It's Summer Cocktail Time At Elliott's Pour House!

There are a lot of nice things about being friends with Jeff and Christine Mason.

They're fun and good friends and have an awesome son. Plus, Jeff owns a bar.

Everyone should have a friend who owns a bar. It's great.

It was especially fun for us a few weeks ago,
when Jeff came over to experiment with a bunch of new cocktails.

Try a bunch of summer drinks? Yes please!

Jeff, hard at work slicing lemons in our kitchen.

We tried five different drinks that day - starting TODAY, the three best of those drinks

will be available at Elliott's Pour House.

My favorite was the Mon Mon (named for an EPH regular):

It's strawberry muddled with simple syrup, vodka, lemon and soda water.

Very fresh, very seasonal, very drinkable. And pretty.

The Watermelon Mojito was even prettier:

Pink and green! This drink, a combination of watermelon simple syrup, mint and rum,

 smells amazing. It's sweet, but not too sweet and, like the Mon Mon, totally refreshing.

The third drink, the Tiger Woods, is a mix of green tea, red berry vodka and lemonade

(a twist on the Arnold Palmer/John Daly - get it?).

And I didn't take a picture of it. It was the last drink we tried - that's my only excuse.

At any rate, it's the kind of drink I could drink all day.

We made some suggestions and Jeff had some tweaking planned, but even in their initial states,

all three drinks were fantastic. Refreshing and tasty. Also, pretty healthy -

none of the drinks are super high in calories.

Jeff is introducing the drinks tonight and they'll be available all summer long. So go!

43 Hours in Kentucky

Last year was a big one for us, since Cooper and I both turned 40, along with tons of our friends. This year, as it turns out,  has been nearly as big. Most recently, we helped our friend Jeff celebrate with a bang - a bourbon-tasting trip to Kentucky.

The crew included Jeff and his wife Christine, Alicia and Mike, Cooper and me and Kyle (Mary had to work, as did Bill).

Our tour guides very graciously took this photo for us.

As it turns out, Kentucky is a pretty easy trip from Baltimore. The flight from BWI to Louisville is just over an hour and, since it's a regular Southwest run, there are lots of choices and it's not very expensive.

After doing some research, Christine booked us at a cool bed and breakfast called Bourbon Manor, in Bardstown, a small town right in the thick of bourbon country. Mike,  Alicia, Jeff and Christine headed down on Thursday; Cooper and Kyle and I joined them Friday. And we all set off together on an epic adventure.

Friday: From Baltimore to Bardstown

Kyle & his bloody and Kyle with Cooper at the airport; Harrison-Smith pork rolls, Busch Light bottles
and live music at Old Talbott Tavern

Because I am a slightly crazy person when it comes to travel plans, Cooper and Kyle and I arrived at the airport on Friday with, oh, two hours to spare. We killed most of that time at Obrycki's, which really does have a nice house beer and a gorgeous bloody.

One short flight, plus a couple of Kyle's free Southwest drink coupons later, we landed in Kentucky, where Kyle picked up his hilariously red, enormous Ford F-150 rental and we got on the road.

Bardstown, where we were staying, is about 40 minutes from the airport, but we took a slight detour to Shelbyville, to stop by Walnut Grove Farm, where Kyle's uncle's lives.

It was our first time meeting his uncle and he was fantastic - funny and super welcoming. He hosts weddings on the farm and while we were there, he was getting ready for festivities taking place the next day. It's a gorgeous spot and so relaxing. (Especially relaxing during our visit, since he was plying us with beers.)

Back on the road, we made our way to Bourbon Manor, which was more charming than we could've guessed. Pretty, 19th century-inspired rooms, personable hosts, really, really good breakfasts - it had everything we could've asked for, including a bar, called The Bunghole, right on the premises. Also, ghosts. In Bardstown, everything is haunted.

For dinner, we headed into town, to Harrison-Smith House, where we had one of the best meals I've had all year. I feel like I say that a lot, but I mean it. The menu is short, focused and pig-heavy in a creative way. The drinks were solid, as was the wine list, and the sausage roll, which was kind of like a porky egg roll, was absolutely amazing.

Also, our waiter, Richard, was awesome. A total professional who read our table so well. Even with an average waiter, it would've been a memorable meal, but his excellent service pushed it over the top.

After dinner, we wandered over to the Old Talbott Tavern, where we were greeted by live music and $1.50 Busch Light bottles - a combination that Cooper finds hard to resist. We spent a couple hours dancing and drinking and generally having a blast, before going back to The Bunghole and closing it down with a few more drinks. If the weekend had ended right there, it still would've been a winner.

But it didn't.

Saturday: Bourbon and Beer

On Saturday morning, we were up and at 'em early...and some of us were moving a little slowly (Cooper). But we had things to do. Christine had hired a tour company, Kentucky Wine Tours, to take us on a tour of bourbon country.

Normally, one of our stops would've been Jim Beam, but as it turns out, the staff went on strike at midnight on Friday. So we didn't get to see that very big distillery, but we didn't miss it. Instead, we hit a couple other places: Maker's Mark, Limestone Branch, Heaven Hill (just for the gift shop) and Willett.

Our first stop was Maker's Mark, which is beautiful...and very busy. If you're going, try to get there just when it opens, otherwise, you risk waiting for a while for an open tour. (They run a lot of tours throughout the day...but they also get a lot of visitors.)

The grounds, the process, the barrels, the labels...plus the Chihuly ceiling and Cooper and Alicia enjoying some togetherness

Our tour guide at Maker's was young, but really good. He knew what he was talking about and he was funny and personable. It's a gorgeous place and though it's a big company, it didn't feel at all impersonal. We got to see the bourbon made and where it's packaged, labelled and dipped in wax. It's all right there.

The tour ended with a tasting and I have to be honest, bourbon at 10 am is rough when you're 40 and hungover. But you know what's not rough? The Dale Chihuly ceiling that leads into the Maker's gift shop. It's gorgeous.

Because it was Jeff's birthday, our tour guides gave him a gift: his own bottle of Maker's, which he got to dip in wax in the gift shop. It was pretty cool all around...though the part that was most entertaining for us was how totally unimpressed the wax-dipping lady looked by Jeff's antics.

