Best of 2015 - Part 1

We start off every year with a recount of some of the very best things we ate in the prior year. So let's begin 2016 (2016!) with a look back at some of our favorite restaurant dishes from last year.

February

I tried several varieties of fries at the Local Fry last February and enjoyed them all. I think my favorite, however, was the house version, the "Local Fry," topped with taco beef and spicy sauce.

March

It's hard to pick just one dish from the Oy Bay! dinner at Clementine to designate as our favorite. Everything was stellar that night, from the pickled oyster salad to the oyster stuffing-filled quail with squash and brussels sprout gratin, to the carpetbagger steak from Roseda Beef. (The quail is pictured above.)

April

No pic, but the slice of coconut cake I received at the Peppermill after our waitress accidentally dumped my destined-for-a-doggy-bag shad on the floor, was amazeballs.

A giant meatball at Pane et Vino, in Little Italy, was up there on the list of Best Meatballs I Have Ever Put in My Mouth (yes, there have been many). I was also pretty turned on by the steak and stracchino piadine, a quesadilla-like sandwich.

May

What wasn't terrific on B&O Brasserie's Spring 2015 menu? Not a whole lot. Loved the octopus tacos served with shells made from raw jicama, the juicy soft shell crabs (pictured), the flounder, oh, just everything!

June

Decadently rich and sweet, the corn creme brulée at New York's Quality Meats was meant to be a side dish, but served very well as dessert, too.

Jokers 'n' Thieves, Jesse Sandlin's new joint in Canton, delivered some edible happiness last summer, particularly in the form of a soft shell crab and waffle sandwich. The brisket and creamy Carolina Gold rice was a winner too.

The best breakfast of 2015 came from a tiny cafe in Charles County. Pancakes Plus served up these lovely eggs, plus grits, scrapple, toast, and surprisingly delicious coffee for about $6.

2015 was a great year for soft shell crabs. 13.5% Wine + Food's Cyrus Keefer served plump softies served with a corn congee that rank among my top five ever.

July

The beautiful carrots with harissa honey, goat's cheese, and hazelnuts at Robin Haas's new mostly-veg restaurant, Encantada, tasted as good as they looked.

This coconut pie from Bonefish Grill was all kinds of deliciousness.

August

We ate at Hersh's twice last year, and both times were blown away by the fabulous pizza. Pictured is the Tre Porcellini, a feast of porcine products atop a perfect thin crust. Mr Minx has found his pizza holy grail; a shame it's not closer to Towson.

We went back to 13.5% Wine + Food in August for a media dinner. There were so many tasty things, but my favorite were the pizzas, especially the French bread-style pizza topped with snails. I am a sucker for snails.

Best burger of the year award goes to Alewife. Chad Wells' Smoke Burger is a real thing of beauty. Chad's mac and cheese is pretty amazing, too, especially when used as a stuffing for eggrolls, or as a topping for duck fat fries. I also had the best crab cake of the year at Alewife, and more than my fair share of fine craft beers.

September

We found a Korean BBQ place more conveniently located than Ellicott City's Honey Pig--Be One, located in a shopping center between Maryland Ave/Howard Street, 20th and 21st Streets. Really terrific bulgogi, and an outstanding, crispy, octopus-stuffed pancake. Uh-maz-ing.

October

We had a fine meal at Bookmakers Cocktail Club, including what I felt was the platonic ideal of a Caesar salad. The brussels sprouts with candied bacon were also quite delicious, and Mr Minx couldn't stop eating his pappardelle with lamb shoulder ragu. I also discovered my favorite new cocktail there - the Federale, made with tequila and Becherovka.

November

We had some nice tacos at Empellon Taqueria in NY, particularly those stuffed with pastrami. The Brussels sprouts tacos were delish as well.

Everything at  Kung Fu Little Steamed Buns Ramen, also in NY, was well-done, from the duck-stuffed buns to the soup dumplings. But my favorite was the flaky scallion pancakes filled with sweet and savory slices of beef.

More NY eats: Best fish taco ever, the fried skate on a blue corn tortilla at Mission Cantina.

We ate a lot of ramen this year, partly because it's increasingly available, partly because we were writing about it. This cold ramen dish served at Ivan Ramen on the Lower East Side, called hiyashi chuka, was a little soup, a little chef's salad, a lot delish.

We celebrated Ejji Ramen's 1-year anniversary with some Kobe beef. The real stuff, from Japan. It was served very rare, basically just seared. and was so tender as to melt in the mouth.

