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Hull Street Blues

pastaHull Street Blues has been operating for nearly 25 years, an eternity in the bar and grill business, and it is easy to see why. The beer is cold, the food is well-made and ranges from fine dining to quick-grab pub grub, the prices are competitive and the place itself is absolutely charming.

Hull Street Blues, which opened when the iconic “Hill Street Blues” cop show was enjoying its first run on television, was a gastropub before gastropubs became the rage. There is a long oak bar in front, where the regulars gather for friendly chat over beers and cocktails. In back there is the Commodore Room, a white-cloth dining room with seating for 30 or so. The decor is eclectic, well-worn, mainly marine and antique—and the oversized beer mugs and wooden beer crates over the bar are certainly covetable.

We popped in for a Thursday lunch, on a day when the breeze is cool and the sun is warm and just about everyone is out for a stroll, and most of them decided to head over to HSB for lunch. One valiant server was taking care of the dining room and the bar, plus a few people who dropped in for carryout. So the wait was [Read more...]

Harborque Serves up North Carolina Barbeque in South Baltimore

Kelley Stewart, owner of Harborque

Kelley Stewart, half-owner of HarborQue, waits for customers Photo by Jacqueline Watts

On Lawrence Street, in that little seam between trendy Federal Hill and trendy Locust Point, there is a barbecue shack. It’s called HarborQue, and it serves a pulled pork sandwich that might just give you a drawl. Good thing that’s trendy these days.

It’s good, old-fashioned North Carolina (pronounced Nawth Cow-lyna) eastern region barbecue. The pork shoulder is smoked for 14 to 17 hours, till it’s to the falling-apart point with a smoky dark crust. It is also mopped occasionally with a tart, hot, thin vinegar sauce that is characteristic of eastern Carolina.

The result is a soft, smoky, spicy mound of porky delight, which is then piled on a soft sesame seed roll, topped with a little slaw by request and served to a happy public for $6.45.

Most people will opt for the platter, however, because sides make the meal. [Read more...]

Experience tastes from the Far East in Fells Point

Ding How, at the corner of Broadway and Aliceanna St. in Fells Point, is a Chinese restaurant with a comprehensive menu. All of the usual suspects are here, from sweet and sour chicken to moo shu pork to chow mein, Peking duck to whole crispy fish, but the restaurant absolutely excels at Szechuan flavors and noodles.

Ding How
631-37 S. Broadway
410-327-8888
Open daily for lunch and dinner
Carryout and delivery available

A whole crowd of us descended on Ding How a few weeks ago for a celebration dinner, and the management thoughtfully set us up with a table for 12 in advance. For 21 years, Henry Chen, Ronnie Shi and Ching Ling Fan have offered friendly, thoughtful service and a familiar menu of classics and exotic, innovative dishes—make sure to check the specials for those.

Start with the hot and sour soup, a spicy, heady, slightly thick brew with shredded pork, green onion and tofu. The soup is guaranteed to get your blood moving on a cold day, and the spice is refreshing on a hot day. The won ton soup is good too, a briny clear soup with a single dumpling and garnished with crisp scallion slices. There are many people [Read more...]

Birds House: Raven’s and O’s breakdown

While the Orioles keep showing signs of life late in the season, the Ravens show their neighbors from Washington who is the better team. Buck still has the Orioles making progress and playing competitive ball. On the week, the O’s went 3-4 on the week, but split an impressive series with the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.

Who’s Hot

The O’s head out to take on the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels, which will be a tough series.

Congrats to Josh Bell who hit his first ML home run off Cliff Lee en route to the O’s 8-6 victory against Texas. For the week Bell hit .316 with those two home runs and five RBI. Luke Scott also connected for two homers on the week while hitting .333. Brian Matusz pitched a gem against the Rangers last week, pitching eight innings, striking out six and allowing only five hits. Special props go out to Nick Markakis for getting thrown out of his first major league game!

Who’s Not

Adam Jones and Cesar Izturis both went 3 for 21 on the week (.143 average if you’re keeping count) and combined to drive in a whopping one run. Matt Wieters also struggled on the week, hitting .200 going 4 for 20, but did seem to throw out runners left and right against Texas on Friday night. Jeremy Guthrie was roughed up for the [Read more...]

