burgeoning chain (there’s one downtown and, according to its website, more to come) three times and left impressed by much of the food, even if it did take us a few trips to master the concept.

While those at the bar receive full service, everyone else orders at the counter. If you’re eating in, grab a seat and your food will be served on a red cafeteria-style tray. Whether you’re staying or taking your food to-go, your number will be displayed on an electronic board—like at a deli—when your order is ready. There’s a pool table in the back room and ’80s music (when we were there) on the stereo, so the vibe is equal parts hangout and carryout.

At both lunch and dinner, our food emerged from the kitchen scalding hot. The best of what we tried tended toward comfort dishes. A large order of kimchi fries was loaded with the pickled cabbage, yet the potatoes retained their firmness. They were an excellent accompaniment to the K-Town dog, a quarter-pound beef frank with diced kimchi, chopped Korean bulgogi beef, and toasted seaweed. Both were delicious messes. (To spare your shirt, the fries should be attacked with a plastic fork, which are found in Café du Monde coffee cans, and the dog should be consumed while employing an exaggerated forward lean.)

Among the more-traditional staples, the steamed pork buns stood out. Filled with seasoned ground pork, Chinese sausage, half an egg, and mushrooms, the appetizer or side offered a pleasing blend of flavors. We preferred the somewhat greasy crispy duck wontons and fried pork and shrimp spring rolls to the admittedly healthier bulgogi beef rolls, wrapped with vegetables in a light noodle casing.

The menu features build-your-own rice, salad, or noodle bowls, along with tacos and banh mi sandwiches. The lemongrass chicken one, a tad-too-large hoagie roll packed with pickled carrots and daikon, cucumbers, cilantro, and jalapeños, but not a ton of meat, wasn’t bad but was hardly memorable. The same can be said for the pho, which was perfectly fine but featured broth a bit on the bland side for our taste.

Each time we visited, The Red Boat’s staff was friendly and accommodating. We weren’t the only ones they educated about how the place functions, but now that we’ve mastered it, we’ll certainly be back.

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›› The Red Boat 334 N. Charles St., 443-835-1507. Hours: Tue.-Thurs. 12-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 12 p.m.–1 a.m., Sun. 12-8 p.m. Rolls: $5; hot dogs: $7; Banh mi and tacos: $8; pho: $10; rice/salad/noodle bowls: $11.

When The Wine Market Bistro opened in 2004, the chic warehouse space, which serves modern American fare inside the historic Foundry on Fort complex, was a novelty. The concept: Buy a bottle of Bordeaux at the attached wine shop boasting 800 bottles and get 15 percent off your purchase if you dine next door. At the time, the gimmick was cute, even catchy.

For many years, The Wine Market was a great gathering spot and one of the hottest reservations in town. But all good things must come to an end, and, by March 2018, after more than 13 years of business, the fickle crowds had moved on. But rather than call it quits, several months later, Wine Market restaurateur Christopher Spann reopened the space with a new name—Ludlow Market, Bar & Bottle Shop—as well as a new look and a new chef in the form of Christopher Audia, formerly of Tail Up Goat in Washington, D.C. Thankfully, there’s still a wine shop next door with the same discount offer.

I was a fan of the original restaurant, so I was eager to return, though, upon entering the space, with the exception of small tweaks—added splashes of color with red aluminum chairs and a colorful glass wall—I couldn’t discern the difference between the new and old spot.

My visit to Ludlow Market was perfectly pleasant, but the fact that our party of four was dining in a nearly empty restaurant didn’t feel good. And here’s my dining diagnosis: Sadly, a small neighborhood restaurant with an eclectic New American menu (shareable plates, classic sandwiches, more substantial mains) doesn’t necessarily spell success anymore now that so many new spots have sprung up in the city.

Food-wise, there’s a lot to like here—a dish boasting multicolored heirloom roasted carrots and cipollini offered a rush of pleasure with its sweet-and-sour notes. A painterly plate of plump, pan-seared scallops with watercress remoulade was good enough to get again and again. A Sukiyaki beef sub with mirin-marinated beef, Gochujang mayo, and stir-fry veggies was a fun cheesesteak riff for this Philly girl. Along with the hits, though, there were misses. A seafood risotto special with curry had us hunting for the advertised shrimp and sea bass, and a pan-seared salmon with blue crab butter and Calabrian chili served over wax beans tasted a bit like an institutional diet platter.

In the service realm we had no complaints. Our server was attentive and made great suggestions throughout the night, bringing extra rounds of baguette for our cheese plate and pacing out our courses in a way that made sense and never felt rushed.

Baltimore’s dining scene is at a crossroads these days, and this city of neighborhoods needs to make room for smaller spots. But which ones not only survive, but thrive, depends on the will and whims of the people. We suspect that if old Wine Market fans give this place a chance, they’ll find much to enjoy.

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Ludlow Market, Bar & Bottle Shop 921 E. Fort Ave., 410-244-6166.
HOURS Tues.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; 5-10 p.m.; Fri. 11:30-3 p.m., 5-11 p.m.; Sat. 5-11 p.m. PRICES Starters, small plates: $6-17; entrees: $18-48. AMBIANCE Minimalist warehouse.

It feels funny to describe a restaurant that has been in business since 1999 as “off the eaten path,” but that’s exactly what Vinny’s Italian Café is. A five-minute drive east from the edge of Canton is all it takes to get you there, but you might as well be a world, not a neighborhood, away. Auto-body shops on the industrial drive that is Holabird Avenue surround the white, L-shaped building with red ceramic shingles that owner Vinny Scotto helped build.

Inside, you’re greeted by a warm staff and the smell of simple, rich, traditional Italian food. “Everything is as good as it was 19 years ago,” says our waitress, Paula, who has worked at this hidden gem since it opened. “You’re in for a treat.”

On an early Saturday evening, with sporting events on a pair of TVs behind the bar of a large, open-concept dining room, our party of four settles into a booth in the unpretentious atmosphere of what locals call “the heart of Dundalk,” the historically blue-collar suburb. Families surround tables. A woman’s 28th birthday party is happening in the other room. Regular customers, like descendants of those who worked in Baltimore’s since-closed General Motors factory, order from the take-out counter, too.

Fresh pizza bread arrives on our table, then Paula is back, and we consult with her for recommendations from a menu that counts 75 dinner choices (and more for lunch, such as their trademark meatball sub, which dates back to the restaurant’s precursor, Marco’s).

We order a bottle of red, then Blue Point oysters and fried calamari for the table. Specials are typically imagined by Vinny, an Italian immigrant by way of Naples and New York, and his sons Marcello and Tony, who spent four years studying at the Culinary Institute of America. I decided on the rockfish Chesapeake with a fresh handmade spinach pasta.

My wife, who has celiac disease, enjoyed a gluten-free version of the chicken broccoli, a simple dish—chicken cooked in a rose cream sauce, tomato, garlic, olive oil, basil, and parsley, served over a bed of pasta (made with corn and rice flour, in her case) with broccoli—that is the restaurant’s top seller. Our guests went with more traditional choices, including the veal parmigiana and chicken marsala.

The portions are huge. This is one of those places where it looks like you didn’t make a dent in your food after 20 minutes of eating—and you don’t mind. Ingredients, like sweet, natural San Marzano tomatoes grown from the volcanic soil in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, are fresh. And you’re full and happy to have leftovers for tomorrow.

“The best thing is to use the right thing, you know?” Vinny says. “If I can buy something good, and it costs me a little more money, that’s okay. I’m looking to make people happy. Today, you don’t find a place like this anymore.”

That is, unless you know where to look.

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›› VINNY’S ITALIAN CAFÉ 6212 Holabird Ave., 410-633-7709. Tues.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.

Dinner and a show may finally be on equal footing in Columbia. For years, fans who flocked to Merriweather Post Pavilion had precious few dining options if they wanted to grab a bite to eat then walk to the concert. Cured Table & Tap is aiming to change that. Located just a long guitar riff from the music venue, its ambitious menu includes a diverse selection of craft beer, cocktails, and dishes such as bone marrow and game steaks.

There’s nothing rock ’n’ roll about the restaurant’s exterior. It’s housed in an office building occupied by MedStar Health, and from the outside, it’s tough to tell whether you’re walking into a restaurant or a doctor’s office. Inside, framed posters of legendary Merriweather concerts adorn the walls of a large open space with high- and low-top tables. (There’s also a more formal—though rather sterile—dining room.) On an afternoon about two months after it opened, we grabbed stools at the long, winding bar for lunch. We started with jackfruit tacos: kimchi, avocado, and jack pickled slaw packed into corn tortillas that were a flavor revelation, although, at $10 for two, an expensive “snack” (their category on the menu).

Of our sandwiches, at least on our visit, the pâté melt outpaced an average oyster po’ boy. Made with pork and chicken and served on fluffy ciabatta topped with greens, smoked gouda, cured relish, and grainy mustard, it was a rich treat. For a side, better to go with a house salad than the good-but-not-great fries or fried Brussels sprouts and chickpeas, which were a tad greasy for our taste.

While we ate, our bartender, Michael, was creating a vodka-based cocktail for an internal competition. The winner’s concoction was to be served on tap alongside the “Burt Reynolds or Something. . .” (acronym: BROS), which is what we started dinner with when we returned the next week. Made with mezcal, agave nectar, and Angostura, Peychaud’s, and chocolate bitters, it shouldn’t be skipped. It paired well with a tasty charcuterie plate of smoked gouda, duck pastrami, and bresaola, which are thin slices of air-dried, salted beef. Our entrees were solid, if not spectacular. The coconut-braised short rib was the best of the bunch, although the carrot purée, freekeh, and squash gremolata didn’t add much to the lovely tender meat.

After dinner, we strolled to 18th & 21st, an attached sister restaurant that features live jazz most nights. It struck us as odd that one of the dessert cocktails offered at both establishments (their menus are not identical) is named for a movie rather than a band. Still, “The Dude Abides” (vodka and nitro coffee stout, vanilla tincture) was a satisfying nightcap to an enjoyable meal. True, that’s just, like, our opinion, man, but it’s one we’re confident you’ll share after dinner—with or without a show—at Cured.

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CURED TABLE & TAP 10980 Grantchester Way, Columbia, 667-786-7111. HOURS Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.- 11p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.- 11 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.- 9 p.m. PARKING Free in adjoining garage. PRICES Appetizers: $6-14; soups and salads: $8-18; sandwiches: $11-18; entrees: $17-32; desserts: $7-10.
AMBIANCE Business casual.

