Carmine's, Hunt Valley

Every week, we typically go out to dinner before we go grocery shopping.  A lot of times, we eat at Wegmans.  Don't get me wrong, I love Wegmans, but I get a little bit tired of eating there every week.  Luckily, there are a few other options in the Hunt Valley area, we've been broadening our horizons a little bit.

On one of these occasions, we decided to try Carmine's.  This overlapped with a week that I was trying especially hard to eat healthy, so I tried to order a salad with goat cheese.  They were out of it, so I was content on cheating and getting a delicious eggplant parmesan-type entree.  And delicious is right.  I usually don't love eggplant, but everything about this was very good.  The sauce was great, the pasta was great, and the eggplant was cooked perfectly.  G got pizza, and it was also really yummy.  I'm actually surprised that we haven't been back since.  All in all, this was a cute family-friendly restaurant that is perfect for pre-grocery shopping.

Zorba's Cafe and Afterwords Cafe; Dupont Circle, DC

I wish that I had been more interested in food when I was in college.  I lived a metro ride away from some amazing restaurants in DC and some of them I didn't even discover while I was there.  During a recent trip into the city, we decided to try Zorba's Cafe and we were not disappointed.

I love Greek food and I love Dupont Circle so this was a  no-brainer.  We started out with spanikopita and tzatziki.  Both were delicious and amazingly fresh.  The spanikopita was well-balanced and wasn't weighed down with cheese.  Delicious.  For our meals, I got the falafel platter and G got the chicken kabob.  Both of these were really good, as well.  They came with a really delicious hummus and olives, which I love.  Their baklava looked amazing, but I knew that I had my heart set on a different venue for dessert.




Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe has amazing desserts.  I have actually never tried their other foods, but they always look amazing.  The cafe is connected to an awesome book store that you can peruse while you wait for your table (and you will always wait).  This time that we went, I got my favorite: berry crumble with cinnamon ice cream.  It is one of my favorite desserts of all-time, from any restaurant.  The berries are mixed in with nuts and a delicious crumble topping that are all so good.  And the cinnamon ice cream is the best way that you could attempt to make it even better.  Mmmmm.  G got cheesecake this time and it was also very yummy, but I like their pies a lot better.

The Cow, Reisterstown

There's a reason why there are very long lines and swarms of people hanging around the outside of The Cow.  This ice and custard is awesome and comes in a huge range of flavors.  They have more traditional ones, like cherry and egg custard, but they also have some different ones like fudge brownie and s'more. 

We each got gelatis of the latter two.  I loved the fudge brownie.  It had chunks of brownie and swirls of fudge and was more like a really icy ice cream than any "ice" I've ever had.  G wasn't crazy about his s'more, but mostly because he could taste mint from a previous use of the scooper.  The sizes were huge and I couldn't finish mine.  I would love to go back and try more of what they have to offer!

Pitango Gelato, Fells Point

About 95% of the time that I am in Fells Point, I want to get Mr. Yogato. If you've been there, then you probably understand why. But I have also always been tempted by Pitango Gelato. Gelato has always been a little bit intimidating to me. I feel like it's going to be trying to do too much or certain flavor profiles will be lost on me (whatever that means). But I finally decided to put my foot down and try it.

First off, the people there are really nice and will let you sample as many flavors as you want. And they have a lot of flavors. I ended up sampling the chocolate hazelnut, bourbon vanilla, tangerine, and a dark chocolate one. All of them are so delicious and fresh. I bought a combination of the bourbon vanilla and strawberry. I typically don't go nuts over strawberry ice creams, yogurts, etc. because they don't have enough real fruit flavor, but this one was amazing. And the bourbon vanilla with is was awesome. I am definitely not intimidated any more.

Andy Nelson's, Cockeysville

I am not a Baltimore native. I grew up in Maryland, though, so I do know that there are some foods that are traditionally linked to this area. That includes pit beef, which I hadn't even realized was a Baltimore thing until I did a little bit of web searching. According to many, Andy Nelson's has the best pit beef and barbecue around, so we headed over there one day to check it out.

I love the atmosphere of places like Andy Nelson's. We ate in the barn next door and it felt like we were having our own little picnic with amazing food. I had planned on getting pit beef, but got chicken instead because I really wanted to try the sides. The chicken was pretty decent, maybe not the best in the world but still pretty darn good. We also had the fries, cole slaw and corn bread. Mmm the corn bread. I can be a snob about dry, crumbly corn bread, but this was awesome. G got ribs and they were also really yummy. The sauces that they provide were delicious, as well. I was tempted to get a piece of apple cake, but that will have to wait until next time. Along with that pit beef.

Mother's Cantina, Ocean City, MD

I am from Ocean City and I have become a snob about some of the food there. Some restaurants have been there for years and years and some only last one summer before they are gone. I have been pleasantly pleased by one restaurant that is fairly new and seems to be doing well.

I was back home visiting my parents and my mom and I decided to eat at Mother's Cantina. I had been there a couple of times before and I have always been happy with what I ordered. This visit was no exception. To start, we got an order of Santa Fe egg rolls. These were really good and the sauce had a nice kick to it. They also seemed really fresh. We got complimentary chips and salsa, as well. I wasn't crazy about the salsa. I think it could have been seasoned better. The margarita that I got was also good!

For dinner, I got 3 chicken tacos in hard shells. They were perfect! The chicken was well-seasoned and there was a good amount of toppings. My mom got the crab quesadilla (a special). It was also really good, I thought it tasted like crab dip. Yum! If you're looking for a good Mexican/American bar (I make the distinction because I'm not sure how authentic it really is) then you should definitely stop in!

Matthew's Pizza, Canton

We haven't really gotten too acquainted with Canton yet. Every time we drive through it or read about restaurants, I really want to explore it more. I guess we got a good start the other night by eating at Matthew's.

The restaurant is in a part of town that is dotted with liquor stores and not the most inviting, but once you make it there (and park!) it's a cute little place. You would not go to this place for ambiance, but trust me, that's not what you're looking for anyway. You're looking for some really good pizza. I ordered the popular mozzarella (a small is pretty much a personal size). G got the same but he added pepperoni and jalapenos. We also got an order of the pizza fries.

At first slice, I wasn't so sure about it. This IS supposed to be one of the best pies in Baltimore and I wasn't sure if I wanted to hand over that title so easily. But after eating more, I decided that this is truly a really great pizza. The crust is the best part; thick, but not Chicago-style. It was just right in my opinion. The sauce and cheese were also really yummy. The fries weren't that good, so don't waste your time on them. Just go for the pizza. We both brought home leftovers and made each other promise not to eat each other's pieces. That's a true sign of good food.