Ludlow Market Bar & Bottle Shop

I must admit never having visited the Wine Market Bistro, the precursor to Ludlow Market Bar & Bottle Shop in Locust Point. No particular reason, we just don't venture down to South Baltimore very often. Not long after the opening of the place, we were invited in to taste some of the small-plates style items that are ideal pairings for drinks at the bar or as a starter for a multi-course meal.

We had to try some drinks, too.

My taste in cocktails leans toward bold, unusual, and perfume-y, so I was happy with Ludlow's complex creations. The slushie Crush a Lot was far better than any of the typical insipid vodka-based "crush"-style drinks I've had. I normally avoid them entirely, but the promise of an icy drink comprising strong black tea and bourbon was hard to resist. It was strong and juice-forward, but also bourbon.

The Deluxe House was also quite nice. Mezcal drinks can sometimes be too smoky, but the agave liquor was tempered nicely by the addition of Spanish vermouth, dry curacao, and Baltimore Whiskey Company's fab 1904 Ginger Apple liqueur.

Room Service: Hamilton Rum, Demoiseau 110 Rhum, pineapple shrub, Jamaica #2 bitters

Chef Christopher Audia's creative menu borrows from various world cuisines. The Beef fat fries are a riff on British chef Heston Blumenthal's famous triple-cooked chips. They're super crisp on the outside and very tender on the inside, like no fries you've ever tasted, and they come with a trio of dips including mustard greens mustard, curry ketchup, and a malt vinegar aioli.

Beef fat fries, mustard green aioli, malt vinegar aioli, curry ketchup

Greens are a recurring theme on Audia's menu. The black eyed pea fritters are served on a nest of positively addictive marinated collard greens and topped with a dab of smoked mayo. The fritters themselves remind me of falafel and the whole plate would be pretty great stuffed into a pita.

Black eyed pea fritters, marinated collards, smoked aioli

The shrimp toast topped with radish salad and chili oil is a nod to everyone's favorite puu puu platter staple, only with much more flavor and no grease. I only got a piece of this (though I bogarted the fritters) and wished I could have savored more.

Shrimp toast, radish salad, chili oil

We also sampled a rockfish crudo with bright and refreshing cucumber and jalapeno flavors...

Rockfish crudo, cucumber, jalapeno, agua verde

...and the hangar steak with grilled broccoli, bacon lardons, and a mimolette cheese sauce. It's shown portioned for sampling but comes as a main dish.

Hangar steak,  grilled broccoli florets, mimolette fondue, lardons

What I really wanted to try, after seeing photos on Instagram, were the lamb ribs. They were fall-off-the-bone tender and came with a chunky hazelnut harissa, not too spicy but full of flavor, and the spark of pickled red onion. Another dish I had to share but really didn't want to.

Lamb ribs, hazelnut harissa, herb salad

Ludlow Market is strong on both the food and the drink sides of things, which I hope will make it a very popular dining destination. Mr Minx and I might even venture down into Locust Point more often.

Ludlow Market, Bar & Bottle Shop
921 E Fort Ave #135
Baltimore, MD 21230
https://www.ludlowmarketbaltimore.com

* 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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La Cuchara

It took us a while to get to La Cuchara. I can't explain exactly why, it just did. And now that we've gone, we want to go back again and again (and we have, several times).

La Cuchara features cuisine inspired by the Basque people living in northern France and southern Spain. Not French food, and not Spanish food (although maybe a bit closer to the latter), Basque food is its own thing. And why don't we have more of it in our area? Beats me. In any case, it's just the kind of stuff I like to eat - lots of small plates, lots of wine, terrific bread.

The menu changes constantly, so what you see here is pretty much guaranteed not to be available when you go. Sorry about that. The photos are mostly to show that the food is as gorgeous as it is delicious, like the Charred Octopus, Sweet Corn, Refrito de Chorizo shown above. The octopus had a nice charred flavor, tender, with a pleasant chew, and corn kernels added a nice pop of texture. There were also some of the succulents known as sea beans (or salicornia, or sea asparagus) on the plate to add a saline crunch. And see how gorgeous?

The poached oysters on a raft of pumpernickel toast (I adore their pumpernickel bread) in a sea of bright red tomato sofrito were perfect. The shellfish just barely cooked and still quite tender. We've also had two very different spins on the now ubiquitous kale salad, one massaged with a pistachio vinaigrette and served with sweet corn and cucumber, the other with bacon and bleu cheese.

