Red Star

Red Star
906 S. Wolfe St.
Fell's Point, Baltimore
410-675-0212
www.redstarrestaurant.net
bar/pub
Cost: $$
Reservations: Varies
Date of meal: Thursday, September 20, 2007 (8pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

I went to Red Star last night with a large group of people. While reasonably busy, there were tables available. (I believe we made a reservation but our group was 10+.) Red Star fits nicely into the upscale brew pub category. The environment is clean and pleasant with lots of highly varnished, medium-dark wood paneling. Lots of light for a bar. Lots of exposed brick. Clearly a converted industrial space. The lack of cigarette smoke at this (and all other) bar makes it a lot more pleasant. (Expect more than one post from me on the economics of smoking bans in the not-too-distant future.) I would say that the place lacks a bit of personality, which is surprising given how hard I think they tried to make the place just right. By appealing to groups of yuppies, I think they are forced to go for unobjectionable. You don't want to take risks when you take a group of co-workers out for drinks after work.

Red Star has a wide variety of yuppie, micro-brew beers on tap. I think the place would be improved if these were explained in more detail on the menu so patrons could better choose between unknown beers.

For a brew pub, food is very upscale. For a yuppie brew pub, options are pretty much what you would expect. They have burgers, but with "gouda and smoky horseradish BBQ sauce with lettuce and tomato in an herbed tortilla"; they have pizza, but with "Smoked Duck and Truffle house smoked duck breast, brie, baby spinach and roasted pepper sauce, finished with white truffle oil".

I tried the Tuna Starshimi ($11, a respectable sushi-like tuna roll but probably an ordering mistake at a pub, even a yuppie one), the fish taco special ($11?, quite good with avocados), artichoke and crab dip ($13, disappointing at this price point), and their Margherita pizza ($9, decent production of a standard). I also stole one of my companions sweet potato fries, which were quite good. The diversity of the menu means that it works well with large groups. Overall, I would rate the food above average for a pub and slightly above average for a yuppie pub.

Red Star is an excellent place to come with large groups. (I know Baltimore has alternatives, notably DuClaw's nearby, that I need to check out.) To my taste, it lacks soul and as a result I probably wouldn't come with only one other person.

Kawasaki

Kawasaki
907 S. Ann St.
Fell's Point, Baltimore
sushi
410-327-9400
Cost: $$$
Reservations: Varies
Date of meal: August 29, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

I had an excellent sushi experience at Kawasaki last night. When we arrived at 7:30 or so, there was plenty of seating indoors. All the outdoor tables were taken, but one opened up after a very brief wait. Kawasaki's decor is better than that of most Japanese restaurants, with the outdoor seating area overlooking the pier. This can also be seen from the tables by the window, which are low to the ground with floor cushions for the patrons.

We ordered the sushi and sashimi boat for two ($40, the boat for three is $55), as one in the group wanted vegetarian sushi (go figure). This was the most expensive thing on the menu, with other sushi combination in the $15-20 range; while I gave this a cost of $$$ I'd say it is a low $$$ and maybe even a high $$.

The boat took a while to be prepared (20-30 minutes), but was worth the wait. It had the usual combination of salmon, yellowtail, tuna, mackerel, red snapper (I think), and shrimp. The salmon and yellowtail were both outstanding. I was disappointed that it did not include unagi (eel) but was happy it did not include octopus, clam, or egg. It included two rolls, one with asparagus and (maybe) tuna, the other with a spicy sauce. The boat included a bit of seaweed salad, which was excellent, and some pickled vegetables. Everything was great, with fresher fish than either Asahi or XS. Asahi is slightly cheaper (but not much); XS has a slightly hipper vibe (but no view). Still, at this point I would go to Kawasaki over either of these options. The only better sushi I've had (except at astronomical prices) was at Oishii in Boston's Chestnut Hill.

One minor drawback of Kawasaki was service, which could have been faster and more responsive. Service was competent and polite, but they were understaffed both in and out of the kitchen.

Kawasaki has a rather sordid history of exploiting illegal immigrant employees and not paying taxes. This shuttered another branch of the Kawasaki brand on Charles Street. I understand that the Fell's Point Kawasaki is now under new management; I have no reason to believe current management engages in any illegal or unethical conduct, which is why I was happy to go. I guess the optimal number of employees went down once employees had to be legal, be paid more than minimum wage, and have taxes withheld and paid.