As is fitting of a restaurant tucked inside Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino, Gordon Ramsay Steak is a bit of sensory overload, especially sight and smell.

There’s a meat trolley with 360-degree mirrored views showcasing the marbling of various cuts of raw meat. There’s also the Union Jack mural splayed across the ceiling of a dining room that smells like seared steak and broiled bacon. It’s equally impossible to ignore a wall of white steel knives at the entrance to the kitchen, a sly wink to Ramsay’s rapier wit and sharp TV persona.

But what else would you expect from the in-your-face, Michelin-starred celebrity chef, who, with his perfectly deadpan delivery, once famously commented to one of his cooking-show contestants: “For what we are about to eat, may the Lord make us truly not vomit?” Having gorged on one too many all-you-can-eat buffets while on various visits to Atlantic City casinos as a kid, I know the feeling.

Fortunately, on a recent evening outing to Gordon Ramsay Steak, my experience left me feeling satisfied, not sick. Baltimore has no shortage of steakhouses, but most of them are places for deal-making over dinner. Not so at Gordon Ramsay Steak. With its playful plaid motif in the bar area and colorful cocktails, this carnivore’s den feels fun and festive. Here, the chef offers signatures from his sister spot in Vegas, while also adding regional products—Maryland blue crab, for instance, and Monkton’s Roseda Farm beef dry-aged with local Sagamore Rye.

Follow conventional wisdom—when you’re in a steakhouse, stick to the steaks. The menu features every conceivable cut, as well as American and Japanese Wagyu. Start with the beef tartare topped with a quail egg. The tartare, dramatically smoked under a bell jar at the table, is paired with house-made potato chips, adding a nice salty component.

A less successful appetizer was the grilled romaine salad, which, oddly, was served cold, though all was forgiven with the arrival of the chorizo-stuffed lobster luxuriating in a brandied cream sauce.

As for main courses, the eight-ounce filet, which arrives sitting zen-like surrounded by a swoosh of red wine demi-glace on the plate, is truly terrific and a relatively affordable option at $52, considerably less than the triple-seared Japanese Wagyu at $30/ounce. (Casinos pretty much have their own currency.)

Ramsay’s Beef Wellington is reason alone to go. The dish is paired with mushroom duxelles framed by a flaky puff pastry and sits on a buttery bed of potato purée. Alluring sides such as mac and cheese with truffles and English peas, and a loaded baked potato with smoked Gouda béchamel, sour cream, and bacon are also excellent complements to the beef. We went with the sautéed shiitake mushrooms, whose chewiness nicely mimicked the meat.

Finish your repast with Ramsay’s signature toffee pudding sided by brown-butter ice cream. The rectangular-shaped ice cream is disguised as a stick of butter and comes with—what else—a knife for cutting. With his first steakhouse on the East Coast, Ramsay has not lost his edge.

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Gordon Ramsay Steak: 1525 Russell St., 443-931-4254. Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m.-12 a.m. Prices: appetizers: $18-26; entrees: $30-110; desserts: $9-18. Ambiance: Modern steakhouse chic.

Inside a neoclassical church in Adams Morgan, light streams through the massive stained-glass windows illuminating several cloth-bound “bibles” that sit stacked beneath the soaring cathedral ceiling. This isn’t just any hallowed space, however. In fact, it hasn’t been a place of prayer for more than 20 years, but it is a place of worship—especially when you begin with an elixir from the good book of gorgeously crafted cocktails and linger for the night.

Welcome to A Rake’s Progress inside the capital’s trendy The Line Hotel, Maryland chef Spike Gjerde’s newest restaurant and his first foray outside of Baltimore. The name of the space was inspired not only by Gjerde’s nostalgia for time spent raking leaves on a Vermont farm in his youth, but by a series of satirical William Hogarth paintings in which the follies of a young rake, who goes from excess to ruin, were once seen as a social commentary.

Similarly, Gjerde, who studied philosophy at Middlebury College, serves us food for thought. As with his five Baltimore restaurants (including Woodberry Kitchen), at Rake’s, he feeds us commentary on the industrialization of our food systems in the modern day. (His message is pretty simple: We don’t need to fly rabbits in from France when they’re hopping around Liberty Delight Farms in Reisterstown.) Here, with his usual messianic zeal, Gjerde is spreading his locavore gospel to Baltimore’s sister city.

The project has been four years in the making, but if “day ninety-six,” as it reads on our menu during one spring visit, is any indication, Gjerde and his disciples—including executive chef Opie Crooks and co-owner/barman Corey Polyoka—are on their way to becoming some of the most important tastemakers in the country.

Since the January opening, devotees have included Chez Panisse’s James Beard Award-winning Alice Waters (a farm-to-table icon in her own right), funnyman Bill Murray, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, who celebrated her 54th birthday here. It’s hard not to feel reverent while sitting in the lofty space. The church’s organ has been replaced by the commercial kitchen, while the pipes have been refashioned into a spectacular chandelier that hangs high above the expansive dining room. A new altar, one where lattes, macchiatos, and Spike-i-attos (a double machiatto and an espresso shot on the side) are made at the coffee bar, is central to the setting. Also of note: Gjerde’s mad-for-plaid motif on display at Woodberry has been supplanted by more polished materials such as leather armchairs and horsehair sofas.

While the wine and cocktail lists resemble religious texts (and were made by Baltimore bookmaker Heather O’Hara), the paper dinner menus are stamped with sealing wax and printed with thought-provoking passages of poetry from Richard Wilbur and Henry David Thoreau. Heavy on game and highlighting foods found in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, it feels like an offering. “You won’t find lemons or olive oil here,” says our server, noting that those products aren’t grown or made regionally. But diners will find items sourced from the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

For our meal, that meant a shellfish tower stacked with tiers of Shooting Point Virginia oysters, a crudo-style Maryland rockfish tossed with apples and turnips, and even local lobster, found 70 miles off Maryland’s shores. It also included a charcuterie board of Tidewater ham accompanied by mini sweet potato biscuits, heavenly gougères cheese puffs, and cherry jam made by Lauren Sandler of Gjerde’s Baltimore Canningshed.

Another appetizer of note included small plates of fried quail given a clever riff on Korean fried chicken. The small bird was delicate and full of flavor, only enhanced by the Asian addition of pickled cucumbers and gochujang. The shareable, Appalachian-inspired Kilt Greens with crisped ham, rye crumbs, hard-boiled egg, and tossed with a hot bacon-mustard dressing was delicious and decadent. Even the arrival of the dish—presented in a wooden bowl tableside, then whisked away to a carving station for tossing—felt special.

For shareable entrees, our whole hearth-roasted chicken was also presented before being carried away, then carved with craftsman-like precision. The brined bird was paired with buttermilk potatoes and creamed greens, basically comfort food at its very finest. On the ever-changing menu, supper-sized plates included spit-roasted pork loin lacquered in a sorghum-honey glaze and Potomac rockfish with barbequed heirloom marfax beans grown in Southern Maryland, which added wonderful, if unexpected, dimension.

It’s a noble mission to be faithful to local sourcing, but it’s also a challenge to make food taste this good while sticking to those strictures. Being from Baltimore and understanding Gjerde’s mission certainly helped us appreciate the operation, but we also took the pulse of the dining room and watched the dishes arriving at nearby tables. The looks of delight turned into something else after first bites were taken. You might even call it rapture.

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A RAKE’S PROGRESS: 1770 Euclid St., Washington, D.C., 202-588-0525. HOURS: Mon.-Thurs. 5-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-midnight; Sun. 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-11 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers and small plates: $15-68; entrees: $38-154 (including plates for two); desserts: $5-16. AMBIANCE: Elegant former sacred space.

It’s a proven fact: The closer you are to the ocean, the stronger your craving for seafood will kick in. Fortunately, Rehoboth’s Henlopen City Oyster House is there for you with a tempting array of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean’s finest bounties.

Since opening eight years ago, this sophisticated seafood spot has become beloved by locals and sought out by tourists. With shell-colored walls, rustic wood, and weathered brick, the restaurant, just two blocks west of the beach, is reminiscent of the kind of upscale space you might find in a place like Portland, Maine, but with distinctly Delmarva touches. Tables are topped with Old Bay and Tabasco sauce, while mollusk memorabilia finds its way into every corner, from framed antique oyster plates to a hand-painted mural depicting the namesake bivalve’s anatomy.

To get the juices flowing, a small chalkboard behind the bar lists the daily craft beers on draft, including Maryland brews like a special cask version of the Country Ride pale ale out of RAR in Cambridge. The curated wine and cocktail list is also worth perusing, with the horseradish-heavy house Bloody Marys being a liquid highlight (and hangover cure-all).

For the main feast, begin with the raw bar’s titular oysters. Prettily presented on a silver platter, the rotating selection ranges from local picks, like the restaurant’s own Virginia Salts, to North Atlantic specialties, like Katama Bays and Wellfleets, sourced from Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod.

While the shellfish plays a starring role in a number of offerings—classic Eastern Shore stew, bread-crumbed Rockefeller, Creole-style po’boys, or just flawlessly fried—give some love to the rest of the classic menu, too. One mouth-watering must is the plate of flash-fried clam strips, which taste nothing like the mundane morsels from the seafood shacks of our youth. Crispy, tender, and accompanied by a tangy remoulade, these addictive appetizers are (yes, we’ll say it) the best we’ve ever had.

If you like variety, we can’t say enough good things about the massive bowl of bouillabaisse. This fragrant fishermen’s stew is a cornucopia of the sea’s bounty, chock full of fish, scallops, mussels, clams, and shrimp and served with a grilled baguette for bathing in saffron-tomato broth. The New England lobster roll, piled high with Maine lobster meat and mixed with just enough mayo (along with a side of Old Bay fries), is another fine excuse for forsaking that bikini bod. For some turf to balance your surf, try the decadent pulled-pork sandwich—smothered in a sweet and smoky barbecue sauce and piled high with crunchy coleslaw.

By the end of the meal, you won’t have room for dessert, but if you want to linger a little longer, head down the street for a Frosé night cap at The Blue Hen, Henlopen’s James Beard-semifinalist sister restaurant. There’s nothing like a boozy slushy to make it feel like endless summer.

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HENLOPEN CITY OYSTER HOUSE: 50 Wilmington Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE, 302-260-9193. Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 12-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 12-9:30 p.m. Cuisine: Elevated seafood classics. Prices: appetizers: $9-13; entrees: $10-99.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It will be about an hour-and-a-half wait,” the hostess said, while reassuring us that this was typical for a Friday night. Our party of two had shown up—naively, it turned out—without reservations in the midst of Ellicott City’s Midnight Madness, the early December evening when the historic mill town’s many boutiques stay open late to accommodate holiday shoppers. The town was engulfed in a holly-jolly hubbub, and, apparently, we had the same idea as nearly everyone else: “Let’s grab a bite to eat at Manor Hill Tavern.”