We like to sit at the bar, even when it's not Happy Hour. Happy Hour is ridiculous. Pintxos, or small one or two bite dishes, which normally cost a huge $2 are half price, as are all the "primeros," or appetizer-sized plates. The spread of pintxos above cost a whopping $7 at Happy Hour and included sardines, smoked oysters with celery root puree, a jamon croquette, half an amazing veal tongue sandwich, a gilda (anchovy/olive/pepper skewer), charred cabbage Salvitxada, and marinated eggplant.

A gilda.

Here's a closeup of that lamb tongue bocadillo. It was like the most tender pastrami ever. Insane at $2 ($1 at HH!)

Another bocadillo, this one made with meltingly tender pork.

Here are some fried oysters with artichoke veloute. Mr Minx thought they were the most perfect fried oysters he's ever eaten.

We also tried some patatas bravas, a pretty typical tapas dish.

We also sampled some brunch items, like the crispy chicken torta with preserved lemon mayo. You'll never want a tiny fast food biscuit with a chicken nugget in it ever again once you taste these.

The only thing we haven't experienced at La Cuchara is an entree. I'm sure they're delicious, but they are not as budget-friendly as everything else on the menu. In any case, the older I get, the less-interested I am in entree-sized portions of anything. Suffice it to say that we've loved everything we've eaten at La Cuchara and regret not getting there sooner.

La Cuchara
3600 Clipper Mill Rd
Baltimore, MD 21211
(443) 708-3838



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Renovation and New Menu at The Milton Inn

The Minx and I first went to The Milton Inn for my birthday several years back. I had never been there before and was curious after doing some research on the building's rich history. We had a wonderful dinner and the service was lovely, but somehow I felt a bit out of place with the equestrian paintings on the walls and the heavy Colonial-style ornamentation. Some time later, we were invited to experience Chef Brian Boston's new c. 1740 Lounge and small plates menu. The lounge has a more rustic charm than the otherwise formal restaurant, and the new menu of smaller portions demonstrated a more modern vibe.

Today, The Milton Inn has undergone an extensive renovation. The wallpaper is lighter, the curtains are of lighter fabrics and no longer weighed down by tassels, and many of the equestrian paintings have been replaced with other subjects, although there is a beautiful equestrian mural painted on all four walls of one of the upstairs dining rooms. The rooms are brighter, and while still elegant, the overall look says "classic" rather than "old-fashioned."

The menu, too, has received a face-lift in the form of fall flavors. It's quite extensive, covering all manner of fish, fowl, meat, and vegetables. Many of the items are available on the restaurant's small plates menu, albeit in smaller portions. Most small plates are $12 while some that use pricier ingredients have an up-charge. Make sure to read the menu carefully.

We were invited in to experience the changes. Everything that we tasted during our visit was quite delicious, including the items pictured below.

The four-ounce crab cake with wild mushrooms and fava bean succotash...

...the flatbread of the day: tomato sauce and cheese with caramelized onions...

...the Pasta of the Moment: on our visit it was spicy penne pasta with shrimp...

...the Fall Harvest Salad with mixed greens, maple vinaigrette, roasted butternut squash, feta cheese, and pistachio nuts...

...the Braised Beef Short Rib with plum barbecue sauce,  root vegetable, and white cheddar mashed potatoes...

...and the Blackened Beef Tenderloin with barbecue sauce and béarnaise cheddar grits.

We finished off the meal with a sampling from their dessert menu: a seasonal berries tart with blackberries, raspberries and strawberries; macadamia torte with a caramel-laced chocolate cookie base studded with macadamia nuts, cream cheese mousse, and topped with chocolate ganache and macadamia nuts; and a chocolate truffle.

All next year, The Milton Inn will be offering a special menu to celebrate their 70th anniversary, which will also be Chef Brian Boston's 20th year with the restaurant. The menu is full of turn-back-the-clock classics like chateaubriand and shrimp remoulade, and includes hors d'oeuvres, mignardises, and coffee, plus a bottle of champagne or wine, for the bargain price of $130 per couple. The Minx and I look forward to dining there at some point after the first of the year, perhaps to celebrate our own anniversary.

