1000yregg

I'm planning to make it down, camera in hand.

Sad to hear about pastry chef Chris Ford leaving. His desserts were a wonderful part of my meal at Rogue.

Kinda reminds me of the Baltimore board.

I have not actually eaten at Zia's during their regular service, but I hear good things. I'm posting because I attended their monthly raw food dinner a few weeks back. I went in skeptical, and I had plans to grab Burger Bros. across the street after the meal, but I was very happy and full after the dinner. For starters, we had an apple-butternut squash soup. It was made via prolonged blending, and while not hot, had the right texture. No stringingness I expected from raw squash. Second was a wonderful beet root & fennel salad with a vanilla flavored vinaigrette dressing. The main was a timbale made with a large green leaf filled with wilted greens and barely cooked mushrooms (119 degrees I think). It was marinaded in sesame, coconut amino & ginger. For dessert, we had a rosemary fig tart that had a walnut crust and cashew butter filling. All in all, it was a satisfying meal. I would most definitely go again.

I went her a few weeks ago and was pretty happy with the meal. I shared their tasty chickpea battered fries with tumeric & cayenne. For dinner I had the special of the night which was a whole trout wrapped in a banana leaf. I like that they cater to vegan and vegetarian palates as well.

Oh- one more thing- they also offer a whole chicken fried Korean style. I have not seen this at other similar places.

Just got email from them re:their exotic meat club. They are starting a gastronaut society. $50 fee to join up.: "We were so honored when one of our very first mentions by Richard Gorelick, of the Baltimore Sun, stated that we produce "consistently beguiling, interesting and delicious food." With the fabulous response from our Exotic Meat Club announcement, the Gastronaut Society has officially been formed to represent food exploration with Chef Bernard and his team at the helm. The options are boundless, given all the EXOTIC FOOD out there to bring to your table. As a member of the Gastronaut Society you can avail of: Three prix fixe Gastronaut Society Dinners throughout the calendar year at membership prices 10% plate discounts on special adventurous fare featured on our menu Official Gastronaut Society knife engraved with your name, identifying you as a member"

Korean- it came with the raw onion and pickles.

I've been meaning to stop at Tian, located in the same shopping center as Lotte in Ellicott City since Howchow posted on his blog that they have handmade noodles. What finally got me to go this weekend was that they also added Mad for Chicken, a Korean fried chicken chain in the same place. I stopped in Sunday, and knowing that the fried chicken takes 30 minutes to be cooked, ordered a bowl for their handmade samsun jjajangmyun (blackbean sauce with seafood) for the wait. The noodles were good although I like mine a little more chewy. The black bean sauce was chock full of shrimp and calamari. The fried chicken was pretty good. My favorite might be BonChon as they kick up the spice level more, but the Mad for Chicken chicken had the great crispiness I expect from Korean style fried chicken. I'm happy I can get Korean chicken now without always driving to VA for it.

Rehoboth Based on this thread, we booked a table at Salt Air Kitchen last night. I was a little worried because they've been getting a lot of disappointed reviews on Yelp and CH, but we figured we'd give them a chance. I started worrying when we showed up for our 6:30 reservation. Henlopen Oyster next door had a line out the door, and Salt Air was only 30% full. Right away they told us that they were a little behind and we ought to wait at the bar. We thought this was odd as they seemed slow. We enjoyed some drinks at the bar, and after 15 min we were seated. We decided to get a bunch of appetizers first to share. These came out shortly and they were pretty good: pinchos with chorizo, figs, house canned sardines, quail with sunchokes, watermelon salas, and a great lump crab dip. At this point it was a good experience, but then the night then turned sour. First, our wait time between starters and entrees was about an hour. We had three different people come by saying it was going to be just a few minutes. They all asked if they could bring anything for us. We just wanted our food. When the entrees arrived, I had ordered a half roasted chicken. It looked beautiful on the plate, but I was a little worried when it did not come apart easily with my knife. Right away, I pulled the leg, and noticed redness and red blood in between muscle fibers. I'm comfortable with a little pink or blood stains in my chicken, and so was one of my dining companions who is a great cook, so I asked the waiter to come check on this plate. Immediately he was very defensive, and he said that because the bird was brined this was normal. He then walked away. I had to get him a second time, and I asked him to send the chicken back. He did so, but then he returned and told me to speak with the chef-owner on my way out so he could explain the blood. He said we were still wrong about the chicken. My tablemates all enjoyed their food, but everyone was frustrated with the service. The swordfish was good, the crab cakes were mostly backfin but were ok. When they all finished, I did not have my chicken, so I asked the waiter, after having to get up to find him to just cancel the chicken. This then started an odyssey with the bill which had to be corrected three times to remove the chicken and then fix the 20% gratuity that was tacked on for our group of 7 which was still calculated pre-chicken. We eventually got the manager to remove the mandatory gratuity. Salt Air may have promising food, but the service, where all the complaints online address was just awful, I would not return and I would in fact discourage people from going.

