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!!!

Max's Empanadas

I have to admit that I was hesitant to try this place out at first. It cropped out virtually from nowhere after an Italian Deli shut down last year. Then I thought "Empanadas? In Little Italy? That's crazy talk" Crazy delicious!

Dear Max, whomever had the idea to pass out menus Friday evening should get a raise. That's what brought us in there. Something so simple. Dave brought home the menu and since I'd already had my heart set on seeing The Switch at Landmark that evening (and avoiding the Movie-on-the-Wall crowd to boot) I suggested we just make it a dinner and a movie night.

Now, the empanadas are pre-made then baked when you order them so they're gooey-hot. This means that if you have an aversion to olives (like Dave) then you will stand there and pout and not order anything until your dinner date shoves a forkful of cheese covered tender falling apart chicken in your mouth and you give in and order a whole plate of food for yourself. At least, that's how it happened for us.

I ordered the two empanada combo which gave me one chicken and one ham and cheese empanada and a side salad. The presentation of the food was gorgeous. The empanadas were golden brown, soft and warm. The salad was beautiful. So many colors and so fresh. I totally cleaned my plate. Both empanadas came with cheese and olives stuffed in with the ham and chicken. The flavors really worked so well together and everything was so good. They didn't taste premade (I can only assume these are all prepped like the night before then baked when you order them. They do sell frozen ones, but I doubt any that land on your plate in the restaurant have ever been frozen).

Dave ended up getting the chicken empanada with the black bean hummus. The hummus came with sliced fresh veggies and warm pita bread for dipping. I personally hate all hummus as a general rule, but Dave totally loved it. I was biased, but the pita bread and veggies were totally fresh and awesome. Totally.

This is a little row-home style restaurant so you can't have too many people looking into the glass case or milling about by the wine or cash register. There will definitely be some crowding if you find yourself in any of those places (Oh, did we mention this place sells booze? It does.) but there is ample seating and it has a funky contemporary feel to it. There's art for sale lining the walls and other non-for-sale art that ties the decor together nicely.

To appease the Italian crowd this place also offers paninis and wine. Oh, and also, it's cheap. Two people can leave incredibly full for not a lot of cash. Does it get any more Italian than that?

4 noms

Dave's 2Cents:

To be honest, after looking at the menu, nothing really jumped out at me. Not saying its bad, I just wasn't in the mood for this style of food, or so i thought.

I sat down and didn't order anything, watching my wife eat. She then, after some arm twisting, made me try some of her Empanada. Needless to say before the food got in my stomach, I was up at the counter ordering my own plate full.

 

I went with 1 Emp and hummus. I got the pulled chicken Emp' and black bean hummus.

Along side of the plate was hot and toasty flat bread, carrots and zucchinni. The best part was that it was lightly seasoned with salt and oregano.

Great food. Great prices. Great atmosphere! Thanks Max!

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.

Luna Del Sea

Luna Del Sea Bistro
www.lunadelsea.com

300 West Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-6504
(410) 752-8383

BEST SEAFOOD: INNER HARBOR
Click Here for Menu

Today's post was supposed to be about Dangerously Delicious Pies, but since it was closed, we headed over to Luna Del Sea to review this little seafood bistro. Our good friend Sami, whom you may remember from our Sorso Cafe post suggested we try it out, as he knows the owner. We headed over there with him and our friend Heather in tow to help us sample a wider range of the menu.

I must say first off that this place is very cute. It's set up elegantly, comfortable seating, the ballroom has a gorgeous mural on the wall. Right away we felt at home there. We were one of two tables in the place so it was nice and quiet.

We started the meal off by ordering fried soft shell clams and mussels in a garlic butter sauce. Dave sure does love his fried clams, and he wasn't disappointed here. They were perfectly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the dipping sauce was a phenomenal complement. I was a little biased about the mussels and so were Dave and Heather.