Get a good grilling in Greektown

fishOne of the very greatest joys of living and working in East Baltimore is the variety of excellent ethnic restaurants. There’s Little Italy, of course. There is Spanish Town north of Fells Point, with all sorts of bodegas and tortillerias, and its Polish restaurants and delis are renowned. Highlandtown has its own batch of excellent Hispanic eateries.

And then there is Greektown.

Greektown’s restaurants serve up a variety of delicious healthy food—lamb, chicken and fish, with more than your recommended allotment of fresh vegetables. You can eat well and happily just about anywhere in Greektown, and your cardiologist might even approve.

Zorba’s, at 4710 Eastern Avenue, is one of Greektown’s gems. It’s a rowhouse bar and grill nestled into the row between Newkirk and Oldham streets. The bar is in front and the grill’s behind. [Read more...]

Come chill at Fleet Street’s Brewers Hill Pub & Grill

Ann Marie Hart

Ann Marie Hart

One of the happy trends in dining is fewer things are coming out of freezer bags and cans and more things are prepared with fresh ingredients. It’s far better to eat fresh than pre-prepared foods, and the bonus is it’s tastier too.

This trend is even reaching corner bars these days. Like the Brewer’s Hill Pub, which used to be a burger, beer-and-shot joint and now offers all the old comfy pub standards—burgers, hot turkey sandwich, pizza, steamed shrimp—plus some fresh, inventive sandwiches and salads, all well-prepared and tasty.

First off, though, you have to find the place. Brewers Hill Pub is at the corner of Eaton and Fleet streets, a corner bar dwarfed by the new Baltimore Medical Systems clinic. If you are walking east on Fleet, you will not be able to see it till you are practically past it. BHP is well worth the search though.

All of the pub-grub favorites are there, but you can also order some tempting salads, some inventive sandwiches and seafood platters. Heck, even the leftovers are good—there were tasty Sloppy Joes on the menu when we visited, with a very nice sweet and sharp tomato sauce. Manwich it wasn’t. [Read more...]

Bird’s House: August 11

So apparently the Buck does stop here! After taking over the reins of the Baltimore Orioles, manager Buck Showalter has led his new Orioles team to a 6-1 record, sweeping the Angels and taking three out of four against the Chicago White Sox—on Monday night, yet another cliffhanger ended with an Oriole walkoff homer.

With Buck in charge, the Orioles have been playing some inspired baseball, with many of the Birds possibly on the endangered species list as Buck continues to evaluate the team and their talent level.

An interesting stat under Showalter deals with their starting pitching. So far under Buck, all starters have gone at least six innings and have a combined ERA of 1.94. Looks like Buck Ball [Read more...]

Looking Ahead for the O’s

For those of you keeping count at home, the Orioles are more games out of first place than they have won. With the 2010 season over seemingly since April, the Baltimore Orioles are looking ahead to 2011. Making some trades to help build a young talent pool and signing a top notch head coach have the Orioles pointed in the right direction, or at least we hope.

The Orioles have ended their search for a head coach, and Buck Showalter is their man. Showalter has a great track record, building his previous three teams up to the point of winning. He led the Yankees to a post season run in 1995 before Joe Torre replaced him, and he also managed the Arizona Diamondbacks, only to leave the year before they won their only World Series in 2001.

Showalter is a strict coach who focuses on fundamentals, something this team has been lacking for some time. Interim coach Juan Samuel has done a decent job with what he was handed, but will resume his previous position as third base coach.

The Orioles made some good trades to help build up young talent. The O’s traded left-handed reliever Will Ohman to the Florida Marlins for right-handed pitcher Rick VandenHurk, who will start his time with the Orioles organization in their AAA affiliate Norfolk.

Ohman was a quality reliever for Baltimore, but with the team well out of any playoff run the Orioles decided to sell high. On the season, Ohman posted an ERA of 3.30 with 29 strikeouts in 30 innings pitched. Baltimore will miss his clubhouse presence, but they desperately need to start rebuilding. [Read more...]

Lunching at Langermann’s

Manhattan Dan

Manhattan Dan

We were finishing up a delightful lunch at Langermann’s, 2400 Boston Street at the Can Company, when the skies opened and several hundred thousand gallons of water fell all at once, accompanied by a symphony of thunder and lightning. So we stayed for dessert.

Serendipity!

The food at Langermann’s is good, but the desserts are downright decadent.

