Archive RSS Feed: Baltimoresun Dining Large

You be the restaurant critic

I just got an e-mail from Marty Katz, Maryland editor of the Zagat survey, telling me that the voting is now open for the Zagat 2009 DC/MD Restaurants. I know from the mini-reviews many of you have posted on this blog that you are both knowledgeable about restaurants and would have some entertaining things to say, so I hope you'll put your two cents in. This could be the year that Clyde's in Columbia loses its place as Most Popular. (Nothing against Clyde's, but really.)Voting is straightforward and free. Just...

More on foie gras protests

I wanted to start a separate entry on the foie gras (fattened goose or duck liver) controversy. The comments under the earlier post have started to get heated, which is fine, but I hope everyone also remembers Rule No. 2 when responding.I, too, would be interested in the answers to some of the questions readers have raised. ...

What are those funky little things?

Wondering what those funny little icons are that have suddenly appeared below my posts? Web Editor Mary tells me they are sociotags. "Each icon will let a reader add your blog post to a different social bookmarking or social news site, like digg.com or fark.com. (You can hover over each icon to see where it leads.)" Of course, if you understand what that means, you probably don't need me to tell you that they are sociotags. Read this blog. Learn about foie gras and sociotags.

Top Ten Burgers

Faithful readers of this blog know that I don't consider myself a hamburger expert, although I've eaten plenty of them in my time. The one thing you can say is that I usually like my burgers simple -- just good meat, a non-kaiser roll, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. No cheese, no bacon, no sprouts.I would just as soon eat a hamburger from the West Coast chain In-N-Out Burger as one of the huge, handcrafted, char-grilled bar burgers on a kaiser roll that true aficionados appreciate, so I'm not a good judge of them. Luckily I'm surrounded by experts who helped me with this list, and I had plenty of input from readers. Consider this Top Ten a starting point for your own investigation, and report back if you think there are any worthier candidates than these: (AP photo)

Night of the Cookers opens

Everyone has dreams, so when I got this e-mail just after New Year's from the much-traveled chef Joshau Hill (pictured here on the right with Michael Tabrizi when he was still at Tabrizi's), I simply asked him to let me know when his new restaurant was open. I know how long the turnaround time for new places usually is, so I was thinking 2009 if at all.Was I wrong....When I left Michael Tabrizi's restaurant I went down south to visit my family in Memphis and New Orleans. I had the opportunity to eat a lot of wonderful southern cooking that I realized I had been missing, the kind that took me back to the days of Sunday supper and I thought I would like to take familiar foods and make them seem new again. I met a gentleman named Phil Myers who owns a successful high end casual restaurant "Night at the Cookers" in Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Myers and I discussed that he had invested in some property in Baltimore. We discussed the need in Baltimore for...

Post-burger-posting musings

I'm sitting here reading the very entertaining comments under my Top Ten Burgers post this morning and thinking:* I love the fact that even a couple of vegetarians posted their favorite burgers before they stopped eating meat.* I wonder why only Alonso's of the local places generated such controversy, both pro and con.* I should have divided burgers into separate Top Tens (Best Diner Burgers -- love this category, Best Fast Food Burgers, Best Frou Frou Burgers, Best Bar Burgers etc.).* Should I be surprised that in a seafood town like Baltimore a post on where to find the best raw oysters got 1,000 hits while a post on burgers got 10,000?* Why didn't anyone at the Sun mention until today that Five Guys opened a franchise at Centre and Park (a closer walk than the harbor)?* Why won't Richard Crystal tell us what he really thinks about the Prime Rib?

Where Stefano Frigerio landed

Several readers have written me wondering where Stefano Frigerio ended up once he left Cinghiale. He's the chef who arrived in Baltimore with such fanfare from the highly respected Maestro in McLean, Va., then left a couple of months after the latest Foreman-Wolf project opened. When I talked to Frigerio over the phone after he left, I asked him to let me know where he would be next. (It couldn't be a Baltimore restaurant because of a noncompete agreement.)True to his word, he had his PR person send me a press release announcing that he has just started as executive chef at Mio Restaurant in downtown DC. The release went on to say...

Tell us about your pizza

Judging from the number of comments I get any time I post anything about pizza (note that I haven't worked up the nerve to do a Top Ten Pizza yet), I'm guessing many of you have plenty more to say on the subject.Here's your chance.Send an e-mail to food@baltsun.com describing your favorite pizza at your favorite pizzeria (or pizzerias) -- heck, it can be your favorite bistro that has great pizza if you want. The best of the e-mails will be published the week before the Super Bowl at BaltimoreSun.com. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

I wish

(Photo courtesy of Marty Katz)

And now some real news...

Besides the ego-boosting photo below, Good Eater Marty also sent me this pictorial news. Oriental Manor in Ellicott City was one of the most respected Chinese restaurants in the area. It closed quietly, and nothing has taken its place until now. I'll give Asian Court a call and see what I can learn. (Photo courtesy of Marty Katz)