The Wine Market, Locust Point

Baltimore Restaurant Week. 

Each time that it has come around I have been very excited and studied all the menus, plotting my week(s) and trying to figure out which places would be the best bang for my buck.  This time around, I sort of just went with convenience and a place that I knew I wanted to try anyway: The Wine Market.

I've been wanting to go there for a long time (I say that about every place, don't I?) and we really were not disappointed.  The restaurant is in Locust Point and has its own parking (always a plus).  The inside is beautiful with exposed brick and industrial touches.  You walk in through their wine store which seemed to have a great selection with good prices. 

We both got the fennel and chickpea soup, which was really delicious and I'm already planning on trying to replicate it.  For the main course, I got the seared tuna which came with cold udon noodles and an avocado puree.  It was truly delicious and I was very happy to have some good tuna.  G got the pan fried chicken with au jus and mashed potatoes and brussels sprouts and everything he had was very delicious. The Wine Market also had some fantastic desserts that night.  I had a carrot cake, which was more like a bread because of the texture and wasn't super-sweet.  It came with some candied carrots that were an awesome touch.  G got a chocolate pretzel pave.  The crust was made of pretzel and it was the perfect salty-sweet dessert (yes, I want to recreate that one, too).  Oh yes, and I had some sangria which was probably the best I have ever had.

I can't wait to go back there.  If you haven't made RW plans, I recommend them for a great spot.  Or anytime really!

More cooking?

It might not seem obvious anymore, but I actually cook way more than I go out to eat.  Recently I got really excited about wanting to be more self-sufficient and utilizing seasonal ingredients as much as possible.  I decided to branch out into another blog that focuses on cooking, but I also really wanted to collaborate with friends and see what we could all come up with together. 

That is how Seasonal Spotlight was born.  It will focus on experimentation and using seasonal ingredients.  It's only been up and running for a couple of weeks, but I am really excited about it.  Please check it out and feel free to give me any input that you may have!  We will definitely be needing to hear suggestions for ingredients!

And of course, this blog isn't going anywhere.

Liquid Assets, Ocean City, MD

I spent the first 22 years of my life in Ocean City, so I get a little disappointed when there are restaurants that I have not tried.  Luckily, my parents still live there and I am slowly checking all of them off of my checklist.  One that I had been wanting to try for years was Liquid Assets.

I guess it was a little bit intimidating to me when I was in high school. It's definitely not a typical Ocean City restaurant.  When my mom and I walked in, it was like being in a completely different city.  It's half restaurant, half bar/store.  The atmosphere in the dining room was a little bit strange; it was really dark and felt empty on the day that we were there.  That probably changes during the summer and at night, but for lunch it was odd.

We both opted for the $8 Lunch Combo.  I got the andouille sausage macaroni and cheese and roasted veggies.  My mom got the veggies and a cauliflower soup.  Everything was fantastic, especially the veggies.  It was a blend of brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, and other fresh local veggies.  The portions were not large, but satisfying.  I think a dinner bill could probably get high very quickly.  But the quality of food here compared with other OC restaurants is worth the price.

Alewife, Downtown

The first night that we tried to go to Alewife, we were turned away at the door because they had no tables and did not expect to have any until 8pm, when the show at the Hippodrome started (silly us, we were going to the show and should have known better).  We made a reservation for 6 the night after that and had much better results.  We got there about 20 minutes early and the same man was at the door.  He tried turning us away, but we explained the reservation and he reluctantly let us go in to the bar area.  It is a beautiful space and has been converted really nicely.  All of the beer selections are written on a chalkboard wall.  It was very crowded and we sort of felt like we were in the way.

The  majority of us ordered the smoke burger:

An 11oz House Ground Ribeye, Brisket, Skirt and Filet of Beef Burger, Smoked Gouda, Gruyere Cheese, Apple Wood Smoked Bacon, Caramelized Cipollini Onion, Chipotle Aioli, Brioche Bun, Duck Fat Fries

It was very good.  A few people said that it was the best burger that they had ever had.  The fries were also good, but they were cold.  The server was not great.  We sort of lost him after he brought our food and we're pretty sure he left.   Overall, it was a great experience with very good food.  They just need to work out a few kinks with their staff.