Stopped by their stand at the Waverly Market this weekend- had their BLT biscuit- bacon, microgreens & tomato jam. Alas, they are not doing Hampdenfest this year. They do have a regular place now at the Highlandtown Farmer's Market on Thursday afternoons. Here are some pics of their food.

I was hoping to stop by to try it out last night, but there was a 90 minute wait from order time to food. I'm sure the hype will die down. They say they are opening up branches in Perry Hall and Dundalk in the future.

I signed the same contract prior to my dinner, but I did ask the staff when I arrived if I could shoot with no flash, and at the time, they said it was ok. RJ told me I was lucky because he was about to put in the full ban on picturetaking the very next week. He mentioned he was going to have a pro-photographer shoot pics of food that people could then download. I think he doesn't like it when food bloggers have crappy pics of his food. Personally though, I would like to be able to shoot my own pics of food that I've actually eaten rather than "posed" pics. I had a similar contract at Jose Andres é in Vegas, but they were pretty cool as long as I did not use a flash during that dinner. I don't know how flexible Rogue will be in their rules though.

Big news up here is the re-opening of Gino's in Towson this week. It was a fast food burger chain from the 1950's started by Baltimore Colts defensive player Gino Marchetti. I remember going here as a kid. You could get burgers as well as Kentucky Fried Chicken there. In the 80's and 90's it was bought by Marriott and all the stores were changed to Roy Rogers restaurants. I had heard that in the past year that a Gino's was opened up in King of Prussia, but now, they are opening a branch closeby. On a quick look at the menu, they are serving burgers, chicken sandwiches, fried, onion rings, salads, and shakes. They are also bringing back the Gino "Giant" which looks like a Big Mac.

I went last week, and had a great meal. I put up my pics and descriptions here. My favorites were: the sea floor, the fresh radish with edible dirt, liquid chicken, the beet granita with char roe, the cheese -headcheese fakeout, & the lamb neck. Thanks to RJ for letting me take the pictures.

Had another biscuit sandwich this past weekend- Buttermilk biscuit with beef shortrib. Again, the biscuit was fantastic. I saw that they will be making food for Hampdenfest this September.

I love Cafe Myriade near the art museum.

If you make it to the Saturday morning Waverly Farmer's Market or at some of Baltimore's street festivals in the past year, drop by the Blacksauce Kitchen stand. They make some pretty great buttermilk biscuits, and based on seasonal ingredients, they will offer items like apricot or bacon biscuits. This morning, at the market, they were making biscuit sandwiches with fried chicken and blackberry honey. The pan fried chicken was made to order. They have no permanent storefront, but they do catering, and they have talked of entering the foodtruck biz.

I was at Max's a few weeks ago for their rare beer fest, and on the walk back home, my friends and I decided to drop into the recently opened Chazz, A Bronx Original for a late bite. It's namesake, actor Chazz Palminteri was there, and apparently has been present most every weekend since the opening a couple months ago. You also get to watch A Bronx Tale on the big screens while eating there. When we were there, we were told by the waitress that not everything was on the menu yet. The food is inspired by Chazz's Bronx Italian roots. We started with an appetizer of tripe, Calabrese bible tripe in spicy tomato sauce. It was actually pretty good. We then ordered a couple of pizzas which are coal oven fired. The crust was also not bad- a little crisp and chewy. It was a surprisingly a pretty good late night meal, and unlike Pazo, it's neighbor, there is no dress code. I'm hoping they play Bullets Over Broadway next time.

More from our Montreal trip: Here are the pics from Au Pied De Cochon- the tuna collar was amazing We had poutine with Szechuan peppercorn gravy at La Cantine. Another great find was Le Comptoir Charcuterie et Vins, a small casual restaurant that makes their own charcuterie. The also have a great wine selection. We had their housemade charcuterie plate that included saucisson sec, foie gras pate, country pate, sopressata, chorizo, and something like scrapple. For our mains, we had beef heart confit served chilled topped with a salad of octopus & potatoes with a red wine emulsion and a boudin tart with a shallot confit, bacon and "soft boiled egg". For dessert, we got a marquise au chocolat with strawberries, rhubarb and a hazelnut tuile. pics Lastly, had a more laid back meal at Retaurant Le Plaza. Read about it here. My fav was the "Yankee toast" aka french toast with molasses & ice cream.

