Woody's Rum Bar & Island Grill

Woody's Rum Bar & Island Grill occupies the top floor and roof deck of a building on the northeast corner of the intersection of Thames and Broadway, making it a perfect spot to soak up both the atmosphere of Fells Point and a few rum-based libations. You want to sit in the sun? Go up on the roof. If you prefer breezy shade, the third floor is the place to be. The place is small, so you won't ever be too far away from the bar.

A recent facelift has added some lively new artwork by Charles Lawrance. The menu of island-inflected dishes has been updated as well, adding new items to a selection of favorites. At a recent VIP tasting celebrating the restaurant's opening weekend, we sampled the entire menu. Ev-ry-thing. Oh, that's the food menu, not the drinks menu (otherwise, we might not be here right now.) We started with rum punches, which were sweet and fruity and oh so easy-to-drink. Thankfully there was plenty of tasty food coming to help absorb some of the alcohol we'd be imbibing that evening.

Rum Punch

You can check out Woody's menu here.

Among our favorites were the spicy Caesar salad. I'm a sucker for grilled romaine, and loved the piquant dressing, which was spicy but not overly so.

Spicy Caesar Salad
grilled Romaine hearts, queso fresco, spicy Caesar dressing, radish, corn strips

We also enjoyed the nachos. Despite looking like merely chips and cheese, the grilled pineapple salsa and chipotle jerk crema added a myriad of smoky, spicy, and sweet flavors.

Woody’s Nachos
corn chips, house made cheese sauce, grilled pineapple salsa,
pico de gallo, scallions, chipotle jerk crema

Mr Minx also really enjoyed the Jamaican hot pepper shrimp, served with a hunk of baguette to dip in the flavorful juices.

Jamaican Hot Pepper Shrimp
spiced scotch bonnet pepper butter, red stripe, baguette

Calamari
corn flour fried, Woody spice, mango chile sauce

Island Wings
spicy pineapple BBQ sauce

Also notable were the calamari and wings.

We also tasted all of the sandwiches on the menu, particularly enjoying the Cubano. Out of the four varieties of tacos available (fish, shrimp, black bean falafel, and jerk chicken) we perhaps enjoyed the fish tacos most of all, although the falafels were pretty delicious as well.

Woody’s World Famous Fish Tacos
marinated mahi, Baja slaw, lime crema, pico de gallo, cheddar jack cheese

If you've got a hankering for the islands but can't afford to leave the mainland, head over to Woody's for Caribbean-inspired food and drinks. Watch the Os, grab a mai tai, and have a good time.





Posted on Minxeats.com.

The Crackpot

In the early 2000s, the basic cable channels were peppered with commercials for the Crackpot restaurant. The announcer would rattle off the eccentric list of crab cake offerings like the Hawaiian crab cake, the Caribbean Jerk crab cake, the Cruise Missile crab cake, and their Pounder Plus. The latter was announced with a slightly suggestive lilt in the voice, implying that size really did matter. The Minx and I would joke about these commercials and we swore that we had to check this place out. Then the commercials disappeared and so did our curiosity. Over 10 years later, a coupon appeared in the mail for the Crackpot, so we decided we should finally make due on our pledge.

The Crackpot is a pretty old school establishment and they make no bones about it, even declaring themselves a "retro" restaurant on their web site. Being rather retro myself, I'm all for it provided the food is good. Before diving into some of their signature crab cakes, we ordered some appetizers. I went with the fried calamari since I think it's a good gauge of a restaurant's ability to handle seafood.

To my relief, the calamari were properly cooked. No rubber bands here. The light coating tasted of Old Bay, and in place of the usual chunky marinara, I was given a thin, slightly sweet tomato sauce that would make for a pretty good pizza sauce.

The Minx ordered the oysters imperial. Talk about old school! The sauce had that lightly sweet richness that we remembered from childhood, and the vivid yellow color, too. There was a decent amount of crab involved, and the oysters were succulent and meaty.

For the crab cakes, we didn't want to go too crazy. After all, a Mexican cake with salsa, onions, and green peppers probably will not taste much like crab against all that spice and sauce. Instead, I opted for the blackened crab cake with Creole seasonings. The cake itself was quite good. Not authentic Maryland crab or jumbo lump, but meaty all the same with very little filler. The Creole seasonings were barely noticeable on the first few bites, but the spice slowly caught up with me as I continued to eat it.

