La Calle

There are so many chain restaurants in the Inner Harbor area of downtown Baltimore, that when a locally-owned joint opens up, I get excited. Situated on a bland block of South Street, between Baltimore and Redwood, and a stone's throw from The Block, La Calle--"the street" in Spanish--is among the most exciting. While the name conjures thoughts of street food, the decor--some walls paneled, others painted the color of red mole, a full bar--suggest fine dining.

At this point, I've only ever been for lunch, so have not experienced the lobster empanadas or braised lamb shank barbacoa or chicken mole poblano, all of which sound amazing.

What I have had, so far, has been the shrimp ceviche, light and full of flavor (though the accompanying "sweet" tortilla chips are a little too thick and crunchy for my tastes).

Also a perfectly cooked, crisp-skinned, salmon that was so good I've had it twice. It was accompanied by tiny potatoes, tomatoes, and fava beans in an epazote lobster cream sauce. And it's $12. Honestly, both times it was the best salmon I've had in town in ages, hands down, and at a fraction of the price.

Several of my various dining companions went with tacos, and though I didn't get to try any of them, they looked uniformly tasty. That might be my next order, unless of course I finally go for dinner. The last time I was at La Calle, it was with Mr Minx, and he tried the al pastor torta. It's a nice big sandwich, as tortas usually are, filled with tasty and tender pork bits that I couldn't resist snatching off of his plate.

We also tried the flan, which was excellent--firm, very smooth, just sweet enough, and dusted with a smattering of sesame seeds. One of the best I've tried.

La Calle is a long walk from work for me, but well worth it. And of course if I'm feeling lazy, I can always take a bus. I'm already contemplating my next visit in a couple of weeks. Do go, because I'd love for this place to stick around for a long time.

La Calle
10 South St
Baltimore, MD 21202
www.lacallerestaurant.com

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Breakfast and Lunch at LB Bakery

I've popped into LB Bakery from time to time to grab a cup of La Colombe coffee and a flaky croissant to go, but I've never stayed for breakfast. One reason is because I'm always in a hurry in the morning, but also because they didn't serve a hot sit-down breakfast until recently. I suppose that's the most pertinent reason, huh? In any case, this little cafe on the ground level of the Lord Baltimore Hotel now serves both breakfast and lunch in addition to their usual assortment of pastries, macarons, and refrigerated sandwiches. A few weeks ago, Mr Minx and I joined several of our foodie friends at an introductory brunch to sample the new menu.

We started off with the crisp Belgian waffles garnished with fresh fruit and maple syrup, then went on to a super-fluffy, goat-cheese-stuffed, omelette with a side of potatoes. I don't normally do omelettes because I have an issue with browned eggs, but this beauty was so perfectly cooked, I was happy to make an exception.

If you're an everything bagel with smoked salmon kinda person, then this generous platter with all the fixings you could ever want will make you happy. Again, smoked salmon isn't my thing (I am a lousy brunch person, aren't I?), but I truly enjoyed a portion of bagel schmeared with cream cheese and topped with a smoky slice of fish...plus capers, eggs, onions, and a soupcon of dill.

After tasting breakfast, we also sampled some lunch items, like the lump crab cake sandwich with fries and the fish and chips. The fish was so crispy on the outside yet moist on the inside, which is how it should be. Both the crab cake and the fish are perfect choices for a Lenten lunch.

Of course we also had to sample Executive Pastry Chef Mary Elizabeth Plovanich's sweet yummies, including ginormous macarons, chocolate tarts, and key lime bars (my fave). Her desserts never disappoint.

Now when I stop into LB Bakery in the morning before work, I might just have to linger a while and enjoy that omelette again.

