CALAMITY!!!! Commenter DLT7 breaks the news that Republic Noodle (1121 Light St., Federal Hill) has very very sadly and probably overpricedly closed. According to their website and a flyer on the door:

Update
We were unable to acquire an affordable liquor license at this location and have closed the restaurant. Please look for our new virtual restaurant and website, in the near future, for Pan Asian food and beverage recipes, history, culture, and our “POP-UP” restaurant locations until we find a new home.
We wish to thank everyone who understood, appreciated, and patronized our unique, forward-looking, ONE-OF-A-KIND establishment.
Thank You…
Republic Noodle

“Affordable” liquor license?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

“Virtual Restaurant?” BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

… hhahahaahah aaaaahaahahahhaa — Sorry, I was thinking about a funny joke I heard last night. Guess that BYOB license wasn’t enough? Or did people just not enjoy the eco-friendly pan-asian cuisine that consisted of canned broth and one (1) shrimp tempura with Udon noodles that weren’t even Udon noodles by any stretch of the imagination? Nah, must be the liquor license.

Can’t wait for the “POP-UP” restaurant!

aaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

No related posts.

Interior has been nicely redone

And so it was, April 16th when the recently painted black doors of the former Bill’s Lighthouse Inn opened for business, and HomeSlyce the Bar (1741 Light St., Riverside) began serving its new patrons, all of which were eager to claim the generous outdoor seating lining both sides of the building on the corner of Light and Barney. Haluk Kantar of Cazbar notability has pulled a major overhaul with HomeSlyce, polishing the charmingly dingy space of Bill’s into a nice spot to kick back after work.

The interior has been completely redone. While the bar itself remains somewhat untouched, all of the draftlines have been ripped out and await a future replacement. There are handsome wood finishes and a deep black/yellow/red color combination that maintains a warmth to the atmosphere, complimenting the wood/mirrored bar backstop. A pool table remains and a few guys in work clothes were shooting, not quite the same work clothes as the patrons of Bill’s (but some of those guys were sharing the space as well), enjoying $1.50 ponies and a few domestics ($2.50) during happy hour (4pm-7pm, 10pm-12am M-F).

As for the the food. Price wise, HomeSlyce is pretty reasonable. Their specialty pizzas top off at $19.53 (?) for an 18″, whereas a 10″ personal pizza is $11.26, while their signature “Home Slyce” – what is essentially a pizza canoe or “a premium pizza shaped like a slice” – starts at $7.25 to build your own. The menu also features a wide variety of sandwiches, wings and straightforward pub food with off kilter prices ($7.02, $4.11, etc), most of which are under $10, and there’s a lot to try.

The Home Slyce

The Home Slyce I tried – with spinach and spicy beef – was pretty good, I wouldn’t say it blew me away but the sauce mingled well with the spicy beef and the crust was plenty crispy, which is a big plus. I also tried a Slyce of the HomeSlyce Spice, topped with Soujuk (Turkish spicy sausage), olives and bell peppers – the Soujuk was *very* good and cooked to an edge-crispiness. ALL SLICED MEAT TOPPINGS ON PIZZA SHOULD HAVE SLIGHTLY BURNT EDGES. Apparently and eventually HomeSlyce will offer boosted carryout service (delivery?), capitalizing on the very successful carryout kitchen that Bill’s had for over 30 years.

Style wise the pizza, atmosphere and drink selection is different enough from next door neighbor Hersch’s Pizza and Drinks to distinguish itself, fortunately fashioning its own identity in an area of town that is literally swamped with pizza restaurants. The bad part is, one of the best places for carryout seafood in South Baltimore is gone, and while mainstays like LP Steamers or Nick’s at Cross Street market still remain (for now) – there was nothing quite like the fried oyster or softcrab sandwiches that Bill’s churned out. *HINT HINT WINK WINK COUGH COUGH FUTURE RESTAURANT IDEAS* At any rate, it is what it is.