The crush of patrons vying for tables that night illustrates just how quickly, since opening in early 2017, Manor Hill Tavern has ingrained itself into the town’s dining firmament. And once you get a look at the space—a warren of dining and bar areas inside a series of brightly colored barns—and its menu—designed by chef Chad Wells of Victoria Gastro Pub fame and full of microbrews and creative gastropub fare—it’s easy to see why.

This is a Goldilocks restaurant if ever there was one, a place designed to please everyone from finicky kids to fusty Aunt Edna. On our visit, we sat in the upstairs dining room and appreciated its rustic architectural details, including exposed beams, shiplap walls, and a working fireplace. We also listened as high-spirited chatter floated across the hall from the upstairs bar. (There’s another bar area downstairs.) The bar highlights microbrews from Manor Hill Brewing, the restaurant’s farm-brewery, which grows its own hops and other vegetables on 54 acres in Ellicott City. We could see how one could spend a Sunday in the bar with a couple of brews (maybe a Manor Hill Grisette or traditional IPA), some appetizers, and the game on the flatscreen.

But we were here for the full dinner experience, so we started with an appetizer of meatballs served over broccoli-cheddar mashed potatoes. A demi-glace of caramelized ketchup (essentially barbecue sauce) was a bit too sweet, but it did provide some nice moisture for the slightly dry meatballs. Manor Hill Tavern prides itself on its Neopolitan-style pizzas, which are made in a brick pizza oven. Several specialty pies are on offer, as well as a build-your-own menu offering everything from basil to wild boar. We opted for The Old Line pizza, an 8-inch red-sauce pie topped with a provolone-mozzarella blend, beer-braised sausage, shreds of Maryland crab, and a healthy dusting of Old Bay. The spicy Old Bay balanced the rich crab and savory sausage well, and the medium-thick crust managed to be both crisp and chewy.

Of our two entrees—a lemon-herb-marinated half chicken and a barley risotto with mushrooms, cauliflower, and Parmesan in a tomato gravy—the risotto was the standout. The barley was a clever substitute for rice, and the mix of flavors worked—earthy mushrooms, creamy Parmesan, and sweet tomato broth. The chicken, served over artichoke, tomato, and goat cheese orzo in arugula pesto sauce, was perfectly pleasant, if unremarkable. Dessert was tempting, but we demurred for another time—if we can get a table, that is.

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MANOR HILL TAVERN 3733 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, 410-465-8500. HOURS Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-midnight, Fri. 11 a.m.-2 a.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-2 a.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-midnight. PRICES Appetizers: $6-13; Pizzas: $8 and up; Entrees: $9-22; Desserts: $8-9. CUISINE Creative gastropub. AMBIANCE Rustic colonial with modern touches.    

Even before you head up to Bygone at the top of the Four Seasons, the restaurant sets the stage with a dress code posted next to the elevator entrance. Just in case there’s any doubt that you’re about to enter a splendored world of hand-blown Zalto wine glasses, custom gold-rimmed Lenox china chargers, and arrangements fashioned from flowers and feathers, the style strictures—“Collared shirts are required for Gentlemen,” “Ladies may not wear baseball caps or beanies”—set the record straight about fine dining in Harbor East. And as you ascend 29 floors up to this rarified world (with an assist from a top-hatted elevator operator), there’s one more thing you need to know: Hold on to your wallet—sitting in the lap of luxury doesn’t come cheap.

With panoramic views, and soaring nearly 314 feet from Earth, Bygone takes the term “haute cuisine” literally. And the impact is dizzying—despite the oversized retro clock at the entrance, you’ll likely lose all sense of time and space when you dine and drink here. You might even forget that you’re in Baltimore altogether, except for the fact that beyond the towering walls of windows, Charm City glimmers with all of her unmistakable landmarks below—the Domino Sugars sign, the Key Bridge, and Camden Yards.

Welcome to Atlas Restaurant Group’s latest foodie fantasy, established in December of 2017, but, as the name suggests, seemingly out of another era, like a lavish set piece for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, complete with gueridon trolley service and yards of velvet curtains that separate many of the seating nooks and add to the theatricality. If it’s an escapist dining experience you’re after, beeline for Bygone.

The décor takes a cue from the glamour of the 1920s and ’30s, but the menu is a nod to the nouvelle cuisine of the ’60s, created as a more delicate alternative to traditional French cooking, with lighter sauces (though plenty heavy by American standards) and ingredients and flavors that had not been combined before. While Cordon Bleu-trained executive chef Matthew Oetting is interested in the past, he brings vintage dishes into the present in the form of respectable riffs such as scallops bourguignonne, a squab and foie gras eggroll, and duck flambé with lavender honey glaze.

Our dinner at Bygone began with drinks at the dimly lit bar, which is a mandatory stop for anyone investing in a meal here. Bar manager Will Escalante presides over an unprecedented whiskey selection (more than 600 bottles), though we went for a couple of classic vodka martinis served in delicate coupe glasses and garnished with gargantuan green olives. We could have lingered at the bar forever, but once we were seated for dinner, the opening bites of both the house-baked gruyère and pretzel rolls continued to lay the foundation for a mostly wow-worthy meal.

The house-cured gravlax starter with dill crème fraîche and “everything” spice with brioche toast points is a killer combo full of flavor and interesting textures. The tuna ravigote starter (made with canned tuna back in the day), gets recast as crudo with sashimi-grade fish, freshly grated horseradish, a cucumber fan, Champagne-marinated cherry tomatoes, and traditional ravigote sauce—a mixture of herbs including chervil, shallots, and tarragon. Entrees are similarly reimagined classics. 

Take the grand Beef Wellington, a seared piece of house-butchered prime rib wrapped in Rainbow Swiss Chard and shitake mushroom duxelles, all tucked inside a pocket of pastry. Though the puff pastry was more doughy than delicate, the meat was incredibly tender and juicy. Swiss Chard is also employed as bedding for a delicate, pan-seared piece of golden Dover Sole Meunière, freshly flown in from Holland and served with a sauce of capers, lemon, and roasted chestnut-brown butter that adds notes of nuttiness and makes the flavor profile more modern. The golden-crusted fish was exquisite, and almost too much for one person to eat, but prepare yourself for sticker shock—the à la carte dish is a jaw-dropping $95.

If you’re watching your dining dollars, a lunchtime visit is still a splurge, but less so than dinner. The menu focuses predominantly on soups, salads, and sandwiches. Consider the Crab Louie, clumps of Venezuelan crab meat mounded on a simple salad of romaine, topped with hard-boiled egg and avocado, and dressed with a creamy and kicky dressing. On the more indulgent end, we enjoyed a marvelous, but messy, lobster club, including Bibb lettuce, tomato, red onion, fried shallots, and six ounces of Maine claw meat spilling out of a house-made brioche bun slathered with honey mustard and avocado mayo. Don’t miss the sweet and smoky lobster bisque. My companion’s comment that she wanted to “lick the bowl”—as she came up for air between sips of the cognac cream broth—said it all.

Service was unerring, though overly eager at times. During dinner service, as if on cue, our waiter said, “May I?” a few too many times as dirty dishes were cleared and new ones arrived. Several times, we caught him peeping out from behind the velvet curtains to gauge our reactions, but it’s hard to fault someone for caring too much. As we headed to the elevator with our parting gifts in hand—chocolate truffles nestled in a tiny gold box—we looked forward to an encore performance.

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BYGONE 400 International Dr., 443-343-8200. HOURS: Lunch: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Dinner: Sun.-Wed. 4-10 p.m.; Thurs.-Fri. 4 p.m.-midnight; Sat. 5-midnight. PRICES: Appetizers, soups, salad: $10-44; entrees: $24-95; desserts: $9-16. AMBIANCE: Retro glamour.

Of all the dining trends sweeping the nation, the fast-casual restaurant might be the most prolific. Ranging from big chains to mom-and-pop businesses, these counter-service eateries cater to those on the go, but they’re not your typical junk-food joints. Instead, they combine the speed of their fast-food forefathers with the hospitality and quality of a sit-down restaurant. 

To wit: Mt.Vernon’s Café Fili runs as efficiently as any Chipotle or Shake Shack. Guests enter the former Milk & Honey space, with its sky-high windows and modern finishes, and are greeted by the blue glow of digital menus and a smiling staff waiting behind a marble bar.

But aside from the lightning-fast service and iPad registers, this Mediterranean café is a personable gathering space with a neighborhood vibe. On a recent lunch visit, the place was packed, bustling with friends and colleagues who stopped in for quick meetings or long lunches over marinated olives and baba ghanouj. 

After 20 years at the successful Café Olé in Washington D.C., owner Ziad Maalouf has learned a thing or two about crowd-pleasing food. His menu’s influences traverse the globe—from Israel to Italy—and each simple yet flavorful dish is prepared with a home-cooking level of care. In whichever country you land, this rustic fare is meant for sharing—and eating with your hands. Silverware is hardly necessary for the cornucopia of cold and hot mezze options, served with crispy seasoned pita chips that are reason enough to visit.

As the litmus test of any good Mediterranean meal, the hummus is a must, especially the silky pesto version or the “special,” topped with succulent shaved lamb, toasted pine nuts, and a touch of smoky harissa. Whether your mission is breakfast, lunch, or dinner, paninis are the star. Served warm on Iranian barbari flatbread with a sprinkling of sesame, these crunchy comforts are big enough to split, but you’ll likely want your own.

The Cheesy Piggie was an unexpected delight, stuffed with a mouthwatering medley of pulled pork, Gruyère, Brussels sprout slaw, and a brilliant harissa-bacon jam. The French Riviera, a sort of vegetarian gyro packed with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions, and goat cheese, never left us wanting for meat.

A small market also offers charcuterie and booze for the road. Just be sure to grab a dessert from the glass case on the way out. Maalouf keeps his confections’ source a secret, but it hardly matters after buttery bites of baklava and tangy spoonfuls of key lime tart. But with a full bar, cozy booth seating, and wide views of the city street, you’ll want to slow down—finally—and stay awhile.