LB Bakery
20 W Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21201



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B&O Brasserie Spring Menu

When Chef Scott Hines took over from his predecessor Mike Ransom, there was a bit of a transitional period in terms of the B&O Brasserie menu. With the new spring menu, Chef Hines has revamped the entire lineup. focusing on familiar favorites with sophisticated refinements and getting back to the true mission of a brasserie. To that end, you will find the burgers, steaks, and salads that you would expect in a brasserie alongside more adventurous items like sweetbreads and quail. Also, the daily specials--fried chicken, pot roast, meatloaf--have a homey quality that should attract diners looking for comfort foods.

We were excited to get an opportunity to try out some of the new offerings.

Of course, we always have to start with an exotic cocktail from the wildly creative mixologist Brendon Dorr and his crew. Rabbit's Revenge, with flavors of gin, carrot, and beet, is reminiscent of a Bloody Mary, and would be lovely with a big fat shrimp or two perched on the rim. The Rook's Return is a refreshing cocktail using Ford's Gin; it reminded us of pickle brine with a floral aspect. That description might turn some people off, but it's actually delicious.

I certainly experienced a flash of nostalgia when I ate the salmon tartare. It reminded me a bit of the salmon mousse that my Aunt Kay always served for holiday parties. While salmon mousse is typically made with canned salmon, the tartare, a simple yet elevated dish, is made with fresh raw salmon mixed with tiger sauce (mayo and horseradish). The feather-weight, crispy salt and pepper crackers provide the perfect vehicle for the tartare. Even the Minx liked it and she is not a fan of raw salmon.

For some reason that escapes us, many people are turned off by sweetbreads. I think it's just the idea of eating the glands of an animal, but going on taste alone, they are tender and mild. (The Minx likes to think that the phrase "tastes like chicken" came about because of sweetbreads.) At the B&O, they are drizzled with a completely unexpected ancho and bourbon barbeque sauce with some straight-off-the-grill smokiness. The dish also has a scallion cornbread for a contrasting texture.

Chef Hines's sous chef Tyler Johnson once worked at Wolfgang Puck's Italian restaurant, so he has quite a few tricks up his sleeve when it comes to Italian cooking. He has strong influence over the pastas and sauces at the B & O and his rich Sunday gravy is excellent. It has great depth of flavor, as if Grandma was cooking it all day, and is the perfect accompaniment to the tender beef, mortadella, and foie gras meatballs. Now it might seem odd to add fancy bologna and duck liver to meatballs, and I couldn't really taste them specifically. They're mostly there to add unctuousness. The Minx was all over this dish and would love to make it at home.

The lamb rib appetizer is braised in gin for a long time, and the constant reduction of the sauce coats them in a rich glaze that shines like glass. The apricot yogurt accompaniment cuts the meaty intensity with its fruity sweetness and the pea salad brings acidity and crunch.

The Minx loves carrots for some reason, so she was insistent about having the smoked carrot agnolotti with morels, onions, and peas in a simple butter sauce as her entree. This dish of tender pasta filled with a cream-enriched puree of mesquite-smoked carrots may be the vegetarian entree on the menu, but we carnivores found it immensely satisfying. The combination of smoke and mushrooms made up for the absence of meat. More restaurants should offer such well-thought-out meatless options.

As a pasta person, I really wanted to order this too, but we had to try as many dishes as we could so....

My entree was the crispy black sea bass in a spicy boullabaisse with potatoes and confit tomatoes. Crusty bread with rouille is a traditional accompaniment to a fish stew like this, and the B & O doesn't skimp with their coating of the garlicky sauce. Be careful with this; the flavors of garlic and saffron are pretty intense and can linger in your mouth for some time, so if you don't want so much rouille, feel free to scrape it off. As for the bass, it was perfectly cooked with a lovely crisp skin and silky smooth flesh, and the broth was spicy but mellow.

As if that wasn't enough food, we sampled three desserts.

The B&O Oreos, chocolate cookies sandwiching creamy marshmallow filling, are served two to an order. That would be plenty, but it also comes with a large bar of peanut butter mousse encased in chocolate along with several dots of creme anglaise on the plate. It's almost like one dessert to eat there (the mousse) and one dessert to take home (the cookies).