Jeff, in a photo by Christine

After Maker's, our tour guides surprised us with a trip to Limestone Branch, which is the (legit) distillery that was on Moonshiners. While there, we tasted some really good moonshine (for real) and were given a tour by the most engaging, entertaining man ever. He was fantastic. So fun and so full of knowledge.

One of the things we learned is that a lot of the people who distill bourbon are related in one way or another. There are a whole lot of Beams down there and in many cases, the master distiller position at a company is passed down from father to son or daughter (mostly son). It's as much an art as it is a science to create bourbons that are both tasty and consistent and there's no replacing the value of apprenticing with your dad.

We also heard a lot more about the water quality than I was expecting. Comparing this trip to our whiskey adventures last summer in Ireland was interesting. Since there are strict laws regulating how bourbon is aged (new oak barrels, charred on the inside), there's more emphasis on the water and, in some places, the mash vs. the Irish emphasis on the barrel's history and the distilling process itself.

Limestone Branch is a small place, but full of great stories that go back for generations. If you have the chance, go there.

An old whiskey sign at Limestone Branch, view of their grounds, and an Ale 8 One with lunch

After Limestone Branch, we headed back to Maker's, for lunch at Toll Gate Cafe, a little spot on the Maker's campus that makes excellent sandwiches...and just so happens to be run by the brother of the owner of the Harrison-Smith House.

We then did a quick drive by Heaven Hill Distilling, which makes a couple big brands of bourbon, including Evan Williams and Elijah Craig. Our timing was off, so we didn't stay for a tour, but we did make the most of our time at their gift shop, which was more like a museum than a simple store.

As we drove between the distilleries, our guide, Gary, gave us some instruction on the finer points of the bourbon business. Pointing out the rickhouses - the places where the bourbon barrels are placed to age - he talked to us about construction and location and insurance.

That sounds boring, but it wasn't. The big structures, which are often painted black because they end up covered in black mold anyway, are built far from the distilleries themselves and far enough apart from one another that if there's a fire, they won't all go up in flames.

Because bourbon is so highly flammable, fires to happen, and they can very quickly take out a lot of product. And because of that, the aging bourbon is impossible to insure. So if you have a fire, you're stuck.

After Heaven Hill, we made our way to our final distillery of the day, Willett. This was a special request from Jeff, who loves the stuff and so does Kyle's dad. So, apparently, do a lot of bartenders.

The brand hasn't been around for a super long time, though the family behind it has been distilling for generations. And, as we discovered during our tour, given by a fun girl named Evelyn, the family has roots in Maryland. Though they've been in Kentucky for many generations, they were originally from Prince George's County.

Willett is cool overall, but the highlight is the still, which is a proprietary genie bottle shape
(which is also the shape of their bottles)

It was a fun tour and Cooper finally started to emerge from his hangover haze, just as Kyle started to slip into a bourbon-induced buzz that kept building for the rest of the night. It was...entertaining.

The tours were over and we were back at the B&B before 4...and then back off, having a drink at The Bunghole before heading to the Bardstown Craft Beer Fest. We walked from the inn - it wasn't too far - and strolled around town, ducking into a few shops before heading to the festival itself.

Once we got there, we were pleasantly surprised by a ton of craft beers, some not-so-craft beers (Carlsberg?), the Hogslop String Band, and a couple very good food trucks. Plus, a boatload of friendly people. AND there was square dancing at one point, which I did not participate in, but Mike, Alicia and Kyle did. Believe me when I say it was memorable. About 20 minutes too long, but memorable.

Tons of craft beers, Cooper at The Bunghole, the band, a kickass BBQ truck

While at the festival, we got to talking with a couple manning one of the food booths, a place selling chili. Turns out, the lady there is the mom of the people who own Toll Gate Cafe and Harrison Smith and she used to work at Limestone Branch and was the distiller behind some of our favorites there.

It's a small town.

But a really nice one.

After the festival, we headed back to the Old Talbott Inn for a couple more Busch Lights and a little more live music before finally throwing in the towel and calling for a cab to carry us back to the B&B. (One downside of Bardstown: no Uber.)

Sunday morning, we were up and out very early and we were back in Baltimore by 11. A quick trip, definitely, but one that was so much fun. I knew we'd have a good time - we always do - but I wasn't expecting to be so thoroughly charmed by the town, its people and its restaurants and bars.

I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Restaurant Review: Blue Hill Tavern

As in most cases, this review is based on only one visit to the restaurant, so please keep that in mind as you read it.

Blue Hill Tavern has been on my "must visit" list ever since it opened during the summer of 2009. Over and over again, I heard great things from other food bloggers about the place - usually about it's amazing happy hour and completely un-Baltimore decor. All the praise made me anxious to get there, so when Mike announced that he wanted to go for his birthday, I was all over it.

I had, however, heard a couple of criticisms along with the praise. Jeff and Christine live nearby and have been to Blue Hill a bunch of times. Last spring, Jeff confirmed for me that the decor and the appetizers are fantastic, but sometimes the entrees falter. I find that's the case at a lot of places - that the appetizers are better than the entrees - and (spoiler!) Blue Hill was one of them. Jeff was right.

The night started out in a super promising way. We arrived at the restaurant en masse - Cooper and I piled into Kyle's car along with Kyle, Mary, Mike and Alicia. When we walked in, we really were impressed with the decor. It's open and modern and feels legitimately fresh - it's unlike any other restaurant in Baltimore (don't let their boring website fool you - it is a great space). Much of the seating is upstairs, but the hostess offered us a big round table in the window, just next to the front door. She was almost apologetic, but for no reason. Since we all love a round table and we also love watching the action, we were pretty happy about it.

We started dinner with a round of drinks and a couple of snacks, including the Buffalo style nuts and the crostini with spreads. The Buffalo nuts were warm and spicy with small chunks of bleu cheese - I liked them, but not everyone at the table was a fan of the warm nut + cheese format. The feta butter that came with the crostini was more generally well-received, though I actually thought it could be more feta-y. They were a nice starter, though, as were our cocktails (a mix of the standard glasses of wine and martinis, plus a New Old-Fashioned for Mike, which was just subtle enough to be delicious).