Asahi

Asahi
629 S. Broadway
Fell's Point, Baltimore
410-534-4255
sushi
Cost: $$
Reservations: Not Needed
Date of meal: June 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

Asahi is a small, unassuming sushi joint in the heart of Fell's Point. The decor is extremely low-key; for example, they have a stack of books for patrons to read while they eat. I found all this pleasant but be warned that the vibe is neither romantic nor hip.

Service was good. We ordered a sushi combination and they were willing to make substitutions (who wants shrimp when you can get raw fish?). Sushi was plentiful and displayed nicely. Tasty and fairly fresh, it didn't blow my mind. However, the price point is very appealing (quality sushi entrees <$20). While I'd be willing to pay a bit more for higher quality fish, Asahi is a good value given the price and quality. To my mind, this makes Kawasaki (which is down the street) a better bet for Fell's Point sushi. Kawasaki has better decor/view, substantially fresher sushi, and is only marginally more expensive.

Bertha's

Bertha's
734 S. Broadway
Fell's Point, Baltimore
410-327-5795
Seafood
www.berthas.com
Cost: $$
Reservations: Varies
Date of meal: June 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

While Bertha's is known for its mussels, it is their marketing that makes my mouth water. (I guess this is what happens to you when you work as a business school professor for four years.) The first clue is that they have "www.berthas.com" as their website. They have bumper stickers,



and t-shirts.

What's more, people actually wear them. I haven't seen such brand loyalty since Vanguard or Harley-Davidson. (I bet you can guess which of these two brands I'm loyal to.) To top it off--which may be trying too hard--Bertha's has its own myspace page (which lists "her" marital status as "swinger").

Bertha's has a restaurant and a bar. The restaurant is substantially up-market of the bar; I haven't been to the restaurant yet. The bar is eclectic-kitchy-divey, a bit like a cross between Delux Cafe in Boston's Back Bay and Mama's Royal Cafe in the San Francisco Bay Area's Mill Valley. The walls are covered in bumper stickers.

You go there for the mussels (and maybe some beer). I got both, taking advantage of the many sauce options. Mussels were reasonably priced; they were also very good, although the bread for dipping was not as good. I enjoyed it and would be very happy to go back. However, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. These mussels seemed pretty similar to those on offer at many solid Belgian brew pubs (Monk's and Eulogy in Philadelphia come to mind). Given Baltimore's smaller market, I'm delighted it has a yummy place for mussels in a low-key environment.

Kali's Court

Kali's Court
1606 Thames St.
Fell's Point, Baltimore
410-276-4700
Seafood
www.kaliscourt.net
Cost: $$$$
Reservations: Recommended
Date of meal: February 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

I went to Kali's Court as a recruiting dinner before I moved to Baltimore. There are two floors, with a bar and dinner seating downstairs and more seating upstairs. We sat upstairs. Decor is old-world plush. This was particularly successful downstairs, where the dark lighting and dark wood bar. Upstairs felt more like overflow seating, which it was.

Our service was OK, but not great. It was a bit fawning but not very helpful, heavy on the hard-sell. I had a seafood bisque to start and crab cakes for dinner. Both were very good. At the price, you would expect this. To be honest, I wasn't as wowed as I should have been at $30+ for an entree. If someone else was paying, I'd be happy to go there but wouldn't suggest it. I would not go there again if I was paying.

Pazo

Pazo
1425 Aliceanna St. (at Central)
Fell's Point, Baltimore
410-534-7296
Tapas
www.pazorestaurant.com
Cost: $$$
Reservations: Recommended
Date of meal: various
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It


I've been to Pazo twice. Once my spouse and I went; once we took my parents.

Pazo is housed in a converted factory or warehouse. It has an extremely high ceiling and a n open second floor that looks down over the main restaurant. As you come in, the left third or so of the restaurant is a bar and lounge area, with the right two-thirds is dinner seating. The restaurant is large, with (and I'm guessing here) perhaps 50-100 tables. There is a DJ booth as well. It is loud; do not go if you want to have a quiet romantic dinner.

If you want to be a young urban scenester, then Pazo is a good bet. The decor is fancy and sleek. Diners are attractive, generally young professionals; doubly so for those at the bar. They may be trying a bit hard to be cool, but they are fairly successful. The place draws lots of single, high-earning 20- and 30-somethings in Baltimore, which I guess is the goal. If an investment banker friend from New York came to visit, this is where I would take them for drinks.