If not a trend, elevated versions of humble s'mores have become a frequent feature on many dessert menus. This particular version takes the unique approach of sandwiching toasted marshmallow flavored ice cream in between house-made graham crackers. A pool of chocolate sauce and some actual toasted marshmallow completes the flavor profile. The ice cream is really subtle, and I recommend that you try a few bites without the cracker to notice its toasty flavors.

Possibly our favorite dessert of the evening was the buttermilk pie with blackberry jam ice cream. The sweet lemony pie has the consistency of thick custard, and the blackberries provided a tangy counterpoint. The ice cream is served on a bed of feuilletine bits, which keep it from sliding all over the plate and also add a crisp texture.

It's a special treat to go to the B&O Brasserie because, while the food has evolved over time, it's always inventive and offers new taste sensations. I think Chef Hines is on an especially smart track with this new menu, blending the familiar with the exotic and evoking taste memories while creating new ones at the same time.

B&O Brasserie
2 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland, 21201
443-692-6172

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Local Easter Celebrations

If you're not up to cooking on Easter, there are plenty of Baltimore-area restaurants that are willing to do it for you.

Cinnamon Tree Restaurant at the Hunt Valley Inn is offering an Easter Champagne Brunch including Fresh Maryland Crab Claws on Ice with Lemon, and Pan Seared Filet of Sole with Mornay Sauce. An Herb Roasted Prime Rib and Roast Pork Loin station with side dishes "provides the comfort of a home cooked meal for the family." For dessert, try their specialty Cinnamon Tree Cinnamon Rolls or Easter Cookies.  (Adults: $35.95 / Children under 8: $16.95)

Citron at Quarry Lake is offering both brunch and supper on Easter Sunday. Brunch runs from 12-3pm, supper from noon to close.

Cosima is offering a one-off a la carte Easter brunch, from 10am - 2pm.

The Turn House in Columbia is having a brunch buffet from 10 - 3, including lamb and ham carving stations, oyster bar, plus all of your breakfast/brunch faves. ($45 adults, $20 children 12 and younger.)

Wit & Wisdom at the Four Seasons Baltimore is offering breakfast, brunch, and dinner on Easter Sunday. Breakfast will run from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Brunch starts at 9 and runs until 3pm. There will be live music, a carving station, make-your-own omelets, a sweet & savory crepe station, roast-your-own s'mores, raw bar and a decorate your own Easter Egg cookies station for the kids.
($69 per person, $29 per child under 12. Bottomless Mimosas are also available for $14.)

An à la carte dinner menu will be available from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. as well as a full tavern menu from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.



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B&O American Brasserie Spring 2015

Over the past few years, we've been to many media dinners at B&O American Brasserie, usually to herald a new chef and his complete reinvention of the restaurant's menu. While all of the dinners were enjoyable, some dishes we ate along the way were downright weird. I'm happy to say that the B&O's current chef Michael Ransom is not only still around (huge hooray for that!), but he's also not doing anything bizarre with food.

That's not to say he's not imaginative. He is, very much so. But his imagination is practical, not fanciful. Definitely not weird. He has the ability to innovate and be accessible at the same time. His dishes are ambitious enough to impress hardcore food snobs, and so flavorful and well-composed that everyone else can enjoy them as well.

At this dinner, we left ourselves in his capable hands. He came to speak to us and told us what menu items he planned to serve Mr Minx and me, starting with the strawberry salad, which would be a refreshing start to our meal. The pickled strawberries and the tang of sherry vinegar were balanced by sweet fresh berries and crunchy toasted almonds.

Next, we received a pair of tacos with a filling of charred octopus, chorizo verde, celery-herb salad, and pumpkin seed vinaigrette in a raw jicama shell, with harissa pickles and a fiery green hot sauce on the side. Personally, I could have done without the celery, but otherwise loved the combination of ingredients. The hot sauce wasn't as incendiary on the taco as when tasted straight, but it still had a strong kick. I don't recommend anyone drinking it. And the jicama wrapper proved that there is such a thing as a completely gluten-free (practically calorie-free, too) taco shell. Genius.

