Zack's Hotdogs

While exploring our new neighborhood in White Marsh (and making a side trip to Ulta and Omaha Steaks) we stumbled into a hot dog joint.

This is a tiny place tucked into the strip of White Marsh town center and offers a wide variety of hot dog goodness. The biggest bonus for this place however was the condiments table. BACON IS A CONDIMENT.

The dogs were fantastic. Dave got his usual regular with relish and mustard (and BACON) and I got a chili cheese (death for Crohn's ugh, I was so sick but it was kinda worth it) and the dogs were FAB.

Dave also got some mac and cheese for a side, which was kinda gross I'm sorry to say. It was goopy, thick and tasteless.

The staff working was incredibly friendly and the dogs were fresh and hot and very good. This place is a good pit stop for a long day of shopping. (it's also near a cold stone, so dessert isn't far away...nomnomnom)

Overall, 3 noms!

The Corner Stable

This place isn't shy about advertising their greatest asset. BALTIMORE'S BEST RIBS! brazenly screams at you from the side of the building. Dave's pretty big on anything involving BBQ or pork, and well, I just love to eat.

The parking lot was completely full. We had to venture over to the "Overfill Lot" by the Battery Warehouse. The restaurant itself was jammed with people. Walking through all we saw were piles of bones and baskets of ribs.

What we didn't realize was that Monday is Rib Night. Their Monday special is a full rack of ribs and fries for only $13.99. So of course, that's what we ordered. We spent about 6 seconds looking at the menu. The waitress, was very sweet. She was busy but we were well taken care of. She got our drinks fast and then about a minute later the food arrived. We were stunned. It took about 5 minutes to get our dinners. "How?" we asked. She told us that on Mondays they have someone whose sole job is ribs. So they keep the ribs coming because the customers keep coming. We noticed the turnover was amazing. We finished our dinners in less than 20 minutes and cleared out for the next round of hungry rib lovers.

Now let me tell you about these ribs. This is a very casual place, our dinner arrived in a basket with the rack cut in half and stacked, fries next to it. They were drenched in this sweet, tangy, smoky sauce. I've never tasted a sauce like that before. It wasn't too sweet as some BBQ can get, but it was just the perfect amount of tang plus smoke. The meat fell off the bone. I took my fork and picked out each bone and piled it on a plate then was able to eat the rib meat with my fork (thus saving myself from the inevitable Sauce Face or the more detrimental Sauce Pants or Sauce Shirt). It was definitely enough food to fill us up. They don't serve you those skimpy wussy lean type ribs; these were plenty meaty. Melt-in-your-mouth, finger-lickin-good as they say.

The fries, if you can even get that far, were perfect. Natural cut, fried til golden and crisp but still soft and fluffy they were the perfect texture. The left over sauce from the ribs made for excellent dipping.

Not that we need to say this, but 5 Noms, two sauce-covered thumbs up and smiles all around. This place is definitely a well kept secret by the locals.

Hodge-podge "Review"

We know, we know. It's been too long, we've neglected you. We are truly sorry. We've been doing some house-hunting the past couple months which has sucked up every spare minute of our time and left us with only enough time and financial resources for drive-thru visits. Which is lame. We know.

To satisfy the masses (I'm assuming there are thousands of anxious readers out there on the edge of their seats staring at their RSS feeds screaming "Where are my Charm City Noms updates?!?! WHERE??" so humor me) I'm posting an almost-review. I can't count this as a real review because Dave wasn't with me and I like to have his 2-cents on here, but working where I do awards me certain abilities in lunching that he is not privy to.

Vino Rosina

A few weeks ago for my boss's birthday a group of us decided to try out Vino Rosina, which just opened up recently and I've been dying to try. It's a quaint little wine bar that happens to serve food elegantly and deliciously.

I should take this opportunity to mention that my dietary needs have once again changed, and now my list of non-edible foods has expanded from "spicy" and "citrus" to: celery, onion, cabbage, asparagus, vinegar, citrus, spicy, dairy (sob!), seeds, nuts, and basically anything "crunchy" or "fibrous".

So, with that revelation, I'm staring at a menu of grilled panini type sammiches that all have cheese, or some other forbidden food on it and I'm about to be devastated because I dislike having t order something, then deconstruct it. For example "Yes, I would like to try the grilled chicken panini with pesto. But with no pesto, mayo, cheese, sprouts, onion or lettuce" "So you'd like a piece of bread with grilled chicken on it?" "Basically, but I'd like it sound appetizing" "I'm not a magician, I'm a waiter" "I understand. I'll take my spit on the side please".*

Then, do my eyes deceive me? Oh my gosh, a foods I can eat! I went with the Tuscan Chicken and just pulled off the stuff I couldn't eat (onion which there wasn't much of anyway). Everything else wasn't too much of a red flag. This sandwich was really good. The bread was crispy and buttery, the chicken tender, the mayo was herby and a perfect complement to it.

