My Poison Pen

I'm going to come right out and say it: writing positive reviews for good restaurants isn't fun. There are only so many ways of saying a dish works, that it's tasty, fun to eat, well-conceived, yadda yadda. There are myriad ways, however, of saying something is bad. While a meal might be unsatisfying during the eating aspect of it, the glee I get from trashing it verbally can more than make up for shitty food and worse service. The crazy comments a negative review can inspire are also pretty damn amusing. 

The highlighted text below contains links to my original posts, if you are so inclined to read them.

A long-ago visit to The Melting Pot in Towson left us wondering why anyone would pay good money to eat hot garbage. On the upside, the meal provided me with a fun-to-write blog post. Additionally, some unhinged TMP stan left an outrageous comment while posing as a West Coast food journalist. That got its own blog post.

Milan was a restaurant/club that was not well-received by its Little Italy neighbors. We ate there once. The food was actually pretty decent, but our first impression wasn't so great.

"Stepping into the restaurant, I was immediately struck by a smell. No, not of garlic and shellfish, nor of long-simmered tomato sauce, but of bathroom. A nasty chlorine+potty smell. Granted, we were the first people in the restaurant, and possibly when there are more people in the place and the kitchen is in full swing, the smell isn't noticeable. But it's really off-putting for that to be the first sensation encountered. (I eventually got used to it.)

"Once upstairs on the main floor, I saw that the glossy veneer from two years ago, when the restaurant was new, has faded. The black paint on the wood floor is worn off in paths, the paint on the ceiling has bubbled and cracked, and the tables and chairs show wear. One of the high-backed chairs, which doesn't quite match the others, is patched up with white tape. I'm guessing that the intended effect of the stark white decor with touches of scarlet is "modern" and "classy." And I suppose it is. Classy like a strip club with bottle service. It's a place where Pauly D and The Situation would be completely at ease, hanging out one on of the lounges covered with upholstery straight out of a '72 Nova."

From a write-up about a quick trip to NYC, which included dinner at A Voce in Columbus Circle:

"While the first course was successful, the pici that I ordered for my entree was a total disappointment. Pici is a hand-rolled pasta, somewhat like a thick spaghetti. Imagine making a snake of modeling clay by rolling it between your palm and a table top, and you've got pici. Because they're somewhat thick and about  4" long, picking them up with a fork is like wrestling with a bowl of tarantulas. They're not easily twirled, so a fork full had random ends hanging out in each direction, some of which were happy to slap me in the face as I brought the fork to my mouth. Eventually, I used my knife to cut them into shorter bits. In any case, awkwardness was the least of the dish's problems. The sauce was a bolognese in name only. It had an agrodolce (sweet and sour) thing going on that could have been quite delicious had the sauce had any other thing going on, too. The tiny nubbins of ground duck (which could have been any meat - turkey, rattlesnake) served as a textural element only, and I couldn't taste the cocoa in the pasta. After three or four bites, I was bored with the dish. Thankfully, it wasn't a large portion, so I pushed on and finished it, knowing that a doggie bag wouldn't safely survive the three-plus hours it would take me to get home."

Restaurant Week is always a fine opportunity to eat crappy food. I have always thought that the reason for Restaurant Week is to lure in new patrons with a reasonably priced menu, hook them with amazing food, and turn them into repeat customers who are willing to pay full price. Apparently that memo is only in my head. A 2008 RW meal at Tabrizi's had a high point or two, but was otherwise unexceptional.

"This unadorned plate of worms/bran buds/Plah-Doh after a trip through a Fuzzy Pumper play set is actually Mr Minx's chocolate mousse. Or, more accurately, chocolate ganache - melted chocolate whipped with heavy cream. If it was real mousse, with egg in it, I'd be very surprised. It tasted ok, but really wasn't worth the effort of washing out the ricer."

Another fun post to write involved our 2011 meal at Alchemy, in Hampden. It was Restaurant Week, and clearly Alchemy couldn't handle the extra-ness of it all. Though we normally eat on the early side of dinnertime, when the restaurant isn't busy, the kitchen still had a problem getting the courses out on time. The first course took forever, and the entrees came out while we were still eating our apps. Our waiter, who had promised to "take care of us," never gave us a second look, even while we were juggling five plates of food on a tiny table. The food itself was uneven, perhaps too ambitious. Dishes had multiple components that were under-seasoned or improperly cooked, though the proteins were pretty good. My dessert, a cabernet blackberry sorbet, was outstanding, and the only thing that would prompt my return to Alchemy. As it was, we never went back, and the restaurant closed a couple years later. If you check out the post, do read the handful of entertaining comments.