The most fortunate occurrence for the opening of HomeSlyce is the closing of the bar across the corner, a place known as Leon’s (but only according to its patrons, it has no name on the front). Even when Bill’s was in full swing, the crowds at Leon’s would get into loud altercations that would often spill out into the street, forcing the bartenders at Bill’s to actually deadbolt the front door, often as early as 10pm. The negative attention drawn to that area by corner screaming matches and an unfortunate police raid of Bill’s some time ago in which their video poker machines were seized made it seem as though a viable “neighborhood” establishment settling into the space would be a major hurdle – which it was – but HomeSlyce seems to have accomplished that goal. Best of luck to you, HomeSlyce!

No related posts.

A few nights ago I was traipsing about around downtown when I happened to meet a guy named Matt Wertman, who has been doing a bit of work over at Alewife (21 North Eutaw St., Downtown) during the lunch shift. He’s assisting Head Chef Chad Wells with cooking and what not, just generally being a good part timer – Matt has had his fair share of Cheffing himself, helping to build out a few menu items here and there around town at say for instance Hersh’s Pizza and Drinks over in SoBo, among others.

At any rate we had a fine chat, discussed the virtues of beef jerky and a few other things, and he gave me a copy of the new Alewife menu with a few new items that might be of interest to you, the restaurant patron. Here’s a list, I left out the salads for the sake of length:

Snacks

• House Pickles, smoked nuts (ehehehe) ($5) – seeing a *lot* of house pickles and smoked nuts these days, pickled green beans, pickled pigs fee- oh wait

Light Fare

• Wild Boar Meatballs ($12) – shaved fennel, diakon sprout & pickled carrot salad, ginger mustard sauce
• Bread Board ($13) – crusty bread (grilled), hickory smoked bluefish spread (Fish Spread?!?)

Entree

• Chile Relleno ($16) – stuffed with quinoa, goat cheese, spinach with spicy ranchero sauce, black bean and corn salad
• BBQ Braised Pork Chop ($24)(!!) – 10oz center cut rib chop, mango barbeque (there’s that mango again), warm potato & white bean confit salad, chipotle slaw

It all sounds pretty good to me, stopping short of dropping $24 on that pork entree for a picture but damn that sounds pretty good. Has anyone tried any of the new stuff?

ALSO FYI: Alewife will be celebrating the release of Heavy Seas Plank II, the second in a line of wood aged beers TOMORROW (03/21/12) at 7pm. Here’s a blurb:

[...]Wood experts used retified eucalyptus and poplar that infuse toffee and chocolate aromas and flavors to the base beer (a velvety doppelbock).

The first 48(?) folks get a free pint glass. Try out some of that new stuff if you go or something.

No related posts.

photo via invigor8

The space formerly known as The Reserve unlocked its doors this past weekend with the softest of openings, giving folks the opportunity to see the fruits of minor construction and a rebranding at the hands of Atlanta based Invigor, with new head chef Cyrus Keefer leading the charge with a new menu that follows the Gastropub Formula to a T, not necessarily in a bad way (more on that in a sec). The structural improvements are mostly cosmetic, adjusting the lighting a bit and adding some more deeeply stained wood here and there, and a bench/booth lining the side of the joint. As opposed to the “industrial chic” touted by The Reserve, it’s warmer and more in line with a dining experience. Check.

The menu is “very Gastropub,” following the usual line of a lack of dollar signs, multi-worded ingredients and lots of Creme Fraiche and / or Aoili;  we sampled a spring onion waffle topped with Escargot,
whipped Boursin cheese and maderia- truffle sauce (12, dollar sign not included), alongside a small plate of fried things including some very tasty fried olives (9). There’s definitely a bump in quality from the Lobster Mac n’ Cheese seen previously on the menu, chef Keefer seems to know what he’s doing and shouldn’t have a hard time getting some favorable reviews for his cuisine, Invigor8ing (see what I did there) the space and getting folks interested in dining at 1542.

That being said, since 1542 seems to have solved its “identity crisis” as noted by many of its previous patrons, they’d be better served to sticking with what’s working well and doing it well; the lighting, the dining atmosphere, good quality food. Standup comedy nights, Trivia and DJs on the weekends are really disruptive to any unfortunate couple’s dining experience who happen to get caught up in the mix, but I would have to assume that any company in charge of said rebranding would have told them that.