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›› CAFÉ FILI 816 Cathedral St., 410-244-1600. Sun.-Wed. 8 a.m.-9 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

It’s one of the more consistent realities in the restaurant world: An establishment that tries to please everyone usually winds up pleasing no one. With the possible exception of old-school Greek diners, we’ve found that a kitchen concentrating on one type of cuisine and attempting to perfect it is much more likely to succeed than one that tries to provide customers with a quesadilla appetizer before their main course of veal parmigiana.

That said, Avenue Kitchen & Bar, the latest occupant of the 36th Street space that housed one-time Hampden favorites Dogwood and Le Garage, is attempting to defy that rule. Consider its menu, including items such as tacos, ceviche, and poke, fried chicken, steak, and shellfish, not to mention grilled octopus, plus the ubiquitous crab cake. The restaurant’s focus is all over the place, yet surprisingly, chef Audiel Vera (the brother of Cocina Luchadoras owner Rosalyn Vera) manages to pull most of it off.

When we arrived for our initial visit a few months after it opened, we weren’t quite sure what to make of its setup. Its small street-level cafe, dubbed Sidebar, offers a far more streamlined menu and only a few tables. The man behind the counter directed us through a set of doors, past which we descended to the main bar and dining room, which was simply appointed with wooden tables, metal chairs, a cement floor, and exposed brick.

We immediately appreciated the way our server, on this night general manager Carlos Oseguera, walked us through the menu with an impressive depth of knowledge—and honesty. Given that we were there on a Wednesday, we opted for a $20 bottle of wine (daily specials, including a $13 whole lobster on Thursdays, are printed at the bottom of the main menu). He steered us away from a Cabernet he doesn’t particularly care for and toward a delightful Tempranillo.

His food recommendations were spot-on, as well. We started with three falafel sliders, which were almost too hearty for an appetizer, but still an excellent way to begin our meal. Luckily, we still had room for the perfectly prepared pork ribs, which are slow-cooked for eight hours then cooked sous vide. One of the vegetarian offerings, an exotic mushroom sub, was among the most inventive dishes we’ve tried in a while. Multiple varieties of fungi are marinated in olive oil and mirin, then sautéed with garlic and herbs. Topped with sweet peppers and barbeque aioli and stuffed inside a soft roll, it’s the rare vegetarian dish even a meat lover would devour.

On a second visit, we enjoyed a spicy chicken sandwich and shrimp po’ boy, assembled with pickles, greens, tomato, and just the right amount of sassy remoulade. Only the rather bland fish tacos were uninspiring. That’s okay—there is no shortage of other things to try next time. And there definitely will be a next time.

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AVENUE KITCHEN & BAR 911 W. 36th  St., Hampden, 443-961-8515. HOURS Sun.-Thurs. 5 p.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Sidebar, 12 p.m.-“till” seven days a week. PRICES Sandwiches: $10-18 Salads: $8-14; Entrees: $13-32. AMBIANCE Modern minimalist.

On my first trip to Rye Street Tavern, after snaking through a wall of traffic across Lombard Street, exiting off I-95 North, and getting dumped by my GPS onto a jug handle that led me past billowing smoke stacks, I found myself in an industrial No Man’s Land that most locals would be hard-pressed to find on a map. In fact, my dining companion, a lifelong Baltimorean, skeptically asked, “Where are we going, anyway?” But as the global headquarters of Under Armour and the triple-diamond racing logo on the Sagamore Spirit distillery water tower came into view, the answer was apparent. Approaching our destination, there was the tavern—a stone barn-like structure with walls of windows, Adirondack chairs along the water, and the adjacent distillery rising in the distance like some sort of Emerald City. 

Welcome to Kevin Plank’s Field of Dreams, his reimagined vision for Port Covington, a one-time garbage dump and abandoned rail yard where grain and coal and merchandise were once loaded onto the piers along this peninsula on the Patapsco. As the Under Armour CEO attempts to develop the 266-acre parcel by building a city within a city, Rye Street Tavern (sprung from the site of a defunct Walmart) is destination dining, at least until Port Covington starts to develop. And it’s more than worth the drive it can take to find it. Clearly, others agree—woe to the patron who doesn’t make a reservation.

The restaurant itself is meant to evoke Plank’s Reisterstown property at Sagamore Farm, where water burbling steadily from the farm’s springhouse is being used in the production of his Sagamore Spirit whiskey. Inside, interior designer Patrick Sutton, who has seemingly designed every new upscale restaurant in Charm City, has topped himself with this stunning ode to Plank’s thoroughbred farm (think worn leathers and wagon-wheel lighting fixtures), along with touches that call to mind the Eastern Shore, such as oyster shells artfully arranged in wooden bowls and a coil of nautical rope on an entryway table. 

In addition to the spectacular setting, Rye Street is also a serious culinary contender: Leading the charge is Michelin-starred, James Beard Award-winning chef Andrew Carmellini of New York’s NoHo Hospitality Group (the same group that gave us Rec Pier Chop House in Plank’s Sagamore Pendry).

With a focus on New American/mid-Atlantic comfort foods, the dinner menu is divided into appetizers, a raw bar (including ceviches, crudos, and East Coast oysters), sandwiches, and mains, including the trifecta of tavern classics (fried chicken, ribs, and burgers), an assortment of wood-fired seafood, simply prepared steaks, and a “Crab of the Day” dish. 

Over several months, I visited Rye Street five times and didn’t have a bad bite. You should start with the ceviches or crudos. My favorite was the Peruvian-style striped bass ceviche, slices of the flavorful and firm fish, marinated in aji amarillo (yellow chile peppers) and fresh lime juice to make “tiger milk,” then crowned with Andean corn, red onion, radishes, and fresno chillies. 

Another signature of the spot, and rightfully so, is AC’s Famous Fried Chicken with pickles salted and fermented in whiskey barrels and house-made biscuits. In the ’90s, Carmellini made a fried chicken road trip to taste his way through the South. The result is this boffo bird—not served in a bucket, but still something to add to your Baltimore bucket list. Whoever is working the fryer also dazzles with a simple fried-fish sandwich, a crispy hunk of flounder paired with yuzu pickled cucumbers and served on a sturdy house-made seeded bun slathered in Old Bay aioli. Also a highlight is the wood-grilled Maryland rockfish served with shrimp, grits, and smoked tomatoes. With its intensely smokey-sweet flavor profile, it was possibly the best single seafood dish I consumed in all of 2017. 

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Bacon-Wrapped Trout
This dish, stuffed with Swiss chard, breadcrumbs, and a touch of beurre blanc, and served with Sea Island red peas and chow-chow relish, is a must. It was inspired by the Low Country dish hoppin’ John.

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And if you don’t mind a little neck-craning from adjacent tables, don’t miss Rye Street’s seafood twist on a traditional potpie. Filled with carrots and peas, the dish is fairly classic, however the presentation—with a crab claw dramatically cracking through the crust—is anything but. 

Service is also excellent, and on one busy Saturday night when a large party was kept waiting, all appetizers were on the house. What impressed me most is that the waitstaff was equally versed on the menu’s liquids (many of them Sagamore Rye-based, natch) as they were on the solids. 

Whether for lunch, brunch, or dinner, Rye Street is the perfect place to impress an out-of-towner or a first date, or just a spot to commune with your nearest and dearest. On one of our visits, we spied Ravens kicker Justin Tucker breaking house-made cornbread with a table of friends. And as one might expect, Kevin Plank is also a frequent patron. 

In Field of Dreams, another starry-eyed Kevin (Costner) stands in an overgrown cornfield when he hears a whisper out of nowhere: “If you build it, he will come.” Plank is counting on all comers.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canners Row offers a dining room with a view. Housed in a glass-enclosed former marina office on Canton’s waterfront, the majority of its tables—both indoor and out—provide gorgeous vistas of moored yachts and the glistening harbor beyond. In too many instances around our town and others, great food almost seems like an afterthought at restaurants that offer breathtaking views. The jury’s still out on Canners Row. 

A restaurant is an amalgam of lots of little touches, and, in this respect, Canners Row sometimes misses the boat. Each time we entered, taking note of a cracked pane of glass that went unrepaired between our trips, we strolled past the unattended host stand before being greeted. When we took a seat at a six-top near the back, we brushed crumbs off the chairs. 

While our servers were attentive and friendly enough, they didn’t seem particularly familiar with some of the finer points of the menu. (About those menus: They’re printed on flimsy paper so rumpled you’d think the place has been open for six years, not six months.) Our waiter failed to mention that the Blue Crab Louie sandwich is served cold, or that pickles no longer come with the burgers. 

Still, the kitchen nails a few signature items, notably the delectable pizzas. A built-in oven looms to the side of the bar, and from it emerge some of the best pies we’ve tried in town. The shrimp chai diablo arrived piping hot, its crust the perfect combination of charred and chewy. Topped with shrimp seared with masala chai spice, red peppers, and lemon-basil tahini sauce, the pie made it tough to decide whether it tasted better that night or the next day when we reheated it for breakfast. Next time, we’ll get two.

Among the 10 large dinner plates, the wood-fired sea scallops and shrimp, served atop a butternut squash purée with tasty charred cauliflower and carrots, stood out. The three split scallops and six shrimp were plump and fresh and, at $18, the dish is an excellent value. Similarly, the grilled calamari, one of a dozen small plates, included a generous portion of seafood that was treated with proper deference by the kitchen. 

Misses included crab mac and cheese, which consisted of elbow noodles and a dollop of crabmeat. It appeared and tasted hastily assembled. The Maryland crab soup needed more pepper, the Dock of the Bay burger—with bacon, a fried egg, spinach, and tomatoes—was overly dry, and the crab cake sandwich was decidedly average. 

Owner Robert Alipanah found success at his former eatery, Robert Oliver Seafood in Mt. Vernon, and he’s striving for that at Canners Row. He’s found a beautiful setting in which success is possible. Now, it’s just a matter of executing the little details. 

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CANNERS ROW 2723 Lighthouse Point East, Baltimore, 667-239-3466 HOURS Sun.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. CUISINE pizzas, burgers, and seafood PRICES Small plates $9-16; dinner plates, $16-24; burgers $14-16; sandwiches, $11-16; pizza $13-18. AMBIANCE Casual waterfront dining.

Before becoming a restaurateur, Alex Smith was a lax star who broke multiple National Collegiate Athletic Association records as a face-off specialist and captain of the University of Delaware Blue Hens lacrosse team. Now, as founder and president of Atlas Restaurant Group, the 33-year-old former Chesapeake Bayhawk has shown the same determination in tackling the culinary world. 