Occasionally, friends rave over a restaurant enough that Mr Minx and I have to try it. Over the years, I've learned that not all of my friends have good taste. One couple in particular loved Silver Spring Mining Company. I suppose lots of people like the place, as the restaurant has multiple locations. We, however, were not impressed. The food we ate was...edible...but not good enough for a return trip. I took umbrage to a mixed-protein creole masquerading as a jambalaya, and a "Reuben" sandwich that had rye bread and thousand island, but not corned beef, sauerkraut, or Swiss. Additionally, it contained a "razor-thin slice of nearly-white supermarket blandness that is a sin even during the Winter, but worthy of eternal damnation during tomato season." I stand by that opinion.

Some people think I'm a food snob, but that's not true at all. I just expect good-tasting food that is properly made and falls within standards that are acceptable to any local health department. My BFF's 50th birthday party was held at the Kentmorr, a seafood restaurant on the Eastern Shore. The only thing I remember about that meal is being served tepid crab soup, one of those half-and-half jobbies that was a mix of Maryland crab and cream of crab. Apparently, someone had accidentally turned off the burner under the pot of cream of crab, which remained on the stove long enough to get cold. Soup with cream and seafood in it. Yeahhh....no thanks. 

Occasionally an otherwise decent meal has dishes that fall short of expectations. And sometimes those dishes are pretty bad. But that makes them fun to write about.

Barcocina dip

"The Barcocina dip, listed on the menu as "an Oaxaca queso fundido" had a curious fluffy texture studded with odd rubbery and flavorless bits of chorizo, topped with a whole poached egg (not fried, as the menu indicated). While the yolk was runny, the white was very firm and required a knife to cut and distribute through the dip. The accompanying tortilla chips were weeny, as if made from taco-sized tortillas, and not big enough to scoop up a decent amount of dip."

While we adored Jesse Wong's Hong Kong, a restaurant on the lakefront in Columbia, we felt the opposite about his Hunt Valley restaurant. Jesse Wong's Kitchen served various Asian cuisines, including sushi, but wasn't particularly good at any of them. At least not the food we tried on our two visits. After our disastrous first meal, a lunch, I swore I'd never set foot in the place again. Then we received a gift card from my Dad's girlfriend, which made me eat my words. Sadly, they were tastier than the food at Jesse Wong's Kitchen. Turns out the gift card had no balance, and I had to pay for the crap we ate. I was pretty pleased when the restaurant closed, though I was sad that Hong Kong eventually shut down as well.

I'm sure I've written about several more poor restaurant experiences over the years, but I want to include just one more in this post. It's another Restaurant Week meal, this time at Oyster Bay Grille. The problem was not the meal itself (which was pretty good), but the way management handled a situation.  

"In a few moments, the man who had shucked the oysters came by, ostensibly to apologize. Now, let me give some pointers on apologies for restaurants. Restaurant Apologies 101, if you will. The very first thing to do is to say, 'I'm very sorry.' The next thing to do is to offer recompense. 'Let me take the oysters off the check,' or some such. And that's it. Then go away and let the diners finish their meal. Sticking around to make excuses like, 'they were hard to open,' and 'this is why we put oyster forks out' are not acceptable. (Especially when there was only one oyster fork present, and it was jammed into the rind of a lemon. Were we to wrestle it out and then share it?) You work at a damn oyster bar--learn how to shuck a fucking oyster. Bleeding customers are not happy customers, and Mr Minx spent the rest of the meal in a foul humor. Especially when another man, presumably an owner or manager who had been randomly wandering, came around to say he saw something going on at our table. He did not offer an apology or anything else; it seemed that he was there simply out of curiosity. When each of these men returned to our table yet again, individually, to ask 'you ok?' later on during the meal, it must have been the thought of liability niggling them. It just plain annoyed us." 

OBG's chef read my post and, in a comment, offered a free dinner. Because he knows how to treat guests properly. We declined, but I had enjoyed my rockfish entree enough to request the recipe for one of our books. 

Have you had any bad meals or bad service recently? I'd love to hear about it....so leave a comment!

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Chiapparelli's

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on August 31, 2011.

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When I was a kid, growing up in Fells Point, a trip to Little Italy (or, as we pronounced it, "Lil Lily") was usually reserved for special occasions. Once in a while we'd get a pizza from DiNitti's, or a bag of ossa di morte ("bones of the dead" - very hard, clove-flavored cookies) from Vaccaro's, but we wouldn't have a sit-down dinner at any of our favorite red-sauce joints unless it was for a special reason. Ok, so sometimes the occasion was merely that we wanted to get dressed up and go out to eat. If we felt really fancy, we'd go to Vellegia's, which seemed to us to be the poshest restaurant in the area, otherwise we'd go to Sabatino's or Chiapparelli's.