This place ended up working out really well. It is close to work, wasn't busy at all and had a great menu. The portions were pretty sizable too. I didn't leave hungry. I apologize for the lack of photo, but when we "officially" review this place, we'll upload extra photos.

Harbor East Delicatessen and Pizzeria

I tried this place out for the first time on my birthday when a few coworkers joined me for lunch. It being my birthday, birthday food rules applied which meant that for one day, I had no restrictions and happily gorged myself with a bacon cheeseburger and fries, then thought about cheesecake but then ate more fries.

Burger: fab. Fries: fab. Their fries are very similar to Five Guys, same texture and flavor, fresh and soft. It was great.

I've also had The Godfather JP, which is a jumbo lump crabcake sandwich with a side of fries. This was delicious. Big huge chunks of crab, broiled, seasoned wonderfully and placed upon a toasted bun with lettuce (tossed that aside) and tomato (ate one small sliver) and they give you tartar sauce and cocktail sauce to go with it. I assure you though, the sauces aren't needed. It was great.

I highly recommend either. Harbor East offers a vast menu and quick paced service and Vino Rosina is a great place if you have time to sit down and really enjoy lunch, like when you want to catch up with an old friend or just drink a bottle of wine.






*Not an actual conversation

Martha and Mary's

Armed with another Groupon, we set out from Towson (did you know that AMC theaters has $5 movies if you get moving before noon? How awesome is that?) to hit up Martha and Mary's Bistro.

Pulling into the parking lot we saw a newly built restaurant complete with umbrella-ed outdoor seating. There were quite a few customers enjoying the fabulous weather outdoors munching away happily on fries, salads and sandwiches. Hopeful, we walked in.

To a disaster.

The huge LCD tv screens meant for their menu was frozen, locked on breakfast at 1:30 in the afternoon. Kids were screaming and stampeding about. The tables were jam-packed with families and we stood there hopelessly looking for any sort of lunch related menu. Finally we spotted a stack up by the cash register. We spent a few minutes looking over an expansive menu (they have everything from fried clams to pizza and sandwiches, soups, salads and tons of delicious looking desserts). Then we stepped up to the register to order.

After about 10 minutes of standing there one of the teenagers came up to take our order. Presenting her with two Groupons, we needed to divide our check. We placed our order and she asked for assistance from the manager on inputting everything to allow us the use of both Groupons. She was pleasant and friendly the whole time. We paid, she stood there. We asked for cups, she gave them to us. We got our drinks and I pointed out the obvious problem of "How will they know what food is ours and how will we know what food is ours?" So we asked, she handed us a table marker with "66" on it and the manager quipped "You're number one!". We immediately took sanctuary outside, away from all the tiny people.

Once we were in a calmer, quieter environment we started to remark on the place. It was clean (plus) the food looked really good (plus plus) the staff was friendly (plus plus plus). We also noticed that this place was in total chaos. I have to ask, how long has Martha and Mary's been open? It appeared they were on day 2 and the staff was in total disarray (also completely staffed by what appeared to be 14 year-olds except for the manager and some cooks). It did not appear that anyone really knew what they were supposed to be doing, and then add to that that the place was packed. Really packed. (In fact, we waited until after we ate and it had thinned out a little to take the pictures)

Despite all of this, our food came out very quickly and was hot and delicious. The menu is simple so you won't find elegant elaborate meals here, but it's all really good. It's inexpensive (which is probably the appeal to all of those families we saw) and it's fun. Decorated in bright colors and kid friendly-chalk menu, you can see the appeal to people with kids.

My cheeseburger sliders were wonderful. Topped with american cheese, grilled onions, pickles and ketchup and mustard on a toasted bun, the flavors went really well together. Dave got the Chicken Caesar wrap and an order of fried clams with fries. The clams were fabulous (not chewy but tender and crispy) and his wrap was excellent. Crisp lettuce, juicy chicken and tangy dressing.

I do recommend trying this place out. The menu is really good, the food is good, the staff is nice. However, go at a time where you won't be interfering with family lunch time. Like, 2:30 -4 in the afternoon. Or any day where school is happening and the kids will be there. Unless you have kids, then by all means go at any time and enjoy.