Jeff was dead on when he said that the appetizers were excellent. Cooper had a sweetbreads special, which everyone liked (even though not everyone likes sweetbreads) and Kyle and Mary shared the ahi tuna, which was really nice, though it didn't include any big surprises. Alicia was impressed with her tomato soup and grilled cheese wedges - cute and tasty.

My starter was the hit of the course (actually, of the whole meal): a salad of greens and very lightly crusted calamari, dressed in a spicy chili dressing with peanuts. The calamari was cooked perfectly - not over or underdone - and was crusted with just enough seasoned cornmeal. The dressing, though, really made the dish. It's balance of spice and peanut had an obvious Thai influence, but tasted thoroughly modern.

I could've been completely satisfied with just my salad, but we still had an entree to tackle. I ordered against type - there was veal on the menu, and I almost always order veal when I can, but instead I chose the miso-glazed black cod, served with shrimp and peanutty soba noodles. The fish and the shrimp were nicely seasoned and cooked correctly - I enjoyed them both. The noodles were good, too, but there were just way, way too many of them. There had to have been close to a pound of noodles on my plate, when the dish required about an eighth of a pound. I don't usually feel badly about not finishing my dinner, but I felt the need to apologize when my plate was taken away. There were that many noodles left.

Mike and Mary both got the surf and turf - a small filet paired with a crab cake. A safe order, yes, but they were both very happy with the selection. Their meat was cooked properly and the crab cake was a good one. Kyle made everyone laugh by ordering the cowboy steak, which was bigger than his head and came with about a pound of sweet potato fries. It was ridiculous and half of it went home with him. He enjoyed the flavor, but still - laughably large.

Unfortunately, Alicia wasn't as happy with her order of cobia topped with a blue crab remoulade. She hadn't imagined the remoulade as so cold and creamy, and that's really not her style. I think she wished she'd gotten the shrimp and grits or one of the specials.

Cooper ordered the bison osso bucco, which gives me an opportunity to make an overall critique of the menu. His meal was good - the bison was from Gunpowder Bison and a nice, well-seasoned piece of meat - but like much of the menu, it was prepared sous vide. I'm not sure that's the best preparation for a lean meat like bison when it's being served as osso bucco, and after reviewing the menu, I couldn't help but feel like the sous vide option was a little gratuitous. Most restaurants in Baltimore do not prepare anything sous vide, so it's understandable that Blue Hill would want to set itself apart with the preparation. But they might go too far. Since we didn't order everything on the menu, I can't comment across the board, but if Cooper's bison is any indication, sous vide might not add to every dish.

So overall, our entrees were good, though not quite as delicious as our appetizers.

With both the apps and the entrees, we drank a $30 bottle of Malbec that was completely agreeable. While the wine list isn't exhaustive, it's interesting enough and is fairly reasonable overall (and I'd have more to say about it if the wine list link on the website weren't broken).

After dinner, we kept things going, with a pretzely, chocolatey birthday dessert for Mike (sans clapping, singing waitresses) and a collection of post-dinner drinks for the rest of us. Jeff and Christine left their new baby at home with Christine's mom and walked down to have a drink with us, and we ran into Cooper's cousin Fleur and her husband Scott on their way out (the table next to the door was a good one for spotting people we knew).

Finally, a quick note on the service: our waitress was friendly and on top of things and willing to laugh gamely at even the worst of our jokes. And believe me, Kyle made some bad jokes (he thinks he's charming).

Overall, it was a good experience, if not absolutely, perfectly, perfect. But what is? The restaurant never felt over or under-crowded, which was nice. It definitely had a grown up, but not stuffy, bar vibe, and if I lived in the city, I'd certainly head there for happy hour on a regular basis.

Taking Stock of 2011: What I Missed

It's that time of year again: those last few days when work is slow, school is out and we've all got plenty of time to meditate on the year that's passed, and plan for the one coming up.

For me, this means it's also time to look back with regret on all the posts that went unwritten in 2011 - when my busy work schedule and busy kid schedule kept me from blogging a whole lot. I didn't write at all about the amazing Black Ankle wine dinner we had at Crush. Meeting owner Ed Boyce was a highlight - he's a total inspiration. He and his wife, Sarah O'Herron, make high quality, Bordeaux-style wine in Maryland - proving it can be done. Meeting Ed was a great reminder that in most cases, if you're smart, work hard and take risks, it's possible to create something excellent. Plus, dinner was delicious.

I didn't write nearly enough about Jeff and Christine's wedding at the beach, where Christine's attention to detail, combined with seriously incredible bartenders, made for a weekend that was gorgeous and also a total blast.

Cooper, Kyle and me at Jeff and Christine's reception. Not pictured: Cooper's
orange pants. They are AWESOME.

Christine took this picture at the rest of us at Doc Frank. Good times,
despite the rain.

I glossed right over our trip to Keuka Lake in October, when Cooper, Alicia, Mike, Jeff, Christine and I wine-tasted our way around the lake one super-rainy Saturday. We started out with an excellent lunch at Bully Hill, where the wine isn't so good, but everything that comes out of the giant smoker definitely is. Then we hit Dr. Konstantin Frank and Heron Hill before driving around the lake to Keuka Spring and Rooster Hill. Our favorite - a surprise to everyone - was Keuka Spring, a smaller, family-owned spot that tends to fly under the Finger Lakes wine radar.

The bar (AKA Dixon's dresser, moved into the dining room and covered
fabric left over from that big party we had in October 2010.

I barely posted about our annual Mock Thanksgiving party, which this year was an adults-only cocktail party, with oysters, sweet potato ham biscuits, turkey-stuffing-cranberry sliders and a powerful pomegranate-orange champagne cocktail. All of that required a lot of time in the kitchen - and a lot of help from Tommy Sheldon, who is a solid photographer/sous chef. (Alicia provided some fabulous cupcakes, too, of course, and Tommy also made some incredible pralines for dessert.)

And I completely missed posting about the annual 5th annual holiday Carol & Crawl. This is a party that's been evolving over time - it went from four houses the first year, to five (including a whiskey bar that, well, let's just say that year was a little crazy), down to three houses the third year, then to a bar last year. This year, the whole group decided to ditch the progressive part of the party. It was hosted by Kyle, Mary, Bill, Mike and Alicia, but the whole thing took place at the Barger's house - as a pinot noir tasting competition. Kyle and Mary's wine (Aqua Pumpkin) won, but that's still in dispute, since nobody got more than three votes and there's a chance Kyle stacked the votes. Maybe.