Vellegia's is gone now, but Chip's and Sab's live on. Recently, Chip's offered a Groupon, which I snatched up, knowing that Mr Minx had never experienced any of the classic Little Italy restaurants. We had an opportunity to use it for his birthday - a very special occasion indeed.

While offering many of the same classics as every other restaurant in the neighborhood (ravioli, veal Parmesan, chicken Marsala), Chip's menu has been modernized a bit and offers new classics like stuffed portobello mushrooms and grilled salmon, along with crab cakes and a rib-eye for those weirdos who go to Italian restaurants but not to eat Italian food. Don't get me wrong - Chip's is still very much an old-school restaurant: the bread basket contained squishy Italian bread and a handful of prepackaged butter pats. You'll find no plates of artisinal olive oil enhanced with house-dried herbs here! And every entrée automatically comes with the famous garlic-and-cheese-laden Chiapparelli's salad, practically a meal in itself.

Once upon a time, Italian restaurants suggested ordering a pasta course AND a meat course, but since most Americans consider pasta a dinner unto itself, that's usually not the case anymore. But how could we dine at a restaurant that makes its own pasta and not have a pasta course? We opted to split an order of the "besto pesto" - the classic Genoese basil/pine nut/parm purée, mixed with a judicious amount of cream (that the menu, in a bit of reverse exaggeration, describes as a "touch"), coating strands of nicely toothsome maccherone. The dish is also available with chicken or shrimp, but I think the dish was plenty decadent without the addition of protein.

Honestly, after the giant salad and the rich pasta, I could have called it quits, but I had ordered an entrée, too. While not normally a fan of veal, I was in the mood for brasciole. Chip's version is rolled with some prosciutto and served with a generous portion of old-school potato gnocchi and a brightly-flavored marinara. Because it's so easy to make tough gnocchi, I find that most cooks try too hard to achieve the opposite effect. Eating a bowl of squishy pillows can occasionally get boring. One bite of Chiapparelli's gnocchi, however, took me instantly back to my childhood, to gnocchi that actually required chewing, and that occasionally caused an upset tummy after overindulgence. This is a good thing. Too much of one, it seems, because after three pieces of pasta and a quarter of the meat, I was done.

Mr Minx didn't have as difficult a time scarfing down most of his veal Saltimbocca, with spinach, proscuitto, and Parmesan in a Marsala wine sauce that tasted as if it contained a (un)healthy amount of butter. While not the most elegant version of saltimbocca, it was a hearty, rib-sticking dish, with tender veal and perfectly-cooked spinach.

We opted not to have dessert at Chip's, but after learning that it was Mr Minx's birthday, our (lovely, accomodating, and very suave) waiter brought a house-made mini cannoli as a sweet little gift to end the meal.

We went home that evening very full, quite content, and reeking of garlic. And with a large bag of leftovers (including an entire salad, since the pasta dish was considered an entrée) that would constitute my lunch for the remainder of the week. I don't know why we don't eat in Little Italy more often. Next time - Sab's.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Milan

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on June 6, 2012.

Note: I always have fun writing somewhat snarky posts. Milan closed a few years ago.
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Earlier in the year I paid $39 for a Travelzoo voucher worth $129 at Milan. Other local bloggers had an opportunity to eat there for free shortly after the restaurant opened in early 2010. From photos and descriptions of the place, Milan seemed rather high-concept for Little Italy, and I wasn't sure such a place would make it in that neighborhood. I was still curious to try it out, so we paid a visit toward the end of May.

Wow. Where should I begin?

I'll begin with first impressions. Stepping into the restaurant, I was immediately struck by a smell. No, not of garlic and shellfish, nor of long-simmered tomato sauce, but of bathroom. A nasty chlorine+potty smell. Granted, we were the first people in the restaurant, and possibly when there are more people in the place and the kitchen is in full swing, the smell isn't noticeable. But it's really off-putting for that to be the first sensation encountered. (I eventually got used to it.)

Once upstairs on the main floor, I saw that the glossy veneer from two years ago, when the restaurant was new, has faded. The black paint on the wood floor is worn off in paths, the paint on the ceiling has bubbled and cracked, and the tables and chairs show wear. One of the high-backed chairs, which doesn't quite match the others, is patched up with white tape. I'm guessing that the intended effect of the stark white decor with touches of scarlet is "modern" and "classy." And I suppose it is. Classy like a strip club with bottle service. It's a place where Pauly D and The Situation would be completely at ease, hanging out one on of the lounges covered with upholstery straight out of a '72 Nova.

We were greeted by a tiny woman with masses of long black hair. She was wearing a skin-tight, very short skirt and sleeveless top, looking more like a nightclub patron than a restaurant hostess. Turns out she was our waitress. And the other waitresses in the place were similarly attired. Call me old, but I find it tacky when people who are serving food are required to be sexed up in that way. Were the place truly classy, the servers would be wearing crisp white or black button-down shirts and dark trousers, perhaps with a long apron. But maybe that's just me.