3 Noms

Dave's 2 Cents:

Infested with children, this place is. Did I step into Chuck E. Cheese by accident? Nope, no pool of plastic balls. Were the patrons annoying? yes. Was the front of the house staffed by just-turned teenagers? YES. Is the food good though? Hells Yes!

After selling over 1000++ groupons a few weeks ago, I am sure this place has been inundated with new customers and swarms of penny pinchers. With that being said, this is the only negative. The food was Fast, hot, delicious. I got a Fried Clam appetizer, piping hot, not chewy at all (chewy=freezer burn). I also ordered a Chicken Caeser wrap, which was very nicely seasoned, and not too much dressing.

All in all, this place really is great. We will be retuning again for Breakfast. Evidently this place has signature breakfast pizzas that bring people from all over. NOM NOM!!!

Stewart's Rootbeer

We are reviewing this place for these reasons:

• This old-time drive in type place is incredibly hard to find
• It's been owned by the same family for 60 years
• the same guy has been working there for over 40 years
• it's only open during the summer
• they has root beerz on tap!!!

Dave loves several things: me, dogs, Halo, naps and most importantly: hot dogs and root beer. In that order. When we drove by this place one day and saw it was open we nearly drove through the cement highway divider to get in there. Dave was so excited. They pour their root beer (or cream ale) into frosted mugs and everything is made fresh, by hand in the kitchen.

And everything is delicious. Dave devoured several corn dogs, while I face-planted into a double cheeseburger hot mess. It was heaven. The burger fell apart in my hands leaving me with mayo covered mitts and a clown-style smile of mustard and ketchup.

We highly recommend, nay, COMMAND you visit this place when they open next spring. Say hi to the friendly staff, sit back and enjoy several frosty mugs of rootbeer then raid the fridge on your way out and take home a few 4 packs of Stewarts fine beverages. Honestly, a must.

5 NOMS!

Dave's 2 Cents:

Many years ago, before I-95 came along, Route 40 used to be a booming highway. As you exit downtown Baltimore and drive East on 40, you can just imagine how grand a roadway this area was. Hotel shells line the street, which were once booming with people, after all this was the only way to Delaware and Atlantic City before 95 came along.

Out from the rubble though, stands a classic gem that has stood the test of time. Stewart's root beer. Once a prevalent franchise spread up and down the east coast, this is the last Stewart's store front in Maryland. As a matter of fact, it's the last of its kind in the Mid- Atlantic. If you want to travel inland, the Midwest has a few in northern Ohio, and the next closest one is in Camden County, New Jersey. I know that spot well, as i spent the first 10 years of my life right down the road from the "Drive in" version of Stewart's in West NJ.

The only 2 things that could make this place perfect is: 1. being open all year, and 2. being a true drive in (parking your car outside and a girl on skates rolls up to your car and takes your order).

When you walk into this place, you can just get hit with a huge feeling of nostalgia. Whether your 30, 40, 50 or 60 years old, there is a good chance you've been to a place like this during your childhood.

As you order from the front counter, you can watch through the doors, your food getting freshly made and another person reaching into the deep freeze to grab your mugs for your root beer. The root beer and diet are on tap, and the other 4-5 flavors are vended through the normal fast food dispensers.

There are also pallets of bottled flavors for you to take home with you, in all the flavors. They even allow you to mix and match flavors whether you buy a 4 pack or a crate of 6- 4packs. You can even get root beer 1 gallon barrels, filled with your favorite flavor!!!

If this diner has touched your childhood like it has mine, you definitely need to share the experience with friends and your own children. This place is worth the drive, you truly need to visit.

Hibachi & Sushi Supreme Buffet

I was unaware we were reviewing this place. Hm. Ok. I thought we were just being fatties after we dropped our foster kittens off at their adoption event. From the outside this place looks like your typical strip mall Asian Buffet. On the inside, it was a wonderland of tasty delights. Yes, tasty delights.

This restaurant is huge. Several buffet stands full of food (everything from your expected sesame chicken to RIBS and mashed potatoes with gravy, oh yeah, and sushi). We were a little overwhelmed at first.

I asked Dave what our criteria would be for rating this place, and this is what we decided on.

