Morning Edition

Morning Edition
153 N Patterson Park Ave
Butcher's Hill, Baltimore
Brunch
410-732-5133
Cost: $
Reservations: not needed
Date of meal: Saturday October 6, 2007 (11:00am)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

Morning edition is a cute brunch place north of Patterson Park. Please note that it has weird hours (only open Friday through Sunday and only for breakfast brunch but not too early). If you want to grab breakfast on a Wednesday, this is not the place for you.

Decor is homey. Tables are old, wood, and wobbly. Menu is handwritten (and photocopied and long). Decorated walls with lots of odd objects make give the place a personal touch. Given the dirth of alternatives, I was surprised it wasn't more full.

The menu is long enough that there is something for everyone. We had a raisin French toast and an omelette with Italian sausage. Both were excellent, and at prices <$10 for interesting omelettes it's almost a good bargain. The main problem with Morning Edition is the wait for food. We sat for roughly 30 minutes waiting for our food to come. While this can be nice if you want an extremely leisurely brunch, it can be a bit stressful if you only want a fairly leisurely brunch and have something to do afterwards.

I would be very happy to go back. The price point is much more appealing than Miss Shirley's, and the quality is almost as high. If they nailed service a bit more, it would be ideal.

Nasu Blanca

Nasu Blanca
1036 E. Fort Ave.
Locust Point, Baltimore
Spanish/Japanese
410-962-9890
Cost: $$$$
Reservations: recommended
Date of meal: Wednesday September 29, 2007 (6:30pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

I don't know of any other Spanish/Japanese fusion restaurant in the U.S. This means either that the owners of Nasu Blanca are incredibly creative, or that this combination doesn't make a lot of sense, or both.

I went to Nasu Blanca for a work dinner party with 4 other people. While the restaurant was relatively empty when we arrived (at 6:30pm on a Wednesday) it was full when we left. Nasu Blanca has two floors. The lower floor has a bar and a bit of seating, but most tables for dinner are upstairs. The Nasu Blanca site is a nice, stylish gut remodel. The downstairs decor was swanky and upscale but in a way that seemed a bit hollow and forced given the unrenovated buildings around it. The upstairs decor was a little boring for my taste, but they were trying and it was pleasant. Unfortunately, the upstairs feels like overflow seating even though it is not. I'm not sure what they can do about this.

The menu has two sides. The left had appetizers; the right entrees. At the top of each page were Japanese dishes, with Spanish ones below. The Spanish entrees were all paellas, which seemed needlessly narrow. What's the point of being Spanish-Japanese fusion if you aren't going to have fun in mixing and matching striking flavors? The menu looked more standard "New American/eclectic" than sharply Japanese/Spanish; I'm not sure I would have guessed that it was more than pan-Asian eclectic except for the large numbers of paella options. The alcohol menu included a wide variety of sakes, as well as wine and beer. Food was quite expensive, with entrees in the $30 range.

We ordered:

• Japanese eggplant ($8), grilled with a miso sauce.
• edamame ($5), no surprises
• spicy tuna tempura ($13), sounded more interesting than it tasted, but still not bad
• sashimi appetizer was amazing
  
• braised short-rib appetizer ($12+/-), I love short-ribs and these were great but it wasn't that interesting.
  
• panko-crusted walu ($28), got good reviews from my colleagues
• pumpkin-seed crusted lamb chops ($32+/-) were excellent
• scallops ($32+/-) had a nice pan-Asian flare but were a bit generic.

Food was brought at a glacial pace, and this was clearly not intentional. The server was nice but the lowness was a problem all around and made the meal less pleasant. (Our guest almost missed her train as a result despite ample warning of our constraints.) The prices were very high. I know Baltimore has a 20-25% markup compared to other cities for nice restaurants and ethnic ones. I guess I should not be surprised that a nice ethnic-fusion place has high prices. Still, entrees here would be more appropriately priced in the $22-$26 range rather than the $28-$45 range. Nasu Blanca would be a good place to go if you wanted a fun work dinner, but only if you weren't paying for it yourself.

Trinidad Gourmet

Trinidad Gourmet
418 E. 31st St.
Charles Village/Waverly, Baltimore
410-243-0072
Cost: $
Reservations: take-out
Date of meal: Friday September 28, 2007 (7pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

Trinidad Gourmet isn't really a restaurant. It has a counter, but that's about it. It is designed for take-out. It also has a rather extensive barrier between the counter and the patrons; the proprietor is obviously worried about crime.

The menu has a wide variety of Trinidadian food. Oxtail stew, goat curry, jerk chicken, etc. Entrees in the $7-$9 range. I had the jerk chicken dinner ($9) which includes rice and beans (mixed together), sauteed spinach (my choice of vegetable) and plantains. The jerk chicken was tasty and well-cooked. I would have liked it with a bit more spice, but it was juicy and fell right off the bone. The spinach was simple but excellent; it was fresh, perfectly cooked and not overly oily or creamy. Rice and beans were good but standard. Plantains are always yummy, but these were a bit mushy for my taste.