Or maybe the place just isn't classy.

Recently there's been some stink in Little Italy about how Milan is really a nightclub and not a restaurant. And the neighborhood, largely residential, is not zoned for such an enterprise. Nor, I imagine, do the residents look favorably upon the noise, or the clientele. And I can understand completely.

Enough with the bad stuff. Let's move to the food, which is the only thing I'm (somewhat) qualified to judge.

We ordered from a special menu that listed two salads, two appetizers, and a handful of entrees. Despite the limited choices, I was glad to see that we were not given the regular menu, on which the prices are annoyingly expressed in Euros as well as dollars. For absolutely no reason at all. I wish I had written things down in more detail, because I don't think the menu descriptions were accurate. Doesn't matter, really. The food was good, starting with the plate of crostini served with a warm dip of fiercely-garlicky seasoned olive oil, a bagna cauda.

Salads came next. Mr Minx chose the more simple green salad, and I had the Cesare Diablo. Here's where the menu descriptions come in question.

Mescolato Verdi

We think the menu said Mr Minx's salad came with dried cherries, but they were clearly dried cranberries. No biggie. My salad, however, had the word "diablo" in the name. Not reading the description fully led me to believe that the dressing would be spicy, but it was not. The online menu gives the impression that there should have been deviled eggs with the salad, but there were none. So I'm still trying to figure out that whole "diablo" thing.

Cesare Diavolo

Clearly, however, the salad did not need those ugly winter tomatoes. That said, I appreciate that Mr Minx's green salad had been carefully dressed in the kitchen with a perfect amount of creamy herbal dressing. My salad had been composed, so the drizzle of dressing on top was fine. As long as the dressing is not on the side, I'm happy. And the flavors of both were really pretty good.

For our appetizers, Mr Minx had a small wedge of crisp polenta topped with a chunk of mild Italian sausage on a plate drizzled with three sauces: a creamy red pepper sauce, one flavored with balsamic vinegar, and another with basil. It looked pretty and tasted very good. We couldn't really figure out how the polenta was so crispy yet had no color other than the brilliant yellow of cornmeal.

My calamari was scented with Old Bay, but really didn't taste of it. The puffy little rings were lightly battered and perfectly cooked, and I preferred them dipped in the leftover bagna cauda than in the light marinara that came with it.

Two good courses so far. And then we received a bizarre intermezzo. Rather than the usual palate-cleansing bit of tart sorbet, we received shot glasses filled with palate-coating pink whipped cream and a few bits of strawberry. It actually tasted pretty good, despite being super-sweet, but would have made a better dessert.

Mr Minx had chosen ravioli for his entree, and he was presented with a long platter of what appeared to be lasagna noodles covered in an unfortunate-looking sauce. The restaurant manager, who had been hovering nearby the whole time, stated that the ravioli were "deconstructed." Ok. In any case, the noodles were layered with bits of sundried tomato, basil, and bits and bobs of grilled chicken. The sauce, which I expected to taste like Thousand Island, was extremely rich and pretty much tomato-flavored heavy cream. That's not a bad thing, necessarily. It was a bit too much for me, but hubby happily scarfed it up.

My entree was a risotto topped with chunks of meltingly-tender lamb and soft slabs of onion in a savory gravy and a goodly amount of shaved parmesan cheese. The risotto was a little clumpy, but then so is mine. I really enjoyed the stew-like topping and wished there was more of it, but it was just as well - after a generous sample of Mr Minx's dish, I couldn't finish my own.

Dessert was forgettable. My cheesecake, served on a plate that seemed to be decorated with a melted version of the strawberry intermezzo, was fluffy and fine, but hubby's chocolate cake was terrible. Clearly obtained from a commercial bakery, it was cloyingly sweet and even a bit crunchy from excess sugar. It tasted more of chemicals than chocolate. Also included in the price of the meal were two glasses of wine apiece, which translated to two servings of about two ounces of unremarkable swill.

At the end of the meal, we were presented with a tab for $2.49, which included .15 sales tax. I didn't understand it, considering that my voucher stated that the meal included all food and beverages, but I left a couple of bucks extra on the table with the tip to take care of it.

So. I really don't know what to think about Milan. The food we ate was mostly pretty good. If you take away the sweet stuff, it was really good. Our server was quite lovely, very attentive, and I felt bad that she had to lug such heavy plates out of the kitchen, considering her wee size. The decor was, to me, sad, and out of place in the neighborhood. Perhaps if the restaurant had been set up a few blocks to the south, in Harbor East, and if the furnishings were a bit more expensive-looking, Milan could compete with Pazo for an audience of hip and pretty people who like to eat.

