This isn’t the first time Lane Harlan has been a trailblazer in Baltimore. Back before it was trendy, she and her now-husband Matthew Pierce opened cocktail bar W.C. Harlan in Remington before the thought of ordering Old Fashioneds and Fernet Branca was commonplace. And, of course, a couple of years later, they followed just down the street with Clavel and introduced Baltimore to the world of mezcal and Sinaloan cuisine.

Now, they are making new waves in the nearby neighborhood of Old Goucher with Socle at 2223 Maryland Avenue, a complex that consists of three small businesses and an artist residency. The first of those businesses—and the true baby for Harlan and Pierce—is Fadensonnen, a beer garden and natural wine and sake bar that is opening to the public this Friday.

“Back in 2014, before we ever set our sights on opening Clavel, we started looking at properties in Old Goucher to realize our dream of opening a small-scale beer garden,” Harlan says. “After being unable to find a building with enough outdoor space, we moved on to Clavel and kept the vision of Fadensonnen alive in our minds. Two years later, we found the perfect location—an old carriage house facing an open-air courtyard just two blocks from our other businesses.”

For those curious about the name, Fadensonnen is the title of a German poem published in 1968 by Paul Celan and translates into English as “threadsuns,” which gives a nod to both the style of the beer garden and its open-air concept.

The 148-seat courtyard will include a sustainable keg program pouring wild ciders, natural wines, unpasteurized sake, and beer on draft with selections from Union Craft Brewing, Graft Cider, Old Westminster Winery, and Hex Ferments as well as many wines from around the world. Guests will also be able to access a bottle shop to select wine to enjoy at the bar or take home.

Harlan is particularly excited to introduce locals to the concept of natural wine, which is farmed biodynamically or organically without the use of harsh chemicals in the vineyard.

“The wine is produced without additives following a low interventionist philosophy,” she explains. “Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts and there is no fining or sterile filtering of the wine resulting in a real ‘living wine.’”

Up the stairs and through the carriage house is an intimate 35-seat wine bar (with original exposed ceiling beams and dark, charred wood throughout) that will specialize in more natural wine and Japanese sake. The menu will rotate frequently to reflect the nature of small-scale sake microbreweries.

Other concepts to look forward to in the Socle complex will be Larder, a cafe from Chef Helena del Pesco, who honed her culinary skills in San Francisco and places like Mexico City and Tel Aviv. She’ll be working closely with local farmers to create seasonal lunch options including hearty snap pea salads and slow-cooked shepherd’s pie.

The third business will be the subterranean Sophomore Coffee, run by Ann Travers Fortune and Kris Fulton (formerly of Lamill Coffee in the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore). Their menu will focus on coffees roasted by Toby’s Estate in Brooklyn, New York, as well as a selection of teas and light fare.

“We are a creative nexus of people who recognize that the things we consume to nourish ourselves are a key part of our daily rhythm,” Harlan says, “one that pulses with the bright flavors of farm-grown produce, the wild notes of natural wine, and the complexity of meticulously roasted coffee beans.”

For now, just Fadensonnen will open at 3 W. 23rd Street to the public on Friday, with the courtyard staying open until midnight and the upstairs bar closing at 1 a.m.

OPEN

Gypsy’s Truckstaurant: Diners no longer have to track down the Gypsy Queen food truck to sample its signature wraps, gyros, and crab cake-topped French fries. After months of delays, the owners have officially opened their new “truckstaurant” tucked off of Clipper Mill Road in Hampden. The hybrid concept uses a large food truck kitchen outside to prepare the dishes that are served in the 90-seat dining room—which boasts a large bar, strung lights, and vintage decor. There’s also a greenery-filled patio equipped with a Ping Pong table and plenty of outdoor seating. Menu options include staples from the truck, as well as old favorites from the former Helen’s Garden Restaurant that owners Annmarie Langton and Tom Looney operated in Canton for 15 years. Be on the lookout for internationally influenced eats including San Diego-style fish tacos, Persian mango and feta salad, and a Korean kimchi burger. 3515 Clipper Mill Road. 443-869-5602