All that aside, the new 1542 Gastropub is worth a look, their beer and wine selection have been bolstered to be more in line with its solicited sophisticated clientele and the happy hours listed looked pretty decent. Maintain the rest of it and I could see this being a spot of repute with some longevity. Best of luck, 1542 Gastropub!

Related posts:

1. Delia Foley’s expands wing selection, 30 flavors now available

CAN U PLEASE WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT WHO HAS THE BEST FOOD DELIVERY. I’VE TRIED EVERYBODY WITH NO SUCCESS.

Well, excited reader, this is kind of a tricky question, isn’t it? I mean, delivery quality can boil down to prompt delivery, the quality of the food, the range of delivery, several layers and factors to consider here, yes? And obviously someone who lives in say, Violetville isn’t going to benefit from the knowledge that Mustang Pizza out in Dundalk has the best delivery, but I guess it’s still a feather in their cap to enjoy such a distinction, even if it’s limited to their geographical pocket of this here city.

I’ve been around to more than a few Baltimore neighborhoods myself, at least, the liveable ones – and have sampled more than a fair share of delivery/carryout cuisine in the past decade, and one such delivery joint sticks out in my head as excelsior: Giovanni’s Tutti Gusti (3102 Fait Ave, Canton)

Excellent Italian cuisine (stuffed shells, ridiculous), more than decent pizza, plus they optionally deliver wine and beer to your door. As a price/quality ratio is concerned, theirs is pretty up there, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that their time for delivery as estimated over the phone have actually been *lower* than what they tell you initially. Chinese Taste #2534 can’t usually claim that distinction.

But that’s just me, I’ve been made aware that some restaurants (Mother’s Federal Hill Grille springs to mind) have begun offering delivery service but I’M JUST ONE MAN AND I CAN’T KEEP TRACK OK, what other delivery joints deserve some attention and affection?

Related posts:

1. Drinking Made Easy coming to Baltimore and Natty Boh on Tap!

Nestled on the very, very northeastern edge of Canton (Realtors breath a sigh of relief) Annabel Lee Tavern (601 S Clinton St.) has always been a pretty good and vibrant place to hang out, one of those good old fashioned bar restaurants that isn’t trying to be “upscale casual” or “your source for craft beer” or “any of that crap,” and since the inception of Nachoquest folks have been laying it on pretty thick that I should check out Annabel Lee’s barbeque chicken (and applewood smoked bacon) nachos ($12.95).

The picture pretty much says it all. Cheddar, chips, a mountain of BBQ chicken and some bacon mixed all up in there, I think I saw tiny bits of some kind of vegetable matter but my mouth didn’t really recognize the presence of anything “vegetable” on this plate. It wouldn’t be prudent to talk about these nachos without a comparison to Harborque’s Carolina Pulled Pork Nachos, so here’s a paragraph about that:

As opposed to Harborque’s, the nachos are thoroughly baked and the cheese is melted like a boss. No naked chips, a despite the fact that BBQ pulled pork is naturally superior (evolution, duh) to BBQ chicken, the addition of bacon to the mix really adds that smokey awesomeness that can only be achieved by nature’s perfect food (bacon). Harborque ups the ante by adding jalapenos, which really would have made this pile of nachos really amazing, but there was a definite lack of spice with the chicken nachos – especially considering their regular nachos ($7.95) do feature jalapenos, it would have been nice as an option. I guess I’ll have to try out their regular nachos at some point as well, coz the oven baked goodness and slightly-burnt crispiness of the actual chips was pretty great and would love to try them in a more traditional nacho sense.

But the bottom line is this: one person cannot finish these nachos alone, and in fact there were two of us when we tried these and we couldn’t finish them between the two of us. We were again thrown into a meat-induced spirit quest as with Harborque, waking in the gutter a few blocks away in Highlandtown the next morning with our pants around our ankles and socks inexplicably missing, drooling softly into the trash soaked pavement.

