At first blush, it seems odd that there’s no bar inside Garten, the new German beer garden-inspired restaurant in Severna Park. Also, where are the waiters wearing lederhosen and the waitresses dressed like the St. Pauli Girl? Aren’t German beer gardens venues to, well, drink beer and party?

While you can indeed tip back cans of Kolsch and hefeweizen imported from the Motherland (as well as enjoy drafts from local breweries, including the Gambrills-based Pherm Brewing Company, which makes the house’s signature dry-hopped pilsner) and will undoubtedly have a great time here, Garten is not a typical German beer garden. Rather, it is husband-and-wife owners Jeremy and Michelle Hoffman’s take on a contemporary, elevated form of the concept. Elevated being the key word here.

The Hoffmans, who opened Annapolis’ fantastic Preserve in 2015, met at the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating, they moved to Queens, where they fell in love with places like the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria.

“I just love German cuisine in general,” Jeremy says. “We’ve always had a desire for a spot like that. We had the concept of Garten before we had the location.”

They couldn’t have imagined a better one than the acre or so off Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard that once housed Café Bretton. A garden, where Michelle plans to grow herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables that will be used in dishes and to garnish cocktails, sits behind the parking lot. Patios with picnic tables under a pergola greet visitors before they walk through the front door into a room with a fireplace and a wooden-domed ceiling.

A mixture of tables and high-tops fills the dining room and attached retail wine store that focuses on natural, organic, and biodynamic wines, but also stocks traditional varietals from around the world. Sake, amaro, vermouth, and other spirits also are available for sale. (There’s a $15 corkage fee if you’d like to drink your purchase with your meal.)

Garten also offers several interesting cocktails concocted by bar manager Delaney Pendry. The Tipsy Winnie, made with gin, bitters, Meyer lemon, chamomile, cava, and honey, was our favorite, in large part because of the cute Pooh-shaped jar in which it’s served.

Jeremy and chef de cuisine Greg Anderson, who, like Pendry and general manager Chris Walker, is an alum of Preserve, have created a menu that infuses the core of German flavors with local ingredients and their own sensibilities. This becomes evident immediately.

The smoked salmon dip, made in the tradition of European fish spreads with salmon sourced from Chesapeake Smokehouse in Annapolis, is topped with capers and roe. Dill, sea salt, and olive oil add to its richness. If you can manage not to eat all of it, take some home and smear it on a toasted everything bagel the next morning. (You’re welcome in advance.) During a brunch visit some of that smoked salmon was served atop crispy potato cakes and topped with whipped crème fraîche and dill. After one bite we decreed that this should become a standard on Hannukah menus.

It’s tough to decide the best part of the spinach and sauerkraut dip. The dip’s flavors and creaminess are excellent, but would it taste as good on anything other than the impossibly pillowy pretzels made at Hyattsville-based Lyon Bakery it’s served with? Happily, we’ll never know.

The menu is divided into starters, salads, sandwiches, and platters, and everything we tried hit the mark. The chicken schnitzel and classic burger, each served with a bag of piping hot and properly greasy fries, were both excellent, but even they were outshined by the G Burger—two flattened, grilled bratwurst patties topped with provolone, pickles, onion, lettuce, mayo, and curry ketchup. We’ve never had anything quite like it.

More traditional German dishes like sausage platters, kebabs, and falafel are available as well. Garten gets its sausage from Binkert’s in Rosedale, a legendary purveyor of German meats since 1964. Needless to say, the knockwurst and weisswurst we tried were as delicious as they were authentic. Platters come with two sides—make sure one of them is the hot German potato salad. Apple cider vinegar and sugar give it just the right hint of sweetness. (No matter what you order, do yourself a favor and get as many sauces, like the wonderfully garlicky Dutch labneh, as possible.)

During both our visits, Garten was bustling. Despite the crowds, the service was stellar. If you’re sitting outside and get a little chilly, a server will offer you a blanket. If you’re too warm, they’ll be happy to turn the outdoor heater down.

The employees get to pick what they’d like to wear (using earth tones as a guideline) because, “We do like our staff to be able to express their personalities as much as possible,” Jeremy says.

Less than a year after opening, Garten’s personality is already firmly established, redefining what a German beer hall can be.

