COMING SOON

Merriweather District Announces Three More Eateries: The Howard Hughes Corporation has been hard at work finding regional restaurants to fill its brand new Merriweather District in Columbia. Following the news that beloved Washington, D.C. coffee shop Busboys and Poets would be moving into the development next year, Howard Hughes recently announced three more tenants that are following suit next summer. The first will be a new location for D.C.-based pizza hotspot Matchbox, which focuses on wood-fired fare and brunch. The team behind Ashburn, Virginia’s acclaimed Sense of Thai St. will also expand to the area with a new concept called Dok Khao Thai Eatery, and owner Satish Gunisetty of Indian restaurant Rangoli in Hanover will open a globally inspired spinoff called Clove and Cardamom. The district is part of Downtown Columbia’s massive revitalization plan, which will include 14 million square feet of new development when completed.

The LVH: Soul food fans’ lives were forever changed when Taste This Baltimore came onto the scene in 2014. The carryout started with a location on Harford Road in Lauraville, and later brought its famous fried-chicken platters and loaded baked potatoes to Charles Village. Now, owners Craig Curbean and Dante Davis are returning to their roots with a full-service restaurant located just down the street from the flagship. Set in the former home of barbecue restaurant Lauraville House, The LVH—a name that pays homage to the former inhabitant—will offer plenty of seats and a menu of Curbean’s signature comfort foods when it opens this fall. Be on the lookout for dishes like crab dip-stuffed chicken breast, vegetable fettuccine, and blackened tilapia with herb-lemon butter.

Fire & Rice: On the subject of Hamilton-Lauraville—which has recently exploded with new dining options like Farm to Face and Char’d City—the area will also soon welcome this Japanese-inspired restaurant from the former owner of Tooloulou, which once operated locations on Harford Road and in Belvedere Square but has since closed. Chef/owners Shawn Lagergren and Kevin Scheuing will offer ramen, sushi, and grilled meats at the spot on the bottom floor of the new SoHa Union retail-and-residential development at 4801 Harford Road. As it progresses in the coming months, the project is also expected to house a new space for Touloulou’s former Belvedere Square neighbor Pure Chocolate by Jinji.

Good Neighbor: A new quasi-cafe and homegoods store is slated to take over the former Sirkis Hardware space on Falls Road in Hampden next year. Owner Shawn Chopra recently told the Baltimore Business Journal that he’s transforming the three-story row house into a destination for shoppers to explore handmade wares from Baltimore makers, ceramic artists, and woodworkers while also enjoying coffee and cafe fare. The spot comes on the heels of another Hampden addition, Treehouse Cafe & Juice Bar, which is now operating in soft-opening mode on Chestnut Avenue.

EPICUREAN EVENTS

10/18-27: Maryland Food Truck Week

Just because the temperatures have dropped doesn’t mean our favorite food trucks roll out for the season. In fact, the annual Maryland Food Truck Week proves that it’s just the opposite. The ten-day celebration to benefit Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland kicks off with a free food truck rally at South Point in Port Covington on Friday, October 18 from 5-9 p.m. Throughout the week, diners can catch their favorite chefs on wheels (think favorites like Crossroads Bistro, 410 Empanadas, and Dizzy Cow Pizzeria) at daily events happening everywhere from Halethorpe to Elkridge. The festivities will close out with a Halloween-themed bash on October 27 at the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

10/18-27: Max’s Empanadas Pop-Up at R. House
While contemplating your options at R. House this week, make your way over to the rotating pop-up stall to browse the menu at this farmers’ market favorite. Max’s specializes in Argentinian empanadas stuffed with fillings including beef, chicken, chorizo, and mixed vegetables.

In most cases, selling a restaurant is bittersweet. But for Matthew and Andy Weaver, the husband-and-wife duo behind Maggie’s Farm in Hamilton, the connection is more personal.

“I’m a little heartsick,” Andy says. “The restaurant is where my husband and I met as co-workers, became business partners, and eventually became partners in life. It’s where we really grew as individuals and as a team.”

The couple met in 2010 while working for the restaurant’s predecessor, The Chameleon Cafe, and took over the space two years later, transforming it into a homey destination for creative cocktails and Lowcountry comfort food.

But earlier this week, the owners decided to put Maggie’s Farm on the market in order to focus all of their attention on a new concept that they are referring to as “Restaurant B.”

The brand new, 4,000-square-foot eatery will anchor Hamilton’s in-the-works SoHa Union project, aptly named after its location along Southern Avenue and Harford Road. Community mainstay Zeke’s Coffee has also signed on to work with the developers spearheading the mixed-use property, which is expected to debut summer 2017.

After the owners discovered that Restaurant B was on track to open a few months earlier than anticipated, they came to the realization that juggling both spots would be too much to take on.

“We’re hoping that someone with a little more capital can come in and make Maggie’s more self-sustaining,” Andy says. “Matthew and I don’t see ourselves being able to manage two locations concurrently. We’d rather leave Maggie’s in the hands of a good caretaker than see it suffer.”

The business—which includes a Class B liquor license, fully equipped kitchen and bar, basement storage, garden space, and ample parking—is listed for $100, 000. Andy says that, ideally, she would like for the new owners to preserve the Maggie’s Farm concept, but she and Matthew are open to hearing new propositions. Maggie’s will be open for lunch and dinner service as normal while the team searches for a buyer.

In the meantime, the owners will work on developing the new restaurant—a space more than double the size of Maggie’s that will feature an open kitchen, woodfire grill, outdoor patio, spacious bar and dining room, and its own private events area.

The concept, says Andy, will explore a fusion of traditional French fare and Southern-style barbecue.

“They’re two cuisines that are very much based on peasant food,” she explains. “But then once they hit different cultures and cosmopolitan areas they got a little more refined.”

Though Andy says the decision to leave Maggie’s behind was difficult, she is happy to remain a part of Hamilton’s budding food scene.

“Part of what makes this decision a little easier is that we’re staying in the area,” she says. “We’ve outgrown the space, not only in size, but in terms of what we’re able to do with our ideas. We’re excited to be a little more challenged.”