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)

Tavern 101

Tavern 101
101 President Street

Baltimore, MD 21202
P: 410-837-9900
F: 410-837-9901
BEST WINGS: Inner Harbor.
CLICK HERE FOR COUPONS!!!

Tavern 101 stuck in our mind from when Dave's mom visited us in February and she stayed at the Fairfield hotel attached to it. We had such great service and the people working there were so friendly that when we decided to start this blog, that this place would definitely be on the list. It's never busy in there so we're guessing a lot of people are unaware of how awesome it is. We're trying to fix that.

Every day they do happy hours from 3:30 - 7:30 p.m. where you can get great deals on beer and liquor. There's always a sports game on their many flat screen TVs, and the waitstaff is always friendly.

One thing we discovered here are their house specialty Honey and Old Bay wings. They used to have an amazing deal on wings on Thursday for happy hour but it has since been discontinued (go ahead, complain about it, maybe it will be reinstated if enough people speak up). Their wings aren't the wussy little meatless variety either, they are big, juicy meaty delicious pieces served with plenty of dipping sauce (ranch or bleu cheese) and celery sticks.

There are two other flavors, mild (which isn't all that mild, offers a slight kick) and hot (which I'm guess are fire-in-the-hole-crap-your-pants hot, but I'm unable to try them so I'm only guessing). But really, the Honey & Old Bay is where it's at. It's a tangy-sweet-makes-you-want-to-suck-the-bone kinda flavor.

Another fabulous specialty of theirs that we tried out for the first time last night is the Loaded Fries. These bad boys are covered in cheese, ranch dressing, bacon (real bacon too not that fake shakin' bacon stuff) and baked to perfection. The flavor is smoky-salty rich and before you realize what's happening, you'll eat half the platter. I promise you.

Dave also ordered the Shredded Pork sliders which came with 2 mini sandwiches which were topped with purple cabbage coleslaw (I've always resisted calling it "red cabbage as it is not red), and a side of kettle chips. I can attest the chips were delicious but the slaw was kind of vinegary.

I ordered a good ole American Cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard and mayo with a side of onion rings. The burger was big and juicy, the cheese plentiful, the toppings crisp and fresh and the onion rings were absolutely perfect. No mushy spots (man I hate mushy spots) and BIG.

We went home with enough leftovers for dinner again tonight, and using a Restaurant.com gift certificate meant our bill was way cheap. It was a win-win.

Since this place caters to the beer and munchies kind of crowd, you won't find any upscale fare here, and you also won't really find anything catering to the vegan/and or special dietary needs people. It's your classic pub style menu, burgers, sandwiches, fries, pizza. The food is plentiful and inexpensive (you can eat for around $10 per person if you skip the drinks).

The service was phenomenal. Our waiter Mike brought over a few extra glasses of soda for us because of all the food we ordered he figured we'd be "extra thirsty" and I know Dave and one thing he hates is an empty soda glass when he's eating. The only very tiny tiny complaint that I have is that Dave's stuff came out first, and mine didn't come out until almost 10 minutes later. Which was actually fine because it gave me plenty of time to eat most of those loaded fries.

5 NOMS!!

Dave's 2 cents:

Like Jenn said, my mom came to visit us from Florida in February and stayed in the hotel this pub resides in. From the moment I saw it I was in love, and haven't stopped thinking about the place since.

I love the look of this place: steel, wood, brick. Flat screens in EVERY direction, booths, benches, stools and tables fill this area nicely along with these retro fans that are belt powered, spinning above you.

It's also a tragedy how empty we always see this place every time we visit. Not saying its dead all the time, but we have just had the luck of being there when it was.

This pub has an awesome location, on the boarder of Little Italy and the Inner Harbor, you can walk to this place from any harbor hotel, or a short cab ride from across the water in Federal Hill.

The service has never been bad, and they do everything in their power to make you comfortable. The presentation of the food is awesome as well. Rather than food slopped on a plate like in normal pubs, they take some time plating the food, as you can see in all these pictures.

My favorite wings in this place are Old bay & Honey. These are so good, I can honestly say that on ANY OTHER FOOD... I HATE OLD BAY, but on these it's the exact opposite. When I eat these, I go into a little frenzy, snorting a little and trying to BREATHE the chicken into me. OM NOM NOM.

Jenn and I have decided that since we know or no other wings places in Baltimore that are this good, we are deeming Tavern 101, BEST WINGS: Inner Harbor.

If you want great service with a smile, ask for Mike, tell him Charm City Noms sent you!