Trinidad Gourmet is a solid choice for inexpensive take-out in the Charles Village and Waverly area. I prefer The Yabba Pot (which serves Caribbean-inspired vegan food nearby at the same price point with nicer decor and more inventive cuisine), but others who want more meat may not.

Saigon Remembered

Saigon Remembered
5857 York Road
Belvedere Square/Govans, Baltimore
Vietnamese
410-435-1200
Cost: $$
Reservations: Not Needed
Date of meal: Wednesday September 26, 2007 (7pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

Saigon Remembered has a lot in common with Cafe Zen down the street. Both offer good but standard American versions of Asian (Vietnamese and Chinese, respectively) cuisine in a market without much competition.

Saigon Remembered is housed in a large space with high ceilings. It is far from fancy, but not unpleasant or dirty. Furniture, flooring, utensils, and such are all functional but no more. They have a full bar and several Southeast Asian beers (Singha from Thailand and 33 from Vietnam). Service was helpful and prompt.

The menu includes pretty standard Vietnamese fare like bun (steamed rice noodles) and lots of stir-fries with lemongrass and basil. The two main points of departure are a sushi menu (complete with a sushi bar; I didn't try it but it seemed like a weird add-on to me) and a "roll" menu. The rolls are not sushi but instead are the fresh spring rolls typically found in Vietnamese restaurants. My spouse and I (particularly my spouse) are big fans of these. Unlike other restaurants, there are about a dozen options for rolls, with a variety of meat and seafood options. Some of these are quite creative, like the salmon roll.

We stuck to standards. We ordered a pair of fresh spring rolls with beef (either $5 or $6), which was very good. The nuoc cham (fish dipping) sauce was great; the peanut sauce only so-so. We had a bun ($12) with grilled pork and fried spring rolls which was outstanding. The pork was served still on the skewers on which it was grilled. This was quite good. The basil tofu stir-fry ($12) we had was fine but did not wow me. These prices are roughly 40% more than comparable cities with more Vietnamese immigrants (e.g., Seattle). I also noted that many entrees had higher prices in the $13-$17 range.

In the absence of serious competition, I would be happy to eat there again if I wanted Vietnamese food. Take-out would also be a good option if you live nearby. I probably would not recommend it to anyone who had to drive more than 15 minutes to get there. Honestly, the prices seemed high to me, even for Baltimore.

Brewer's Art

Brewer's Art
1106 N. Charles St.
Mt. Vernon, Baltimore
American (new)
www.belgianbeer.com
410-547-6925
Cost: $$$
Reservations: Varies
Date of meal: Sunday September 23, 2007 (8pm)
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It

Brewer's Art is very hard to categorize and for a few reasons. One is that for price-point purposes it is really two restaurants: a bar and a restaurant

• Bar: In the front, they have a lounge and bar that serves pub fare. The bar has "light fare" like burgers, sandwiches and pizza ($8-$11). Note that there are lounge tables here, so you don't have to stand or sit at the bar.
  
• Restaurant: In the back, they have a restaurant that serves more substantial entrees. The entrees are rather pricey ($17-$27, where only the vegetarian pasta and one chicken dish are below $22). Note that the restaurant runs a special to get people in on Sunday and Monday nights: a half-dozen $15 bottles of wine. These are entirely drinkable and constitute a great deal; they are also a loss-leader to get you in the door to order the very expensive entrees.
• Both Bar and Restaurant: Both share in common the salads and appetizers ($7-$12). Desserts (which I assume you can get in the bar) are in the $7 range.
  

The upshot of this is that you could plausibly put Brewer's Art into three price-points (see my cost key for the price ranges they imply):

• $$: If you aren't committed to sitting down in the restaurant and ordering entrees, Brewer's Art is moderately priced.
• $$$: If you eat in the restaurant on a Sunday or Monday with the express purpose of ordering a $15 bottle of wine, Brewer's Art is a bit pricey but not unreasonable (I'll say the wine deal is really an entree subsidy so I'll include it in the $$$).
• $$$$: If you eat in the restaurant and order meat or fish entrees, Brewer's Art is quite (and in my view, too) expensive.
  

While I haven't eaten in in the bar/lounge, I suspect this is the better deal. This is confirmed by the fact that it was full on a Sunday night while the restaurant was nearly empty. I plan to come back to try the lounge. Note that you may have trouble getting a table in the lounge during peak times (and I suspect you can't make a reservation for the lounge).

The other reason that it is hard to categorize is that it is very upscale to be a Belgian brew pub.

I liked the decor a lot. The dining room is decorated like an old-world library in a private home in the 19th century. This works better than when I've seen it tried elsewhere, as in The Barclay Prime steakhouse in Philadelphia which adds modernist elements that make it look like they are trying too hard. Brewer's Art reminds me a bit (but only a bit) like the room in The Matrix where Neo is asked to choose between the "blue pill" and the "red pill", but not nearly as run-down. Brewer's Art does look a bit run-down but in a good way, like the building has been around forever and the furniture is nice but old.

