Dining Out: Stick with the appetizers at Lauraville restaurant

by Lynn Williams
maindish@baltimoreguide.com

Among those in attendance when we visited The Parkside were Rebecca Hoffberger, director of the American Visionary Art Museum, and a small blond boy in a Batman outfit. This might not tell you anything about the kind of meal you’ll get at the new Lauraville eatery, but it does suggest the place’s offbeat charm.
This is the kind of business that every neighborhood wants, and that has become a specialty of the Lauraville/Hamilton corridor. Like the Hamilton Tavern, it’s a former dive bar with a Brewer’s Art connection. Like Clementine, it’s family-owned, and offers a children’s play zone. Like Chameleon Café, it gives Maryland fare a gourmet twist. It’s immediately loveable.
Once a theatre, and most recently the Cameo, Parkside – no relation to the defunct restaurant next to Patterson Park – is a cavernous space that still manages to be cozy. Church pews serve as banquettes, décor is funky (photos of miniature-golf statuary, a velvet portrait of Kenny Rogers) without being over the top, and the bakery-deli space at the back also sells hip wares by local crafters and t-shirts advertising the yoga studio next door. And then there’s the bar: there’s a big old Boh sign hanging over it, but the shelves are stocked with top-notch Scotch and an eclectic array of brews.
I wish I had been as enamored of the food as I was of the vibe. I liked the fact that the menu includes both fancy fare and Baltimore comfort food.. Unfortunately, our meal was only spottily successful.
The appetizers worked best. The soup of the day ($3), potato-leek with roasted garlic, was the kind of dish that would make anyone happy to be a peasant. It was thick enough to stand a spoon in, and soul-satisfyingly savory.  The smoked trout platter ($11) was also terrific, with house-smoked fish, herbed crème fraiche, a tangle of caramelized onions, and crisp toast points.
After that, the quality took a dip. The Margherita flatbread had a crust that was as flat in flavor as it was in appearance, and so much tomato sauce that the toppings – blobs of Mozzarella, whole basil leaves, and sun-dried tomatoes – went sliding off. If you’re charging $10 for a baby pizza, you need to offer something that you can’t get better and cheaper at any pizzeria.
Although the sauerbraten ($15) was tastier, it was in a way more disappointing. Why? Because this is a sour beef town, and every other Baltimorean has a mother or grandmother who makes the definitive version. If you have clear memories of beef slices and tender dumplings bathed in Granny’s special gingersnap gravy, Parkside’s version, nice as it is, won’t cut it. Diners without those kinds of memories, or those kinds of grandmothers, will better appreciate what is essentially a pot roast, with tender meat and a vinegar tang.

Our smiles returned when we sampled the cookie platter ($4.50): chocolate chip, white chocolate cherry and nut sandies.  I determined to return for more goods from the bakery, and maybe a sandwich, during daylight hours. Maybe I’ll even borrow a child for a romp in the play area.

The Parkside
4709 Harford Road
Open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Tues.-Thurs.,
11 a.m. to midnight Fri.-Sat.,
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sun.
Phone: 410-444-6004
Our dinner for two: $50.88

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