The Milton Inn
14833 York Road
Sparks, MD 21152
410-771-4366



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c. 1740 Lounge at the Milton Inn

Shrimp scampi, beef tenderloin tartare, blackened beef tenderloin

In our minds, the Milton Inn is a swell spot for a celebratory dinner. The elegantly appointed dining rooms and the rich cuisine seem so very appropriate on anniversaries and birthdays. But now there's the more casual c. 1740 Lounge, which incorporates the restaurant's bar, Hearth Room, and outdoor patio. On a recent chilly evening, we were invited to sample proprietor/executive chef Brian Boston's new lounge menu of small plates. As our group enjoyed a drink before dinner, a couple dining at the bar, Milton Inn regulars, made it known to us that they were thrilled about the new concept.

After conversation and a snack of creamy crab dip with the smack of horseradish, we were encouraged to take seats at tables set up in the cozy Hearth room and an adjacent smaller dining room perfectly sized for a fun dinner for a dozen or so friends.

Now, when I said "sample the menu," I meant it. There are 26 items currently available; we tasted 21 of them. And not a clunker in the bunch. The oyster stew (which happens to be featured in our cookbook, Baltimore Chef's Table), is a standout, and the shellfish soup is light and dreamy, redolent of lobster stock. Other favorites included the beef tenderloin tartare, the Fall Harvest salad and its surprising maple vinaigrette, and the "pasta of the moment," which at that moment involved spinach, mascarpone, and lemon.

Beef Tenderloin Tartare: With anchovy aioli, sriracha, capers, shallot, cornichons,
quail egg yolk, smoked sea salt and toasted baguette

We were pleased to see sweetbreads on the menu, and even more pleased when we found we didn't have to share a bite with any of the five other offal-averse diners at our table. The delicately-flavored organ meat was smothered in a rich marsala mushroom cream sauce and served with toasted baguette.

There's a nod to vegetarians with a "crab cake" made from shredded zucchini and served with white beans. The pasta of the moment will often be vegetarian, and there are a couple of salads to choose from as well. However, between the several types of shellfish, beef, chicken, venison, salmon, and organ meats, omnivores fare best at c. 1740 Lounge.

The food is uniformly delicious, and the price is right. Courses begin at $12, with a supplement on some dishes with obviously pricier ingredients. Wine pairings are $4 for a 2-ounce pour and $7 for 4 ounces, but if you prefer a cocktail, do try the Port Poached Pear Martini, with gin, vodka, pear liqueur, pineapple juice, port, and sweet and sour. Dinner at the Lounge is available 7 days a week, and one can also enjoy lunch Monday through Friday. Despite the low-key atmosphere, the food and service are still top-notch.

When we thought of the Milton Inn as a special occasion restaurant, the drive up to Sparks seemed like a journey. Now, we realize, it's just a pleasant jaunt up the road.



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Ma Peche

The Minx wrote about Chef David Chang's Midtown Manhattan restaurant Ma Peche a few years ago, but the menu has changed since then to a dim sum-style format. Given the menu change and the fact that I had never been there, we decided to give it a try. The restaurant is located in the basement level of the Chambers Hotel. Amber light filters through walls covered in muslin, creating a quiet and serene atmosphere quite apart from the bustling world outside.The old communal tables have been replaced with conventional two- and four-top tables so the dim sum carts can be maneuvered around the room.

Like traditional dim sum, the diner is provided with a sheet listing all the small plate dishes that will be brought around on carts. When a cart comes by, the diner selects whatever items he or she wants, and the server marks it off on the sheet. Larger entree-style dishes can be ordered from your waiter. When the meal is over, the items marked on your sheet are added up and the bill is tallied. Unlike traditional dim sum, however, the selection  is smaller and more eclectic.

The first cart to arrive offered a broccoli salad with toasted pine nuts and a mayo-based togarashi dressing. A pleasant, light start to the meal.

Also on that same cart was an avocado crab dip with toasted Cassava crackers. Hey, it's creamy avocado and crunchy chips! How could you go wrong? The slightly spicy kick helps as well.

One item the Minx definitely wanted me to try was the pork bun, so we ordered two. Slabs of tender pork belly are wrapped in a pillowy steamed bun. The Minx said that these were less fatty than the ones she had eaten before, but that was just fine with me since I'm not a fan of fatty pork. At the same time, the lean pork did not have as much flavor as I would've liked.

One of the chef's specials that we ordered was the lamb noodles. The noodles and shredded lamb are topped with scallions, cabbage, chili jam, and a soft egg. Stir all the items together with your chop sticks and you have a thick, spicy, and thoroughly unctuous soup. The lamb flavor is prominent and the noodles are silky smooth. This was something I could have eaten as a meal by itself.