COMING SOON

Fadensonnen: This fall, Old Goucher will welcome Socle—an innovative food and beverage complex from the team behind W.C. Harlan and Clavel. Aside from housing Sophomore Coffee and farm-to-fork cafe Larder, the revamped old carriage house will also be home to Fadensonnen, a bar featuring draft beers, natural wine, and wild ciders that opens up to a 148-seat open air courtyard. Named after a German poem penned by author Paul Celan in 1968, the biergarten will also boast its own “wine cave” bottle shop and an intimate bar upstairs specializing in all-natural wine and nihonshu (Japanese sake). While the cafe and coffee shop aren’t expected to debut until December, Fadensonnen is readying for a grand opening next month. 2223 Maryland Ave.

Nepenthe Brewing Co.: With a newly painted facade by local artist Kelly Walker of Artstar Baltimore, husband-and-wife team Brian Arnold and Jill Antos—along with partner Brendan Kirlin—are now one step closer to opening their expanded homebrew shop and taproom on Falls Road in Hampden. After their former supply shop in Woodberry’s Meadow Mill complex was flooded twice, the owners decided to move to a larger space on higher ground. The new digs will not only provide retail space for all of Nepenthe’s signature beer-making kits and supplies, but also include a full kitchen, taproom, and on-site brewing facility. A grand opening is slated for this fall. 3626 Falls Rd.

EPICUREAN EVENTS

10/13-14: Oysterfest 12
For two days, East Cross Street in Federal Hill is transforming into an oyster-lover’s paradise with raw bars, buck-a-shuck tasting tents, and plenty of seafood specialties to go around. The 12th annual festival hosted by Ryleigh’s Oyster will feature classic crab cakes, pit beef sandwiches, whole-smoked fish, and, of course, more than 10 varieties of local oysters served raw and grilled. A jam-packed lineup of local bands will provide the soundtrack for the weekend, which will highlight the eighth annual Baltimore Oyster Shucking Championship on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. 36 E. Cross St. 12-7 p.m., $12-40.

10/16: Smoke Turns 3
Hard to believe that it’s been three years since chef Josh White first introduced us to his smoked chicken wings, “Boss Dawg” sandwiches (pulled pork, bacon, slaw, and crispy onions), and catchy odes to his dishes set to the tunes of popular rock songs. This Tuesday, the Cockeysville barbecue joint is celebrating its big birthday in style with an all-day rager. Stop in for specials like $3 coffees and deals on three of the restaurant’s “greatest hits” from its run. 574 Cranbrook Rd., Cockeysville. 410-891-8515

SHUT

Baltimore Soup Co.: The South Baltimore location of this homegrown cafe shuttered its doors unexpectedly last week. A sign posted to the door notified customers that the eatery was “busier than expected and sold out of soup.” But owners David and Lisa Redmond confirmed to SouthBMore.com later in the week that they had closed the shop for good after only nine months. “We had a good run and loved our guests who supported us, but there just weren’t enough to make it work,” they said. Luckily, the Towson location is still going strong, serving the cafe’s daily rotation of scratch-made soups including Maryland crab, chicken pot pie, sweet potato vegetable, and broccoli cheddar. 2 E. Wells St.

The Nickel Taphouse: Mt. Washington diners are already mourning the loss of the famous beef on weck sandwiches at this neighborhood haunt, which officially closed its doors earlier this week. Owner Robbin Haas took to Facebook to confirm the closure, stating that the team had “made the difficult decision to utilize our resources toward our Baltimore sister locations Birroteca and Encantada. Both of these locations offer more space, as well as private party areas.” Since 2013, the Nickel served as a community gathering spot for burgers, raw oysters, and other gastropub fare. “We wish our Mt. Washington neighbors the best of luck and look forward to seeing you at our other locations,” Haas said. There’s no word yet on what will become of the space, which previously housed other restaurant concepts Blue Sage Cafe and Freda’s Kitchen. 1604 Kelly Ave.

We love any opportunity to sample a lot of little things at once—whether that’s tapas, dim sum, a well-crafted charcuterie board, or most recently, some of our favorite spirits. Of course, wine flights had their heyday several years back, but now there are all kinds of things that can be found in flight form, and we’re sure happy the trend is, well, taking off.