We also shared a single large raviolo, filled with ricotta and a perfectly runny duck egg yolk and topped with shaved Parm, pea tendrils, and crispy shards of shiitake mushroom, all dribbled with brown butter. A seemingly simple dish, but full of flavor.

Then we moved on to the entrees. The one I was most interested in involved soft shell crabs. Full disclosure: Chef Ransom is working on a soft shell recipe for our upcoming book, and it's going to be a lot like this one: Soft Shell Crab, crushed leeky potatoes, green tomato salad, chili-lime butter, crispy corn. The crabs were poached in chili-lime butter before being finished on the grill, a technique that left them tender and super juicy. There were a lot of tangy and complicated flavors on this plate, tempered by the mild potatoes, which Chef Ransom meant to evoke potato salad. Mr Minx, never a fan of soft shells, found the dish to be "a revelation."

Another stunner, both visually and flavor-wise, was the evening's market fish, in this case flounder, served with spring vegetable ragout, pickled ramp, yellow tomato coulis, and spanish chorizo. I normally find typical thin flounder filets to be a snooze, but the creature this slab came from must have been a monster. The fish was as thick as halibut and very moist, but the star of the plate was the spring vegetables, which included large semi-starchy English peas and asparagus. The tomato coulis wasn't at all acidy, and the nuggets of confit chorizo and drizzle of chorizo oil gave the dish depth. Really beautiful.

We also tried the chef's cut of lamb (this week it was racks; because we were eating three entrees between us, Chef simply cut one chop for each of us), served with fregola, shitake, field greens, pickled and roasted onions, natural jus, and dried lemon salt. The chops, beautifully frenched and resembling miniature tomahawks, were juicy, pleasantly fatty, and perfectly medium-rare. The accompaniments were rich and earthy, punctuated by bites of acidy onion and a hint of lemon.

We drank a couple of cocktails apiece with our meal: a light and bright cardamom-spiked daiquiri and a perfumey (in a good way--expensive perfume) "Tin Cup" for me; the whiskey and sherry combo called a Cadizian and a rather whiskey sour-ish Glen + Tea for the mister. For dessert we had simple scoops of ice cream and sorbet in honey thyme and pineapple flavors. The sorbet was great, and the ice cream was pretty good too, even if the dried fresh thyme garnish did remind me of pizza.

Chef Michael Ransom's Spring menu is a real beaut and we'd really like to get ourselves back to B&O in the next few weeks to sample a few more items. Or just get the fish and crabs again. And the tacos. And....



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B&O Brasserie's New Menu is Both Exotic and Familiar

The menu at B&O Brasserie has seen an evolution over the years as each chef has brought with him a slightly different style of cuisine. The newest addition to the restaurant's kitchen is executive chef Mike Ransom, a native of Michigan who has worked in Chicago and San Francisco before coming to Baltimore.

The Minx and I were invited to a media dinner to sample the latest incarnation of B&O's fare. At first glance, the new menu might make you think the dishes are fairly straight-forward, but Chef Mike Ransom brings a great deal of finesse and creativity to standard favorites. The result is a dining experience that is at once familiar and unlike anything you've ever eaten before.

One of Chef Ransom's goals was to integrate the restaurant with the bar. To that effect, he's created food that pairs well with the extraordinary selection of specialty cocktails on head bartender Brendan Dorr's drink menu. I started with The Galavanter and the Minx chose the Grove Tipple. The Glavanter is an exotic blend of rye, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit bitters, and dry vermouth that the Minx described as tasting like the "men's department at Bergdorf Goodman's." She meant that in a good way. Her Grove Tipple--another mad scientist's concoction of pear brandy, amaro, apple butter, lemon, ginger, and sage--was pleasantly fruity and lightly sweet. We enjoyed our drinks with a selection of olives and spiced nuts.