At any rate, it was a great party, which ended very late with lots of very bad dancing.

My favorite picture from the Carol & Crawl - I think it really captures
the spirit of the end of the night.

On top of all of these posts-not-written, I neglected to write about a few very satisfying dinners: a couple at Petit Louis, at least one at demi (where we're having New Year's Eve dinner, as well), and a million at Clementine, which has become our weeknight go-to, thanks to its kid-friendliness (and general friendliness...and, of course, the food). And I could've written more about our trips to Chicago (two in one year!) and the serious workout Cooper gave his smoker. I had a pretty good year - it's a shame I barely wrote about it.

I'm still working on my blogging plans for 2012, but it's safe to say that one of my goals is to actually blog about the stuff I do!

Wine Club at Elliott's Pour House

We hang out with our friends Jeff and Christine as much as possible, but we don't go to their bar, Elliott's Pour House, nearly enough. Mostly because, well, because we have a kid and we don't live in Canton. But it's a great bar.

And it's a great bar that's about to get better, with the start of the EPH Wine Club. One Thursday a month - starting tomorrow, the 23rd - Jeff will be hosting a wine and food tasting at the bar. It starts at 7 PM, costs $10, and all the details are right here.

Needless to say, we'll be there.

Happy Hour Friday: Light Beer Tasting Party

At Christmastime, at the annual Carol & Crawl, an idea sparked. This year's C&C was a wine tasting party, focusing on pinot noirs. A few people wondered, why do we only taste wine? What about beer? What about light beer?

Fast forward a few months, to last weekend, when much of the same crowd found itself in Bill's newly redecorated (thanks to Alicia!) dining room, facing down a selection of 10 light beers. The job was simple: vote for your favorite.

It was a great party with good drinks (margaritas in addition to the beers) and great beer-drinking food (sausages, soft pretzels with mustard, chips and salsa and queso courtesy of Chili's). But most of all, it was kind of hilarious. Everyone took the task at hand somewhat seriously - I took notes! - but it was completely low key.

Even among our very unpretentious friends, wine tasting can get a little pretentious. How can't it? Even a few glasses in, you're swirling and sniffing and talking about tannins. With beer, especially light beer, well, it's not quite that involved.

And the winner? Well, that's the best part of the story. Bill and Jeff were responsible for pouring the beers into pitchers, far from our prying eyes. They had eight beers to pour (including two sets of Red Stripe Light) and they decided to throw in a couple of old standards, just because no one brought them. So they added Miller Lite to the batch. Just as they were about to add Coors Light, Jeff had an idea: why not mix a few beers, just to get a reaction.

So that was how pitcher #10 ended up as a combination of Miller Light, Red Stripe Light, Becks Light and Busch Light. And it won!

My only note about pitcher #10 was that it had "some flavor" - which really did set it apart from most of the other options. On its own, the Becks had a strange skunky smell, but mixed with the others, the smell was distinctive without seeming off. The Miller Lite and Red Stripe were just about flavorless, though actually, the Busch Light, with it's high level of carbonation, drew some praise.

Hilarious, though, we thought. Of course the beer that's not really a beer would be the big winner.

[Photo credit: Alicia Barger]

Entertaining Friday: Keeping Busy in Baltimore

Fall has arrived and with it, about a million and one things to do every weekend (and weeknight, if you're young enough and have that kind of energy). My inbox has been stuffed full of announcements and notices about fun things going on in and around the city over the next few weeks - and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some of them here:

Saturday, October 3rd: This weekend is Fells Point Festival, that annual 48-hour stretch of debauchery and hilarity. If you're there (and coherent), stop by the new Fells location of Nectar Boutique (1628 Thames) - it's just moved from O'Donnell Street in Canton.

This is going to sound a little convoluted, but Nectar's owner, Christine, is Mike's cousin Jeff's girlfriend. I've known Jeff forever, since he was a bartender at Claddagh's back in my younger, crazier days (and now he's the proprietor of Elliott's Pour House, a very nice, very neighborhoody bar in Canton). Christine is great and, most importantly, has awesome style that is totally reflected in her boutique.

Sunday, October 4th: As I've already mentioned, Dixon and Cooper and I will be saddling up to local chefs at the JFX Farmers' Market, where the Toyota Hybrid Farm-to-Table Tour will be making a stop.

Unfortunately, we already have plans in the afternoon, otherwise I would be all over the Chesapeake Oyster Festival at Woodberry Kitchen. From 3 to 5 p.m. on the patio, guests can enjoy four types of oysters on the half shell for $1 each, or oysters grilled on the half shell, four for $5. Plus, wine for $5 a glass, which is enough reason as any to head over. Also, cheese + music. Sounds amazing. Call 410-464-8000 for more details.

Thursday, October 8th: Plastic surgeon Dr. Dean Kane will spend the evening channeling his inner House (who did some outrageous cooking this week, btw) when, under the guidance of executive chef Bill Krouse, he takes over the kitchen at Sotto Sopra, serving a five-course meal that sounds amazing (lobster ravioli? lamb with mint caponata, pumpkin souffle? yes please!), alongside wine selections from The Wine Merchant.

Dinner is $70 per person and Dr. Kane will also be selling his pop art, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Dinner, plus a good cause! Call 410-625-0534 for reservations or more information.

And that's just in the next week. There's a lot more to come later this fall...

Mock Thanksgiving Recap: A Pictorial

This past Saturday was our annual Mock Thanksgiving. It was our fifth one over about seven years - the tradition started in 2002, just as I was learning how to cook, when Cooper's mom was given a free turkey and passed it on to me.

That year, I managed to completely scorch the top of the turkey (it was too big for the oven and hit the heating element). The next year, everyone started drinking while I was cooking, and by the time dinner was on the table, things were more than a little blurry, so I don't even know how the food tasted. Needless to say, both my cooking and my, ah, time management skills have improved in the years since.

This year, the theme of the night was "trendy vs. traditional." For each type of dish, there were at least two versions: one traditionally Thanksgiving-ish and one updated.

