theminx

Dawg - I've never heard of Pioneer, so thanks for that. Ktmoomau - what do you love most about Jimmy's?

Keep in mind that my hubby and I are just two people with two mouths! We live in Towson and work downtown, so we tend to be most familiar with places in the north-south corridor. We're also big on cooking at home (my blog features far more recipes than it does restaurant reviews) so we don't eat out that much. Because of those reasons, there are probably TONS of restaurants out there that we don't know about, particularly in the East and West sides of Baltimore County.

We're eating out 3-4 times a week now. This project will probably give us gout.

Thanks!

Guess nobody else around here goes to Baltimore restaurants.

Hey all,

I put this here because I'm not sure how many folks regularly look at the help needed section. I'm sure someone will move the thread if necessary.

My husband Neal and I are writing the Food Lover's Guide to Baltimore, to be published by Globe Pequot Press later this year. We're just getting started and have compiled a nice list of restaurants to include, but we need more. I would like you all to please just shout out (err...type) your favorite places in and around Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Fancy or dive, as long as they have good, fresh, chow, they're eligible.

We're also doing a section on restaurants that are worth the drive. HowChowBlog has already offered some great suggestions for Howard County, but we're looking for great places in Anne Arundel, Carroll, and Harford as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

-theminx

Based on your recommendation, we went to Choyhona and tried both the lamb rib and the delicatessen kabobs, plus the "jiz biz." It was all good, especially the ribs.

The baklava pastry reminded me of a French millefeuille.

Sushi Hana isn't too bad for "fun" rolls. Also Strapazza does some decent subs - I like their prosciutto and fresh mozzarella. These are the places I typically eat when I'm in Towson. Sadly Purim Oak closed down long ago =(.

Yeah, I miss Purim Oak.

I like Kyodai Rotating Sushi Bar and always order their tuna tartare (big cubes of tuna with a spicy sesame oil and soy dressing, a fairly large portion for $6) and the squid salad. The Stony River steakhouse in the mall has pretty good burgers. There's also Thai One On/San Sushi Too, DiPasquale's/Sweet Lela's, and Kathmandu Kitchen. I can't speak for the latter, since it's been a long time since I've eaten there, but a friend was there recently and seemed to like it just fine.

I love Restaurant Week because it gives me an excuse to try a couple of new-to-me restaurants. On Saturday we went to The Chameleon Cafe and had a pretty decent dinner. (More here.) Tomorrow we're scheduled to try Jack's Bistro, where I plan to have my first taste of durian.

Has anyone else participated in Summer Restaurant Week?

My mom used to like to go to Mo's Fisherman's Exchange on Joppa Road in Parkville. The prices are probably better than the ones downtown and the portions are always generous. Honestly, I've never had a bad meal there.

Hubby and I went to B&O for the first time last week. Had the pork belly with the bananas and lentils and a duck flatbread for our apps, and the "Buffalo" duck and bacon-wrapped amberjack entrees. We were pretty happy with the food, but I felt the restaurant itself was a bit gloomy.

It seems that every course had either corn or cherries or both in it. Is it cherry season?

I hear Dick's has opened at the Power Plant. I've been to the one in Chicago a couple of times (back in the dark days before I became a foodie). From my memories, it's amusing and maybe slightly offensive, and I don't recall the food being all that great.

Yet another place for the tourists. Has anyone tried this one yet?

Has anyone attended any of the contests? I'm acting as judge on August 2nd.

If the Earl of Sandwich had been born in Central Eurasia, he likely would have called for his meat to be placed within the confines of lavash, creating a wrap. And now we'd be arguing if slapping something between two pieces of bread would be a proper "sandwich" or if it was really a "slab."

Has anyone been to the Bel-Loc recently? We were heading to Beltway Liquors last night and hadn't eaten dinner yet so I suggested the diner. It probably would have been safest to stick to breakfast items, but I decided to get the hot meatloaf sandwich with fries. Mistake. While the fries were nicely crispy on the outside/soft on the inside, the meatloaf was mostly cold and it tasted like it had mint in it. Lots of mint, and lots of salt. Mint in lamb loaf with a bit of tomato sauce would have been ok, but it was completely incongruous in a slab of cold ground beef slathered in that weird translucent gravy that diners serve.

My husband had a lasagna special and that tasted nice and home-made. Not as good as mine, but not half bad.

I'm not sure I'll ever be desperate enough to eat there again.