Chef Ransom was particularly eager for us to try some of the new appetizers, and the first to arrive at our table was sweet potato gnocchi. Talk about Thanksgiving on a plate! I was concerned that the sweet potato would be too sweet, but incorporating it into gnocchi dough mitigated any cloying quality. It was slightly sweet and hearty with the fall-ish quality of sage and a nice crunch thanks to pumpkin seeds.

Next up was pastrami-cured salmon, served with a savory beet pickle, slivers of cured orange rind, a dill raita, and rye crisps. If you pile a little bit of each element onto a rye crisp, the combination is a balanced bite of tangy, spicy, and crunchy, with that bite of orange bringing all of the flavors together. The Minx, who really doesn't appreciate the texture of raw or cured salmon, loved it in this application, which, while not really tasting like pastrami, was probably her favorite dish of the evening.

Calamari is an appetizer staple and many places do not do the poor squids justice. Not so at B&O where theirs is slow cooked until it is meltingly tender and served with confit tomato and preserved lemon. The garlicky chile broth had Asian overtones; what we thought might be coconut milk was, according to chef Ransom, a yuzu compound butter. You definitely need the toasted baguette to soak up all of that delicious sauce.

The red-eye riblets, coffee-brined and coated in a bourbon barbeque sauce, are more refined than the typical sweet-sauced baby backs. A kimchee with Asian pear and honeycrisp apple added the proper amount of tang to cut the richness of the meat and sauce.

After four appetizers, we were ready to move onto our entrees, but Chef Ransom offered a palate cleanser in the form of a beet salad. Nice balance was at play here with the slightly sweet beets and orange peel paired with briny cerignola olives and a light dusting of manchego cheese. A beet puree vinaigrette, mizuna greens, and some crunchy sunflower seeds round out the dish.

Onto the entrees, starting with a short rib pot roast. As you would expect from a pot roast, the meat was delectably fork tender, with a richly flavored jus. The bed of buttermilk mashed potatoes underneath was creamy, yet not without some texture. Baby turnips, beets, and carrots added a pleasant earthiness in keeping with a fall dish.

Equally toothsome was the braised pork shoulder with gigante beans and rapini in an aleppo-mustard jus. The texture of the pork reminded us of the riblets, albeit without the bone. The rapini, which had been charred, offered an unusual bitter element to the rich, slightly sweet, sauce and creamy beans.

The big surprise of the night for me was the Bay cassoulet, featuring fresh flounder, squid, and mussels. In addition to the traditional white beans, there was a bit of fennel, and the broth contained similar elements to those in the braised calamari we ate earlier. Cassoulets can sometimes be heavy, but using seafood as the protein and adding citrus to the broth brought a welcomed lightness to the dish.

Dessert is usually not on our minds after such a large meal, but we couldn't turn away the pear pecan tart. The sweet fruit, presented in a light, crisp crust, was topped with whipped creme fraiche and the surprise of sweet and chewy candied fennel.

We were also served a brioche toast with boozy bourbon-macerated dates and almond praline ice cream. A touch of salt really made the dish.

Many times we have encountered menus that push the boundaries of experimentation while neglecting the fundamental elements that make a meal satisfying. We've also eaten in restaurants that stick to classic cuisine to the point where any sense of specialness is lost. Chef Mike Ransom has found that perfect balance between accessible menu options and those that take you to places outside your normal expectations. We can't wait to see what new surprises Chef Ransom will offer in the future.



* 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!



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Aggio Popup at Artifact Coffee

Bryan Voltaggio, owner of Volt and Family Meal in Frederick, Range in DC, and Aggio, an Italian restaurant within Range, is opening a second outpost of Aggio in Power Plant Live! here in Baltimore sometime early this summer. To introduce the restaurant to locals, Spike Gjerde hosted a two-night Aggio pop-up at Artifact Coffee. We managed to snag a table for the first seating on the first night.