I went up with friends & relatives to Montreal over Canada Day and the 4th of July and did some seriously great eating: Le Filet- new resto from the folks who run Le Club Chasse et Pêche highlighting a lot of great, fresh seafood dishes. For starters we had two sets of Canadian oysters- Eel Lakes (Nova Scotia) served with soy & citrus jelly and briny Beausoleils (New Brunswick) prepared slightly warmed with Hon Shimeji mushroom, truffle oil, & oyster cream, and we had raw fluke with wasabi, Japanese plum, & cucumber. For our mains we ordered off a part of the menu called "Amphibians", items mixing proteins from land and sea. We ordered two items with seafood & offal- sweetbreads, lobster salad, mozzarella, and eggplant puree & spicy grilled octopus, bone marrow, and cherry tomatoes. Dessert was rhubarb pie with white chocolate ice cream. Great meal- highly recommended. pics Ta (Tourtiere Australienne)- opened last year by someone from Australia making traditional Aussie style pies. We tried the "Ned Kelly" (beef, bacon, egg, cheese) topped with mushy peas, mash, and gravy, and a vegetable curry pie. Great selection of pies perfect for lunch. We also enjoyed their desserts- an Afghan cookie (a dark Belgian cocoa and cornflake cookie, covered with bittersweet chocolate) and a Lamington. pics Joe Beef This new place is like the little brother to Au Pied De Cochon. It's got the same over the top food philosophy. It's probably most well known for the foie gras Double Down, a take on the KFC wrongness with lobes of deep fried foie replacing the chicken breasts. We ate here on Canada Day and it was great. We were seated in their back garden at a stone table surrounded by fresh herbs and parked near their giant box smoker. It was perfect for the warm summer evening. We had the double down- it was amazing- like Southern fried foie gras, bacon and cheese between the lobes and a honey sauce. So rich, so good. Our other starters were a foie gras confit with rhubarb, their garlic duck fat fries, and Smorgasburg toast, a display of their smoked seafood, oyster, quail egg. We had lobster spaghetti with a giant fresh lobster and a sauce made with lobster that was wonderful. We also got a giant portion of schnitzel with radishes, mash, and girotte mushrooms, a tender porchetta with root veggies, cavatelli in a creamy sauce with morels, and a horse filet with an enormous veal marrow bone. Horse was a bit overdone & dry, but the whole meal itself was awesome. Dessert was Bavarian creme with rhubarb. Chef David McMillan chatted with us after the meal- nice guy. The Joe Beef cookbook comes out this fall with an intro by David Chang. pics

Friday night July 8th 5pm-10 pm, there will be a Balitmore Gathering of the Food Trucks in Harbor East- 421 Central Avenue. Confirmed for the rally are The Silver Platter, Kooper's Chowound Burger Wagon, Miss Shirley's, Iced Gems, Souper Freak, GrrChe and Gypsy Queen.

Our group had a couple noobies to APdC so we had some "old friends" from the menu: foie gras cromesquis (the soup dumpling/popper of foie), tarrogon bison tongue, foie gras poutine X2, codfish fritters, octopus salad, duck in a can, boudin, the plateau de plateau, and the big item, a tuna collar with morels/potatoes/onion rings. The collar was about 3 feet long, and the meat was unlike any tuna I've ever eaten- exquisitely tender, and full of flavor. I had so much seafood, that I actually felt a "seafood high" late in the meal. We had a couple good bottles of La Tentation Beaujolais. Dessert was the dark chocolate pot de creme, creme brulee, and pouding chomeur. Big groups- family style is the way to go to APdC.

If you go around Baltimore, there are many fried chicken & lake trout places scattered around the city. I was recommended by friends to check out King's Fried Chicken in Waverly. They are a halal fried chicken place that can take orders of hundreds of pieces of fried chicken if so desired. I got a box for friends at my music listening club. The chicken was good- no heavy batter, a little spicy, and very juicy on the inside. Their sides were not very good- the greens were made with chicken, not pork so they were really bland. pic

They cancelled the Gunpowder part of the event. We only stopped by the Gunpowder store, picked up some jerky, and drove by lounging bison before heading to Roseda Farm.