Is a hot dog a sandwich, being that it is nestled within a single unit of bread rather than "sandwiched" between two pieces?

Funny, I recently was "friended" by Sabatino's chef on Facebook. I personally haven't eaten there in probably 25 years.

When I do eat in Lil' Illy, I usually go to Della Notte. Sometimes to Germano's. Boccaccio was decent before it closed.

A wrap is a wrap, that's why it is called a wrap. Sandwiches are topping sandwiched between two pieces of bread, not wrapped around in a wrap. Just my two cents.

Ah, so are open-faced sandwiches still sandwiches if there is only one piece of bread?

The first wraps I ever encountered were on lavash, which is a bread, not a tortilla. So to me, that made them sandwiches.

While not quite in Wilmington, I'd like to put in a good word for a little joint called Cajun Kate's. It's in the Booth's Corner Farmers' Market in Boothwyn, PA, just a hop, skip, and a jump from Wilmington. It's only open on weekends, and it's worth the drive. At least, I think so.

Back in 2000, my then-fiance and I went to New Orleans with an Emeril fan group. Go ahead, laugh at me, I'll wait. The group planned a visit to the flagship restaurant, but Neal and I decided we would visit NOLA as well, despite warnings. Well, we had the best meal of the trip there, highlighted by a stellar bowl of gumbo.

Flash forward nearly a decade. My friend Kate had recently moved to Wilmington and in exploring the area discovered this little Cajun stand. The chef, Don Applebaum, worked for Emeril in the past. At NOLA. In 2000. And he made the gumbo that Neal and I had loved so much.

While his seafood gumbo is great, my favorite is the smoked duck and wild mushroom. So. Good. The pork gumbo is great too. And so is the deep fried mac and cheese, the oyster po' boys. And spicy Creole tomato glaze dribbled on just about everything.

I don't have the excuse to get to Wilmington since my friend moved to the Eastern Shore of MD, which makes me sad. But I try to keep a stash of Don's gumbo in the freezer.

If it's not a sandwich, what is it?

Yowsa - $120 and I'd have to bring my own lunch?

However, I am sure Monica is well worth it.

I WANT A BOBBLEHEAD!

But I can't make it to the game. <sniff>

I just checked the Web site for the first time and must say I am disappointed to find that charcuterie is misspelled. Also that the fonts are not uniform. Hey, I'm a graphic designer - so sue me.

I'll probably check the place out at some point in the future.

Hi, I'm Kathy, from Baltimore, and I recently started posting on this board.

Would love to chat with more people in the Baltimore area. I have a food blog in which I talk about local restaurants, but I also do humorous recaps of Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star and those tend to bring me more readers from outside Baltimore.

I enjoy writing about food and am pretty opinionated. I still regret that I didn't go after the City Paper restaurant critic position 12 years ago, but I had just started a job and wasn't thinking straight. Still in the same job. <sigh>

My husband claims he felt it, but I was asleep.

Now of course I have to check out the sale on the Macy's Web site....

It's been so hot and humid recently that we are loathe to cook at home. Rather than rely on sandwiches and salads or going out to eat, sometimes hubby and I like to order food to be delivered. And we usually order enough for several meals. Recently we discovered a placed called B'More on York Road that sells just about everything one can imagine - gyros, lasagna, pizza, burgers, Indian food, and Indo-Chinese food. That last item got me to place an order for the Chilly chicken, a dry fry of smoky chicken pieces with bell pepper and onion. We also tried a small pizza and several items of Indian food. Everything was pretty good, so I think we've found our go-to pizza delivery service.

For Chinese food, we call Szechuan House.

Anyone else have recommendations? Particularly for delivery food in the Towson area.

Has anyone tried the new Tangier's in Canton? Several of us bloggers have eaten there for free, and the food is pretty good, but I'd like to know what people who had to pay for their food think about it.

I love the idea that there's a restaurant in Baltimore that is serving Moroccan food, and love that the owner's mother and aunt are in the kitchen. The best dishes are the tchouktchouka and eggplant cold mezze - both are rich and filling and deserve some really good crusty bread. Unfortunately, the night we ate there we were served commercial split-top squishy-textured rolls. I wanted the bstilla to be as good as the one I ate at Marrakech, but it wasn't the same at all.

My biggest beef with the place is the prices, which are a little crazy for the minuscule amount of food on some plates.

I'm Polish and I go to Ze Mean Bean when I miss my grandmother's cooking. Their barszcz is as close as I've found to hers.