As we were headed out the door, we noticed what looked to be a somewhat grizzled neighborhood guy sitting at the bar. A young couple with a toddler were waiting to be seated. These are the people who frequent (and live in) Little Italy, and the people that Milan should be catering to. If they want to be a dance club, they should probably move elsewhere. If they're going to stay, they should keep the chef, get rid of the rickety tables and the bottle service, and for god's sake, switch to a lemon-scented bathroom cleaner.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Atelier de Culinaire

Rack of Lamb

The Stratford University School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts in Baltimore has officially opened its own restaurant, Atelier de Culinaire, which translates to "culinary workshop." Located in Little Italy, the restaurant is an off-campus vehicle for their students to have hands-on, real-life, restaurant working experience. 

Atelier de Culinaire is running a grand opening special: three courses, plus a non-alcoholic beverage for $25 (plus tax & gratuity). The menu includes starters such as chilled lobster salad, beef carpaccio, steamed mussels, or spinach salad. Main dishes include halibut, wasabi ginger-crusted salmon, rack of lamb, crab cakes, duck, pork chops, and a whole sizzling catfish. Finally, indulge in a sweet third course; all dessert selections are made in house and vary from day to day. There's a full bar and a la carte menu as well.

This special will run through Friday, August 3rd. Be sure to mention the soft opening special when making your reservations and upon your arrival.

Margarita Tart

Additionally, Atelier de Culinaire will serve the public Wednesdays through Saturdays from 6pm-10pm. They will be adding a Sunday Champagne Brunch as of August 12th from 11am-4pm.

Lobster Salad

Along with food and beverage choices, the menu includes a rather unique option, “Atelier de Culinaire is proud to showcase a staff of Stratford University students about to finish their internships and seeking employment opportunities. If you are interested in speaking with any of our interns about future employment, please let us know.”

Atelier de Culinaire
806 Stiles Street
Baltimore MD 21202
Reservations: 410-528-2710
Open Wednesday – Saturday (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.)
Twitter & Instagram: @Atelier_806
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Atelier806/

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Spotlight On - Cafe Gia

Not sure if anyone knows, but I've been writing a restaurant column for the City Walker App Blog. The purpose of the app itself is to give visitors a local's-eye-view of a city, so they are able to experience it in the same way residents do--on foot. (Not that anyone actually walks anywhere anymore.) The blog offers a bit more detail; I have endeavored to take users on a stroll through the city while pointing out restaurants along the way. In addition to the walking posts, I have been writing others that put certain favorite restaurants of mine in a spotlight. I thought I could share those here with you.
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The brick building at the corner of President and Fleet Streets--currently home to the Baltimore Civil War Museum--has seen a lot of action over the years. Originally a train station, it was involved in the Baltimore Riot of 1861, a skirmish that produced the first casualties of the Civil War. President Street Station was also the terminus for scores of Italian immigrants who had originally entered the U.S. through Ellis Island in New York and took the train to Baltimore. They came from all over Italy--from Genoa and Naples on the mainland, Palermo and Cefalu in Sicily--and many settled down virtually at the station’s doorstep in the neighborhood that became known as Little Italy.

So it came to be that multiple generations of the same Italian family lived in the same small rowhouse with hopes to raise future generations in the same place. Today, most of the neighborhood is still of Italian descent, but there are folks of other ethnicities living here and there, drawn to the neighborhood’s warmth and staying power, and its proximity to downtown. The Aquia family are relative newcomers to the area, having only arrived in Baltimore from Cefalu, Sicily, in 1953. Matriarch Giovanna has said, “at a time when no one liked to move around, our family traveled 3500 miles and we haven’t moved 200 feet since.” Gia Fracassetti, Giovanna’s daughter, is first-generation American and the third generation to live in Little Italy. She decided she wanted to own a restaurant that honored not only her family’s long association with the neighborhood, but also with their Sicilian homeland. She and her Mom opened their eponymous restaurant in 2006 in a corner building embellished inside and out with colorful murals, some depicting life in Sicily, including a replica of the wedding portrait of Rosa and Pasquale, the first generation of the Aquia family to settle in Little Italy. Painted images from old advertising posters decorate the interior, and even the tabletops sport colorful illustrations, all done by local artist Yuri Fatkulin who sadly passed away not long after he finished painting those tables.