Minx's Caribbean Jerk crab cake looked more blackened on the outside than my blackened cake, and the spices were more prevalent right from the first bite. Not sure that this combination is entirely correct for a crab cake. Ingredients like allspice, nutmeg, and thyme don't really connect in my mind with seafood, but the cake itself was pleasant to eat. Hers seemed to have a bit more stuff other than crab in it, too, but she felt it more "saucy," than "bready," which is a good thing.

The specialty crab cakes were fun to try, but next time we'll likely stick to their "old-fashioned all lump" crab cake (old fashioned and all lump don't quite go together in our minds, but whatever) or some of their other seafood entrees. The Crackpot is the kind of place that reminds me of my youth. Satisfying seafood dishes, families huddled over piles of steamed crabs, and an Orioles game on the television, This is the kind of retro I can appreciate.



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Jerked Around

Normally, I'm not a big fan of jerks. Humans, obviously, but also chicken. I really don't enjoy the flavor of dried thyme when used in quantities larger than a pinch, and while I do like hot food, I also like to have the ability to feel my palate, lips, and tongue after eating.

In the naiveté of youth, I tended to give jerks a chance. This often resulted in disappointment - by an imbalance of seasoning or, well, just plain imbalance. Recently, however, I have found that I can have a meaningful relationship with jerks, but only those that spent the majority of their lives flapping their useless forelimbs and shitting copiously. For some, that description may well include the random ex-boyfriend, but for me, it refers to chickens that have been marinated in a mixture of herbs and spices (most notably thyme, allspice, and scotch bonnet chiles) before being grilled.

My friend Raine recently came back from a cruise to the islands and presented me with a souvenir jar of jerk spices. I gave it a taste, right out of the container, and was pleased by the balance of seasonings and heat. I had some cornish game hens in the freezer and thought I'd cheat a bit. Rather than marinating the suckers, I rubbed them with garlic butter and coated them with a goodly amount of my newly acquired seasoning. And while that particular day would have been perfect for grilling, I popped the birds into the oven, instead. The results were succulent, spicy, and just a little bit hot.

Jerky Hens

2 tablespoons butter, softened
4 cloves garlic, crushed (I used 2 cloves of regular and 2 cloves of black garlic, just because)
2 1¼ - 1½ lb cornish game hens
2 generous tablespoons jerk seasoning (if you want to make your own, here's a recipe)

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Mash the garlic and butter together until well-blended.

Using your fingers, loosen the skin on the hens' breasts to make pockets; be careful not to tear the skin. Place blobs of butter under the skin (also using your fingers) and rub the rest of the butter on the skin all over the hens. Coat each hen with about a tablespoon of jerk seasoning.

Place hens, breast side up, in a roasting pan lined with foil and roast for 25 minutes at 450°F. Turn heat down to 350°F and roast for 25-30 minutes more, until a thermometer inserted into the meatiest part of the bird registers 165°F.

Remove birds from roasting pan and allow to rest for about 5 minutes. Using a sharp chef's knife, cut the chickens in half and serve one half per person.

Serves 4

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Savannah's Kitchen

I tell ya, every new week brings a new food truck. Or two.

Savannah's Kitchen specializes in Caribbean food (or, Carribbean, as it's spelled on the side of the truck). Their very limited menu offers a "meal deal" platter that includes rice and beans, cabbage, and a can of soda with your choice of curry chicken or jerk chicken. There's also a "salad deal" with choice of the same proteins, plus Jamaican patties and a curry chicken wrap.

I was feeling cheap the first time I hit the truck so ordered the $5 wrap, which came with a can of soda. The "curry chicken" in this case was chicken salad, one with a nice chicken-to-mayo ratio, and a couple of raisins to add sweetness. The portion felt a mite skimpy (since I can get a humongous 2-scoop chicken salad sammich at the hospital cafeteria for less than $4), but it tasted pretty darn good.

I later tried the jerk chicken "meal deal," which for $9 was a mammoth platter of food. The not-quite-half chicken was tender and juicy, and the savory skin was perfectly seasoned. I often find jerk seasoning to be unbalanced, with either too much allspice or too much thyme. Sometimes it's just too hot for my palate. Savannah's was delicious, and just right for me. A good thing, because there was so much food, it took me two days to eat it all.

Savannah's Kitchen doesn't have a regular schedule, so if you want to see it in your area, you might want to post your location on their Facebook page.



Posted on Minxeats.com.