• 
  
  Quality of food (like did the chicken wings have chicken hair on them)
• 
  
  Taste of food
• 
  
  Age of food
• 
  
  Americana buffet (do they have it just to have or does someone back there know how to make ribs)

In the end, everything was so delicious that our rating system was pretty much moot (by the way, someone back there DOES know how to make ribs and they are fall off the bone goooooood). The only thing that I tasted and did not like was the crabcake. Sesame chicken: good. Stuffed Scallops on a half shell: delicious. Lo Mein: soooo good and so on and so on.

It was all pretty fresh. Nothing had been sitting out for too long. It was all flavored wonderfully and was just great. The staff was friendly and quick. We had a great time. In fact, this will probably be a Drop Off The Foster Cats and Eat at the Buffet ritual.

5 noms

Dave's 2Cents:

As my wife had mentioned, this place looked like every other buffet around the country. A big sign promising greatness, in a strip mall with a at least a dry cleaner and possibly a nail salon.

Walking out of the pet store, I pointed the buffet out to Jenn. She looked at me in question as I said, "...but the sign says Supreme Buffet. We've never been to one of those before."

So she agreed and we went in.

This place is very nice inside. I am unsure if it used to be a steakhouse, but it had that feel. Lots of wood, lots of light. (I didn't see any burnt out bulbs either).

The 1st food item i saw was the seafood section. Crawfish, Clams on the shell, full sized crab... GOOD LORD SUPREME GOODNESS!

I then looked for the sushi. In the back was a 20+foot bar of about 15-18 different styles of sushi and shashimi. Next to the sushi bar was the hibachi grill. Definitely a lot smaller than Columbia's Mongolian buffet, they still had a lot of the basics there. I would also like to note that the raw meat was beautiful. The Beef was steak, still in steak shape, as were the chicken breasts. The scallops were huge as well. I enjoy seeing what my food looks like before chopped up into little bits.

Walking to the salad bar i noted on the back wall jugs of soup. On further inspection, it was a soup buffet! NOM!

For the non Asian loving eaters in the family, there is also an American buffet. Beef roast, pork ribs, mac'n'cheese, mash taters, etc...

Someone in the back knows how to do ribs. They were fall off the bone, luscious.

I defiantly give this place 5 noms. If I had to say something negative about 1 thing, it would be the seating. It looks like someone came in and slashed almost all the booth bench seat. Weird.

Bagby Pizza Co.

"Best Pizza in Harbor East"!

Bagby Pizza opened earlier this year to the delight of all my coworkers. Everyone had been dying for a quick lunch pizza joint near work for so long that it seemed Bagby answered the call, just for us.

I will admit right off that the reason it took me months and months to set foot in that place was because a couple of coworkers complained that they were too expensive and "wtf is up with no pizza by the slice?". However, we got wind that pizza by the slice was now being offered, and then Dave bought a Groupon, so one day we found ourselves there for lunch.

My first impression of the place is that it's absolutely wonderful inside. It definitely reflects the area on the inside with the exposed brick and duct work as well as the old timey Baltimore photos lining the walls. They have ample outdoor seating which is a great option when it's not a thousand degrees outside and isn't raining (it was raining). Their outdoor seating looks on at a gorgeous flower/garden shop so the view is truly lovely.

We looked over an ample menu (everything from pizza to salads to sandwiches) and decided on a large pepperoni and bacon. We got our sodas and sat down to wait for the pie to show up.

It came out pretty quickly. They were incredibly busy but it only took about 10 minutes or so for the pizza to arrive. I dug in immediately having not had breakfast that day and practically starving.

It was delicious. The sauce is just a little sweet and so good and you can tell the crust is homemade. The pepperoni and bacon was plentiful (both were chopped and under the cheese so you couldn't really see it, but you could definitely taste it). We tore through that pizza in no time. I was eyeballing some various pies at tables around me and I did not see a single unappetizing one. I'm thinking we need to keep going back to try different ones.

The crust is New York style so it's thin, but not cracker-crisp. The slices are big and fold-able, the cheese fresh and stringy. Basically, it's exactly what you want with a pizza. They have some fabulous combinations on their menu or you can create your own.

Now, as for the price of this place I guess you could say it is a tad pricey for lunch, but if you go with a friend, get a larger pizza and split the cost, you're going to spend about $10-12 on lunch, which isn't that bad at all. Especially not for Baltimore. We loved this place.

We fully, totally without hesitation give this place 5 Noms.

DAVE'S 2cents:

This will be short and sweet.

For the last 2 years, if I wanted great pizza from the harbor east/little Italy area, I went to Isabella's. They are even on our "Best of the Best" page. However, after eating here I think Isabella's now has some REAL COMPETITION.