We cooked two turkeys in the Caja China, using this brine and a lot of advice from Mike's cousin Jeff (of Elliott's Pour House fame). Jeff has a Caja China of his own - he roasts pigs outside the bar on gamedays. Last week, he cooked turkeys, so we used his recipe and, after hearing about what he had trouble with, we decided to butterfly our turkeys so they'd cook evenly. And they did:
The meat was juicy and had great flavor. I also cooked a turkey in the oven, using this Martha Stewart recipe. No photos, unfortunately, but it was also pretty and brown and delicious, thanks to all of the butter and wine involved. I combined the drippings from that turkey with some vermouth, water, and a chicken buillion cube to make a sauce (no gravy in my house, much to Cooper's dismay).

We also cooked some oysters on the Caja China, but it seems that I forgot to photograph them - which is fine, since they were only OK. I did my best to copy my mom's very unspecific Oysters Waskom recipe (it involves spinach, garlic, shallots, and Monterey jack cheese)...but mine just weren't as good as hers are. I need more practice.

Fortunately, Alicia stepped up to the hors d'oeuvres plate with her fried Thanksgiving balls - meatball-sized spheres of shredded turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, all packed together, rolled in bread crumbs and fried. She paired them with two cranberry dipping sauces (one sweet, one a little spicy) and they were amazing. Little Will summed them up pretty quickly, when he ate one and asked for another "Thanksgiving doughnut":
My decorating scheme this year involved using as many vegetables I could. I stuck half-used stalks of Brussels sprouts in a tall vase with flowers, and used broccolini as a low centerpiece on the table. Here's the calm before the storm:

And here is Collin, as he made his way around the table, catching the scent of each dish (pictured: Karen C.'s traditional sweet potatoes and my yams with crispy skins and brown-butter vinaigrette):

Fortunately, my sauce and stuffing (also my mom's highly unspecific "recipe) turned out better than the oysters. Half the stuffing was plain, while the other half had oysters. It's just not Thanksgiving to me without oyster stuffing:

It's a little funny to me that no matter how hard you try to make Thanksgiving food look pretty, it always ends up in a big pile, like this (clockwise from the top: Jen's mashed potatoes, my updated green bean casserole, stuffing, turkey, Sarah's baked artichokes, yams, sauteed Brussels sprouts with bacon, sweet potatoes, and chipotle cranberry sauce right in the center):

For dessert, I had slaved away over spiced cider panna cottas, paired with ginger cookies, only to realize that I forgot, mid-recipe, that I was making double. So only half the panna cottas had the cider topping:

But that was OK. We went overboard on dessert, too, adding Alicia's apple crisp and Mary's sweet pumpkin dip:

I have so much food left over that it's not even funny (especially since it's not even actually Thanksgiving yet). It wasn't so bad yesterday, though, to have a few oysters to fry for lunch...especially since it gave Dixon the opportunity to try his very first oyster:

See it there in his mouth? Nice, huh? Unfortunately, he didn't like it all that much. But he didn't spit it out, so that's something.

It was leftovers for dinner last night and tonight I'll be using the last of the oysters in a stew. Then later this week, we start all over again!

Dispatch from OBX

We are on our annual trip to the beach right now, with the usual suspects (Alicia, Mike, Bill, Kyle, Mary, Jeff and Christine - plus all the kids). There's been a lot of this:

In case you can't tell, since Alicia's lens was obviously a little hazy, Jeff and I are enjoying our choice of many, many, many pool floats. We've got about fifty water guns, too.

We're having a great time - and eating well - though we have also run into some hardship. Thrown out backs, raging thunderstorms, tents brought without tops, that sort of thing. Nothing that ruins a vacation (though the thrown out backs definitely come close). But nothing we'd ask for, either.

Regular posting will resume next week. In the meantime, a recommendation: If you're looking to mix up burger night a bit, these pork and chorizo burgers are really pretty great. We made them last Saturday night and would definitely do it again.

That's all for now. It's almost noon, after all. Probably time for a beach drink.

Mr. Rain's Fun House

If you've never been to the American Visionary Arts Museum, go.

The museum is small, but intensely cool. It features "outsider" artists from around the country. The work is often weird, but incredible.

The museum is obviously a special place. Outside, the facade is covered with neon letters quoting the Star Spangled Banner ("O Say Can You See") and there's mirror mosaic all over the place.

Over ten years ago now, my friends Joyce and Rob got married in the museum, on the staircase connecting the main floor to the restaurant upstairs. Their ceremony took place under a chandelier made of dining utensils. It was so cool.

Back then, the restaurant on the top floor was called Joy America - it was owned by Spike Gjerde, who has gone on to become the most famous restaurateur in Baltimore (thanks, Woodberry, for helping to put Bmore on the culinary map).

Joy America has been closed for a few years; the restaurant that reins over the the museum these days is called Mr. Rain's Fun House. We had dinner there a few weeks ago, celebrating Jeff's birthday.

I didn't take notes - this definitely isn't a formal review - but I will say that everything we ate was very good. The space is small, but it suits a party. There were ten of us altogether, and we weren't the biggest group at the restaurant that evening.

We liked our meals - the very tender octopus appetizer, house-made pickles and shrimp and grits were the standouts, in my opinion. Nothing crazy or wildly surprising, for a cool, newish Baltimore restaurant, but everything was done well.

It's the drinks that set Mr. Rain's apart.

We arrived on the early side, so we headed for the small bar area for a pre-dinner cocktail. As soon as we walked in, Cooper leaned to me and said, "That bartender has been on TV."

He was right. The bartender in question is Perez Klebahn, the beverage director and one of the owners of Mr. Rain's. We'd seen him mix it up on the Baltimore episode of Drinking Made Easy, which originally ran last December.

Klebahn's drinks are creative and intriguing - but sometimes challenging. Of those we tried, my favorite was the Doyer Alley, which combines bell pepper-infused gin with lemon, honey syrup and the aperitif Cocchi Americano (odd aside: Cail brought us a bottle of that day before yesterday).

The gin was the key to the drink. The bell pepper flavor gave the drink a sweet freshness that was interesting, but also very drinkable.

I also tried the Ask the Dust - a mixture of whiskey, Aperol, absinthe, lime, tamarind syrup and bitters.  I liked it, but I have to admit it was a lot of cocktail for me to handle. While the Doyer Alley was easy to drink, the Ask the Dust was more of a challenge. More of an intellectual pursuit, I guess you could say.