There was still more dim sum, however, and one must do what one must, so we also chose the fritters and jerk chicken wings. These were recommended by one of the attendants in the hotel lobby and they turned out to be solid choices. Surprisingly, neither dish was terribly spicy, so it's possible Chef Chang is toning down the heat factor for the Midtown crowd.

Since my eyes are always larger than my stomach, I decided to order the spicy rice cakes as well. This dish truly was spicy in the best possible meaning of the word. Crunchy shallot bits top a bed of soft rice cakes about the size of small gnocchi. Underneath is a pork ragu and water spinach.

Would I prefer this form of dim sum over the traditional dim sum found in a strip mall Chinese restaurant? Probably not. But for sheer inventiveness, Ma Peche is worth the experience. I can honestly say that I've never tasted anything like the lamb noodles or the spicy rice cakes, and I'm always quite happy when a restaurant can introduce me to a new taste experience.

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Fazzini's Taverna

In my youth, Fazzini's was a mythical restaurant. I would hear their radio ads on the old WHFS and cringe at the bad jokes, but the food sounded like heaven to a pasta maniac like me. Years later, when I started dating the Minx, her brother would talk about how great Fazzini's meatball pizza was and his alarming weight gain was a testament to how addictive their food was. Still, Cockeysville was a little out of my usual stomping grounds and I never went. It wasn't until years later that the Minx and I actually ate at Fazzini's and the food was...okay. Maybe we should've ordered the meatball pizza.

Recently, Fazzini's Italian Kitchen ditched their old location and their old-school menu and moved into new digs on York Road. They also brought in a new chef with a more refined menu to create Fazzini's Taverna, so it seemed only fitting that the Minx and I would bring along her brother and father to check out their updated style of cuisine.

The new building used to house Piv's Pub and Fazzini's chose to keep the dark-wood decor pretty much the same, adding some nicer tables and banquettes to smarten up the look. The waitstaff is also more formal and were quite attentive if perhaps a bit frazzled during our time there. I would chalk that up to working out the kinks while dealing with crowds who were equally curious to see the new place.

Fazzini's has jumped on the small plates bandwagon with a menu of snacks, hot appetizers, and cold appetizers to compliment the pizzas, pasta, and entrees. We chose to order a few appetizers and two pizzas for the table. Our first dish was calamari and hot pepper misto. We were disappointed that the ratio of calamari to peppers favored the peppers, which were pretty darn hot. I have to think that many old Fazzini's customers would be put off by such a spicy dish. The calamari, while tender, were sliced into thick rings that were too large (some were undercooked) and the coating was quite pale. Smaller pieces may have fried up faster and provided crispier bites. 

Albondigas con almendras, or pork and beef meatballs, were good if maybe a bit too charred on the outside. I like a good sear on my meatball, but these were black on the outside. I liked the fact that they used toasted almonds in the tomato and red wine sauce, however. It added a surprising crunch to what would normally be just soft meatballs in sauce.

The prawns in garlic-parsley butter was my favorite of the appetizers even if I only got one since there were only four prawns in the dish. Fazzini's obviously has a sizzling grill because the prawns had a powerful grill flavor and, of course, you can't go wrong with garlic and butter, although Minxy would have liked more garlic. Some toasted bread was provided to sop up the excess butter. We also ordered pappas bravas or wood fired chunks of potato covered in a smoked paprika aioli. The potatoes were crisp and the aioli was thick and eggy like crab imperial without the crab. And without the smoked paprika.

The waiter thoughtfully brought the pizzas out one at a time so we could enjoy each one without having to wrestle two large platters on our table. The first, a sausage and pepperoni pizza, had the familiar flavors you would expect from this traditional pie. I prefer crumbled sausage over the sausage slices on this pizza, but there was plenty of cheese and just the right amount of sauce to create the appropriate balance of flavors. As for the crust, it was thicker than a New York style pizza, but not soft like a fresh dough pizza either. In fact, it's possible the dough was either overworked or not allowed to rise long enough because it was entirely too tough. Good thing the pizzas are small because we suspect that if anyone tried to eat a leftover slice the next day, it would become impossibly dense. 

We were particularly interested in trying the Anytime Breakfast pizza. Sausage, bacon, potato, and a runny egg layered on top of mozzarella is supposed to make you think of a hearty breakfast in each bite. Trouble was, it didn't make me think of breakfast at all. Perhaps it was the mozzarella or whatever sauce they may have put on underneath, but it just seemed bland and greasy. Also, with only one slimy egg in the middle, the flavor of egg was mostly missing. 