The chef at Cafe Gia is Gianfranco Fracassetti. Gian, who hails from Lombardy in the northwest of Italy, worked for a few Baltimore restaurants before ending up at Cafe Gia in 2009. After eight years there, he’s a member of the family. Literally, as he and Gia are married and have added a fourth generation to their Little Italy legacy. Chef Fracassetti’s specialty is homemade stuffed pastas, but he’s no slouch when it comes to anything else on the menu. On a recent visit, hubs and I were able to sit outside on their shaded second floor deck and enjoy the pleasant sunny weather without actually coming in contact with the sun. We ordered a special that evening, a flavorful tuna tartare with the crunch of fresh white corn and a healthy dose of garlic from the pesto aioli that bound it together. We also enjoyed a beet salad, which is not to say a green salad with a few token beets on top, but a great mound of tender cubed red barbabietole (a fun word pronounced “barh bah BYIH toh leh”) in the lightest of dressings, with a lacy garnish of finely shaved fresh fennel. I was intrigued by a pork shank braised with beer (a Flying Dog IPA) and peaches accompanied by a risotto with walnuts and broccolini. It was a dish that managed to be both rustic and elegant in all its many flavors and textures, from the porky depth of the man’s-fist-sized shank and the light sweetness of the rich sauce, to the perfectly cooked rice with vaguely asparagus-like broccolini and crunchy nuts. I loved it. My husband went classic; his order of tender veal saltimbocca had a pronounced sage flavor and just the right amount of cheese. It came with sides of roasted multicolored potatoes and green beans slicked with olive oil. A cannoli for dessert (though we were sorely tempted by Giovanna’s delicious tiramisu) and glasses of Sangiovese rounded out our meal.

On past visits, we’ve enjoyed the grilled octopus served with garbanzo beans, the super-tender sous-vide calamari, the beefy Bolognese sauce over house-made fettuccine, and the eggplant Parmesan. Also recommended are the polpette di Luca, meatballs made with ground bison and ricotta. Though bison is a leaner protein than beef, these meatballs are very moist and tender and remind me of the ones my aunt made. She wasn’t Italian, but her father-in-law was, and his recipe made the very best meatballs on the planet as far as I am concerned.

You may, of course, prefer to have a cocktail or a glass of wine with a few nibbles rather than a full meal. Next door to Cafe Gia is Pane e Vino, a sweet little wine bar owned by Steven Blatterman, Gia’s brother, but definitely a family affair. We love their specialty cocktails, our favorite being the Spicy Sicilian, a sprightly combination of pepper vodka, limoncello, kumquat syrup, and lemon, but the vodka/grapefruit/ginger flavors of the Charm City Girl and the tequila, blood orange, and ginger beer concoction called Redheads Have More Fun are tasty as well. The full Cafe Gia menu is also available at Pane e Vino, in case the crispy chickpeas on the bar whet your appetite for more.

Cafe Gia
410 S High Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 685-6727



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Pane e Vino

Among the tastiest restaurants in Baltimore's Little Italy is Cafe Gia. Owned by Gia Fracassetti with husband Gianfranco in the kitchen, they produce fresh and flavorful Italian cuisine. We highly recommend the place, but if you're more in the mood for a drink and something more akin to small plates, pop next door to Pane e Vino.

Pane e Vino, or bread and wine, is owned by Gia's brother, Steven, but it's still very much a Fracassetti collaboration; Gian created the bar's menu, and Gia helped with the interior design. The space itself is quite small and very intimate, and feels like a really chic private club.

Mr Minx and I recently attended a media tasting for an introduction to the bar's cocktails and several types of snacks.

Mini burrata, fava, prosciutto, and tomato salad.

With our first cocktail, the Spicy Sicilian (pepper vodka, limoncello, kumquat syrup, lemon), we were brought dishes of Pane e Vino's burrata with tomatoes, fava beans, and prosciutto, and calamari cooked en sous vide with broccoli rabe and tomatoes in a savory broth, with toasted bread on the side. Both were delicious. I'm a big fan of creamy, rich, burrata cheese, and thought the small ball was the perfect size for one (or two, if I am feeling generous but probably not).

Sous vide calamari, rapini, tomatoes

The calamari was silky and tender and the bitter rapini was a nice accent. I was rather annoyed, however, that I had to share this lovely dish with two other people and didn't have it and a plate of toast all to myself.

Porcini, prosciutto, and gorgonzola flatbread

We then sampled a flatbread. Not particularly flat, the focaccia-based treat was generously portioned and definitely enough for two or three. The salty combination of gorgonzola and prosciutto worked very well as an accompaniment to an alcoholic beverage or two, like the Charm City Girl (MD's own Sloop Betty vodka, fresh grapefruit, ginger syrup, club soda), Redheads Have More Fun (tequila, blood orange, ginger beer, lime), or a Smooth Country Ride (cognac, anisette, lemon, rhubarb black pepper syrup).

Chicken drumsticks, homemade spicy harissa, bleu cheese and celery

Rather than the usual chicken wings, Pane e Vino serves chicken drumsticks, cooked until delightfully moist and juicy, and generously sauced with a fiery harissa. Those of us who favor heat enjoyed the spicy and flavorful legs on their own, but the faint of heart will appreciate the cooling nature of the accompanying celery sticks and bleu cheese dressing.