So while they’re not traditional, they’re worth eating:
One Golden Donkey (just like Harborque) out of five golden chips

Related posts:

1. Nachoquest: El Salto
2. Nachoquest: Phoenix Emporium
3. Finnegan’s Wake / Dark Horse Tavern: First Impressions
4. Fuzzy Hearts to a Baltimore Food Examiner
5. Nacho Quest – The Nacho Manifesto

A few dozen hours ago or so (this past Saturday) some friends and associates of mine collectively decided that we wanted to eat at a cheap Mexican restaurant that wasn’t like “Chevy’s Fancy” and certainly not “Blue Agave Overpriced” but rather “Cheap and Cheap,” and Brooklyn PARK (sorry Neal)’s El Salto (5513 Ritchie Highway) location was the answer. And so the journey began down Governor Ritchie Highway, where our dreams of $6 enchilada platters awaited us.

And so we ordered our $6 enchilada platters, some Texas Margaritas ($7 with a shot of *awful* tequila, mmmmmm) and the signature nachos of El Salto, Nachos El Salto ($7.95).

These nachos, while tasty, are utterly bizarre in every way. I don’t know how else to say it. It’s a puddle of queso sauce, a thin layer of chips, and a big ol’ pile of fajita meats with onions and peppers on top. Throw away literally everything you’ve ever thought about how a proper plate of nachos should be assembled and you’ve got Nachos El Salto. They’re good, they’re bad, they’re weird.

The good: Everything tasted pretty good. Good seasoning, hot toppings and cheesy queso. Can’t complain about that!

The bad: The chips here are totally unusable, they’ve basically become engorged with queso sauce and fajita drippings to the point that a single touch-grab-lift by human fingers would result in disaster. In fact, for a period of time we ate the toppings with forks, which is essentially a capital crime in the world of nacho consumption.

The MacGyver: Since El Salto is a cheap Mexican restaurant, they adhere to Cheap Mexican Restaurant Guidelines and Standards and present the table with a big bowl of chips n’ salsa, meaning the chips left over from the chips n’ salsa are *highly* usable for scooping up the fajita toppings on the plate of Nachos El Salto. This actually made them great, however still an egregious violation of Nacho Presentation and Consumption Guidelines and Standards. Shameful shit, but you do what you gotta do.

At the end of the day, these nachos are tasty, but they aren’t really nachos. They’re cheap and perfect for sharing, but they aren’t really nachos. Therefore, they receive no golden nachos out of five, and instead one golden donkey for effort. Kudos (?) to you, “Nachos” El Salto.

Related posts:

1. Nachoquest: Annabel Lee Tavern (Part 1?)
2. Nachoquest: Phoenix Emporium
3. Fuzzy Hearts to a Baltimore Food Examiner
4. Nacho Quest – The Nacho Manifesto

Baltimore Diner dropped the news the other day that Riverside’s fancy pantsy former-Bicycle restaurant Centro Tapas has closed its doors, after two years of service. This is extremely sad news, as the city of Baltimore now has fewer than ten restaurants dedicated to serving tiny bits of food at pretty high prices.

(Update: Gorelick has more news, as of 12/22, Corks is closed as well, landlord issues being cited, which in itself is totally expected. More on that soon.)

But don’t worry folks, there’s plenty of gourmet pizza establishments (4,435) to fill the void!

But I digress. Let’s tackle the issue of what ought to take the place of a restaurant such as Centro Tapas, with the city’s – as well as the neighborhood’s – representation of cuisine. And this is just my opinion, but as far as I’m concerned if you’re into “sharing” your meals with friends in a Tapas style manner, you can’t go wrong with Ethiopian cuisine. Tibs, Fitfit, Wat and those big ass sourdough flatbreads, Ethiopian food isn’t just built for sharing but more often than not, for $14.95 you can get enough food for 4 people,  with money left over for wine.

It's good, trust me

(fun fact: Coffee as a beverage originated in Ethiopia!)

Currently, Baltimore has like, three Ethiopian establishments – Dukem (1100 Maryland Ave, Mount Vernon) being far and away my favorite for my American currency based on their fried fish alone – and last I checked, none of them are in South Baltimore. Granted, Ethiopian certainly isn’t as flashy as deftly-prepared olive platters or black truffle chicken pâté, but in the bang-for-your-buck department, it almost always satisfies. But I’m probably delusional in thinking that a small Ethiopian eatery could fare well with a space as well-polished as Centro, unless new ownership could somehow make a big ass sourdough flatbreads covered in small piles of what appears to be nothing more than glop (delicious glop) seem appealing to the yuppier diners of Federal Hill and Riverside.

