Luckie's Fabulous Tavern

Oh Luckie's...

Located just a few blocks from our house under the giant Power Plant Live sign, Luckie's features an expansive bar, huge area of outdoor seating and no toilet paper.

Seriously. The first thing I did was hit the restroom when we got here. Ladies, you know how when you walk into a restroom and you first check to make sure that there isn't anything disgusting looming in the bowl, then you check to make sure the door will shut, then you check to make sure it's not covered in pee...etc?...well, I walked down four or five stalls before finding one that didn't have human soup but still had interesting reading material on the walls (it's a bar, you can't expect much) and then to my dismay found no toilet paper. Running down several more stalls finally locating some, I washed my hands thoroughly and then laughed and the silverware setting sitting on a chair by the paper towels.

Dave had already ordered our Cokes, and we looked over the menu. We were just minutes into the dinner menu and were relieved to find out we could use our Groupon. We made up about half of their business at 5 p.m. yesterday. TV's blared the Navy v. Terps game and we set about ordering a chicken sandwich with cheddar cheese, side salads with ranch and Dave took the plunge on the hot turkey platter.

The waiter walked away with our menus and we looked forlornly at our empty glasses.

Our busy waiter set about fetching beverage for all the other patrons in the bar and as the minutes went by the annoyed tweets mounted. Had this guy not been so nice, I probably would have snapped. However, every time we interacted with him he was just so nice. By this point I was fully expecting burnt/or undercooked food, sucking ice to stay hydrated, and possibly contracting an infection from whatever was gluing my flip flops to the floor.

Here's where restaurant reviewing gets tricky. We can't rate this place the same way we would rate a place like La Tavola, or Prime. We have to rate this place on the level of other pub/bar type places. We expect simple pub style menus, we expect casual service, and we expect a certain amount of "eeeew, what is that on the floor?" It's a bar.

For being a bar, this place was pretty clean. It was sparsely staffed and likewise sparsely populated. Apparently not a lot of people eat at 5 p.m. when there's a big game going on in town. Meh.

So, finally after several tweets two full glasses of Coke show up and I was like "Yay! Thank you!" and he said "I read your mind" and then I muttered "you're apparently on mountain time" and then I wasn't mad anymore.

When the food arrived, the waiter brought over two more full glasses so he totally redeemed himself.

The food arrived. The salads looked wonderful. They were fresh, crisp and very very good. My sandwich was wonderful. Juicy chicken, fresh toppings, crisp fries. I would have been willing to eat my hat if I were the type of person to wear hats. Then the greatest shocker. . .

The hot turkey platter was delicious.

Seriously. It was Michigan good. Chunks of turkey breast, plain jane slices of bread, soaked in gravy, mounds of mashed potatoes. Stunning.

For the turkey platter alone, Luckie's you get 4 noms.

Diablita

The first time I visited this place was for a coworker's birthday last year, right after they opened.

As you can see from the photos, it is pretty dimly lit on the inside for happy hours. This was a "hang out with coworkers" type event again for me, and it turned out to be way better than the coworker birthday event was. The first time I was here the food was too greasy and the service was really slow.

However, this time around everything was pretty good. I ordered the red sangria (delicious and whoa did it pack a punch!) and the chicken fajitas. I don't know what Dave got because he placed his order after I'd had one glass of sangria so my memory retention wasn't all that great.

Anyway, the only complaint I have about the food is not enough tortillas. You never get enough with fajitas no matter where you go, just like when you order mooshu anything at any Chinese restaurant. They had you this wonderful pile of fillings and then like, 3 pancakes.

So, am I supposed to fill-to-spilling these tortillas? How do they eat these in their native country? I'm confused.

Anyway, the chicken was grilled, wonderfully seasoned and moist. The toppings were fab. House sour cream (I think it had cilantro in it) pico de gallo, rice, spicy black beans, lettuce. YUM.

I give it 4 noms. They didn't skimp on the booze, and my food was hot, fresh and not greasy!