Like the berry cobbler, served under a lattice crust in its own little ramekin. It’s a mix of blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, sweetened just so—not too much—and topped with a pretty little scoop of vanilla ice cream which melts atop the warm cobbler, sending tendrils of creamy goodness into the molten berries. Oh, boy.

But if I could have only one dessert for my last meal, I would tell the governor to put off my execution till I could have a slice of the sweet potato praline pie, which is a sweet, smooth, custardy, nutty, spicy, maple-y little slice of wickedness compounded by a scoop of buttery caramel ice cream. [Read more...]

Nick’s Fish House: By the water, off the beaten path

cobb salad

A delicious Cobb Salad from Nick's Fish House

We stopped by Nick’s Fish House, at the end of Insulator Drive overlooking the Hanover Street Bridge, on one of our usual (these days) mid-90s afternoons. We were going to sit in the cool, dark, air-conditioned dining room, but it was packed and noisy, so we sauntered out to the deck, a good move.

It was very comfortable on the deck. It’s shady, there is a nice breeze, and we sat right at the deck’s edge by the Baltimore Yacht Basin marina, which is full of sailboats we can’t afford. One of the sailboats had a sure-footed little dog aboard.

To our right there was an honor citation party from the Coast Guard yard, and to our left there was a flocklet of female mallards waiting to help us with the leftovers.

Unfortunately for the ducks, there weren’t any. We perused the menu and were tempted by the multitude of appetizers, salads, sandwiches and more.

The Seafood Cobb Salad ($14.98) was delicious. A Cobb salad has a little bit of everything, and this one had (clockwise from the top) tomatoes, corn, cucumber, onion, bacon, shrimp and crabmeat arranged clockwise around a mound of frisee and field greens, topped with chopped boiled egg and avocado slices. It was lightly tossed with Louis dressing, which is very similar to Russian dressing but a wee bit spicier.

The Fish & Chips ($14.98) offered two fillets of cod dipped in Smithwick’s Irish ale and deep fried. You can really taste the beer in the crust, and it’s delicious. The fish is perfectly cooked, firm and flaky, beery and salty. The fries are crisp and hand-cut. You can also get sweet potato fries, or substitute any of the sides on the menu.

We turned up our noses at the kettle-cooked fries and the proffered cole slaw (made with Hellman’s, according to the menu) and went for the Carolina goat cheese grits. It was a worthy substitute: creamy and just rich enough for a summer afternoon.

You don’t have to get fish at Nick’s Fish House—there is steak and poultry also on the menu, but vegetarians are pretty much limited to sides, the garden salad and a vegetable pasta. On the other hand, why a gaggle of vegetarians would go to a place called “Fish House” is beyond us; it would be like a bunch of hungry beef eaters descending on Buddha’s Garden.

There is a raw bar and crab shack that opens in the evenings, and every Friday there is a deck party featuring music by DJ Yummy. We figure it’s a great deck party, because Nick’s Fish House is about the closest thing we have seen to Margaritaville in town, and there is room for about 200 people to thoroughly unwind.

Coming up on the deck, Nick’s Fish House will host tailgate parties starting three hours before every Ravens game, home or away, serving burgers, hot dogs, pit beef and pit turkey plus, of course, plenty of beer and cocktails. For home games, there’s a $5 shuttle to M&T Stadium, available with any food or drink purchase.

There is also a Sunday brunch, $24.95 adults, $10.95 kids 10 and under. It’s a little lighter on the seafood, featuring eggs, waffles and a carving station. We’re thinking eggs would be a good match with the grits.

There is an extensive wine and beer list, and we hear the Bloody Marys are dang good and the juice for the Mimosas is fresh-squeezed. We didn’t try the bar, and paid $36.13 for the salad, fish and chips and a couple of Diet Cokes, including the tax but not the tip.

Nick’s Fish House

2600 Insulator Drive

410-347-4123

Entrees $15-$23

Appetizers, sandwiches $7-$14

Open daily for lunch and dinner

BY JACQUELINE WATTS
editor@baltimoreguide.com

Another rough week for the O’s

Here’s the good news – Brian Roberts and Matt Wieters are back. The bad news is they still can’t win. Oh, that and Mike Gonzalez is pitching again….

The Orioles had a rough week, facing the tough Tampa Bay Rays and then playing the Minnesota Twins in a four game series. Tampa took two out of three against the O’s, and the Twins took three out of four against Baltimore. Not a good week, but on the bright side, we’re hopeful with the O’s getting healthy, they can be more competitive than they have been for the majority of the season.