While service was generally good, Pazo suffers from the usual pitfalls of large restaurants. When I called an hour ahead to say I might be 15 mins late, the person answering the phone (who was nice and professional) had to put me in touch with the manager to make sure we'd be seated. When someone other than our server brought us the wrong pizza, he said it was what we ordered when it wasn't after we asked him if it was the right pizza. When the restaurant is this big, training/monitoring of staff by management and monitoring of patrons by servers is tough. A personal touch is out of the question.

Food is mostly tapas-style small plates, though they do have entrees as well. Tapas may not be exactly the right word as food is Mediterranean more than Spanish. Prices are reasonable and about what you'd expect ($10 tapas); food is clearly a loss-leader for alcohol. From looking at the menu, dishes look great. Menu items push all the right word-buttons. For example, the Bruschetta has "Wood Roasted Red Peppers" and not just peppers. This is pretty standard at such places.

Unfortunately, the execution was spotty at best. The "Wood-grilled Eggplant Dip" was yucky. The "Tonno Crudo" (aka tuna tartare) was served in overly-large cubes on wooden skewers, which looks good until you realize that the pieces are too big to eat and the skewers impale you. The ceviche was so-so. The Pizza Catalan was quite good. My dad (who knows a lot about wine) was quite put off by how pretentious the wine service was; the server insisting on decanting a wine without knowing why when decanting wasn't necessary. Our dessert was served on a cool-looking plate so wobbly that eating from it was difficult. The food-related punch-line here is that substance clearly wins over content. I suspect that most of the people who go to Pazo don't care; they go for decent food that sounds more impressive than it is and sophisticated in a scenester environment.

I would go back if I wanted a sophisticated environment. I would definitely go back if I wanted to feel sophisticated while having drinks (particularly on an off-night, when it wouldn't be too busy to enjoy). I would not go back if I really wanted to enjoy good food.

Blue Moon Cafe

Blue Moon Cafe
1621 Aliceanna St.
Fells Point, Baltimore
410-522-3940
Brunch
Cost: $
Reservations: weekend wait
Date of meal: Sunday, August 19, 2007 (8am)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

I was expecting to love Blue Moon Cafe. It's a cute Fells Point brunch place and looks the part. It's full of yuppie parents and urban hipsters in equal (and excessive, they don't take reservations and we had to wait even at 8am) numbers. The atmosphere is great.

I should start with a very fixable complaint. Their web presence stinks. It's not just the lack of a web page, but there is considerable ambiguity and disagreement among other cites (citysearch, etc.) about their hours. This problem is compounded by the fact that they don't pick up the phone much and their answering machine (if they have one) doesn't turn on within a small number of rings.

The staff are obviously over-stretched and this led to sub-par service (e.g., 10 minute wait to get a check) despite the best efforts of the servers. The menu looked promising and creative (apple and bacon pancakes!!) but execution was mediocre. I had an omelette, and ingredients were of low quality and eggs were cooked badly. Toast was served with sub-par jam. My spouse's pancakes were kind of blah.

I guess all this is about right given the low prices ($8 omelettes) but given the clientèle, the neighborhood and the high prices of restaurants in Baltimore in general, I think Blue Moon would be well-served by raising prices a bit ($10 omelettes) and putting the the extra money into better ingredients and more servers. While at a higher price-point, for me Miss Shirley's is worth the extra price for brunch.

Peter's Inn

Peter's Inn
504 S. Ann St.
Fells Point, Baltimore
410-675-7313
New American/Eclectic
www.petersinn.com
Cost: $$$
Reservations: Not Accepted
Date of meal: Wednesday July 18, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: On It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Extends It


Peter's Inn is perhaps my favorite spot to eat in Baltimore. It looks like a biker or dive bar, but the dishes are creative, well-prepared, and delicious. It reminded me of Deluxe in Boston, but with more inventive food. The atmosphere is funky and interesting; walls are covered with random stuff that doesn't quite go together and isn't supposed to. On Wednesdays, they had a few outstanding half-price wines (regularly $30-$40/bottle) that were available by the glass or bottle. I had a lamb dish that was amazing. A friend we brought raved about the cheddar grits. We had an amazing chocolate mousse. Prices (entrees <$20) struck me as quite low given the food quality. Of course, they were probably high if one pays for fancy ambiance. Service was good. We walked right in without a problem, but it was 6pm Wednesday; it is easy to imagine the place being packed on Saturday at 8pm. I could come up with negative things to say about the place (plates were way to big for the tables), but mostly this is just looking for things to pick at. I thought Peter's Inn was really special. If you aren't stuffy and like interesting places to eat that serve good food, it is tough to beat.