The last time I had mussels they were chewy and rubbery and not having a basis of comparison, thought that was how they were supposed to be. Now that I've tried these, I know otherwise. These were tender and nearly melted in your mouth. The garlic butter sauce was so good that we all used up the rolls to soak it up and polish the plate. Sami sure knows his food, he did an excellent job picking out that dish. Even Dave and Heather liked them. Luna Del Sea, you have 3 new mussel converts.

For the entrees Heather ordered the crab cake sandwich with fries, Sami got the seafood trio, broiled, Dave ordered the fried seafood platter and I ordered the shrimp salad sandwich.

Everything came out very quickly, which was probably due in part to us being 50% of their business at that time. July 5 was weird because so many people were considering it a holiday (Dave and I had off work) but it kind of wasn't so the business flow was off. We were eating lunch at 2 p.m. for example.

My sandwich came out just a little later than everyone else's because I mumbled my order and the waiter didn't catch it. We each took turns sampling everyone's food. Dave's platter came with fried fish, fried clams, fried scallops, and fried crabcake. Sami had broiled shrimp, scallops, and crabcake. Heather's was a crabcake on a bun, and mine was shrimp salad (shrimp, goodness and mayo) on a bun.

I must say, everything was incredibly delicious. Sami's seafood trio was especially good. Everything was cooked perfectly. I never thought I'd like crab cake, but this place really has it down. There wasn't a single thing that we ordered that we all weren't completely satisfied with. Sami's scallops and shrimp were buttery, tender and very very fresh. The crab cake from his platter was flaky and so good.

Dave's fried crab cake had a similar flavor but you could definitely tell the difference between fried and broiled. Dave's was a tad crispier on the outside, but soft, warm and good on the inside. Dave's scallops were also cooked perfectly, with the crispy outside a great complement to the flaky inside. Heather had the same crabcake the guys had so nothing new there, but still delicious. My sandwich while although my least favorite thing on the table was still delicious. The shrimp was very fresh, it wasn't bland whatsoever and the kaiser roll was soft. The fries were the highlight however. Whatever they are cooked/battered in is just wonderful.

I give it 5 noms.

Best seafood place in Baltimore I've been to so far. The staff is friendly and fast, service was great and it's in a good location. Parking might be a bit of a problem, since it's located on Pratt street but it's definitely worth it.


Dave's 2Cents:

I am completely amazed that I've never seen or heard of this place (I drive by it everyday coming home from work). From outside, it looks like a little place/rowhome with outside eating. What you get when you walk in is amazing. Huge sports bar, big fluffy pillow outside lounge area, massive ballroom for private events, 20 foot ceilings, famous people all over the walls... just GREAT.

Another thing that impressed me is the smell, which is what I look for when going to a seafood joint. Smelled fresh and clean! The owner came and sat with us for a few moments to check on us, he seemed like a very nice down to earth fellow, the waiter made sure all out glasses were full and our mouths were smiling, between running outside and blowing off the sidewalk (poor kid).

I honestly can't find one bad thing about this place. Its located across the street from the convention center and there are many places to park and walk. One suggestion would be parking at the Gallery Mall and walking a block over, but there's many blue "P" signs around.

I tried many new things and revised things I've never liked, and loved them all. Mussels... Crabcake... Scallops... Om Nom Nom!

Cheers!

Trinacria

Trinacria Foods
406 Paca St Baltimore, MD 21201-1880
(410) 685-7285

Saturday was Groupon Day for Dave and I. We each had one for this Italian Deli/Grocery, Trinacria, as well as one for a used bookstore in Columbia so we decided on lunch first, then books.

Josh the Groupawn mentioned he'd tried this place when he was in town last weekend and said that the food was amazing. We had to GPS the location as it was in a part of town we weren't familiar with and upon our arrival, we realized why.

This little Italian Gem is located in a rather unpolished neighborhood, which judging by the buildings most likely was a rich and elegant part of the city at one time. Now many of the storefronts are boarded up or of the Value variety. Dave double-checked to make sure we still wanted to try it, and I said "Of course!" so we went in.