GARTEN: 849 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd., Severna Park, 443-261-3905. HOURS: Wed.-Sun. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5-9 p.m. PRICES: Starters: $9-21; Sandwiches: $14-21; Platters: $18-36; Desserts: $9-10. AMBIANCE: Contemporary German.

While sheltering at home during the coronavirus outbreak, the couple embarked on one of their most ambitious projects: rebuilding the rear deck, dock, and seawall.

The home’s aesthetic grows out of the couple’s personal artistic style. “Victoria calls herself a nature-inspired wedding photographer, which is really true for her work and also flows into the way she conceptualizes design,” Hunter explains. “She wants to decorate with plants and other natural materials.”

He gestures to the dining area, which serves as a transition from the open kitchen to the living room. The eye-catching dining table was crafted from a live-edge slab of wood the couple sourced at Exotic Lumber. They added industrial U-shaped metal legs from a seller on Etsy, and paired the table with new chairs from World Market and a vintage bench from a Facebook Marketplace seller. Black-and- white geometric patterned cushions Victoria sewed by hand top the bench, and an antique Persian rug pulls the space together. The mix of new, old, and hand- made elements embodies the couple’s approach to decorating.

Upward of 60 house plants bring the outdoors in, as do the zig-zagging bistro lights on the porch that continue through double doors into the living room, where they stand in for ceiling lights (the original cottage was never wired for overhead lights) and add a whimsical touch. Even these have a meaningful story behind them: Victoria and Hunter shared their first dance beneath the same strands during their wedding reception in the Poconos.

Hunter, who works in marketing and social media for Paul Reed Smith Guitars across the Bay Bridge in Stevensville, often uses the machine shop at work for home projects. His coworkers set aside excess wood, knowing that he’ll likely have a use for it. One of the couple’s first DIY projects, Victoria’s office desk is made from the same mahogany used to manufacture PRS guitars and is finished with hairpin legs from Etsy.

The couple manage to effortlessly incorporate meaningful family heirlooms into their décor while maintaining their own style. A nook across from the dining table features a vintage rug, side table, and duck figurine that belonged to Hunter’s grand- mother. A wooden stool is the same one he spent hours sitting on while practicing violin as a child.

Remember Cafe Mezzanotte in Severna Park? No, we didn’t either. Too many new Baltimore restaurants have edged out the 25-year-old Italian stalwart in Anne Arundel County lately. But as we found out recently, it’s time for a revisit. The restaurant underwent a $1-million renovation in 2018 that has transformed its appearance, menu, and personality. Owner Kosmas “Tommie” Koukoulis, who has been Mezzanotte’s sole owner for the past five years after being involved as a partner for 10, wanted to modernize his business without “losing its essence.”

He closed the restaurant for six weeks and went to work. When it reopened in September a year ago, just about everything was updated: the furniture, floor, paint, tables, chairs, logo, signage, uniforms, and kitchen. “The renovation of Mezzanotte was my way of declaring to the community that I’m not going anywhere, and my heart is still there,” he says.

When we entered Mezzanotte, we were taken with its subtle serenity. The surroundings elicit the calm of a yoga studio. Immense artistic renderings on the walls look lovely and also represent the local purveyors and farmers that Koukoulis works with. He asked his sources to send digital images of their landscapes, animals, and products and then fabricated them to fit the space.

Hanging planters are another gesture that is both aesthetically pleasing and practical, adding green to the room while also breaking up the space, which has several dining areas. The physical menu also went through a redo. It’s now one page instead of a leather-bound book.

Customers will still find Italian-American classics such as veal scallopini and lasagna on the menu, but chef Zack Trabbold is also delivering dishes starring confit duck leg, lamb shank, rockfish, and Chilean sea bass. Two of the restaurant’s most popular items are fettuccine Mediterraneo with shrimp, crab, scallops, and a choice of sauces and the Ora King salmon with caper-butter cream sauce, Koukoulis says.

We’re traditionalists and started our meal with beef, veal, and pork meatballs in tomato sauce—a bowl of deliciousness topped with dabs of whipped ricotta and fried basil.

We also dug into a mozzarella Caprese, a test of any kitchen, especially at the height of tomato season. It was a success with ruby red slices interspersed with fresh mozzarella and ribbons of basil, capturing the colors of the Italian flag.