Many breweries in town have made their beer available in flights (Oliver, Monument City, and Jailbreak, to name a few), but if your aim is to try a bunch of different breweries under one roof, head to Parts & Labor (2600 N. Howard St.). Though the restaurant recently announced its closing, a pop-up bar will operate Wednesdays through Saturdays through the end of September. Featuring offerings from craft breweries around the region and country—such as Diamondback, Wardaca, and Sly Fox—the oft-rotating draft options are available in three mini snifter classes for $8-11.

There’s an even greater selection at The Brass Tap in Bolton Hill (1205 W. Mt. Royal Ave.), where four samples of their 62-draft selection are often scribbled on a chalkboard, so you can clearly remember your choices no matter how many you’ve had. Sit outside and sample your beers as you watch the Light Rail whiz by.

If you’re feeling more adventurous, look no further than Lane Harlan’s two Remington bars. W.C. Harlan (400 W. 23rd St.) offers flights of the Italian liqueur amaro ($12 for three pours). The liqueur is presented three ways on a beautiful silver serving tray. There’s even one house-made version concocted with local honey.

Just up the street is Harlan’s taqueria Clavel (225 W. 23rd St.), which recently expanded with a private six-seat bar providing special mezcal tastings. For $35 per person, sample four different varieties of the agave treat, while being expertly guided by bar manager Dre Barnhill. The bar offers small bites—nuts, crackers, and traditional orange slices—and a portion of the proceeds goes to the Tequila Interchange Project, an organization that advocates for the preservation of agave-distilled spirit practices.

If you truly can’t decide what kind of flight to try, head to West Madison Craft Beer & Wine Bar in Mt. Vernon (311 W. Madison St.), which offers practically everything in small sizes. There are flights for beer ($12 for 4-ounce drafts), whiskey ($15 for 1-ounce pours of rye, bourbon, and scotch), and wine ($15 for four selections of red and white). And the bar also boasts flight selections for both olives and pickles, which come in a medley of sweet, horseradish, garden, and spicy.

The bar’s vintage telephone booth and open windows overlooking the bustling sidewalk give it a European feel—appropriate for all the “flights” we’ve taken in our travels through Baltimore.

Before adopting her middle moniker of “Lane” as a first name, Lane Harlan, born as Brittany Harlan in 1987 on Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was once afraid that her birth name would hold her back. “Brittany was so ’80s,” says Harlan. “And my best friend’s name is Brittney, so people were always calling us ‘The Brits.’ I thought, ‘I’d like to be my own person.’ I wanted to grow into myself. I wanted to move forward. So about seven years ago, I was like, ‘I’m Lane now.’” The name change seemed to work as the 30-year-old entrepreneur has since become a bit of a one-name wonder in Charm City. As owner of the speakeasy-style W.C. Harlan and Maryland’s first mezcaleria, Clavel, Harlan has defied conventional real-estate wisdom—location, location, location—and turned a blighted block of Remington into a drinking and dining destination for killer craft cocktails and simple, traditional Sinaloan fare.

By the look of the line that forms out the door at Clavel during the dinner rush, it’s clear that Harlan has become a force on the scene. In the less than two years since it’s been open, the spot has adopted a loyal following of culinary constituents, as well as families, hipsters, and Remington residents. Regulars include former Gov. Martin O’Malley, House of Cards actors Michael Kelly and Neve Campbell, and local legend John Waters.

Weighs in Waters, “I love Clavel because it has cute people eating there at moderate, unpretentious prices right off of Howard Street and 23rd, which is the new culinary center all because of Lane Harlan’s good taste. Yep, bohemian and foodie can go together.”

As the midday light streams through the window of her 100-some-year-old apartment in Tuscany-Canterbury, Harlan sits on a vintage German beer garden table, looking striking. With her gorgeous, flowing locks, full lips, gauzy clothes, and knack for accessorizing (a simple silver bracelet here, an unexpected hat there), she exudes a mysterious beauty, like someone straight out of a Gabriel García Márquez novel.

