Edible Baltimore

3123 Elliott St.
Baltimore, MD 21224
410.8786542
www.jacksbistro.net

So it’s June & my job (& paychecks) & winding down until August, so when my husband came home & wanted to go out to dinner I hesitated a little. Then he suggested Jack’s (one of my favorites) & I immediately said yes, followed up with a challenge – can we do it on the cheap?

So this night there will not be an order of crab cakes, steak & a nice bottle of wine, but there will be a good (& cheap) dinner. So we set off towards Jacks & were happy to see a couple preparing to leave one of the bar booths. Thankfully there was no one else waiting (shocking) so we swooped right in.

First up, drinks! Jack’s always has an interesting & assorted beer selection, so G opted for an Ozzy (draft – $6) & I was intrigued by their sangria offering (red & white wine with something special $6). The sangria was quite tasty! The white wine wasn’t noticeable to taste, but the something special came right through. It tasted like they added pomegranate vodka or some rum runner punch, but whatever it was…it was good.

To start, we originally we ordered the Sous Vide Escargot ($9), since G had never had these delightful little morsels, but sadly they were out, so we opted for the City Paper Tuna Salad ($7.50) & the Spicy Gazpacho ($6). The gazpacho, topped with bright green foam, came out first. The “cucumber air” was foamy & cool with a clean taste that helped bring down the heat that permeated the dish. The pepper in the dish had a smoldering heat to it that lingered, but didn’t kill off any taste buds like some spicy dishes can do. The corn on top was – let’s just say – interesting. I like the idea, but the reality is that once corn hits moisture it starts to lose its crunch & get all soggy. So, if you want to eat the corn on top…eat fast, otherwise just put it off to the side & enjoy the rest of the gazpacho & foam.

Next up was the City Paper Tuna Salad. I was intrigued, I was nervous. Are they really going to put POP ROCKS on my salad? Yes, indeed they were. This dish is made from nice hunks of fresh tuna (no cans to be seen), lots of meaty walnuts, yogurt, mâche, berry puree & yes…POP ROCKS. I could hear the little pops doing their thing when our server set down the salad; holding back my fears, I dove right in. The combo of the tuna, yogurt & the berry puree was fabulous, not too sweet, slightly tart, but full of flavor. It took several bites for me to find any of the pop rocks, & then I realized that the flavor of the pop rocks was perfectly blended with the berry puree. I was amazed! I shared my amazement with G & mid-forkful he said “there are pop rocks in this?!?!” (Apparently, he didn’t read the menu very carefully.) I found the remnants of a pop rock to prove my point, & with his disbelief satisfied, we finished up the salad.

For our main course we went with the Chophouse Burger (medium rare) with French fries & decided to add some bleu cheese ($10.75 + $1.50 for cheese). If you are feeling fancy you can also have the burger done “Guinness style” or sub out your regular fries for poutine fries (add $6) or battered eggplant fries (add $2.75), but as I said we were trying to do this on the cheap, so we stuck with the regular fries. The meat in this burger is a far cry from what they call a burger at the golden arches; this burger is made from ground filet mignon & NY strip! It was such good meat that we almost wished we didn’t have the bleu cheese covering it up, but the combination was still juicy & wonderfully flavorful. The fries were small & thin, perfectly fried, with a nice dusting of salt. G & I barely talked as we scarfed down every last bit of burger & each little fry.

In the end we were too full for dessert, so we just asked for the check. Total before tip: $40. I was amazed at out ability to walk out of Jack’s for less than our usual $80, so I declared victory in our quest to do Jack’s on the cheap. We will see if this trend can continue throughout our summer months!

Editor Rating

Don’t miss Baltimore’s Restuarant Week! So far this year 120 restaurants have signed up to participate with 3 course dinners for only $30.09 (some also offer lunch for $20.09). This is a great chance to check out new places, old favorites, or those places that might normally break the budget. Many of the restaurants also offer a flight of wines with the courses for an additional fee. (Note: It is also nice to remember the servers and tip them on what the bill would have been I already have my two choices picked: Abacrombie & the new Alizée Bistro! (I couldn’t even make it past the A’s)

For more info:
www.baltimorerestaurantweek.com

Miss Shirley’s
513 West Cold Spring Lane
Baltimore, MD 21210
(410) 889-5272
www.missshirleys.com