Dave's 2Cents:

As always, I am a big fan of the exposed brick and rustic flooring and timbers. I was surprised that with just 2 people working the front they were able to take care of a group of 40 of us.

I had nachos and salsa as an app, and some tasty beef sandwich on a flat bread. (No idea what is was called, sorry.)

It was overall a nice place inside, unfortunately, it resides on the border of Little Italy and a ghetto. (quite literally, the next block is projects).

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.

Blue Agave

At some point we were going to have to review a Mexican restaurant. We'd been avoiding it because of my newly diagnosed stomach issues which included such orders from the doctors as "no spicy foods" and "for the love of GOD no spicy foods" and "You should probably stay away from spicy foods" and then there was "Oh yeah, and no tomato, lime, lemon or orange. Also, no spicy foods"

So it had sorta ruled out a lot of my favorite Mexican dishes like...anything Mexican. We had a Groupon for Blue Agave Restaurante and Tequileria which is next to Dangerously Delicious Pies so we thought we'd have dinner there, carefully, and then hit up DDP for dessert.

I scoured the menu to locate all of the dishes that I knew wouldn't be good for me and immediately avoided them. This narrowed my selection to pretty much any vegetarian dish, the dos Burros and the enchiladas. I opted for the enchiladas and Dave got dos Burros. We also got a sampler of salsa and some homemade tortilla chips (which the first round is free, any additional you pay for).

The enchiladas came on a platter with three, stuffed with cheese, shredded chicken and covered in the red enchilada sauce topped with cheese, a side of rice and black beans. It was fantastic. These were probably the best enchiladas I've ever had. I ate one whole one and then Dave at my last two (they were probably just a notch above the spice level I'm allowed to have so to avoid a stomach ache, I gave him my final two in exchange for the rest of his chicken burrito). The rice was perfect the beans were perfect, it was great. There was a slight hint of something sweet like cinnamon or something in the tortillas that really added an excellent flavor to the whole dish.

Dave's entree was two burritos, one steak and the other chicken, stuff with beans, rice, tomatoes. They were huge. Absolutely gigantic and unbelievably good. The meat wasn't dry or overcooked, the tortilla soft and warm. Best burrito I've ever had.

The chips and salsa was also incredible. Everything was so fresh and tasted like it was just prepared. I only wish they had told us what kinds of salsa we were eating (one was all green, one clearly regular salsa and one a dark red/brown color and almost completely liquid)

4 Noms.

This place was great. They have an excellent happy hour on Tuesdays where you get 2 apps for $20. This seems like it would be a great place to meet friends or go to after work.

Mt. Washington Tavern

The Mt. Washington Tavern

5700 Newbury Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21209

410.367.6903

We'd heard good things about this place so we decided to hit it up over the weekend. It's located in a really cute part of the city. Since we were eating pretty late at night (it was around 9:30 when we went) I'd really like to try to get back there during the daytime.

When we arrived, we walked in through the front which is the bar area. Music was playing really loud and we were a little nervous. We asked for a "quiet" table and the hostess gave us this little smirk then led us through a hallway and opened a door to a gorgeous cabana themed restaurant that was softly lit by candles and white string lights wrapped around fake palm trees. It was really lovely.

We were greeted really quickly and given our drinks. We ordered an appetizer, crab wantons, jumbo lump crab meat, cream cheese and scallions served with a Ponzu dipping sauce. When the app came we put in the order for our entrees, Dave choosing the Parmesan Crusted Rockfish and me choosing the Shelburne Chicken. It took a little longer than we expected for the food to come out. Dave's fish was a "Wild caught Parmesan rockfish filet topped with Jumbo Lump and beurre blanc and sauteed green beans". They must have been out of green beans because he got a vegetable medley instead. His fish was amazing. Perfectly cooked, and the beurre blanc sauce was unbelievably creamy and delicious. I was jealous.