I left Fazzin's Taverna feeling not only disappointed but concerned. Clearly, they must have known that such a radical change in menu would lose them a fair chunk of their regular clientele, and while I applaud the bold move from traditional red sauce Italian joint to upscale Mediterranean bistro, there were too many errors in execution to deem any of the dishes really exceptional. This is particularly critical when a restaurant is charging upscale prices. I hope that some of the cooking miscues will be worked out over time so that Fazzini's can firmly establish itself in its new incarnation. Otherwise, they may become stuck as neither pesce nor pollo and never find an audience.



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Gato

When planning a trip to New York with Mr Minx, I determined that we had to dine at Bobby Flay's newest restaurant, Gato--especially after reading GQ critic Alan Richman's glowing review.

The Greenwich Village restaurant is dark. It's a high-ceilinged space with with lots of brick and dark varnished wood, so my photos are less than perfect. (I had to Photoshop the hell out of them to get the colors to show.) No matter...the food was pretty close to perfection, so even if we didn't get to eat with our eyes so much, our palates were quite happy.

We ordered a lot of food, starting with a trio of small plates from the "bar" section of the menu: eleven layer potato with caramelized shallots and fried sage; wild striped bass salsa torres; pequillo filled with raw tuna, saffron sauce. Each dish was bursting with flavor and we were sad that the portions were small. Those tuna stuffed peppers would make a fab party snack, and the bass would be lovely in an entree-sized portion. And how can one go wrong with a stack of tender potato slices touched with the sweetness of shallot?

I'm all about carrots, so when I saw the charred carrots with parsnip chips, harissa, mint, and yogurt, we had to get them. The carrots were indeed charred to blackness yet were still crisp-tender on the inside. The charcoal-y coating gave the carrots an interesting flavor that bordered on the medicinal. In addition to the carrots and crunchy parsnip chips, there were tender sweet chunks of beet, making this dish a showcase of the range of flavors and textures found in humble root vegetables.

We had just seen Flay make octopus in an episode of Iron Chef, so ordering his roasted octopus with sour orange, bacon, and oregano was a must. I'd never had octopus that was so tender before. Honestly, it could be cut with a fork. And the bacon lardons and orange sauce added just the right amount of salty and tangy flavors. We definitely could have done with several more tentacles....

Instead, we moved on to entrees. Mr Minx had the porterhouse pork chop topped with romesco over polenta. The huge chop was cooked to medium, and was juicy and well-seasoned. The polenta was smooth and creamy but not overly rich. And the chunky romesco was good enough to eat directly from the bowl with a spoon. Had they offered us a bowl of it and a spoon....

Knowing that we were slated to eat an all-fish luncheon at Le Bernardin the next afternoon, I passed over the menu's fish selections (halibut, orata, fettucine with prawns) and ordered something completely uncharacteristic for me: the rabbit. I haven't much liked rabbit in the past, finding its occasional gaminess unpleasant. But this rabbit was wonderful. A full leg portion and the tiny loin were served with a pile of fregula (a Sardinian pasta similar to Israeli couscous), fresh peas, chanterelle mushrooms, and a carrot hot sauce. The meat was tender and chicken-like without actually tasting like chicken, and I loved the textures and flavors of the fregula. I liked Mr Minx's chop, too, and really can't say which I enjoyed more.

At this point, we were stuffed, but ordered a dessert to share. The Meyer lemon tart must have been filled to order, as the crust was crisp all the way through and the tangy filling with its characteristic lemon/tangerine flavor was still slightly warm and a bit loose-textured, like freshly made lemon curd. We also loved the whipped cream, which was heavily flavored with pistachio and topped with a crumbled pistachio brittle.

As if that wasn't enough, we were brought a complimentary plate of wafer-thin biscotti and glasses of cream sherry. I had overheard our server tell the couple at the table next to ours that their sherry was to celebrate the male diner's birthday. We weren't celebrating anything, so I think we got the sherry because we're so darn cute. :)

Overall, an excellent meal. Everything was big and bold--no wimpy flavors on these plates! Proteins were cooked and seasoned perfectly, as were all accompaniments. I know some people don't care for Bobby Flay, but the man can cook. And as we saw him there in the kitchen, on the line, actually cooking, we know that he had to have personally touched at least a couple of our dishes.

Here's to many successful years for Gato.



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