Miss Shirley’s was bustling when a few of us met up for a Saturday brunch. We waited about 35 minutes for a table for six. [A small note here, be aware, they only seat FULL parties...fashionably late really just makes your friends wait as we discovered on our recent visit.]
As we waited for our appetizers, we noticed that the staff seemed avoid using trays. At our table it took 4 trips for all of us to get our drinks and I was noticing a similar phenomenon around the restaurant. The servers all seemed nice enough, and reasonably efficient with their matching ear-bud-walkie-talkies, but it really seemed strange!
In the midst of all these thoughts, our appetizers arrived. I had ordered the sweet corn cakes ($3.99) & while the three corn cakes were tasty, they really would have benefitted from more sauce instead of a mere spoonful of mango salsa. My husband’s fried green tomatoes ($4.75), on the other hand, were wonderful! A crisp cornmeal crust encased the tomato and a lemon-herb aioli helped add some zing to dish. And of course we had to the obligatory sweet potato fries that we ordered for the table!
On to the main event: For my meal, I ordered the Alonsoville Omelet ($12.99). The omelet was particularly tasty, a well-balanced blend of smoked turkey, brie and green apples. Sweet, savory, tart and creamy – this omelet had it all! There was enough brie to appreciate its taste and texture without overwhelming the omelet with its richness. I was pleasantly stuffed at the end, but did not feel like I needed a nap…which I count as a good sign!
As for my companions they ordered: the Black & Bleu Salad $16.99 (which looked amazing), Almond Breast of Chicken Salad $9.99 with Mixed Greens on Croissant, Two Eggs Any Style with Savory Grits with Bacon $8.99, Pumpkin Cheesecake-Stuffed French Toasts $10.99 (which was unbelievably decadent…he was definitely going to need a nap after these) & then my finally the Miss Shirley’s classic: What Came First, The Chicken or The Egg? (Chicken on a Biscuit with a poached egg on a biscuit, all smothered in peppery and delicious sausage gravy) $13.99.
In my opinion there are really only three negatives to a Miss Shirley’s brunch experience: (1) you are competing with everyone else in Baltimore for a table so be prepared to wait and be prepared to feel like you need to leave as soon as you are finished, (2) it is fairly pricey for what it is…after all this is brunch, & (3) the above-mentioned tray-issue.
All-in-all though we were pleasantly stuffed & satisfied with the Miss Shirley’s Experience, but it will be awhile before I am journey out that way again…there are plenty of other brunches in the sea.

Editor Rating

Chicken Rico:  Cheap Eats

3728 Eastern Avenue

Baltimore, MD 21224

410.522.2950

It was late & we were hungry, but we were also determined not to drop a small fortune on dinner.  After a brief back-and-forth with both my husband and I offering up different options the proverbial light bulb went off – Chicken Rico!

So we headed down the street & we were grateful to see that they were still open at 9:50 on a weekday (Hours 10-10 daily).  Though most of the chairs were already on the tables, several people were in line ahead of us and few more strolled in after us.

Chicken Rico is a Peruvian Style Rotisserie Chicken place (Pollos A La Brasa Estilo Peruano) that will shame any other chicken that may have dared to call itself “rotisserie” in your sorted past.  These birds are moist!  As much as I hate to use that word, there is no other way to put it.  While chicken breasts are often dry and/or boring, this chicken makes even chicken breasts succulent.  They serve their deliciously spiced chicken with two special sauces, which people lovingly call the yellow and green sauces.  The yellow sauce (Aji Amarillo) is a mayo & chile based sauce that is a perfect complement to the green sauce (Aji Verde) which is a jalapeño & cilantro based sauce that has more of a kick to it.

Now on to our food:

Since we are the perfect marriage of breasts and thighs…in our preferred parts of the chicken that is…we went for the ½ rotisserie chicken with 2 sides & a drink for $7.25.  We also ordered an extra side & still wound up under $10 including tax!

Now normally we would have fought tooth & nail over our side choices since my husband is of the rice-and-beans persuasion & I am of the yucca (think: thick cut of a starchier fry) persuasion…but since we walked though the door so late they were out of all of these things.  So we wound up rather quickly agreeing on our sides:  fried rice, salad & soup.  Since it was closing time we took our food treasure home and feasted in private.  I don’t think a word was spoken between the two of us as we sloppily tore off bits of hot, moist chicken and dipped it in both green and yellow sauces.  In the end the table looked like a battlefield and we were both stuffed!

If you are looking a cheap, filling & tasty meal, look no further than Chicken Rico.