Her digs project a similar air of élan and worldliness. Relics from her travels are everywhere—pieces of Chilean pottery and religious art hang on the walls and two corner cupboards are crammed with glass from the Czech Republic, vintage Día de los Muertos angels purchased in Mexico, and an ivory boat given to her from her parents’ trip to Japan. There are also beloved books—by Steinbeck, Nabokov, Kierkegaard, Pound, Mann—as well as tomes of poetry—Czeslaw Milosz, Tomas Tranströmer—stacked on shelves in an open closet, above which is mounted an aoudad ram’s head. (“My Texas side,” she says.)

On this mid-November day, Harlan is fresh from a weeklong trip to Oaxaca and Mexico City. By December, stamps from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden will grace her passport. “When I’m here, I’m so focused on the businesses,” she says. “Travel is like my personal development. When I travel, I’ll feel a growth spurt.”

Harlan exudes a mysterious beauty, like someone out of a Gabriel García Márquez novel.

In her early years, Harlan’s personal growth came from a similarly nomadic upbringing. As a military brat, Harlan and her family were always on the go—nearly every two years they would pick up and move to another state, from Texas to Nevada to California to North Dakota to Florida, and, finally, to Maryland.

“As soon as we got the tack on the wall, it was time to pack up again,” she recalls. “As a kid, it was pretty hard, because I am living in Florida and I’m trying to be a surfer, and then we moved to New Mexico and the kids are really preppy and I’m trying my best to fit in, and then we move to Maryland and the kids are really into hip-hop.”

Recalling the family’s final move to Waldorf one month into her eighth-grade year, her eyes dampen ever so slightly. “I can still remember arriving at P.E. class on that first day,” she says. “I was wearing flip-flops and toe rings, and I had a sundress on and the kids were like, ‘What just landed in our gym?’”

After high school, Harlan moved again—this time to study French and political science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. A 2009 study-abroad program in France in the spring of her sophomore year stirred her wanderlust. “I went to Aix-en-Provence and studied French,” she says, “but I didn’t do well, because I didn’t go to school. I sat in a cafe reading and writing and smoking cigarettes all day. It was my sentimental education.”

Back in Baltimore, she yearned to return to France. In September 2010, she landed a job teaching English in the tiny town of Saintes, near Bordeaux. By 2011, it was back to Baltimore, where she eventually gave up her formal education. “I took Shakespeare, poetry, political science, but I couldn’t pass a math class,” she says. “At some point, I couldn’t justify the degree as something that mattered.”

Work, however, was something that did matter. One of her first jobs was at the storied Brass Elephant in Mount Vernon (recently reopened as The Elephant), where she made butter in the basement. Next, she worked at Roy’s as a host, a food runner, a bus girl, and a server, and she continued to learn the ropes of the restaurant business.

From Roy’s, she went to work at the tiny Jack’s Bistro in Canton, where she tended bar and first dreamt of owning a place of her own. “[Owner] Ted [Stelzenmuller] let me do whatever I wanted,” she recalls. “They let me be creative behind the bar and I loved interacting with people and had a lot of regulars.”

With the help of her family and some small savings, in 2013, Harlan, who had married musician and now business partner Matthew Pierce by then, bought the dilapidated building that became W.C. Harlan—and named it after her grandfather. “When we had traveled to Portugal and Spain to these little bars, we were like, ‘Why can’t we have this in Baltimore?’” she says. “We wondered, ‘Why can’t we have something simple at home that doesn’t have a long menu and cheesy décor and terrible lighting?’ We just wanted a good place to go.” Despite her gypsy soul, Harlan finally put down roots. “I decided to buy the building and I was like, ‘Okay, Baltimore is where I live now.’”

With its Oaxacan textiles, handmade pottery, and calaveras (skulls), Clavel is an exotic Eden that oozes authenticity.

With its well-curated craft beer menu and dark, candlelit interior, W.C. Harlan was an immediate hit in the ’hood. “I took everything out of my apartment, including the books and paintings, and put them at W.C. Harlan,” she says, laughing.

And then, in 2015, thanks to W.C. Harlan’s success came Clavel, inspired by a trip Harlan and her husband had taken to Oaxaca years earlier, where she first learned about mezcal, the distilled spirit derived from agave plants.