Clearly, Smith, who has a knack for opening instant hot spots faster than the speed of a lacrosse ball, has a keen understanding of how to compete successfully in the fierce world of running restaurants. In the past two years alone, he has opened Tagliata, The Elk Room, Loch Bar in Harbor East, and a second Ouzo Bay in Boca Raton; his Loch Bar Boca and a new project, The Bygone in Four Seasons Baltimore, are set to open any day now. With Tagliata, his latest venture in the 21202, Smith has demonstrated that he’s come a long way since his freshman season when he opened his first spot, a Harbor East Häagen-Dazs franchise. 

New restaurants, like fine wine, typically need time to breathe and blossom. But the 140-plus seat Italian chophouse (pronounced “tal-e-ata”), open since August in the former Fleet Street Kitchen space, already feels like a local institution. Dine here if you value impeccable service (rarely the hallmark of any new spot), fabulous food, and a glorious setting, including a piano bar, nightly live music, and some of the best alfresco seating in town.

With linen, velvet, wicker, and wood touches, Tagliata, which means sliced meat in Italian, feels like a sophisticated supper club. And success has come straight out of its black wrought-iron gate because Smith has assembled an A-team of veterans: executive chef and partner Julian Marucci, managing partner David Goodman, and sommelier John Kelley all trained across the street at Cinghiale; chef de cuisine Michael Correll is a holdover from Fleet Street Kitchen. Smith’s brother, Eric, is a partner and also on hand to help oversee the Atlas beverage program, including the 1,000-plus label wine program, purported to be the biggest in the state.

The oversized menu features neo-Italian interpretations such as lasagna with rabbit ragu and bruschetta with duck confit, plus an assortment of house-made charcuteries, steaks and chops, house-made pastas, and crudi. Though they’re hidden at the bottom of the menu, the holy trinity of Italian classics (chicken Parm, tagliatelle Bolognese, veal saltimbocca) are among the very best items to order. Across several visits, we sampled the better part of the menu, where Marucci’s passion for precision is evident in almost every dish. The eggplant Parmigiana was pure comfort food nestled in a blanket of top-flight ingredients, including house-made mozzarella, a stellar tomato sauce, and a crispy crust of eggs, breadcrumbs, and Parmesan cheese still bubbling over the sides when it arrived at our table. While intended as an entrée, it’s also great as a shareable appetizer.

Equally enjoyable was an appetizer of light-as-a-cloud meatballs accompanied by a dollop of whipped ricotta. A Caprese salad with mozzarella and just-off-the-vine heirloom tomatoes felt like a fitting farewell to the end of summer. As for entrees, the chicken marsala, featuring hen-of-the-woods, oyster and porcini mushrooms, aces every ingredient and is something to write home about, especially so when you use the Cunningham Farms focaccia to sop up the sauce.

House-made pastas are also memorable. First and foremost was a dish of ramp spaghetti and clams (cockles, manila and razor) that was beautifully briny and pungent, thanks to the garlicky flavor of the wild onions. Also of note is the visually striking squid ink campanelle with sea-urchin cream sauce and fat clumps of Eastern Shore crabmeat. This decadent dish, a study in umami, really is as good as it looks. If you want to continue your visit to the sea, move on to the seafood stew, studded with mussels, clams, rings of octopus, several shrimp, and a hunk of bronzino. This dish was inspired by Marucci’s honeymoon trip to Ravello years ago and clearly comes from the heart. Additonally, options abound for the meat lover at the table. Ours ordered the beef tenderloin, a hand-cut filet that was melt-in-your-mouth divine and came with a choice of several sauces.

As with any dining experience, it’s the little moments that matter, like the basket of aged Parm brought to the table at the top of the meal. (Feel no shame asking for more. On one visit, our mobile cheese monger made three trips to the table to shave shards from his 88-pound aged wheel.) Service hit all the high notes—from the well-versed staff able to explicate with clarity and confidence, to the changing of cutlery between courses, to a swift replacement round of napkins when one of my dining partners dropped his on the floor. With restaurant openings, as with many things in life, practice makes perfect. 

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TAGLIATA 1012 Fleet St., 410-244-5830. HOURS Sun.-Thurs. 4-10 p.m., Fri. 4 p.m.-12 a.m., Sat. 6 p.m.-12 a.m. PRICES Soups/salads/crudi/appetizers: $9-24; pastas: $18-48; steaks/chops: $34-125; entrees: $19-48; desserts: $9. AMBIANCE Italian idyll.

Baltimore has always had character to spare. We’re charming, with our cobblestoned streets, genteel 19th-century architecture, and decades-old crabhouses. We’re hip, in the form of cool coffeehouses and cocktail bars. And, of course, we’re quintessentially quirky. (Hello, John Waters and toilet races.) 

But the one thing we’ve never had much of until now? Sex appeal. 

Enter Rec Pier Chop House. Set inside Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s gleaming Sagamore Pendry Hotel in Fells Point—a place which has fast become a private playground for locals—it positively oozes glamour. On a typical Saturday night, Maseratis and Mercedes pull up to the dramatic glass-wall façade, as well-toned—and well-dressed—bodies spill onto the street and through the doors, past a velvet rope, across limestone floors, and then finally into the swanky dining room appointed with luxe leather booths and cypress-green velvet banquettes. You can practically feel the pheromones here.

It goes without saying that we’re not on the former set of Homicide: Life on the Street anymore. Instead, we’ve been transported to an Italian rosticceria chop house, as imagined by ever-talented designer Patrick Sutton and James Beard Award-winning, Michelin-starred chef Andrew Carmellini of New York City’s Bar Primi and The Dutch, among others.

With massive hunks of meat for two, house-made pastas made for twirling, aphrodisiacal artichokes puréed into creamy soup, and a robust wine list, the menu for this modern steakhouse is full of temptation—and see-and-be-seen Baltimoreans have taken note. Among them, former Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who was dining there on one of our several Saturday night visits.

On each of our visits, we kept coming back to the classic Caesar salad made tableside—it’s a highlight not only because it’s a proper Caesar loaded with garlic and house-made croutons, but because watching salad specialist Miles tend to each lettuce leaf with some tongs and a set of kitchen shears is pure dinner theater. (Other servers toss, too, but Miles is masterful—ask for him.) Other star starters include a creamy puddle of burrata pleasingly partnered with pepperonata and pine nuts and ringed by a drizzle of spicy arugula pesto that adds depth of flavor and texture to the mild cheese. A dramatically composed yellowfin tuna crudo drizzled with a bracing black-olive aioli also provides a lovely beginning to the meal. The crab cake appetizer, swimming in marinara sauce and blanketed by Hollandaise, was more of a miss and something that likely only out-of-towners will order.

Our state crustacean is used to greater effect in a simple, soulful dish of house-made linguini tossed with slivers of jalapeño, flecks of Calabrian chili, and a sauce offering intense tomato flavor that plays well with the sweetness of the crab. Similarly successful was an order of spaghetti and meatballs, Carmellini’s nod to the thousands of Italian immigrants who landed in the New World at Rec Pier. What an homage it is: The toothsome noodles are a wonderful foundation for the house-made marinara sauce, and the meatballs, a classic combination of ground veal, pork, and beef, feature a surprise center—a chunk of fontina.

Steaks and chops are also prominently featured. On one visit, we enjoyed an 8-ounce petit filet sitting almost monk-like on a plate adorned with a stem of roasted cherry tomatoes. If you’re looking for something lighter, the rockfish cacciatore—a white filet of pan-roasted fish singed just so and served with olives, chunks of tomatoes and peppers, fried herbs, and roasted garlic—is simple but special.

Despite an overall excellent experience, I do have a few minor quibbles. Service was adequate across our visits, but the waitstaff had only shallow knowledge of particular preparations and ingredients. But I suspect that will improve in time. And maybe it’s just a personal peeve, but the paper placemats were immediately stained with dabs of extra-virgin olive oil when it arrived in a saucer for dipping the tasty foccacia. (Woven vinyl placemats would have been preferable.)

We’ll leave you with one more tip: Go on your birthday. Chances are, when your tiramisu arrives, you’ll end up with some sparklers set inside a replica of the Ferdinand Botero bronze horse that presides in the hotel’s courtyard. Doesn’t get racier than that.

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REC PIER CHOP HOUSE 1715 Thames St., 443-552-1300. HOURS Breakfast: Mon.-Sun. 7 a.m.-11 a.m.; Brunch: Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Lunch: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; Dinner: Mon.-Sun. 5-11 p.m. PRICES Appetizers: $6-58; entrees: $17-125; desserts: $7-12. CUISINE Modern Italian. AMBIANCE Industrial chic.

Cousins Orkun Ayrac and Emrah Gulum opened Otto Turkish Cuisine just before the turn of spring, in the tiny Federal Hill storefront space that formerly was home to Ruben’s Crepes and, briefly, Grano Pasta Bar. It’s a great addition to the neighborhood. Everything here feels fresh, and well looked after, and Otto works very well as a quiet oasis to catch up with friends over a good, solid lunch or dinner.

The sunny yellow dining space, which accommodates six at a large farmhouse table and another three at window seats, is relaxing, glamorous even, with rows of framed photographs of movie stars and Turkish celebrities.

On our visit, Ayrac was running the place by himself, providing thoughtful table service and then retreating to the kitchen to prepare the food. Considering Otto is basically a one-man operation, a meal moves at a comfortable pace.

Otto has a small, manageable menu—about a half-dozen each of cold and hot appetizers, and about a dozen main dishes, a few of which are wraps. This is good thinking on Otto’s part. Absolutely, you should try the house versions of the classic hummus and baba ghanoush, which are impressively smooth and mellow. Also try the ezme, a piquant, vividly red spread of herbed tomatoes, onions, and peppers mixed with red-pepper paste; and the sarma, a plate of elegantly thin, tightly wrapped tender grape leaves stuffed with herbed and seasoned rice.

The main dishes focus on variations of the kebab (spelled kebap here), the international calling card of Turkish cuisine. A favorite was the adana shish kebap—a long tube of assertively seasoned ground lamb—but other options were excellent, too, including the kofte kebap—small, firm, ground-beef patties—and the shish kebaps—chicken or lamb—which are flavorful cubes of grilled meat.

Kebaps are served handsomely, with a shaped mound of white rice, pickled cabbage, and choban salad—a Turkish specialty mixture of finely chopped cucumber, tomato, pepper, and parsley.

It’s also worth noting that there are good vegetarian options here. In addition to the savory appetizers, there is a splendid kofte wrap, stuffed with bulgur wheat and seasoned with Turkish spices, and a vegetarian version of manti, pillowy white little dumplings topped with yogurt and garlic butter. Otto is BYOB and doesn’t charge a corkage fee.