December

At a charity dinner on #GivingTuesday, we had various Thai-style dishes created by Zack Mills of Wit & Wisdom, Cyrus Keefer (formerly of 13.5% Wine Bar + Food, now at the Baltimore Country Club) and Dooby's Tim Dyson. While everything was delish, my favorite was Cyrus' take on pad Thai, using tender squid as the noodle component, with a delightfully fatty sausage link on the side. It didn't taste like pad Thai, but the flavors were boldly delicious.

Also in December was a visit to the Corner Charcuterie Bar, in Hampden.

We tried several unusual dishes--an octopus "burger," ostrich tartare--but I really fell in love with the fried house-made pickles. A melange of different veg, like radishes and cucumbers, each with its own different pickle flavor, all lightly coated in a crisp batter and served with a ranch dip. A perfect bar snack.

That's all for 2015. Hope you ate as many good things as we did!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Bluegrass Tavern

We were able to cross Bluegrass Tavern off our list of "must-tries" last week when we attended a Charm City Chowhounds dinner there last week.

The meal consisted of 5 courses + an amuse bouche. When we got the preliminary menu via e-mail, I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy the food, as I don't eat veal, am not fond of rabbit, and have a serious, inexplicable aversion to breakfast sausage. But I found those to be some the least of the meal's problems. Even so, I came away with an appreciation for the way the restaurant prepares meats. Four of the five portions of meat we were served were perfectly cooked and seasoned. Additionally, the majority of the accompaniments were also close to perfect. The big problem was that few components actually worked together.

foie gras torchon, pomegranate & cherry jam, pain perdu

The foie gras itself was delicious, but there was too much overly-sweet jam and the pain perdu tasted like a cinnamon donut.

rabbit loin confit, endive hot and cold, hazelnuts, pickled enoki
mushrooms, port wine emulsion

This course was definitely the weakest, but let me start with the positives: I love endive, so having it both raw and cooked really worked for me, as did the nutty crunch of hazelnuts. Now the rest: the rabbit was boring and dry, and the pickled enoki draped over it had a jarringly vinegary flavor. On the other hand, the "port wine emulsion" was completely flavorless.

sausage stuffed quail, maple poached quail egg, Anson Mills stone
ground oats, house hot sauce

This riff on breakfast could have been very successful. The quail and sausage were a perfect match, tender and nicely seasoned. The savory oatmeal was gorgeous. But the quail egg didn't really add anything and I couldn't taste the maple at all; Mr Minx's yolk was cold and no longer runny. And the hot sauce was just plain a bad idea. Perhaps if it were thicker, like Sriracha or gochujang, a few dots could have been placed in the bowl to use or not. Instead, it was like molten lava, destroying everything in its path with its pungency.

bacon-wrapped veal loin, cauliflower puree, red wine ravioli

This dish was a clever idea that suffered in execution. The raviolo was filled with red wine that, once the pasta was broken, served as a sauce for the tender veal wrapped in bacon. Unfortunately, the effect was more akin to someone spilling his glass of wine on the plate. The cauliflower purée, however, was a lovely creamy touch that almost made up for the underseasoned and underwhelming sauce.

venison backstrap, aged cheddar grits, snail & piopini
mushroom ragout, escargot butter

The only completely successful dish of the evening was the venison. The meat was tender and flavorful, perfectly cooked, and the grits were extremely rich and cheesy. But the absolute star of the plate was the snail and mushroom ragout that tied the protein and starch together with a buttery, garlicky accent. This dish definitely tasted like more.

apple & pear pavé, apple caramel ice cream, apple gastrique

Finally, we were presented with a symphony of sour. The pavé was a bit tough to cut, and the layers of tangy Granny Smith apples and underripe pears cried out for a sweet touch. Instead, we got an apple gastrique (made with vinegar!), and a not-sweet-enough - not to mention melted - ice cream. Another case of good idea, bad execution. I think the amuse would have worked better as a dessert.

Sous chef Ray Kumm took credit for the meal, which may have been a bit overly-ambitious. Clearly he has some mad skillz when it comes to meat prep, but some of his combinations were real misfires. Had the meal consisted of an endive salad with hazelnuts, a soup made from the cauliflower purée, and the venison dish, perhaps with an amuse of the foie paired with the dessert's gastrique, it would have been far more successful. As it stands, however, it was a bit of a disappointment.

While this particular meal did not rise to the very high expectations I had of Bluegrass, I'd like to go back someday soon to try offerings from the regular menu - the crawfish hushpuppies, the lamb shank, the charcuterie. There's definitely huge potential for a great dining experience.

Bluegrass Tavern
1500 S. Hanover Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
410-244-5101