This week the O’s head out on the road for a three game set against the Blue Jays and then they face the Royals right after.

Some things to look for over the next few weeks is the never ending managerial search. Will Juan Samuel stay around for another week? Will players like Kevin Millwood or Ty Wigginton get traded before the trade deadline? At this rate, it would make total sense to jettison older players to bring in some talent.

The Orioles’ AAA Norfolk team isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, so maybe by trading some players that have good value they can build up their farm system. I mean, you can only call up Chris Tillman so many times….

Who’s Hot:
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s official: [Read more...]

Flipping for crepes in Federal Hill

crepesflipRuben’s Crêpes, at 1043 S. Charles St., is tiny, but it’s bigger than the lunch wagon from which Ruben Romero serves crepes to a very long line of devotees at the Fallsway Farmers Market on Sundays.

While not exactly spacious, Ruben’s Crêpes has two small tables, one right in the bay window, and you can watch the world, or at least South Baltimore, pass by. It is comfortably air conditioned, which is important these days, and you can watch Ruben make your crêpe, a showy procedure involving a big hot flat round griddle, a very long baker’s spatula and the dexterity of a shortstop who cracks safes on the side.

If you have ever made crêpes, you know what I mean. If you have never made crêpes, go to Ruben’s. It is so much simpler, it’s delicious and it’s reasonably priced.

The #13—egg, artichoke, Gruyere cheese, fresh spinach, onions and mushroom crepe—is the most popular at Fallsway. [Read more...]

Is the recession over?

Whaddya Say? is a Baltimore Guide Blog where readers like you share their viewpoints
on the latest in news, economy and other events that affect their lives. After reading what some of your neighbors have to say about this week’s topic, please chime in on how you feel in the comments section below!

Dante CromwellDante Cromwell
Pest Control Technician
Pikesville

I think we’re in the middle — it’s not getting worse, not getting better. Even compared to last year, people are still holding on to what they make.

Rueben RomeroRuben Romero
Restaurant Owner
Federal Hill

I think it’s getting better
— slowly.

Sandy AsvirathamSandy Asviratham
Freelance Writer
South Baltimore

No, I don’t think the recession is over; I think we are in a permanent downturn of our economy that has been 30 or 40 years in the making.

Ashley DilleyAshley Dilley
Snowball Stand Employee
Highlandtown

If I had to guess, I’m say it’s probably
going to get worse again.

George AvgerinosGeorge Avgerinos
Greektown

“Sometimes. I don’t know. Business is up and down. I just got back from vacation and there were lots of people taking time off and enjoying themselves.”

The Good Old Days in Canton

by Roland Moskal

From kindergarten through the 8th grade, I attended PS 230 which was just across the street from my house and still is; in fact, as I sit and look out my living room window, I can see right into my old kindergarten classroom.

Going to Canton in he early to mid-50s was a terrific time in my life. I loved school from the start and looking back on it now, I can see I was fortunate to have had such a good start up the educational ladder. I learned from my mother that I had some of the same teachers she had, which meant no room to complain, if you know what I mean.

Briefly, I remember we had nap time in kindergarten and we had to bring in our own rug to sleep on, on the floor. Fast-forward to third grade when we were studying the colonial period and make our own candles plus my first real school field trip down to St. Mary’s, Maryland, to see a colonial home and actors depicting [Read more...]

Now that’s more like it!

Cesar Izturis

Cesar Izturis crushes a pitch (and his bat)

Now that’s more like it! For a second there, I thought the O’s were starting to look like a professional baseball team. Since coming back from the All Star break, Baltimore has yet to win a game,

and was promptly swept by the Toronto Blue Jays, being outscored by a total of 17-5. Lately however, there seems to be more action off the field than on, as word of Brian Roberts’ return as well as speculation about Buck Showalter being named the new Orioles manager has been making the rounds. Unfortunately,

Mike Gonzalez will be back soon too….

There is some good news however. With all of the injuries the O’s have suffered, we might be able to see the lineup we were waiting for in March. With B-Rob’s pending return, Matt Wieters coming back soon from his hamstring injury, Luke Scott back in the lineup, and Felix Pie also back, the Orioles might have something that resembles a good lineup. If their starting pitching can be a bit more consistent (in a good way for once) [Read more...]