Even if you don’t indulge in a drink, you’ll likely linger for a while with a cup of strong Turkish coffee and a plate of sweet and silky baklava squares.

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›› Otto Turkish Cuisine  1043 S. Charles St., 443-835-4543, Sun.-Tues. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Wed. 4-11 p.m., Thurs. 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-midnight. 

One balmy spring evening, as we were strolling through Mt. Vernon, we literally stumbled upon Café Andamiro. Despite the tiny lights glowing inside this dark pocket-size spot, there was little indication it was even a restaurant, other than a white logo on the glass door and a few employees who were closing up for the night. But we knew we had to return.

Not long after, we came back to find the place bustling and bright. Shoppers from the area’s antiques and art boutiques stopped in for coffees, colleagues talked shop over lunch, and MICA students congregated to plan their weekends. Since opening last September, this little cafe on the southwestern edge of Midtown-Belvedere has become a warm, relaxed respite for the neighborhood’s artistic crowd. There are few frills to the small space—just wide front windows, abundant greenery, and modern touches, like minimalist light fixtures and a colorful collection of local art.

But don’t let the simplicity of the mini space and menu fool you. “Andamiro” means “overflow in abundance” in Korean, and the flavorful food does exactly that. Chef Ran Yun emigrated to the U.S. from South Korea in 2008 before moving to Baltimore for her daughter, Bomin Jeon, to attend MICA in 2012. Now graduated, Bomin acts as Andamiro’s general manager while her siblings assist around the shop. Together, they fuse their rich homeland cuisine with a mix of American and European cafe standards.

While easy-to-indulge-in options abound—prosciutto sandwiches, pork belly platters, the prettiest avocado toast you’ll ever see—go for the Seoul-inspired specials. The seasonal buckwheat noodle bowl was a delight to the senses, with its colorful ingredients taking us on a flavor and texture journey through chewy noodles, crunchy cabbage, creamy hard-boiled egg, peppery microgreens, and shredded chicken. A drizzle of homemade hot sauce was balanced by the sweetness of carrots and beets.

The bulgogi plate was another winner, with thin slices of marinated beef served with enoki mushrooms, kimchee cucumbers, and rice. The richness of the meat and the cool kick of the cukes made for a killer combo. Whatever the weather, don’t sleep on the savory sweet potato curry soup, filled with fresh vegetables and feel-good turmeric spice. Their full-service coffee bar features a beautiful La Marzocco espresso machine for everything from frothy cappuccinos to dirty chai lattes to accompany a selection of pastries from Pâtisserie Poupon.

A few meals later and we think we’ve found our new spot to read the newspaper or bring a laptop. The staff is super friendly, the prices won’t hurt your wallet, and the food is a fresh riff in an old neighborhood. We’d return just for a seat outside and an iced lemon ginger tea as a sweet-sour way to start our day.

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›› Café Andamiro 241 W. Chase St., 443-453-9314. Hours: Tue.-Sun. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Drinks: $2-5.70; lunch: $2-15; desserts: $1.50-3.50. 

PekoPeko Ramen opened earlier this year in a fancy new student apartment building near The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus. It appears to have caught on with not only undergraduates but with Charles Village residents, too.

I love ramen and I’m ready to defend it against claims that it’s just another food trend. Some things trend for good reason, and ramen is nourishing, fast, comforting, and filling. I wish there had been a ramen shop near my college campus. Ramen works very well as a group dining activity, but it’s also perfect for solo eating. The young owner of PekoPeko Ramen, Hopkins alumnus David Forster, knows this, and he’s outfitted PekoPeko with a spacious kitchen-front counter for single diners. (Extra credit is earned for the coat-and-bag hooks under the counter and for the numerous outlets for phone charging.)  

Forster lived from age 6 to 18 in Tokyo, one of the world’s great food cities, where he became enthralled with Japan’s ramen-shop culture, which has enormous youth appeal. Opening a noodle place near Hopkins, Forster says, felt like a winning idea.

And PekoPeko is a winning little restaurant, beginning with the uplifting interior space, which has the clean contemporary lines of a museum cafe. Music is played at comfortable levels, and the service is friendly and attentive.

The menu has been kept compact with a centerpiece of six ramen options. But it includes a few choices—rice bowls and appetizers—that will appeal to other folks. I really loved the Shaki Shaki salad—a cool, crunchy mix of napa cabbage—as well as the gyoza dumplings, plumply packed with minced pork, cabbage, and ginger. 

PekoPeko specializes in Tokyo-style ramen, notable for its use of long-simmering chicken broth as opposed to the pork broths seen elsewhere in the U.S. The particular broth specialty is the shoyu-style, which has a soy sauce base. This is the place to start at PekoPeko to discover how well-executed the ramen is here. 

You can see the care that’s gone into preparing the scallion, seaweed, and bean sprouts, and you can taste the deep flavor that comes from hours of simmering. But do move on to the TanTan bowl, with its aromatic broth of garlic oil, spicy chili sesame sauce, and ginger. 

A few things to know: PekoPeko is pronounced to rhyme with gecko-gecko. The name is a kind of onomatopoeic phrase roughly meaning “grumbling stomach,” according to Forster. Also, PekoPeko doesn’t take cash.  

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›› PekoPeko Ramen 7 E. 33rd St., 410-635-1216. Hours: Tue.-Sun. 11 a.m. to midnight. Appetizers: $4-8; entrees: $10-13; desserts: $2-6. 

When Dylan’s Oyster Cellar shuttered its subterranean pop-up in the heart of Mount Vernon in 2014, we feared for our stomachs, and our social lives. One of the first of its kind, the temporary space had quickly become a hip local favorite—more Brooklyn than Baltimore for its time—and we dreaded the loss of its Old World cocktails, ice-cold oysters, and fan-favorite house-cured sardines.

But now, with the local restaurant scene on the rise, the timing couldn’t be better for the opening of owner Dylan Salmon’s new permanent space. At the east end of The Avenue in Hampden, the cozy hangout returns with its same speakeasy style that beckoned you inside past the hand-painted, gold-leaf sign. With warm lighting, mosaic tile, and a musical medley of conversation and clinking glasses, prepare to be transported to 1920s Paris or New Orleans. 

Intimate and charming, the former flower shop has a fitting connection to Salmon—his wife, Irene, recently retired as a floral designer at Local Color Flowers in Charles Village. Now presiding over the front-of-the-house, she adorns the tables with fresh blossoms and even hand makes the earthy clay vases that hold them.

But besides the ambrosial setting, all traces of the former tenants are gone. From the moment it opened, Dylan’s has felt like a neighborhood haunt, its J-shaped bar always bustling as patrons gather for after-work snacks, full-on suppers, or boozy, late-night noshes (the raw bar is open until 2 a.m. on weekends). We’re obsessed with the thin-walled beer glasses that seem to somehow make the brews taste better, but we can’t resist the craft cocktails that look like mini pieces of art, or the worldly wine bottles that come half-priced on Tuesday nights. 

Whatever your poison, the bistro barstools award you a front-row seat to the master shuckers who artfully shell your oysters and clams. As a seasoned and competition-winning shucker himself, Salmon’s ever-evolving bivalve list highlights the best of both coasts with at least two local options, like Skinny Dippers from St. Mary’s County or Barren Islands from Hoopers Island. 

But Dylan’s Oyster Cellar is more than just an oyster bar. Curated by chef Karl Diehn, formerly of Woodberry Kitchen and Bottega, the simple menu is full of stunning dishes fit for both the seafood-averse and the adventure-seeking ostreaphile. With a smattering of small plates and a handful of entrees, each offering is an elevated take on seafood shack classics or midcentury American cuisine. 

On a recent visit, we savored a round of East Coast oysters and some Baltimore coddies—an age-old regional recipe, also known as the poor man’s crab cake. The crispy classic combines salty cod and mashed potatoes into a fried comfort food that’s best eaten between saltines with a smear of yellow mustard or, in this case, an addictive dijonaisse. 

Each offering is an elevated take on seafood shack classics or midcentury American cuisine.

While you’re there, consider the clams, which come four ways including on the half shell or roasted with butter and Parmesan. The scallop crudo was almost too pretty to eat, gently placed on its seashell with olive oil and herb blossoms.

For a second course, the crab imperial, served in a tin-foil crab shell atop a paper doily, was a beloved throwback, reminiscent of our grandmother’s cooking. The luscious lump crabmeat came broiled with little more than a wedge of lemon and we lapped up every last bite. The seasonal specials are also worthy, focusing on local produce and timely proteins, like the summery soft-crab sandwich topped with fresh tomato and homemade tartar. Just beware: Popular dishes do sell out.

But the star of the show—the dish that diners ogled over as it was whisked past their seat—was the whole rainbow trout. Butterflied, deboned, and swimming in a savory brown butter sauce, the pan-fried fish is a melt-in-your-mouth delicacy that’s reason enough to visit. Snap an Instagram and then follow Dylan’s on social media, as Irene updates the restaurant’s story with behind-the-scenes videos, nightly menu items, and the daily weather. 

With the lampposts lit along The Avenue and The Charmery dishing out the day’s final scoops of ice cream across the street (Dylan’s offers dessert on weekends only), we sat admiring the hustle and bustle of Hampden in a sort of intoxicated daze—be it from the aphrodisiacs, the booze, or both. 

Had we time-traveled à la Midnight in Paris? Hopefully not, because we plan to return soon. 

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DYLAN’S OYSTER CELLAR 3601 Chestnut Ave., 443-853-1952.
HOURS Raw bar: Tue.-Thu. 4 p.m.-midnight, Fri.-Sat. 4 p.m.-2 a.m., Sun. 2-9 p.m. Kitchen: Tue.-Sat. 4-10 p.m., Sun. 2-8 p.m.
CUISINE Elevated seafood classics.
PRICES Appetizers: $2-21; entrees: $13-21.
ATMOSPHERE European bistro meets East Coast seafood shack.

Country-club food ordinarily invokes flashbacks of a Cornish game hen glazed in apricot sauce or some such benign dish that doesn’t offend—or particularly please—the palate. But these days, as diners become more food savvy, country-club fare—once offered mainly for the convenience of members—reflects the increasing sophistication of patrons.

Case in point: The Turn House. Situated in a 2-year-old clubhouse in Columbia on the semiprivate Hobbits Glen Golf Course, this New American spot is way above par—and you don’t have to be a member to eat here (though you do get a discount if you are).