Our entrees were also a pleasure. We were smitten with the scallop risotto tossed with shaved prosciutto and tomatoes, crisscrossed with stalks of lightly charred asparagus. The eggplant Parmigiana, served with spaghettini, also struck the right chords, except we would have been happier with less tomato sauce. If you can squeeze in dessert, go for the miniature cannoli with ricotta and chocolate-chip cream.

Koukoulis, who is a partner in Uncle’s Hawaiian Grindz in Fallston and Craft American Eatery in Severna Park, calls Mezzanotte his “crown jewel.” “It’s a special place,” he says. “Restaurants are like children. They require attention and time.”

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CAFÉ MEZZANOTTE 760 Ritchie Hwy., Severna Park, 410-647-1100. HOURS: Sun. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mon.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Lounge open until midnight daily. PRICES: Appetizers, soups, and salads: $7-17; entrees: $16-34.

Bay Watch 

Spring has brought with it a flurry of good news about the bay. First, using sonar technology, scientists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center found that the Choptank River has more river herring in it than previously suspected. Then, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources found that reproductively viable female crabs are at their most plentiful since 1990 and that the amount of underwater grass in Maryland’s portion of the bay reached a record high of 59,277 acres in 2016. Furthermore, in late April, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation seeded 3 million baby oysters in the Patapsco River, hoping to return oyster shoals to the urban waterway. All of these rehabilitative milestones indicate that federally overseen pollution control programs are stabilizing the bay after decades of environmental decline. And though it briefly looked like funding for those measures would be threatened by the Trump administration’s proposed EPA budget cuts, Congress decided to maintain program funding for the coming fiscal year. 

Following such a streak, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science issued a report this week awarding the bay one of its highest-ever health grades. Though on its face an unimpressive C, the grade represents drastic improvement since the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science began evaluating the bay in 1986 and a 1-point improvement over last year’s score. As with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation scorecard—another important third-party bay evaluation—the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science grades the bay in several categories and then aggregates those scores into an overall mark. 

“I really believe we’re at a tipping point,” Nicholas DiPasquale, director of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program office in Annapolis, told The Sun. “Once you reach a point where you’ve overcome the inertia of the system, these indicators start building on each other.”

A third regional water quality scorecard, this one measuring the health of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and its tributaries, will be released on Monday by Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore. 

On Your Bike 

National Bike to Work Day is next Friday, May 19, and the Central Maryland Metropolitan Council has collected a handy list of nearly 40 official events on its website. The events range from bike safety checks to commuting convoys led by experienced cyclers and designed to introduce newbies to the ins and outs of bike commuting. Though Baltimore City is hosting the greatest number of events, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Carroll, and Harford counties are represented, too. Bike to Work Day grew out of National Bike Month, which began in 1956. It promotes the benefits of cycling, which include physical fitness and reduced vehicle emissions and air pollution. 

In The Air 

Speaking of reduced vehicle emissions, The Sun has a good rundown of where the Baltimore region stands in terms of air quality. In short, the Maryland Clean Air report found that, overall, air quality was better in Baltimore in 2016 than it had been in previous years, but that ozone levels ticked up. Ozone is ground level smog created when particles from vehicle and power plant emissions interact with sunlight. It can be harmful to humans—particularly the very young, very old, and very sick—and is the cause of the Code Orange and Code Red air quality alerts that are sometimes issued. 

“We’re making clean air progress with strong partnerships and steady investments, but more is needed regionally and nationally to sustain our pace and protect our health,” Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said in a statement. “Marylanders’ hearts, lungs and waterways will benefit from smart actions at home and in upwind states to keep improving our air quality.”

Birdcam Season Soars 

And now, as they say, for something completely different. Naturalists from all over the world delight each year in the Chesapeake Bay’s springtime birdcams—and this year is no different. The Chesapeake Conservancy hosts live streams of three of the most popular:

The peregrine falcon cam atop 100 Light Street in Baltimore City, which is capturing the growth of four furry fluffballs.

The great blue heron rookery on the Eastern Shore

And the osprey cam on Kent Island 

There is also another osprey cam, this one following a nest with three eggs at Severna Park High School

Follow along as the birds raise their families and the chicks eventually fly the nest. Happy spring and happy birding!