With a name like Brewer's Art, you know (or at least suspect) that they take beer seriously. Please note that their website is www.belgianbeer.com; how this wasn't taken is beyond me. They have several beers they brew themselves (and lots of other beers also), so if you like Belgian beer and/or microbrews you probably want to come here. I do like these and didn't get a chance to try these, so I'm looking forward to returning to sit in the lounge and try their pub food and Belgian beers.

Our dining experience had some problems that I'll detail, but I want to lead with the fact that a) some problems in the restaurant were probably idiosyncratic (aka, our bad luck and unlikely to be repeated) and b) this doesn't really reflect badly on the bar/lounge which is very different and I can't wait to try.

We ordered:

• wine ($15, see above) : petite syrah (entirely drinkable, excellent at that price, I'm guessing it is a $10 bottle in a wine store)
• appetizer ($7): pork belly with peaches. At this price-point, I thought this wasn't bad. However, the beaches were cold which was definitely not the way to go and the pork belly , while cooked properly, arrived insufficiently warm. Sauce was nice.
• pasta entree ($17): gnocchi with caramelized shallots and chanterelle mushrooms. This was very good.
• steak frites ($26): fries were too salty. Steak was solid but not amazing. Wine-shallot sauce was a bit heavy for my taste. Frites were too salty but had lots of great herbs (rosemary?) that made the NaCl-fest tolerable.
  
• chocolate torte ($7): pretty good, but the chocolate lacked the rich intensity you want in a torte

According to our server, the chef "accidentally turned the oven off" which led to a 40 minute gap between our ordering and the arrival of the appetizer. I could imagine this being a serious problem if you were even a bit pressed for time. The other off-putting thing about the meal was that my spouse discovered a (rather small and cute) cockroach on the wood wall's wood paneling. This is an old building and such things are probably inevitable and I have no reason to believe the restaurant is in any way unhygienic. The fact that I'm looking forward to going back to the lounge shows I don't think this is a big deal. Still, I could imagine that some people would find this a serious problem also.

Our server was excellent. She was straight with us about which of the inexpensive wines to choose and had a helpful, straightforward, and unstuffy manner that I found appealing given the slightly stuffy decor in the restaurant. One thing she did I really liked was pour both of us a taste of the wine (instead of just the man in the group, which I've always thought was a bit sexist).

In sum, I would return to the lounge for Belgian beer and pub food, but I found the restaurant too expensive for the quality.

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.

Big Bad Wolf BBQ

Big Bad Wolf BBQ
5713 Harford Road
Lauraville, Baltimore
410-444-6422
bigbadwolfbarbeque.com
barbecue
Cost: $$
Reservations: Take-out
Date of meal: Friday, September 18, 2007
National Price-Quality Frontier: Inside It
Baltimore Price-Quality Frontier: On It

Lauraville has two take-out barbecue joints; it seems obvious to compare them. These are Big Bad Wolf Barbeque (reviewed here) and Alabama BBQ Company. Both on Harford, Big Bad Wolf BBQ is a mile or so north of Alabama BBQ Company. Both are designed for take-out but eating in would be a lot more pleasant at Alabama. Big Bad Wolf is much less attractive, and has only a counter (right up against the serving area) and no tables. This might be OK if you are going alone but doesn't work if you want to eat with someone and talk to them. If you plan to eat in, go to Alabama (or even better go down to Rub in Federal Hill). If you are doing take-out (which is what both Alabama and Big Bad Wolf are set up for), decor and tables don't really matter.

Service was friendly, competent, and fast. They answered questions about what came with what and were happy to give me lots of sauces.

Big Bad Wolf is substantially cheaper. A half rack of ribs (multiple sauces included) is $8 at Big Bad Wolf and $11 (not including sauce, which adds $1.50 for one sauce). A full rack is $15 at Big Bad Wolf and $20+sauce cost at Alabama. I thought quality was similar or even slightly better at Big Bad Wolf, so Alabama seems inferior for take-out ribs.

More details about the ribs. I ordered a half-rack of pork ribs and a half rack of beef ribs (both $8). There are 6-8 sauce options. Servers were friendly and helpful. They were happy to give me as many sauces as I wanted in any (presumably within reason, but it didn't come up) quantity. Pork ribs were dry-rubbed with spices that added great flavor and were visible on the ribs. Pork ribs were a little dry relative to Rub, but about as dry as at Alabama. Beef ribs were cut across the bone like short ribs not between bones. I thought these were juicy and flavorful. (I can't compare as didn't try the beef ribs at Alabama, mostly because Alabama was rather expensive and I saw no easy way to try both pork and beef without spending $25). Ribs were served with corn bread which was not really worth the calories (but also thrown in free). I enjoyed both the Kansas City sweet and spicy sauces, though neither blew my mind.

While not the best ribs on the planet, Big Bad Wolf serves up pretty good ribs at an appealing price. If I was in the neighborhood and wanted take-out ribs, I would go to Big Bad Wolf over Alabama. If I was willing to pay a bit more and wanted to sit down, Rub provides a better product at a higher price.