The Turn House marks the return of HoCo hometown boy Thomas Zippelli, who at just 27 is the restaurant’s executive chef and owner. Don’t let his youth fool you: Zippelli is fresh from working at such hallowed culinary grounds as the Michelin-starred The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and more recently Eleven Madison Park in New York (voted one of the 50 best restaurants in the world). 

Zippelli’s pedigree is on full display here.

The biweekly dinner menu highlights seasonal produce from local farms. Whatever the season, you can expect a nice selection of shareable starters, including meat and cheese slates and oysters on the half shell; generously portioned small plates that are more than enough to make a meal, especially when you add a protein; and six entrees (an assortment of steak, seafood, and pasta). Many trendy favorites are here: pimento cheese dip, burrata, or beef tartare, but Zippelli takes them to the next level—his artistry is impressive, the ingredients are high caliber, and his execution is flawless.

On our first outing, a warm wire basket of house-made sourdough and semolina bread arrived straight out of the oven. Self-control gave way to polishing off the better part of the basket, along with a ramekin of cultured Vermont butter. Once the damage was done, we also eagerly ate our way through the creamy crab dip—Maryland-sourced in early April—with a side of soft pretzel bites and spectacularly crisp house-made chips. The classic Caesar with grilled sourdough bread was also a satisfying starter.

The entrees were similarly sterling. A gorgeously charred piece of striped bass with creamed leeks, smoked potatoes, clams, and potato crumble suggested a deconstructed bowl of clam chowder and offered incredible umami flavor. The seasonal pasta dish, a bowl of house-made gnocchi stuffed with wild mushrooms and tossed with snap pea tendrils, pearl onions, and crumbles of feta, offered a delectable taste of spring and was unusually light for a dish that can be leaden. A side of charred broccoli with a kicky romesco sauce helped us get in our daily requirement of greens.

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Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
The beet and goat cheese salad with prosciutto and pistachio gremolata is just the right combination of salty and sweet.

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Several days later, on a midday visit, we joined a group of golfers in the cozy bar area and chose from a more casual menu of soups, salads, and sandwiches. Zippelli has his work cut out for him here as he tries to strike the balance between pleasing the links lunch set and fine-diners after dark, but he does so  without missing a beat.

This time around, we shared a roasted carrot salad, a dream of a dish composed of heirloom carrots, chewy wheat berries, radishes, and a dollop of dill panna cotta. We also split a succulent sandwich of barbecued pulled pork with a fennel Brussels sprout slaw that cut the sweetness of the sandwich.

On both visits, servers were friendly and enthusiastic. During dinner, our waitress, Corinne, was so excited about the food that we wanted her to sit at our table. (“Eat for me,” she said as she delivered our entrees.) On a second visit, our server shared that he was the only one working the lunch shift in a dining room of 40 or so people. Despite the challenge, our drinks came out quickly and the meal was well-paced.

The surroundings are similarly inviting. The main dining room is modern and airy with two fireplaces, touches of teal, and an adjacent alfresco patio with sweeping views of the golf course, though with food this fine, white tablecloths would be fitting. My other issue in the décor department is the fake-plant wall, an odd choice given the farm-fresh mission of a menu touting “only the freshest, local ingredients.” Fresh flowers or plants—or nothing at all—would be preferable.

These are minor quibbles for a place that’s well worth your time—and dining dollars. Consider going even if you don’t know the difference between a birdie and a bogey.

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THE TURN HOUSE 11130 Willow Bottom Dr., Columbia, 410-740-2096. HOURS Mon. 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Tue.-Thu. and Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. PRICES Appetizers: $8-18; entrees: $13-40; desserts: $8. AMBIANCE Clubby.

Though there’s no shortage of Indian restaurants in town, after a few too many watered-down tikka masalas and bland buffets, we always welcome a new opening in the hopes of finding a real gem. Little India, which recently set up shop on South High Street in Little Italy, just might fill that bill. 

On the inside, the space—formerly occupied by India Rasoi and, before that, Yemen Arabian Restaurant—looks no different than it did under previous tenants. The same fluorescent lighting, drop ceiling, and dark wall-to-wall carpeting make it clear that this BYOB spot (aka the proverbial “hole in the wall”) did not receive a makeover. Strange as it may seem, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering the quality of the food in such establishments is often inversely proportional to the décor. Here, only a few Indian prints adorn the walls—a promising sign.

Another good sign: On a recent visit, our waiter, who promptly arrived at our table to take our order, turned out to be the son of chef/owner Chandar Sheknar. We tend to like chef/owners because they have more skin in the game, and this one popped out of the kitchen to check on his customers and answer questions. 

A mixed sampler of appetizers ($8) got us going. The platter included crispy lamb samosas, vegetable pakoras, and chicken poddy (think chicken tenders fried in a nutty chickpea flour), all of which disappeared in no time. For our main courses we ordered the goat vindaloo ($17) and the haldi jhinga ($18)—jumbo shrimp marinated in turmeric and served on a sizzling platter with onion, green pepper, and slices of fresh cucumber and carrot. The chunks of goat luxuriating in a tomato-based sauce were melt-in-your-mouth good, exhibiting a nice degree of heat. Though we would have liked a bit more kick, the plump shrimp were also well-executed. 

We rounded out the meal with sides of chickpea curry ($4) and mixed raita ($3), as well as the gorgeously flaky lachhaa paratha ($3), a northern Indian flatbread made out of whole-wheat flour and ghee, or clarified butter. The chickpeas and raita were perfect in their simplicity, and we would never order another naan if all Indian restaurants offered up paratha like this one—flaky, full of flavor. 

Ending on a sweet note, we opted for two standards—gulab jamun ($4) and Indian rice pudding  ($4). Like doughnut holes soaked in a rich syrup of sugar and rose water, the gulab jamun was served warm, contrasting with the cold creaminess of the rice pudding. It was a thoroughly satisfying way to end our meal.

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›› Little India 411 S. High St., 410-385-4900. Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10 p.m., Fri. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. and 5-10:30 p.m., Sat. noon-10:30 p.m., Sun. noon-9:30 p.m. Appetizers: $5-8; entrees: $16-22; desserts: $4.

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Time was, if you wanted to eat well, fine dining was the most obvious option. But as casual spots—and even bars—serving foie gras, lobster tails, and P’tit Basque have started to elevate the scene, that rule no longer applies. Yes, fine dining has been on the wane for years, but reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. That’s because it isn’t just about the food. It’s about deep wine lists, impeccable lighting, tasteful artwork, and the feeling that a respite from the world—at least for a few hours—is, in fact, possible.

Veteran caterer Charles Levine hits many of these high notes at Citron in Pikesville. For the past 30 years, Levine has worked the wedding, bar mitzvah, and special events circuit. But despite his long and storied career (including feeding the likes of Mick Jagger, Oprah Winfrey, and Ronald Reagan), he felt the need to switch gears and open his first brick-and-mortar eatery.

Perched over a picturesque body of water, Citron, which means “lemon” in French, is a thing of beauty, a cream dream with tasteful touches of charcoal and beige (as imagined by Jay Jenkins of Jenkins Baer Associates), and significant modern artwork gracing the walls (by local artists such as Tammra Sigler and David Brown). And it is set to be one of the most spectacular alfresco dining destinations in Baltimore County.

Ever since its opening in early November, throngs of Levine’s catering customers—as well as new patrons—have been pouring into the dressy dining rooms. On a recent Saturday night, we were among them.

As if on cue, our black-tied server arrived immediately to hand us our menus featuring New American (albeit sometimes faintly generic) crowd pleasers: steak, chicken, and fish dishes, as well as soup, salad, and seafood starters, some of which are augmented by French twists such as an occasional accent of beurre blanc or bordelaise. That said, it was a good thing we were midway through our first round of drinks before we opened the luxe linen books—their golden lettering seemed a portent of what was to come. A vegetarian pasta dish starts at $26, and then prices quickly climb to the mid-$30 range (crab cakes, scallops) and up to $56 for a beef short rib.

To kick off our meal, we started with a so-called “contemporary Caesar salad.” The shredded lettuce could have benefitted from a whirl in the salad spinner, and it had very little of the advertised creamy citrus garlic dressing, which was bland, possibly because it was watered down by the wet greens. (Note to the kitchen: Don’t mess with a classic.)

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TUNA TARTARE
Asian-inspired sushi-grade tuna bathed in a lime vinaigrette and served with chili-pepper chips is the one to order on a menu of mostly Continental plates.

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More successful was a skillet of mammoth mussels served simply with olive oil, sea salt, and a squeeze of citrus. The tender bivalves were prettily presented in a dish that was inset on a metal tower with a bowl below for discarding shells, and the portion was easily large enough to make a meal. One of my three dining companions was similarly pleased with her seasonal greens, a sweet/bitter medley of endive, watercress, spinach, dried blueberries, apple, and pecan brittle in a light Champagne dressing.

With the exception of a deeply disappointing grilled chicken and cavatappi dish (it’s never a good feeling when you’re certain you could have done it better at home using the same box of pasta), the entrees are where the menu really shines. Duck lovers will delight in the Hudson Valley duck served two ways: a pan-seared breast and a crisp confit leg. Both preparations were paired with a savory side of tangy tamarind mashed sweet potatoes and a tart, poached, cherry reduction sauce that offset the richness of the meat.

Citron is a thing of beauty, a cream dream with tasteful touches of charcoal.

Also zero in on the fish dishes. The grilled Atlantic swordfish was a juicy white hunk of fish ably supported by a zippy tomato-olive compote and flanked by sautéed spinach and a harissa-laced white bean mash that resembled potatoes. And the herb-seared Chilean sea bass, served with a bed of wild mushroom risotto, was fantastically flavorful and filling (not to mention prettily plated).

On another night, we ate in the upscale bar area, a dark, den-like space—the yin to the dining room’s yang—with the same offerings, in addition to a more reasonably priced designated bar menu. On this visit, the stars of the meal were the chicken wings—slick with a deeply delicious black-garlic-sesame sauce—and a superb burger comprised of sirloin, short rib, and brisket and featuring house-cured maple Cajun bacon. Service on both of our visits was top-notch, caring, and perfectly paced.

Despite the uneven moments, a pro like Levine will no doubt work out the kinks. And who knows? Maybe fine dining is, in fact, making a comeback.

Walking into Bar Vasquez off Aliceanna in Harbor East is like entering another world. A photograph of a gaucho girl wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sitting atop a white horse draws you in at the door. Lavish leathers, cowhide rugs, Brazilian tigerwoods, and 15-foot palm trees further the fantasy. Live Latin music and the intoxicating aroma of grilled meat permeate the place. Topping it all off is a kitchen crew wearing Boca Juniors caps, in support of the celebrated soccer team. Are we in Buenos Aires or Baltimore?