Walking in to this shop is like walking into a whole other world. To your left is the cash register, bulk items, deli counter/sandwich making area, and to your right is shelf after shelf of Italian pastas, sauces, ingredients, wines, etc. We wandered around taking it all in for a few moments before checking out the menu.

Dave decided on what he was having pretty quickly, and it took me a few minutes before I settled on the Prosciutto Panini which came with sliced prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and roasted red pepper on grilled bread. Our Groupons we worth $10 so we each grabbed a can of soda, I ordered a Black Bottom Cupcake for dessert and in addition to his Tuna Sandwich Dave got a Caesar salad.

The one drawback to this place is that it is small. Their customer flow is too heavy for such a small shop, so you're constantly shuffling by people, squeezing between shelves and other customers and trying to make yourself as small as possible. However, the staff is phenomenal, incredibly friendly, patient, helpful and knowledgeable.

Dave and I rang up separately since we each had our own Groupon and his total came to just over $4 with the $10 discount, mine ended up coming up short so I had to tack on one of their 99 cent homemade brownies to bump me over the $10 mark. It was worth it.

We took our loot to the car and decided we couldn't wait to get home or get to a place where we could eat properly, so we unwrapped everything there in the front seat. The first bite of my sandwich was heaven. I'll admit I've never really tasted prosciutto before but it's like if bacon and ham got together and had a gorgeous bastard child like Brad and Angelina did, that child would be named Prosciutto. The cheese was soft and warm, the peppers sweet and flavorful and the mound of prosciutto offered the perfect meaty saltiness to tie it all together so nicely.

Dave's sandwich was pretty good as well, I thought. It was a little strange eating Italian tuna, but I thought it worked quite well. We're both certain the tuna was flavored with basil as well as some other Italian spices, and the bread was so good. It was buttery, soft and just so good I could have just eaten that.

There's not much to say about the salad. It was a typical Caesar salad, crisp romaine, homemade croutons (fabulous), Parmesan cheese (fresh!), and a little packet of Caesar dressing. It was good though, really fresh, nothing was limp or rotting (always a good sign) and the croutons were amazing. On second thought, there's a lot you could say about this salad. The fact the the Parmesan and the croutons were both fresh speaks volumes to this place.

For the desserts, the Black Bottom cupcake was a wonderful little concoction that tasted more like a cream cheese topped brownie than cake, which is how I like my cake. It was moist, chocolatey and delicious. The brownie was a little dry, but you could definitely tell it was homemade so it earned some bonus points there.

My only regret is not buying some of their house pasta sauce, which we will be doing very soon as well as some of their pasta and fresh mozz and parm. I feel an Italian night coming on. Just don't tell Isabella's that we cheated on them.

4 out of 5 noms!

CHARM CITY NOMS WARNING:

STORE LOCATION IS CLOSE TO SKETCHY AREAS, VISIT AT OWN RISK.

Dave's 2cents:

So, the only thing this place going against them is the location. Its about 2-3 blocks north of the Lexington market. To locals, I should be hearing a, "ewwww" from you, for visitors, I will explain.

I'm 6 Foot, 280lbs and built like a wall. There are certain places I feel comfortable out of my car in Baltimore, this place is not one of them. I circled the block to survey the area, and to make Jenn comfortable. We parked a block south of the location, it seemed parking close to this store is impossible, there was even a lot of double parking.

As you can see by the 1st picture of this post, this place looks like a hole. It TRULY is a gem in the rough though. Once walking through the door, I had what I can only describe as a Narnia / Wardrobe experience.

Inside was this cute, GREAT SMELLING, deli/bakery/grocery store! Fresh store made jars of sauce lined the walls, along with bags of fresh pasta, oils, etc. They have an Olive bar with i believe 8-14 different types of olives. The back area have bakers racks full of baguettes, Italian loafs and other breads I didn't recognize.

This place belongs in Little Italy, seriously.

My food was great, the staff was super helpful and kind.

And another tip, when you walk in, TAKE A NUMBER! It is not well labeled and we pissed people off by skipping them. OOPS! (numbers located immediately to the left of the door)