Olney Ale House, Olney, MD

I was happy to be eating at Olney Ale House for many reasons.  My aunt and my mom were visiting so it was a nice treat to have lunch with them.  I didn't have to pick the place where we were going to eat (I am notoriously bad at this).  My mom used to eat there when she was in high school and that made it seem cute and special.

It was actually very cute.  They had a fireplace and it felt like a cozy log cabin.  It was very busy, but the service was great (this is always a huge plus for me).  We all ordered a salad that they had on their specials which had pears, dried cranberries, pecans, feta cheese and grilled chicken and had a loaf of their famous bread and butter.  The salads were huge and delicious!  I love fall flavors and this was the perfect combination of ingredients.  The chicken was also perfect, which can really make or break a salad.  In fact the salads were so big that we combined them all for me to take home and I ate it for another two days.  The bread was also very yummy, served with whipped butter.

The Olney area seems to have a lot of restaurants popping up, but I recommend trying the Olney Ale House if you're out that way. 

Good Stuff Eatery and 2 Amys, DC

I am so backed up on my reviews. I can't wait until I graduate. But that's another tale...

We went into DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity.  It was a mess.  Such a mess that we decided to pass on the mayhem and wander down the street a ways to Good Stuff Eatery, which we had heard very good stuff about.  The line was pretty much what we expected and we did wait for a while before we got our food (at least we could watch the rally on TV).  We each got cheeseburgers, fries, and marshmallow shakes.  We agreed that the burgers were good, but not anything extraordinary.  I'd rather have Five Guys or Abbey. 

The fries were pretty great, though.  They have a little condiment bar that has different types of dipping mayonaisses to try. I believe we had Old Bay mayo, Chipotle mayo, and pineapple.  They were unique and cooked well.  By far the shake was the best part.  It definitely had marshmallow fluff mixed into the vanilla ice cream and was not as sickeningly sweet as you would expect.  On top were big, toasted marshmallows.  Yum.  I would recommend just going for fries and shakes!



Later on, we had dinner at 2 Amys in Cleveland Park.  It was a beautiful neighborhood and we were very happy with our choice of restaurant.  They are certified by the Italian government to make authentic Neapolitan pizza.  I've never been to Italy, but I imagine that this is what pizza tastes like there.  The service was incredibly fast and before we knew it, we were tasting some of the freshest and purest pizza you could imagine.  This is no-frills food and it is awesome. 

Brasserie 10 South, Downtown

What happened to this place? You can tell from the interwebs that it must have been pretty darn good at some point, but they lost a chef, succumbed to bad location, and just flat out started failing.



I think it should say a lot that I have momentarily come out of blogging hibernation just to review Brasserie 10 South.  I was really excited to try this place and I had been holding on to the Groupon for a while.  The menu looks fantastic; a plethora of southern dishes jump out from the page.  I decided that I wanted to get the shrimp and grits before we even left.  But we were not met with that menu.  We were met with a lunch menu (at 7pm) that had 3 appetizers, a couple of salads, and about 5 sandwiches.  I asked the server if we got the wrong menu.  Nope.  We could see that some entrees (like the shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles) are offered as specials on some nights. 

So how was the food?  I enjoyed the Doritos that my boyfriend picked up after we left a lot more.  I got a chicken caesar wrap that was dry and bland.  G got a burger that was bloody rare inside, even though he wasn't asked how he wanted it cooked.  This may have been the first time in our relationship that I saw him leave a burger unfinished.  A very sad day.

I'll also note that the atmosphere is weird.  It's pretty big inside, and sort of reminded me of being in my grandparents' basement; a little too glitzy and looked like it could hold a huge party, but there were only 2 other tables there.  Super uncomfortable.

So what's up with this place? Has anyone had a different experience with them?