Welcome to Bar Vasquez, the newest eatery in the Foreman Wolf empire. With its latest spot, the restaurant group focuses primarily on the region in and around Argentina, a place that offers a confluence of cuisines heavily influenced by Spain, Italy, and France. It’s a logical follow-up to the Mediterranean-centric Pazo that formerly sat on this site.

Whether it’s France (Petit Louis, Charleston) or Italy (Cinghiale), when business partners Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf fall in love with a place, they don’t settle for bringing back a few simple souvenirs. (Foreman has visited Argentina more than 20 times through the years.) Instead, to promulgate their passion, they open new eateries.

It will take more than one trip to Harbor East to get the full experience. Named for chef Wolf’s beloved mentor, Marcelo Vasquez, this spot—featuring former Pazo chef Mario Cano Catalán—offers a variety of eating and seating options. While the menu is the same wherever you sit, the lively downstairs area with banquettes, benches, booths, and a commodious bar is more casual. The upstairs, with velvet chairs and white tablecloths, and a DIY whiskey and bourbon bar, feels more fine dining.

There are also decisions to be made when it comes to ordering. If you enjoy grazing, there are plenty of approachable ceviches, soups, and salads. Another option is to commit to a coursed meal with a variety of generously portioned meat, seafood, and pasta entrees, many of which marvelously mesh smoke, sweet, and heat.

Over the course of several Vasquez visits, I kept coming back to an assortment of empanada starters. By far my favorite was the one stuffed with minced Uruguayan beef and onions, and spiked with cumin and smoked paprika. My dining companions and I also enjoyed the delicate tostadas de cangrejo. Topped with blue crab, avocado, chili, corn, and cilantro, it was the ideal prelude to the heartier entrees. For a sophisticated starter, try the hearts of palm salad with poached shrimp, butter lettuce, avocado, and an ambrosial Russian-dressing-style rosé sauce, comprised of house-made mayo, ketchup, and a tinge of Tabasco and cayenne pepper.

As for entrees, eating meat is pretty much compulsory here. The main attraction is high-quality beef, sourced from world-famous meat metropolises including Kansas (corn-fed T-bone), Chile (wagyu), and cuts coming from Uruguay, a country known for its lean, grass-fed, free-range beef. One caveat: The prices are high—the majority of steaks are in the $59 and upward range—but so is the quality of the product. And the steaks, which can be served sliced, are eminently shareable.

The Uruguayan-sourced ojo de bife is a dark and deliciously charred rib steak sitting almost Zen-like on a white plate with nothing but a line of herb salt. With its juicy center and sublime balance of texture and flavor, it induced serious swooning at our table. For those who like a leaner, lusher cut, go for the melt-in-your-mouth filete de bife, a 10-ounce filet mignon so tender that chewing seems almost optional. While steaks arrive à la carte, they do come with your choice of salsa. Go straight for the spicy chimichurri. The sauce of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, parsley, and basil is basically the state condiment and this version should be bottled.

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Charred Local Cauliflower

Cauliflower acts as an agent for whatever you add. This dish with lemon chili oil and Parm is a study in taste and texture.

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Nonmeat eaters will be rewarded with seafood specialties, including the plancha-grilled shrimp from Argentina. Served in a lemon sauce on top of an herbed spaetzle, the sweetness was amplified by lemon juice and hot chili pepper. Side orders are similarly spot on. The simple steamed spinach with lemon and garlic chips and the more decadent smashed potatoes, mixed with house-made ricotta and black olive tapenade, dazzled in their supporting roles.

All of the familiar Foreman Wolf high notes are hit on here—and nothing is left to chance: the impeccably sourced ingredients prepared with care; the polished server who notices that a steak knife has been prematurely used on a starter and replaces it without us ever asking; the pristine table linens steamed before service; the expertly curated wine list (about half of which is well-priced at $50 and under); and the presence of Foreman—a host with the most—as he visits tables and spins his narrative of cows roaming the pampas, an image etched indelibly from his travels across Argentina. “This is the restaurant I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” he says with palpable pride.

It was worth the wait.

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BAR VASQUEZ 1425 Aliceanna St., 410-534-7296.
HOURS Mon.-Thu. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m.-midnight.
PRICES Appetizers: $6-18; entrees: $25-79; desserts: $3-10.
AMBIANCE Gaucho glam.

It’s Saturday night at Modern Cook Shop and the place, like much of Fells Point after dark, is a swirl of activity. At the back-of-the-house bar, barrel-aged cocktails and craft beers are flowing for a group of raucous revelers, while, across the 120-seat space, a barista brews lattes for the coffee crowd.

Meanwhile, in the open cooking area, chef Michael Gliniecki (formerly of Waterfront Kitchen and The Fork & Wrench) sears salmon as kitchen-theater devotees watch appreciatively from their Italian-leather barstools. Lastly, in the center of this culinary circus of sorts, more committed diners sit at wooden tables while feasting on house charcuterie and pan-seared salmon with turnips.

As patrons wander in—from a couple navigating their double stroller around the perimeter, which is well-stocked with small-batch pantry items (bee pollen, organic oatmeal, hot sauce), to locals stopping by the newsstand area to page through the newspapers on hand—it’s clear that this spot typifies the something-for-everyone restaurant trend springing up in urban markets.

As the name suggests, Modern Cook Shop, in the Union Wharf building at the corner of Wolfe and Thames Streets, is very much a model of modernity, a multi-use space that caters to every customer.

Co-owners Andy Gruver and Jason Sanchez, the duo behind boutique “dive bar” The Fork & Wrench, are known for their creative concepts. This one was inspired by New York City’s corner-store bodegas, an ubiquitous part of Big Apple life.

The duo’s unique, of-the-moment concept is in full force here, from the repurposed Ponderosa Pine and California Redwood furniture that Gruver built with his own hands (and plans to sell at the shop in the future) to the concisely curated, seasonal menu with a strong slant toward vegetables.

The dinner menu is divided into three sections: plates to share, main plates, and small plates. On our visit, appetizers included a prettily presented dish of whole baby roasted carrots with peas, parsley, and a carrot purée kissed with cumin.

Our grazing continued with a plate of aptly named Simple Greens from Urban Pastoral Farm. With greens this good, no dressing was needed. This particular presentation—a creatively chaotic pile of farm-fresh greens, multi-colored carrot curls, tomato, radish, and rapini, with a buttermilk pool at the bottom—seemed straight out of Mr. McGregor’s garden. A milky burrata paired with heirloom tomatoes, basil, and several slices of toasted focaccia was also a winning way to begin the meal.

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Pimento Cheese
On most menus, the pimento cheese appetizer is a blip, a bite, a way to bide time before the main meal. But this rendition, with pickled chilies and crisp house-made nigella seed crackers, is a stirring starter and festive way to kick off your meal.

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For our entrees, we sampled both surf (cioppino and rockfish) and turf (steak.) The seafood stew featured a heap of scallops, clams, and mussels in a tomato broth tinged with garlic and herbs, and it was accompanied by several slabs of crusty toast. The composition was flavorful and light—perfect for a sticky summer’s night, though the broth could have been boosted with additional garlic. The just-caught rockfish, commingled with a mélange of succotash-style corn, fava beans, and tomatoes, added tremendous flavor to the otherwise mild meat.

For those with a heartier appetite, I highly recommend the strip loin steak. While not necessarily novel, it was dense and delicious with a minerality that was grounded by potatoes, browned Brussels sprouts, and caramelized candy onions.

Worth noting: For those who don’t mind dining alone, Modern Cook Shop is the ideal spot to fly solo. On a midday visit, I parked myself at the coffee counter and dug into a grain salad—a hearty and healthy, seeming bottomless wheat-belly-be-gone bowl of quinoa, wild rice, farro, arugula, and red onions topped with goat cheese. In the course of the hour, several others joined the singles scene.

If you don’t want to eat in at all, take inspiration from the menu, browse the market area, and re-create the experience at home. Chef Gliniecki will happily share his secrets. And Gruver will be more than happy to sell you a stool.

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MODERN COOK SHOP 901 S. Wolfe St., 443-627-8032.
HOURS Daily 7 a.m.-2 a.m. CUISINE Seasonal American
PRICES Shareable plates: $2-14; small plates: $8-14; entrees: $14-29
ATMOSPHERE Bodega chic.

National Meatball Day—yes, there is one of those, too—seemed like the perfect time to visit the Fells Point restaurant that celebrates the round mounds all year long. And, apparently, we weren’t the only ones who thought so. On a spring evening, a pair of out-of-towners glanced at the sidewalk A-frame sign—featuring a chalk-drawn bowl of the namesake comfort food—and decided to give it a try.

Meanwhile, at a table in the spacious main dining and barroom, a group of middle-aged women merrily finished their meals. “You gotta live that meatball life,” said one, sounding particularly pleased. Soon Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Marc Trestman arrived with his wife, Cindy. They saddled up to two stools at a 14-seat marble island table and ordered to go.

At 8 Ball, there is something for everyone. And just to be clear: These aren’t your grandmother’s meatballs. These modern, golf-ball-size takes are better, and will leave your mouth watering until you return. The setup is deceptively simple. There are five main “balls” (get comfortable with the word here; it’s even on the bathroom doors —“Balls” for the men’s room; “No Balls” . . . you get the drift) that comprise the mix-and-match offerings, along with six sauces, including mushroom gravy and tomato.

Assisted by our waiter, we went with the classic meatball (with tomato sauce), the spicy pork (with Parmesan cream), and the Greek lamb (with pesto) on brioche sliders ($3 each). The Parmesan cream paired well with the spicy pork, and all were flavorful and juicy through each bite. Other options include a bowl of four ($9) with focaccia and freshly grated cheese, a meatball artisan sub ($12), a meatball “salad” ($12), plus sides like risotto and roasted vegetables ($6 each).

Delicious fare aside, this is a place you can hang out. The decor is industrial, with exposed brick on one end and detailed tile touches. The bar, where we sat nearby, and a more intimate dining area seats upward of 25 off the main space. Dinner and lunch are the primary focus (with a daily happy hour that includes beer, wine, and cocktails), as well as a weekend brunch. Can every day be National Meatball Day? It sure is here.

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›› 8 Ball Meatball 814 S. Broadway, 443-759-5315. Hours: Sun. 10-12 a.m., Mon.-Wed. 11-12 a.m., Thu.-Fri. 11-2 a.m., Sat. 10-2 a.m. Appetizers: $6-14; entrees: $9-12; desserts: $3-5.