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Pleasant Dining at La Scala
By Lynn Williams
How do you get to La Scala? Practice, practice, practice!
Or, if it’s the restaurant of that name that you want, head east from the Inner Harbor on Eastern Avenue, and look to your left.
I’ve never been to the famed opera house in Milan, but I recently had dinner at the namesake restaurant in Little Italy, and (to continue the musical metaphor) while our meal had a pleasant tenor, there were few high notes.
Diners enter La Scala by climbing a curving flight of redbrick steps—“la scala” means “the staircase”—into a dining room that is unremarkable except for one thing: a recessed indoor bocce court! If you like sports with your dinner, this is a lot more fun than watching baseball...
Renovations at Angelina’s
By Lynn Williams
On the same April day, The Baltimore Sun reported two related items. From the Taste section came the tidbit that Angelina’s restaurant, the Parkville mainstay known primarily for its stellar crabcakes, had banished its homey, club basement-style décor and morphed into an upscale, white-tablecloth restaurant. And in the Maryland section, there was a fond obituary for 92-year-old Angelina Tadduni, founder of Angelina’s.
Although Angelina’s hadn’t been on my list for a review, I made reservations. I just had to know if Mrs. Tadduni’s spirit was smiling.
Actually, I hadn’t been to Angelina’s in ages, and I fear that there are lots of former fans who hadn’t, either. Over the past few years...
Soup’s on, and it’s delicious
By Lynn Williams
Could 11 West Preston Street finally have beaten the jinx? The funky little space above the health food store has housed several eateries, but none seemed to garner the following one might expect in a neighborhood overflowing with college students and concertgoers.
I have a good feeling about Soup’s On Baltimore, though. For starters, who doesn’t like soup? Especially soup so good people don’t mind lining up next to the bathroom to order at a tiny kitchen window.
The family-owned company, which also has a branch in Perry Hall, has a repertoire of around 200 soups—I was too lazy to count, but soup freaks will want to go to the website, www.soupsonbalto.com, for a look at the complete, mindblowing...
Yuppie Chic in Woodberry
By Lynn Williams
Politically speaking, America’s reputation may be in the dumps, but culinarily, things couldn’t be better.
Remember when “American” food meant burgers (often topped with “American” cheese) and the word, when appended to ethnic cooking — think Italian-American or Chinese-American — indicated inauthenticity and blandification? No more. Regional Americana cuisine, using locally produced ingredients, is the most influential trend in years.
The resultant dishes may hew closely to farmhouse traditions, or may be informed by Cordon Bleu techniques and a whole world of ethnic influences, but they’ve finally made foodies proud to be Americans.
Spike Gjerde’s Woodberry Kitchen joins o...
‘Mount Everest’ is Worth the Hike
By Lynn Williams
Despite Nepal’s leading role in recent international news coverage, I realized that I know very little about Baltimore’s Nepali community—including whether “Nepali” or “Nepalese” is the preferred term.
Local Nepalese don’t have a visible epicenter, such as Korea’s south Charles Village or the burgeoning Hispanic zone in upper Fells Point and the Eastern Avenue corridor. But there’s a clear sign that there is such a community: restaurants. Nepalese restaurants include both pretty, full-service places like Kumari and Kathmandu Kitchen and carryouts like Yeti. And two new eateries have recent arrived on the scene: downtown’s Lumbini, and Mount Everest, in suburban Fullerton.
I haven’t...
Duck the Specialty Pizza
By Lynn Williams
Why did my visit to Junior’s Wine Bar leave me feeling so cranky?
Maybe it was too early. The Federal Hill newcomer, which combines the spaces that formerly housed Vespa bistro and Muhly’s bakery, is large and modern, and seemed cavernous in the early evening, before the dinner crowd began to trickle in. The handsome front room, with its tobacco suede banquettes and brushed-copper tabletops, might sparkle at night, but, underpopulated as it was, seemed rather forlorn.
Maybe it was the weather. It was one of those gloomy March days, and the ambient light was pale and murky. Things might have been cozier in the back room, which has a lounge with leather couches, but up front it was definitely chilly....
A Meal with Art and Soul
By Lynn Williams
Waverly has been teetering on the cusp of trendiness for a couple of decades now, without ever quite making it. Yet there are signifiers that the former home of the Orioles and Colts is making a turnaround.
It has an historic district lined with beautifully kept Victorian houses, a massive newish supermarket, and a farmer’s market where you can find some of the best chefs in town shopping on Saturday morning. Yes, it’s still a little rough around the edges, but who would have thought, once upon a time, that blue-collar bastions such as Canton and Hampden would become so hot?
The restaurant scene is gentifying, too. Neighborhood stalwarts such as The Thai Restaurant and Pete’s Grille have been joined...
Sexy Sushi: RA
By Laura Greenback
Harbor East’s newest addition is RA – a sushi bar full of sass and innuendo.
From the red lights that shine outside the large building on Lancaster Street, to the fishbowls full of condoms, to the drinks with names like “Me Luv U Long Time” – RA makes a science out of playful edginess.
The restaurant has only been open since January 21, but it already attracts a crowd of customers, especially on the weekends. Groups gather in the cocktail bar to share drinks like the 60-ounce punch fishbowl, and diners enjoy meals next to a picture window in the la...
Mouthwatering mezza at Lebanese Taverna
By Lynn Williams
The Lebanese Taverna may feature food from halfway around the world, but it is nonetheless an all-American success story.
Like many such tales, it involves plucky immigrants who escape turmoil in their homeland, arriving in the United States with little money and big dreams. In this case, it was the Abi-Najm family, who fled civil war in Lebanon and ended up in suburban Arlington, Va., where they bought a little pizzeria called Athenian Taverna. They didn’t have enough funds to replace the whole sign, so they dubbed their new venture Lebanese Taverna.
More than thirty years later, the Abi-Najms’ restaurant empire includes a chain of markets, cafes, and six full-scale restaurants, including the grand,...
Casey’s gets urban-bistro makeover
By Lynn Williams
Who would have guessed it? Casey’s has gone cool on us.
This is a notable development because Casey’s, an unassuming restaurant on the Joppa Road strip, has always epitomized square suburban dining. Its hearty portions of familiar food and old-school dining room appealed to neighborhood families and seniors, not young hipsters. (Casey’s equally-square precursor in this location, Sarando’s, was a longtime favorite of my family, known for its cheap-lobster nights and a circular floor plan that my then-toddler daughter liked to use as her personal jogging track.)
I had been informed, though, that Casey’s has recently undergone a makeover. And boy, has it. The woodsy wallpaper and ...