Easy vs. challenging aside, dinner and drinks were both fun and it was nice to check out a drinks menu that contained some actual surprises. We go out to dinner so much these days - menus start to blend together. There's only so much that's new.

But Mr. Rain's Fun House - on the drinks side, at least - delivered some surprises. Fitting for the location, and a great way to celebrate a birthday.

Good Ideas: Maryland Farm to Table

About a month ago, while I was writing my review of Bandito's in Federal Hill, I had a nice chat with Chef Cyrus Keefer (he's at Birroteca now, but was instrumental in developing Bandito's short but very good menu).

Keefer mentioned that Banditos was sourcing their ingredients from Maryland Farm to Table, a relatively new food hub that connects local farmers with restaurateurs via website. The site is the brainchild of Jeff Smith, the guy who used to be the chef-owner of The Chameleon Cafe on Harford Road.

Under Smith's management, Chameleon Cafe developed a reputation for fantastic food and a strong commitment to local and seasonal products. So when he was ready to move on to something else - something that would allow him to spend a little more time at home with his daughters (they're eight and four) - it made sense for him to use his expertise to boost the local food scene in Baltimore.

The concept of the food hub isn't brand new, but Maryland Farm to Table is one of the first (if not the very first) to gain traction in Baltimore. Over the phone, Smith told me he came up with the idea - a website connecting chefs and farmers - on his own, but once he started doing online research, "it already existed all over the country. So it was in my head, but once I realized it was already happening, I knew it must work."

He started his version on a shoestring, putting a couple of walk-in refrigerators in his house in Lauraville, and working with an old friend who's a web designer to create the website. He's trying to be careful about managing growth, too - after ten years in the restaurant industry, Smith understands that growing too rapidly isn't always good for business. "I've been kind of holding back, so I can work through things. I'm learning through doing it," he told me. "I didn't want to screw things up and get behind."

Right now, he says about 45 chefs use the site and eight of them use it on a regular basis. He's in the black and he's growing at a reasonable pace.

On a regular day, Maryland Farm to Table has sixty or seventy items available to order and nearly everything is produced within fifty miles of Baltimore. Chefs place orders by Monday at midnight for Wednesday delivery and Smith acts as the go-between - the farmers deliver the goods to him on Tuesday and he distributes them to the restaurants on Wednesday.

Putting himself in the middle was a smart decision. As a former chef, Smith understands the challenges of working directly with farmers. The one-day buffer gives him (and the chefs) room to shuffle menus or find new suppliers if the farmer doesn't come through with a complete order. And after years of dealing directly with farmers, Smith has no problem offering feedback (down to "this arugula is too big").

It's "not as exciting as being a chef," he admits. But the regular hours are golden - Smith gets to spend more time with his kids this way.

Plus, chefs like Keefer agree that it's important work and a great thing for Baltimore's food community.

Hopefully soon the website will be good for other communities, too.

"I'm letting it evolve into it's own thing," Smith explained. "I'm hoping it's a model that can be copied all over the country. That farmers with little money can get the whole thing started. They can be the hub manager and delivery people."

And all over the country, people will be eating better, easier.

Back to Canton

Long, long ago - back in the pre-Cooper days - I lived on Fleet Street in Canton.

My roommate Alison and I fancied ourselves social butterflies. We went out at least five nights a week, though we didn't branch out too much in our choice of venue. Claddaghs, Coburn's, maybe  Razorbacks or Canton Cabana thrown in once in a while.

Then Cooper and I started dating (we met for the first time at the Cabana and our relationship sparked, I guess you could say, at Claddaghs). And Alison moved in with her boyfriend Sean (aka Cooper's college friend and Mike's lifelong BFF) and we all grew up and got married and had kids.

And our Canton days came to an end.

In the nearly 11 years since I moved out of the house on Fleet Street, Canton has grown up quite a bit. Claddaghs still sits in its corner on the Square, but most of our other old haunts have moved on, replaced by new places and new crowds (who, let's be honest, aren't actually that different from the old crowds). New houses have popped up all over town. New restaurants, too. And the people we went out with - the ones who didn't move out before the housing market collapsed - now have kids, so the neighborhood has a new sheen of family-friendliness.

Family-friendly wasn't our goal last weekend, when Cooper, Mike, Alicia and I piled into a cab and headed down to the Square. But as it turns out, our first stop - Plug Ugly's - was pretty packed with kids.

We got there early, around 6:30, which probably explains the kid-friendly atmosphere. Our plan was to have a few drinks and some appetizers before heading to a surprise party, thrown by Alison for Sean's 39th birthday.

Actually, our initial plan was to go to Mama's on the Half Shell, but even at 6:30, there was a line out the door. Plug Ugly's was a perfectly good substitute.

Cooper and I had a drink there last summer, on Jeff's birthday, and liked the space very much. Housed in the old Helen's Garden, Plug Ugly's renovation was legendary for its craaaaazy slow pace. All that time was worth it, though - the space is warm and comfortable, and it reflects the late 19th century time period for which the bar is named (the Plug Uglies were a political gang of sorts).

Overall, we were very happy with our experience. We were psyched to see bowls of half-and-half (mixed cream of crab and Maryland crab soups) on the menu - Island View Cafe is the only other place I've seen that (outside of my own dining room). Plug Ugly's versions of both soups were excellent.

The rest of our crab-oriented apps were just as good. Crab and corn fritters with Old Bay aioli were lighter, but just as tasty, as we expected and the crab dip was some of the best I've had in a while, with noticeable lumps of crabmeat. (And I eat a lot of crab dip.)

House-made potato chips, seasoned with Old Bay, were a great call, too - and perfect for dipping in the crab dip.

The only controversial dish was a plate of mussels with sausage, steamed in a saffron beer broth. Cooper and Mike loved them. I thought the mussels were cooked nicely, but that the broth had a sort of weird metallic flavor. Alicia didn't like them at all.

However, I maintain that the wine Alicia and I were drinking was the problem. We both liked the wine - a grassy sauvignon blanc - but I think it didn't mesh well with the saffron in the broth. These things do happen.