“I was sitting in a mezcaleria in Oaxaca, and I geeked out,” she recalls. “It felt like something so special to me. This is about people, this is about farming, and this is about traditions. Mezcal is made like it was five or six generations ago where people are harvesting the wild agave with the donkey or the pickup truck and then cooking it in an underground oven, open-air fermenting it, and distilling it in little clay pots.”

These days, Harlan features about 75 bottles of mezcal on Clavel’s menu and is so bent on increasing understanding about the special spirit that she travels with her bartenders to Oaxaca every year. “They need to see what I see and know in order for this to work,” she says.

Another secret to Clavel’s success is that it transports diners as they sit under the strings of white lights. With its Oaxacan wall textiles, handmade pottery, calaveras (skulls), and artfully placed objets, Clavel is an exotic Eden that oozes authenticity. “It’s set up for you to be welcomed into a memory and feeling of being somewhere else,” explains Harlan. “I remember being in a courtyard in Mexico when Clavel wasn’t even a thought, but I was sitting there, and I’m like, ‘I feel so warm and I’m a little drunk and I smell food and the lights are above me and I’m in an open space,’ and that’s what we wanted people to feel at Clavel.”

In many ways, Harlan took what she learned from her experience with the corporate hospitality world and did the exact opposite. “The corporate structure says that you go to a table and give the spiel,” notes Harlan. “Everyone wears the same thing, and you treat the guests who have a lot of money better than anyone else. You make money and put on a show, and no one cares about your bad day.”

At both of her businesses, servers wear whatever they want and she refers to her staff, with whom she eats lunch at Clavel around 2 p.m. many days, as “family.” It’s clear that the feeling is mutual. “Most of us come here on our days off to hang out with each other,” says server Christina Joseph. Adds bartender Viveca Licata, “She cares about us and respects us deeply.” “We’ve all worked in restaurants before,” says bartender André Barnhill, “but Lane takes this humanistic approach to people. Just last week, I was telling someone there was a laundry list of reasons why I love working here—and then [Lane] instituted free quarterly massages for us.”

Several hours before Clavel’s peach-colored door reading “bienvenidos” opens for service at 5 p.m., Harlan readies for the evening. Her afternoon is a busy one. After eating chicken gorditas washed down by what is jokingly called agua orina (“urine water” made from leftover pineapple skins) with her staff, she “grades” a stack of quizzes on the finer points of mezcal that she’s given to her bartenders and a busser who wants to become a server (sample question: “What’s your favorite dish on the menu and why?”), and art-directs local artist Jessica Soulen, who is painting an outdoor mural inspired by 1950s Mexican poster art.

“I thought I’d be a dandy living abroad,” says Lane Harlan, “but instead I’m providing for the dandies.”

Harlan also confers with her sister’s boyfriend’s brother, Mexican-born co-owner Carlos Raba, who runs the kitchen. For Raba, Clavel’s kitchen is like a return to his Sinaloan childhood, as he prepares staples such as Ceviche Sinaloense (shrimp cured in lime and chiles) and Cochinita Pibil (pork in bitter orange and achiote), passed down from his grandmother. (“When we opened, his mother and aunt came here to make sure we were living up to the recipes,” says Harlan, smiling.)

Raba recalls that when Harlan approached him about the idea of opening a restaurant, he was a manager at a Giant Food Store and had no formal experience. “When she said, ‘We should open something together,’ I thought she was joking,” he says. And then, when it became clear that she was serious, he was hesitant but felt bolstered by Harlan’s confidence. “We knew we couldn’t fail,” he says. “There was too much passion. She has a strong, beautiful energy.”

As customers stream in and the line starts to build, Harlan radiates a sense of calm and contentment. For today at least, she isn’t going anywhere, other than off her barstool to greet her customers, many of whom she knows by name.

“I thought I’d be a dandy living abroad and writing and dining out, but instead I’m providing for the dandies,” says Harlan as she takes a small sip of Champagne left from an earlier tasting. “I’ve given up the ghost—I’m exactly where I want to be as I cultivate a community.”