Giant buffalo/ricotta meatball with rustic garlic toast

What we tried so far was really quite nice, but my favorite dishes were yet to come. The giant meatball of lean bison made moist and super tender by ricotta cheese reminded me of the amazing meatballs made by my late Aunt Stasia. So good! And while the garlic toast sopped up the sauce perfectly, Mr Minx was not so secretly hankering for a big pile of spaghetti, instead.

Piadina with grilled steak, Stracchino, arugula, harissa, pickled onions.

The piadine, stuffed with steak and a type of creamy young cow's-milk cheese called Stracchino resembled quesadillas. A piadina, or piada, is a thin rustic flatbread, reminiscent of pita, roti, or lavash, which is served rolled or stuffed with cheese and other ingredients. I loved the bite of the harissa with the steak, cooled down by the creamy cheese.

Nutella bread pudding, banana ice cream

Finally, we had dessert--a simple but decadent Nutella bread pudding. Not just Nutella-flavored, there was also a ribbon of the gooey chocolate hazelnut spread inside. The banana ice cream was good, but not really even necessary. More bread pudding, please.

More of everything, actually. It was all really delicious, from cocktails to sweets. We look forward to going back and sampling more of both food and beverage. And maybe another of those terrific meatballs (or two).





Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cafe Gia

I hadn't heard of Cafe Gia until we started working on our book, Baltimore Chef's Table. After studying their web site, however, I knew I wanted to go there badly. Ornately painted both inside and out, Cafe Gia looks like a romanticized rendering of an Italian cafe. It's bright, colorful, warm, and inviting. The food also provides the warm, comforting feeling that one desires from Italian cooking.

On our recent visit, I started with a glass of Gia's Sangria, heavy on the wine but cool and refreshing. Since the Minx has been avoiding alcohol, the bartender recommended San Pellegrino grapefruit soda, which she seemed quite pleased with.

We decided to split a pair of appetizers. Our first appetizer was the orchard salad. The sweetness of the fruit paired well with the slightly bitter and peppery greens. The dressing was perfectly balanced, and the toasted walnuts added a new dimension of crunch and savoriness.

We were both eager to try the octopus, and we were not disappointed. Most octopus I've had is either like rubber bands when it's bad or mostly tender when it's good. It appeared that this octopus was grilled after braising, judging by the crispy suction cups. The result was a slightly chewy outside with soft and tender meat inside. This combination of textures worked quite well and reminded me of the texture of some shaped pastas when they are cooked properly.

Speaking of pasta, for my entree, I chose the fettuccine bolognese. The bolognese had a deep, beefy flavor that indicated long hours of slow cooking. Some restaurants cheat by adding heavy cream, but Cafe Gia offers an honest version that allows the beef to take center stage. The fettuccine was perfectly al dente.

The Minx chose the made-to-order eggplant parmigiana with a side of linguine. The marinara sauce was bright with fresh tomato flavor. The thinly sliced eggplant was layered and smothered with mozzarella cheese before baking, and the meaty texture could fool someone into thinking that this wasn't a vegetarian dish. It also had no trace of the bitter quality that turns me off to eggplant.

In addition to the festive decor and the delicious food, owner Gia Blatterman and the staff create a friendly and welcoming feeling as if you are visiting a friend's home for dinner. There's also al fresco dining on the second floor balcony during the warmer months, allowing patrons to enjoy chef Gianfranco Fracassetti's inventive cuisine while taking in the quaint views of Little Italy.


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Maggiano's

My family has long been a fan of Maggiano's, an Italian restaurant chain. Up to recently, the closest location was in Tyson's Corner. It's not exactly nearby, so a meal at the restaurant was more of a pilgrimage than a simple dinner out. Last year, a branch opened in Annapolis, and recently, another opened at the expanded Mall in Columbia.

Both the menu and premises are modeled after old-fashioned Little Italy-style restaurants, incorporating tiled floors, checkered tablecloths, and homey pasta dishes into a comfortable modern establishment.

On the restaurant's opening day, we were invited to witness the braided pasta "ribbon"-cutting ceremony before indulging in a complimentary multi-course family-style meal. 

While the menu offers tons of lovely a la carte dishes, family-style is really the way to go at Maggiano's. There are three price ranges, for Light, Classic, and Chef's Choice menus. We had a combination of all three types of dishes in our tasting, but the format was Classic (three appetizers, four main courses, two desserts).