So the food was good, but the service was better. Even before she knew that Mike is old friends with the owners - even before Mike's aunt walked through the bar with one of the owners' dads - our waitress was sweet, helpful, and prompt. More impressively, she wasn't the only one. Every kid bussing tables was polite and attentive - we watched them keeping an eye out for empty water glasses and dirty plates.

After dinner, we headed northeast a few blocks (via cab - it was cold!) to the Cardinal Tavern, where we'd help Sean ring in the year leading up to the big four-oh.

It would be hard for any of the four of us to be objective about the Cardinal Tavern, since we all go way back with Larry, the owner. He's a super likable guy - big heart, jovial, etc. - so it's no surprise that his bar is very likable, too.

It's under renovation right now, so from the outside, it looks like a big old mess, with scaffolding and a ton of dust. But inside it's warm and cozy, with exposed brick and lots of polished wood.

Larry's into music, so it wasn't too much of a surprise to see a jukebox in the corner, but it did remind us that jukeboxes seem like a rarity these days. Cooper and I spent a lot of time huddled over jukeboxes when we first started dating; we did the same thing as soon as we got to the bar last Saturday night. The music is decidedly un-poppy...which I like, and which felt right for the place.

Because we were at a party, I didn't have much of a chance to saddle up to the bar to really get to know the bartenders and what the place is all about. But I will say this - drinks came quickly and the mixed ones were good. So there's that.

Apparently an expansion and possible food might be in the cards for the Cardinal Tavern, which would make it even better.

A few hours, and several drinks, later, we piled back into a cab, which then drove us home via 95 (despite our requests to go through the city), charging us 50% more than the cab driver who drove us downtown.

Definitely not like my quick stumble home during the Fleet Street days. But still better in so many ways.

Go to Aromes

After a good dinner, I'm usually very content, but there's a particular feeling I get after an extra-special dinner. Call it a glow, maybe. Or giddiness. Either way, it comes with an urge to talk about the meal with everyone I see.

 That's how I felt after a recent dinner at Aromes. It was a media dinner, organized by Amy "Charm City Cook" Langrehr, and it was fabulous.

Clockwise from top left: Jerusalem artichoke and salsify with Jerusalem artichoke milk and green juniper berry oil; menu; carrot miso creme brulee with lime ash and swarnadwipa; sea salt-baked celeriac with goat cheese, celeriac and chickweed extraction juice, shaved dried celeriac and celery vinegar jelly; potato ratte doughnut with sea urchin fish sauce and fresh sea urchin, fried scallops, coffee and licorice powder and lovage cream; sweet potato "risotto" with spoon fig leaf milk, lemon verbena oil and crispy black rice crackers; mugwort beer-braised oxtail taco with ramp vinegar in caramelized hay milk skin shell; grilled duck breast with duse seaweed and butter and slow-roasted beet sprayed with elderflower vinegar. (Monkfish with eggplant oil, served with fermented emmer grain and squid ink, pickled black radishes, buttermilk and lemon thyme oil is not pictured because my photos were super blurry.)

Aromes is a tiny BYOB spot on Chestnut Avenue in Hampden. The vibe is warm and simple, with a big plate glass window, bare wooden tables and an opening in the back, giving diners a glimpse of what Chef Steve Monnier and Sous Chef Jeff Schultz are doing in the kitchen.

Monnier is French, though he moved to the U.S. in 2002, first to southern California. He opened Aromes in Baltimore in 2014. Though he clearly has classical training, his food is anything but traditional. It's wildly creative, smart and - importantly - delicious. I was reminded of Tae Strain's food at demi, the tiny spot in Belvedere Square (that I still miss) - but Monnier's food is earthier than demi's high polish fare.

Each night, Monnier presents a new, multi-course menu. Diners have the option of ordering a three- or six-course meal - but there's no picking which courses. It doesn't matter, though. Everything is spectacular.

On the menu, dishes are described by a handful of key ingredients, from sea urchin to sweet potato. On the plate, they're wonderfully complex, technique on top of technique. And they taste good.

One of the highlights of our meal was a surprise off-menu dish - an oxtail taco. The meat was braised in mugwort beer and the shells were about as far from Old El Paso as you can imagine. Made with the caramelized skin formed by cooking milk - milk that had been infused with hay - they were smooth, delicate and outdoorsy in the very best way. And so interesting!

Everyone at the table also went crazy for one of the night's simpler dishes, a thick slice of grilled duck breast served with a slow-roasted beet. But, of course, it was more involved than that. Prior to cooking on a Japanese grill, the duck was marinated in fermented brown rice. The beet was roasted at a low temperature for five hours with dulse seaweed and butter, until it was papery and thin and almost resembled an artichoke.

The duck, we all agreed, might have been the best any of us had ever had (and it was not a table full of people who shy away from food). That was in part because of the creativity and behind-the-scenes flourishes involved...but it was also because Monnier and Schultz simply know how to cook.

Chefs as creative as Monnier run the risk of getting too cutesy - of doing things because they can, even if maybe they shouldn't. That did not happen at Aromes.

A word, too, about the service. Because the space is small, during our visit, one waiter, Gilles Mascarell, handled the whole room. He was excellent - and that was not a surprise, given his pedigree. Most notably, for nearly a decade before joining Aromes, he worked at Salt Tavern.

There is just something about Salt Tavern alumni. Frequently, when I've had seriously good service, I find out after the fact that the server did a stint at Salt. (Note: I might be biased because Teresa from Thames Street Oyster House is both my neighbor and my favorite waitress in the city - but I still think I'm right about this.)

I couldn't have asked for anything more from the meal - though it's not a dining experience that's for everyone. Some people get twitchy when they don't have choices on the menu, or prefer food that is more straightforward than creative. Both of those are perfectly acceptable preferences - and if you do fall in one of those categories, Aromes might not be the restaurant for you.

But if you don't mind putting yourself in the hands of a super-creative chef for an evening, you need to get there sooner rather than later. It's a special experience. One that'll make you glow.

Aromes, 3520 Chestnut Avenue, Hampden; 410-235-0035; aromesrestaurant.com

Straight Up Summer

As of today, summer has officially started Chez Pollard. School is out and we are shifting into vacation mode. (And by that I mean, Dixon starts his first camp on Monday.)