Editor Rating

Joe² www.joesquared.com

Let’s be honest, we all need a good slice of pizza every once and awhile. The problem with my preferred pizza joint is that it is: (a) always crowded, (b) it always takes forever to get a table or ledge to prop your pizza on & (c) never easy to find parking & a small fortune to take a cab from Canton (okay, from Highlandtown).

So thus began our search for a more convenient slice.

In our search G & I happened upon Joe² at the corner of North Avenue & Howard Streets one recent Saturday night. There was a local, acoustic musician playing inside & the “North Avenue Symphony” (as our waitress called it) playing outside. We choose the outdoor seating since it was a perfect June day.

The servers were quick to bring water, menus and our beverages of choice (Blackthorn Cider – Bottle $5.00 & Dales Pale Ale – Draft $3.50). With a little time to peruse their menus with copious risotto, pizza, pasta & sandwich options, we went for the Greek salad ($10), bacon & apple risotto ($7 for a small) & a 10” margarita pizza ($12).

Our Greek Salad came out first & I quite happily began tearing into it. The salad of field greens, mushrooms, roasted peppers, olives, red onion & feta with oil & vinegar was large and a force to be reckoned with. We originally thought they made a mistake and brought us two salads, but they had kindly done a split so we each had our own (enormous) plate. Each of our salads came with a hefty amount of mushrooms, peppers & dressing, which was a little too much for my liking, but certainly not for G’s. We had to stop 2/3 of the way through the salad since we were both starting to fill up.

Our margarita pizza & bacon-apple risotto arrived together. The pizza had a delightfully thin and crispy crust with a little extra flavor provided by Maryland’s only coal-fired oven. The ingredients were so tasty & fresh (Joe² grows their herbs in their rooftop garden) & actually seemed light after the more dense salad.

The risotto was incredible! The sage derby cheese and Moroccan seasonings formed a mellow, but aromatic background for the salty bacon and slightly-sweet apple. Even though we were filling up fast we powered through each and every morsel of this risotto; I highly recommend giving this one a try.

The one thing I wish we had ordered was the Meatballs & Spaghetti Pizza that someone at the table next to us ordered. It looked like a cheesy meatball & pepper pizza with a few spaghetti strands thrown on for show…trust me…it looked delicious!

Overall we found a place with great servers, a tasty menu with a splash of funky, and a parking spot…sounds like I found my new favorite pizza joint.

Total Bill: $45.05 + tip

Editor Rating

The Acropolis Restaurant (4714 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224) is in the heart of what was once a thriving Greektown. Though the people & restaurants of Greektown are slowing shifting toward a more Latino community, the Acropolis still encompasses the spirit of the Greek community.

My husband and I joined some of his family at The Acropolis Restaurant on Saturday evening and were surprised to see how bustling the dining room was. While The Acropolis is certainly not the crème de la crème of the Baltimore dining scene, they offered a plethora of tasty, traditional Greek fare.

We started off with the large Village salad ($9.99) a combination of red onions, cucumbers, olives, potatoes, green pepperoncini & feta. Anchovies are offered as part of the salad, though we declined. The salad was more than enough to feed the six of us, although the amount of feta left some wanting more. Overall the salad was good, especially the unexpected addition of chilled (cooked) potatoes. As always, the red onion stayed on the palette long after the salad was gone.

For dinner I ordered one of the evening’s specials, a filet of Red Snapper with sides of Greek potatoes & green beans ($17.99) & my husband ordered the Pastitiso (layers of macaroni and ground beef topped with Béchamel sauce -$16.99) which came with a salad he subbed for green beans.

This fish was cooked with a lemon butter sauce, and while it was tasty, I repeatedly found bones in the fish. The potatoes and green beans were good, though the green beans had been cooked a little bit too long for my personal taste. The serving of Pastitiso was enormous and hearty, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed!

When I return, I would be more likely to order the lamb chops or the lamb shish-kabob, that others ordered that night, that seemed to be well marinated and succulent.

On the whole my meal was filling and a good sampling of home-style Greek food, just not to be confused with the more high-end Greek & Mediterranean restaurants of Fells Point. The total bill for six of us came to $203 (including tip & 2 bottles of wine) and while we were too full to eat any dessert, the waitress insisted that we take some Galaktoboureko (custard-filled phyllo with a honey-clove sauce) to enjoy later…which we certainly did!

Editor Rating