My Shelburne Chicken was "chicken breast wrapped around country ham and brie cheese with wholegrain mustard, pan-gravy and wild mushroom risotto". I was hopeful and excited because it sounded so delicious. It tasted like a pile of garbage. The mustard was entirely too strong, the risotto was more of a "wild mushroom pilaf". I got through one piece of this dish and had to push it away. I will say that the ham, chicken and brie combination was quite good. The mustard totally killed it though.

Thankfully the staff there was so wonderful as to let me choose another dish to try and delivered it on the quick. I exchanged my chicken for the Prime Rib, Queen's cut. It was "slow roasted boneless rib of Hereford Beef with crispy onions, Horseradish Creme, and Wild Mushroom risotto". I asked for no horseradish as it's one of those foods I can't eat.

The steak was fabulous. It was cooked perfectly, just fatty enough and soooo juicy. It was truly delicious. I did not eat much of the onions but they did add a good bit of flavor to the meat. They were crispy and salty and really good. I poked at the "risotto" and took a bite. I'm pretty sure it had been sitting out and was microwaved as it was oddly hot in certain spots and had that rubbery texture.

As mentioned before, this place is GORGEOUS on the inside. It gives you a sense that you're on vacation at a resort on the beach. The Rockfish was amazing and the steak delicious. So, I recommend you go and try those dishes. We had excellent service as well, which has helped to give this place the score of 3 noms.

Mongolian Grill

The Mongolian Grill Of Columbia

8865 Stanford Boulevard, Suite 107 Columbia, MD 21045-5420

Call: (410)290-0690 for reservations of six or more people.

Click here for FREE COUPONS!

http://www.mongoliangrillcolumbia.com/
Lunch Hours: Monday – Friday, 11:30am-2:30pm

Dinner Hours: Monday – Thursday, 5:00pm-9:00pm Friday, 5:00pm-10:00pm

Weekend Hours: Saturday, 12:00pm-10:00pm Sunday, 12:00pm-9:00pm

Now, if it's one thing Dave likes other than hotdogs, it's Mongolian BBQ. He's always seeking out

Mongolian places. While living in Fernandina Beach, Florida there was one that he would go to every year for his birthday and on our most recent trip he found out it closed. Sad face.

As far as we know, this is the only Mongolian place in a 45 minute radius (possibly more than that we haven't looked any further than 45 minutes away). As a bonus, they have coupons on their website that gives you $5 a $25 purchase and $10 off a $50 purchase. (coupon available at the top of this blog post)

It's set in a little strip mall tucked away as everything in Columbia is. Walking in we noticed a well stocked bar and then a little nook of knick-knacks for sale. We were there for dinner, early dinner but dinner, so we had full access to the Mongolian bar and the salad bar. While everything on the salad bar certainly looked appealing, fresh and delicious, I spent all my food space at the Mongolian bar.

Their options vary depending on what they have in stock but their staples are pork, chicken, beef, fish, shrimp, scallops, rice, noodles, eggs, and cabbage. They usually have zucchini, carrots, bean sprouts and water chestnuts as well. You start by grabbing a bowl, a bowl tray, your token with your number on it, then you fill your bowl with the rice or noodle, veg. and then meat of your choice. You can season it however you want, they put out tons of spices, garlic, green onion for you, then you dump on your sauces.

They make it really easy for first timers suggesting you create your own and then offering handy little menus for the gun-shy that teach you how to make certain ones. I went with the Child's sauce which was peanut, sesame oil, teriyaki, and mongolian sauce. I sprinkled on some garlic and took my bowl up to the grill then sat down to await what sorts of lovely flavors I'd end up with. In my bowl was also some noodles, an egg, beef, shrimp, water chestnuts, zucchini, carrots, onion, and green onion.

I wasn't disappointed. Everything blended together so well and it was soooo good that I ended up having another heaping bowl of it. My 2nd time up I changed my sauce a bit and just splashed some stuff together. I went with sesame oil, teriyaki, a touch of lemon water, peanut sauce, house sauce, mongolian sauce, and garlic. This time my sauce was just a big more tangy than it was previously. The first time up it was a tad sweet and nutty.

Mmmm mmmm mmmm.

5 noms.