Of course, summer unofficially started a few weeks ago, with the earliest Memorial Day weekend imaginable. We went to Fenwick, where we had dinner with the Kennedys at Ropewalk and got to visit Jeff and Christine at their new house in Delaware. Plus, we started the weekend with a very nice, refined dinner at The Narrows and closed out with a fun lunch at Stoked in Cambridge (their wings...get them).

Since then, I have spent as much time as possible at the pool, drinking rose, and making the most of the huge amount of basil, mint and other herbs growing in our backyard. (All thanks to Cooper...I remain a non-gardener.)

This is what's been happening:

Top row, left to right: Dixon and his Sunsations/Maryland crab gun in Fenwick; braving the ocean; rose + pesto, which makes the best easy summer dinner

Middle: Dixon and Gray at Ropewalk Fenwick, where we had a fun, crazy dinner with the Kennedys and Missy and the girls; Mimi and Charlotte in the Ropewalk playground's picture board 

Bottom: Me with Mimi and Charlotte before Ropewalk (the matching stripes weren't even on purpose!); Dixon with a ginormous shrimp (shrimp cocktail is his new thing); Cooper getting his grill on with Maddy and her friend at the pool

Summer. It's just the best.

What I've Been Up To

Things have been busy chez Pollard, so I've got a list of "posts to write" that's a mile long, and it appears that I'm not going to get around to any of them. So in lieu of a whole bunch of actually detailed posts, I'm going to fall back on what I learned in business school...and make a bulleted list:

• On New Year's Eve, we went to Crush with Alicia, Mike, Kyle and Mary. I was hesitant, as I'd never actually been out to dinner for New Year's before, and I'd heard horror stories from people who had. We chose Crush because a) it's really close and b) they were serving their regular menu. And you know what? We were super pleased with everything. We've been back since, too, making it our most-visited restaurant in, well, a long time.
• On New Year's Day, Cooper and Dixon and I drove down to Fenwick Island so I could take a much-needed break from the internet (pathetic, I know). While we were there, we had a really excellent meal at La Hacienda - better than we've ever had there, and I'm really not only saying this because Cooper's cousin Gilly works there. It was great, especially the rockfish ceviche appetizer (it was a special). The next night, we followed the recommendations of a whole bunch of people and went to Mancini's, where we also had a good meal, including a great bottle of Barolo and a crispy, excellent pizza from their wood-fired oven.
• Speaking of pizza, a couple of weeks ago, we spent Kyle's birthday in Canton, starting with pizza at Matthews. I'd had carry-out before, but had never been to the restaurant and I loved it. The place oozes old Baltimore personality - it's small and crowded and everybody's friendly and the walls are covered with maps and posters. The pizza totally lives up to it's reputation, too. Mine was simple - a couple of kinds of cheeses plus green peppers and onions - but fantastic. After dinner, we headed over to Elliott's Pour House for drinks and the Ravens game. The one they lost. Fortunately, we had a nice spot next to the bar and a steady stream of drinks. Jeff has a ton of beer on tap now, so if you're into that, you've really got to get there. It's exactly my favorite kind of bar - not too big but not too small, friendly, neighborhoody, and cute.
• I have also been doing some cooking at home, including a bit of experimentation. About six months ago, Cooper's mom passed along a recipe for chicken peperonata that apparently Cooper's always liked. I made the recipe and found it way too hot for my palate - which is saying something. (I have a feeling that the fault lies with me, not the recipe.) Ever since then, I've been on the lookout for similar recipes that won't burn the skin off my tongue. I found a good one in this Bon Appetit recipe (it was quick, too) but after I tried this Food & Wine version, I was sold. The fennel seeds are a small addition, but it makes a big difference. Highly recommended.
• Finally, a couple of weeks ago, our friend Tommy gave me a copy of The Joy of Cooking. He uses it as his "go-to" reference book - and I can absolutely see why. On Saturday, while we were watching the snow pile up, Dixon and I decided to bake something and my new book delivered a simple recipe for snickerdoodles (that only involved stuff I had in the house already). The results, while very tasty, were also very ugly (my fault, not the book's). But I've become a fan of the book forever.

So, that's been my month. One post, lots of stuff crossed off my "to-write" list.

Perfect for Fall Parties: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salsa Recipe

We had a busy couple of days last weekend, with dinners out and housewarming parties and cousins visiting from Oklahoma and a first birthday party for Jeff and Christine's little boy Elliott. It was kind of exhausting, but a perfect time to try out a fall-ish recipe.

I started with this recipe for a sweet potato and black bean salad, made a few tweaks, and ended up with this super attractive and surprisingly tasty salsa:

The changes:

• Cut all the vegetables much smaller than recommended - make everything bite-sized
• Toss the sweet potatoes with olive oil, in addition to the salt and pepper, before roasting
• Speaking of roasting, it took me 25 minutes, not the 15 advertised
• Swap out the mint for cilantro
• Add a splash of olive oil to the vinaigrette before tossing

And that's it. Toss, then serve with tortilla chips. A huge hit all the way around (on Saturday, when it was fresh, and again on Sunday). And have I mentioned the festive autumnal colors? Because it was pretty!

Vacation Recap: A Week in Duck

What happens when a food blogger (that's me), a bar owner (that's Jeff) and all their friends (Cooper, Christine, Alicia, Mike, Bill, Kyle, Mary + the kids) go on vacation together? There's some eating, a whole lot of drinking, and much general ridiculousness (which, sadly, isn't blog-appropriate).

Still want to read about it, even though I have to leave out the juicy bits? Here's the story, picture book-style:

Links: William + Mary (the greatest school everrrrr), The Governor's Inn, W+M bookstore, Wythe Candy + Gourmet, Fat Canary, The Cheese Shop (get the bread ends and house dressing - seriously)

Links: Braggin' Rights (it's a great house - via Southern Shores Realty), cups by Party Innovations (they are super reliable)

Links: Life's a Beach

Links: Brew Thru, Fat Tire, Sooey's BBQ

Links: Sunset Grille + Raw Bar

Links: Stack 'Em High, The Blue Point, Duck Donuts

Links: Can Can Brasserie

Next year's trip can't get here fast enough.

[Note: I took a few of the pictures, but Alicia took most of them. Par for the course.]