We started out with the Chopped Salad, which included iceberg lettuce, diced tomatoes, crumbled bleu cheese, avocado, and crispy prosciutto, all tossed with the lightly sweet signature house dressing. My usual favorite salad is the Maggiano's, which swaps out the avocado and tomatoes for some red onion, but I enjoyed the additional creaminess of the avocado. I'm a sucker for a good chopped salad anyway, so it was hard to go wrong here. It was also hard not to eat much more of it (that's actually a large multi-serving bowl in the photo) but we knew there was plenty food a-coming.

Next up were crab cakes, panko coated and served with a tomato aioli and an arugula salad. It's pretty rare that chain restaurants get crab cakes right--this is Maryland, after all, and we are picky. But apart from the addition of bell pepper and their somewhat unnatural puck-like shape, I'd say these were pretty good. Not like homemade, but good.

Even better were the Zucchini Fritte, strips of zucchini breaded in panko and fried just long enough to brown the coating but not make the squash mushy. They came with a lemon aioli dipping sauce. Hard to beat fried food + mayonnaise. 

On to entrees. Two we tasted were pasta dishes, the Rigatoni "D", with roasted chicken, mushrooms, and caramelized onions in a Marsala cream sauce. Um...yum. Rich and creamy, but not insanely-so.

Then there were massive platters of lasagna. Assembled to order, this dish tasted a lot like the homemade lasagna I made last Christmas. The filling had both beef and Italian sausage layered with pasta sheets and ricotta cheese and lots of flavorful sauce. 

We also tried the Salmon Oscar, asiago- and herb-crusted salmon fillets topped with a garlic truffle cream sauce, asparagus, sundried tomatoes, and crab, with a side of orzo. Again, rich and creamy without being over-the-top.

The last of our four entrees was a lightened version of chicken Parmesan. Rather than being deep-fried, the breaded chicken cutlets were baked before being topped with provolone cheese and marinara sauce. I always thought chicken parm should be pan-fried, not deep-fried, but I did enjoy the baked version. The sauce was flavorful, and there was plenty enough cheese to keep this dish out of boring "diet" hell.

Rather than receiving two desserts to share (since there were too many of us), we were brought a mini dessert sampling that included an apple crostata, bite-sized versions of the chocolate zuccatto cake, pound cake with bruleed bananas, NY style cheesecake, and tiramisu. (Note: this sampler is on the regular dessert menu, but not on the family-style menu.) While I felt the icing-to-cake ratio in the zuccatti was too high, I enjoyed the rest of the dishes, especially the crostata, which is like a wee apple pie.

Stuffed to the gills, we left Maggiano's pretty happy. Nice to know that there's one in the area. Now they just need to put one in Towson or Hunt Valley.



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Bagby Pizza Company

Sometime last spring, Mr Minx and I visited Bagby's for the first time. We had started out eating dinner at another Harbor East restaurant and quickly determined that if we ordered enough food to sate our appetites, we'd be broke before the entrees came out. So we nibbled on a couple of items and beat a hasty retreat to the much more-affordable Bagby Pizza Company in the old furniture company building on Fleet between Exeter Street and Central Avenue.

On that trip, we tried a "Sweet & Spicy," featuring spicy tomato puree, spinach, roasted red peppers, red onion, applewood bacon, asiago, goat cheese, and balsamic glaze. It was indeed both sweet and spicy, with a bit of tangy and meaty in there for good measure. It was a perfect balance of flavors. The ultra thin crust was cracker-crispy without being dry, and its lightness made it very easy to eat several pieces without feeling like a pig.

We had intended to go back, but we got busy writing and then promoting Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore and sort of forgot about it. But then a book signing at the Power Plant outpost of Barnes & Noble, within walking distance of Bagby's, gave us an excuse to go back and try a few more things for a late lunch/early dinner.

Bagby's chop salad was named "best chopped salad" by Baltimore's City Paper in 2011, so we thought we should try that, along with a couple of small pizzas.

A mixture of romaine lettuce, squash, asparagus, carrots, celery, onions, and tomato was topped with a sherry-shallot vinaigrette and a dusting of Parmesan cheese. We would have liked a bit more of the dressing and at first wondered if they had forgotten to put it on at all.

We tried two pizzas this time. I chose the duck confit and pear pizza, with herb oil, duck confit, bosc pear, caramelized onions, blue cheese, dried cherry drizzle, parmesan, and a generous topping of arugula. Mr Minx thought the duck pizza could possibly be too sweet, so he ordered something on the saltier side of the aisle, the prosciutto and goat cheese pizza, with tomato puree, prosciutto, arugula, sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, mozzarella, and provolone.

I thought they were both pretty perfect. The duck pizza was not too sweet, and the onions, pears, and bleu cheese were smashing together. The other pizza was a salty, cheesy delight. And both of them were just as tasty (maybe more so) when we reheated the leftovers the next day.

Bagby Pizza Company
1006 Fleet St
Baltimore, MD 21202
bagbypizza.com
(410) 605-0444



Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.