Bagby's Pizza is just delish. As you can see from this picture, there is barely any oil dripping off a bacon and pepperoni pizza (2 of the most greasy meats you can have on a pizza).

Price wise though, it's just a few more dollars. (Isabella's 2 topping pizza $14ish, Bagby's $20)

The inside of this place is amazing too, if you're into wood, brick, and metal.

Since this place is on the border block of Little Italy and Harbor East, I will award this place "Best Pizza in Harbor East"!

Bill Bateman's Bistro

We were intrigued by the claim that Bill Bateman's Bistro had the "best wings in town". Dave and I both love some really good wings. It reminds us of Trivia Night in Florida when we'd hang out with his friends and eat pile after pile of various flavored wings while playing a ridiculous trivia game.

We tried out the White Marsh location (Gold Ring). We were greeted warmly and seated quickly. We ordered our beverages (I started off with a Cherry Bomb type thing, it was cherry bacardi, pineapple and cranberry juices and man oh man was it delicious), then started deciding on our meals.

We started off with an order of mozzarella sticks. It's definitely a passion of both of ours. I've loved mozzarella sticks ever since one almost killed me as a child. I swallowed a piece and started to choke on the giant string of cheese, frantically attempting to pull it out of my throat but the cheese just kept stretching. My mom, naturally, flipped out and I was banned from mozz sticks until adulthood.

So we ordered the mozz sticks and nearly a half an hour later they showed up. Room temp, cold enough that the cheese wasn't dangerously stretchy. In fact, it was like eating a cheese stick wrapped in breading. The sauce was piping hot, so you could make a case that it evened out.

A little while later our entrees showed up. Dave opted to try these famous wings of theirs so he ordered one plate of 20 wings teriyaki flavor and one plate of 10 wings bourbon flavored. Here, they don't let you mix flavors and they offer their wings in plates of ten. So you can't get a plate of 20 and split the flavors. If you order 20, you need to order them all the same. Which we both hated. When you're a "wing place" you need some flexibility.

Now, I've eaten my fair share of wings. I was really optimistic by the friendly comfortable atmosphere, the claim of "best wings in town" the delicious sounding flavors listed, and the personal message from Bill Bateman on the back of his menu telling us that they use only the best, freshest produce and meat around.

Dave's wings did not reflect any of those claims. It was all crispy tough skin and bland seasoning. There was hardly any meat on them at all. They were tiny and chewy.

I went for the seafood platter that had a lobster cake, fried shrimp, fried fish, coleslaw and fries. This being a seafood area of the country, I'm always curious to taste a new place's take on seafood. When my plate arrived the first thing I noticed was the golf-ball sized burnt lobster cake. The whole top was torched black. I started sampling everything. The fries were lukewarm and rubbery, the lobster cake was burnt and salty, the fish was cold and rubbery, the shrimp was actually pretty good, but not fresh (it was definitely frozen at some point) and the cocktail sauce to go with it was mostly horseradish so I had to "ketchup" it down a bit, and then the coleslaw was warm. Five bites in and I was done.

Our waitress came to check on us and asked if I needed a box. I declined and she asked if it was good and I said no. She asked what wasn't good and I said "Everything". She immediately jumped to help. She offered a conversation with a manager which at first I refused then changed my mind. I read an article recently encouraging people to complain when something is terribly wrong at a restaurant. Most people don't, and then business drops off because most people would just rather not come back than complain about something. So I decided to inform the manager that there was a problem and what the problem was.

She listened with intent, and then offered us some compensation which was wonderful. We didn't mentioned Dave's chicken, just focusing on my dinner. The waitress was incredibly sweet and kept apologizing.

My recommendation is if you decide to patron this establishment, stick to alcohol. Their alcoholic drinks are marvelous. Skip the food.

1 nom.

Dave's 2 Cents:

I almost called Groupon and demanded my money back. How dare they promote themselves as the "best wings in town", what town? where? Baltimore?! hell F%#$ no!

I would have had a better experience if i dipped my leather wallet in BBQ sauce and tried to eat that.

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that they force you to only take 1 flavor per order, wither its 10-20 or 50. 1 sauce only. If you want 20, with 2 sauces, you have to order 2x 10 pieces, which rings up another $4-5.

Bill, If you advertise yourself as the best, #1 your food better live up to the name, and #2 offer some customer service and give us wiggle room.

Unless however your meat comes off a truck in frozen bags that includes the toss sauce, hmmm.

Folks, do not go here for wings. Your better off buying a frozen bag @ Sam's club and microwaving it for 30 mins.