Or not? Who knows. It’ll be neat to see what takes its place (what would *you* want to see there?). Meantime, I’m heading to Dukem for some of that tastier-than-hell fried fish.

No related posts.

Over the holiday weekend, fellow blogger/advicer SpaceManAndy and I decided to try out the new Philips Seafood location in the Inner Harbor area, who famously moved into the old vacant ESPN Zone space and reopened in the past few weeks. What follows are our observations on the “new” Philips. Enjoy!

Evan: So like, Philips. I was a little surprised at the decor. I mean, I didn’t expect it to be all Rusty Scupper but the inflatable clowns on the walls really threw me for a loop.

Andy: Totally creepy! I swear I saw one blink!

Not to mention the website described the ambiance just a bit inaccurately – they mention polished wood everything and comfortable booth seating, but the wood is *balsa* wood for crap’s sake and the booths are voting booths. I need to be able to move my arms a little while I’m eating!

But at least they were private and I didn’t have to see you do your “see food” joke AGAIN.

Good point. Bwahahahahah “see food” – that old chestnut still gets me every time!!!!!!!!!

Yes, hilarious… anyway… that new schedule of events; kinda strange for a seafood establishment. The Wednesday hypnotism act is hilarious, even if it is a little raunchy. Might not want to bring the kids for that – though the kids will LOVE the pony rides, but at $15 per ride, it’s a little pricey. Plus the floor gets all full of pony turds after a while, not very awesome for folks trying to enjoy a fine dining atmosphere.

Speaking of fine dining, the silverware covered with little cartoon crabs was a nice touch.

And the Men’s room had a nude painting of the Utz girl that I found to be very tastefully done!

Does the Lady’s room have a nude painting of Mr. Boh in it? I didn’t check. Either way, pretty classy stuff. I need that element of high art while eating fried shrimp from a bucket.

I didn’t check either, but I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Nothing says fine dining like nudes in the bathroom.

That and the Brandy snifters. Nice touch drinking my Diet Coke and Fireball outta one of them things.

So let’s talk about the food a minute. What did you think Andy?

I really like it when a restaurant has an option to choose your own lobster. But maybe as a seafood restaurant they should get off their high horse and not make you listen as the lobster boils and screams. Very off-putting.

I didn’t have enough money to try the lobster so I kinda stuck to the apps menu. I tried a few things and I gotta say, the cotton candy was inedible. Even if they “Baltimorized” it with Old Bay, there are some things – like air-blown sugar – that salt doesn’t mix well with. Phillips should recognize this and adjust their menu accordingly. Don’t even get me started on the apple cider donut shooters.

I don’t know, I kind of liked the shooters, but by that time I was already pretty drunk from their Boh-Mosas. For the record, Boh and OJ mix surprisingly well. But take my word for it, ask for it without the Old Bay rim. Old Bay and OJ are not friends. So I was pretty happy with the drinks, but there was no bacon anywhere on the menu!

I know right? Phillips ought to at the very least follow food trends like every other Gastrobistrotapasgourmetpizza establishment and realize that bacon = PROFIT. They don’t even have Lobster Mac n’ Cheese! Every fancy ass restaurant worth its weight in bacon needs to have Lobster Mac n’ Cheese, preferably with bacon on it, or in it.

With bacon fed lobsters!

Now you’re onto something. We’re onto something. I think it’s time to start our own lobster farm! We could probably get Phillips to bankroll us, I hear they’ve got some money!

(Phillips photo via TDR. Guide to Online Schools has
info on culinary classes if you would like to learn more about cooking delicious seafood.)

No related posts.

So here we are with the new place, what was once Taverna Corvino is now C&R (Cowboys and Rednecks) Pub (1117 S Charles St., Federal Hill), an offering of theme restaurant meets Federal Hill nightlife establishment. “So what’s it like?” you’re asking yourself 63 times a day. Welll sir, I popped in there the other day to find out.