First appearances are important, and Aggio hit all the right notes there with a generous bread plate that included ethereal grissini and heartier foccacia. They were served with two dips, one an intensely salty whipped goat ricotta with lemon and olive oil, and an unusual whipped mortadella. At this point, we were pretty happy campers and looking forward to the rest of the meal.

The first of four courses were equally successful. I chose the chioggia beets. Voltaggio likes to play with textures, and in this dish, the naturally sweet beets were presented in both chunks and paper thin slices. I didn't really taste the charred rosemary component of the dish, but really enjoyed the fishiness of the tonnato sauce (made with tuna) and the bottarga (an Italian salted fish roe). It was an inspired combination.

Chioggia beets, tonnato sauce, charred rosemary, pine nuts, bottarga, arugula

Mr Minx's impeccably fresh raw tuna served with orange was also a nice combination of flavors. And because the house lights dimmed dramatically a little while earlier, Mr Minx wasn't sure what he had on his fork at any given time. He enjoyed the little game of "is it orange, or is it tuna?"

Tuna, pistachio, castelvetrano olive, blood orange sugo, citrus pith, radish

For the second course, Mr Minx chose the asparagus and I had the shrimp and polenta.

Asparagus, fava and pea ragu, wild herbs, smoked pecorino, almond

The asparagus was a big disappointment. While the stalks were nicely cooked and juicy/tender, the only flavor in the dish came from the smoked pecorino. It was perhaps a bit too subtle.

Prawns, polenta from buckwheat and yellow corn, sauce fra diavolo

Also too subtle was the prawn dish, a homely festival of brown. I felt it was bland and uninteresting and lacking the promised heat and flavor of the fra diavolo. Clearly the Washington Post's Tom Sietsema, who gave Aggio three stars, was served a different dish. "The seafood choices include a raft of grilled prawns adrift in a dark orange froth of shellfish stock, tomato paste and red chili flakes. 'Too pretty to eat' comes to mind. Ignore the thought and dive in. Beneath the tender seafood is soothing buckwheat polenta."

On to the pasta course, which was much more successful. We passed on the spinach pasta with crab and buttered popcorn to try the whole wheat lumache with lamb ragu and the spaghetti alla chitarra with meatballs.

Lamb ragu, whole wheat lumache, oak smoked pecorino, mustard leaf pesto

The ragu was rich and delicious, with a hearty lamb-gamy flavor. A perfect dish to cozy up with on a cold winter's night.

Meatballs braised in ragu pomodoro, chittara, basil, parmesan

I am not Italian, so I like my pasta drenched in sauce (IMHO, the reason to eat the pasta in the first place). Voltaggio's spaghetti alla chittara was cooked properly al dente and was coated with a rich tomato sauce. The terrific meatballs were fluffy and soft, and according to Sietsema, are made with a portion of mortadella. In other words, they were full of baloney.... 

Dessert was hit or miss. Mr Minx had the cookie plate, featuring lemony "taralli" and chocolate biscotti. Despite the incorrect nomenclature (taralli are crunchy ring shaped crackers, and these were pillowy soft cakelets, more madeleine than cookie), Mr Minx enjoyed both. The "taralli" were especially tasty.

Cookie plate, Meyer lemon taralli, chocolate almond pistachio biscotti

My pistachio and olive plate tasted of neither. The kumquats were the star, as far as I'm concerned, sweetly bitter and bursting with citrus flavor. I wanted the sorbet to be more tangy, and the soft cake to taste like...something. But Voltaggio's textural contrasts are always fun and almost made up for the lack of pistachio.

Pistachio in olives, olive oil cake, pistachio cream, cara cara orange sorbet, crispy pomegranate, kumquats

We're eager to visit Aggio in its eventual destination downtown, realizing that part of the inconsistency of this meal may have been due to the tiny kitchen space at Artifact. It will be interesting to see how well the restaurant does in Power Plant Live!, which is still the Brokerage in my mind (a lame place, even when it was popular).

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