Dave's 2 Cents:

Even though this place is a little out of Baltimore's city limits, it definitly is a place to mention. It's a perfect place to take the family or a large group of friends, and GO HUNGRY! With over 6 meats and 25 sauces to mix and match, the only thing that can go wrong is you getting full before trying everything. I know this is a place I will be taking friends and family for years to come.

Just remember to take your token up to the cook with your food, and remember what number you are, or you'll end up eating someone else's creation!

Talara

Another Groupon, another review. Today we visited Talara, a little tapas/bar place right by Little Italy. We opted to go during a non-busy time of day (read: when we woke up from our nap at 3 p.m. 45 minutes before we had to pick up the foster kittens from their surgery) in hopes of quick service.

I walk by this place pretty frequently as it is near to both work and home, and I have never seen it busy. I noticed that this particular groupon had a little over 1,200 purchases so I do hope that changes. However, before we get to the reviewing of the food part, I do have to say one thing: their website is goddamn annoying. Dear Talara, go easy on the flash, mmkay? You kinda froze up my computation machine and I don't even run into that problem toggling between facebook and hulu Wednesday nights when I'm desperately trying to catch up with Amy and the gang on Secret Life of the American Teenager (we all have demons, go with me on this one). So, in conclusion, your website is confusing, too flashy, and it needs to be stopped. The end.

Now, the food/restaurant experience itself.

It took us a few minutes to decide on what to order, despite it being their lunch menu and pretty concise. Finally we settled on the Pork Empanadas for an appetizer, and Dave got the Bento box lunch which came with a salad, Asian salmon tar-tare, tempura shrimp over grilled pineapple, and two small slices of tres leches cake, I went with the green chile burger which came with queso blanco, bacon, green chile salsa and bbq sauce and a side of fries.

It took almost 15 minutes for our app to hit our table and before we were even done eating it our entrees were there, so I think there's a bit of a timing problem in the kitchen (which happened to be located about a foot to our left). The empanadas were pretty good. The pork wasn't dry at all, the pastry outside was crispy and then soft. It came drizzled with a sauce that tasted like a spicy mayo.

As for my burger, it was in interesting combo of flavors, definitely had that "southwestern" flavor going for it. It was cooked properly, and the fries were delicious. I must warn you this burger has a tiny kick to it, so I was unable to eat much thanks to my stomach. What I did eat was pretty good.

I tried Dave's salad and his shrimp, avoiding his salmon tartare at all costs, then giving his cake a try (I hate cake as a general rule. If you put cake in front of me and I have more than one or two bites, it's damn good cake). His salad was very crisp, the shrimp had a good flavor and I really liked the grilled pineapple. The cake was "eh". It wasn't dry and it was drizzled with a coconutty creamy sauce (which I liked) but it's cake.

The restaurant itself is really lovely. It's covered in all these latin-looking paintings, and the decor is funky and cool. I really like that they do the cooking basically right in front of you (sometimes I wonder what really does go on in kitchens, then I remember that I'd rather not know) but here they're right there and you can watch them make your food.

As far as the service goes, when we walked in we had to wait for someone to come up to the stand to seat us, watching the cooks shout and gesture to someone in the background. Our waitress was really really nice but I think that because it was so slow, it was easy to forget about us. She brought our food as soon as it was ready and our glasses didn't go empty but it did take her awhile to settle the bill. The last time I was in there I waited about 15 minutes to have my glass refilled then by the time she refilled it, we had to go back to work. So the service was better than it was that time.

I do think this place is more suited for a happy hour or business lunch place. I didn't get to try any of their alcohol drinks but I have heard good things. The food is pretty tasty but I just don't see this as a go-out-to-dinner kind of place. This is more of a meet-your-group-there-for-cocktails place. Its relatively inexpensive (at least their lunch menu is, I'm not sure about their dinner menu) and you do get enough food for what you pay for.

Overall, I give it 3 noms.


Dave's 2 Cents:
I really don't have anything to good or bad to say about this place. Nothing was bad, but for the location, something should have had stuck out as great.