First thing’s first, the decor. A lot of work has been put into the space, with new appointments and a rather large automated rolling door to open up a revamped patio space out front when the weather permits, and two bars with roughly a dozen or so drafts on tap. The large space has been redecorated with deer antlers, murals of toothless gentlemen with jugs, painted corrugated metal and a menagerie of other, well, mostly Redneck but still some Cowboy themed stuff – essentially, if you’ve ever been to a Lonestar Steakhouse you know what the place looks like pretty much. Oh and wood, lots and lots of wood. Servers were all wearing plaid flannel shirts and various cowboy-type flair, and apparently they’re instructed to greet everyone with a “Howdy Y’all!”

Speaking of drafts on tap, the drafts are fairly reasonable in the price department ($3.50 for a Yuengling) which come in big, hefty and *frosted* mugs, which is always a good thing. A mural on the wall detailed a happy hour which hasn’t gone into effect yet: $2.50 bottles, draft specials, $4 pickle backs and so forth – but why hasn’t the happy hour gone into effect yet? Our server explained that it was only the first few weeks of being open, yet I would think having a happy hour – which requires no additional work – *especially* one that’s advertised on the wall of the restaurant, would be pretty key in drumming up initial business. Eh, either way the drink prices are fairly reasonable and a menu of specialty “C&R” themed drinks are available.

Food wise, the menu offers a healthy sampling of American South and many things meat, with a bit of variety. For instance, Texas Chili Pie ($7.95) is a well portioned-and-seasoned skillet full of minced meat with a hunk of cheese in it, while the shrimp boil ($16.95, the only seafood on the menu pretty much) is loaded with nicely seasoned and buttered potato slices, corncob, and medium skrimps. Unfortunately, and this is a huge drawback, the steak was prohibitively expensive for sampling (coz I ain’t getting paid to do this) – at $24, the lowest priced steak dish is in line with restaurants with established reputation. I find it difficult to reconcile the price versus probability that the quality would be on par with other theme restaurants like Outback or Lonestar, but I could be wrong. Other entrees like pot roast and the rib eye sandwich are in the $16-18 range, while peeking at other folk’s dishes they looked fairly decent – still pretty expensive.

And herein lies the seemingly recent “Bar/Restaurant Identity Crisis Syndrome. *(see below)” If, as a restaurant, you want to put on airs as to the quality of your food, service, etc and price your menu accordingly, go right ahead and do so. But while you’re at it, go ahead and decide whether you want to cater to those who want high quality food and a nice dining environment, or to those who want to hit up cheap booze happy hours and listen to thumping DJ music on the weekends with 20 something brodawgs – trying to accomplish both often results in one of the most awkward scenes I’ve seen at multiple venues that make the attempt: Patrons trying to enjoy a nice meal, usually of a middle-aged or older set, being crowded and forced to interact with drunk, loud crowds of weekend (or weekday) warriors. But then again, it’s Cross Street, Federal Hill, so I suppose this is par for the course. Bottom line, eat there early if you’re there to eat, as the kitchen closes at 10pm and the DJ starts spinning the iPods of steel at 10:01pm.

At the end of the day, I guess C&R will do pretty well. It’s got that new bar smell, reasonably priced drinks and while the menu is a little expensive for my tastes, the nibbles we sampled were actually pretty tasty. If you’re looking for some nightlife action, the DJ on Friday/Saturday spins a healthy mix of pop country and top 20 type stuff, if it floats your boat. Best of luck to you, C&R Pub!

***POST-POST THIRD PARTY MINI REVIEW***
prior to typing up this FI on C&R, a reader emailed me a brief synopsis of their thoughts on the establishment. I figured I’d post it, coz hey, it’s the 80s

This place is loud and first thought of The Reserve. I thought C&R had a huge identity crisis – they have no clue what they want to be, a steak house that serves average and expensive steak with a sports bar that’s loud and obnoxious with a lot of douchebags. I had to ask for A-1, which I should never have to, it tasted like how I would cook it. I will give it another chance but it reminded me of a poor man’s Outback without the flavor or identity. I’m actually mad because I had high hopes for it, I was at least expecting a Ryleigh’s type of place – they should just ditch the steak altogether or do it right, Bluegrass would have made a nice local steakhouse.

Anyone else been there yet? Is this accurate?

Related posts:

1. Social Pub and Pie is open for business
2. Finnegan’s Wake / Dark Horse Tavern: First Impressions