RESTAURANTS

15
Mar
2016

Owl Drink To That: Brunch at The Owl Bar

The Owl Bar ( 1 E. Chase Street) in The Belvedere Hotel is one of Mt. Vernon’s precious gems. This hotel has history! Along the entry walls leading to the first floor restaurant are old black and white photos of celebrities that have visited the hotel. What once was a hotel is now luxury condos, two restaurants and banquet and event space. I’ve visited The Belvedere Hotel many times before, mostly when they had a lounge nightclub on the top floor, but that space is now an upscale restaurant with panoramic views overlooking downtown Baltimore.

I recently visited The Owl Bar with three friends on a Sunday afternoon. We got there around noon and we pretty much had the place to ourselves for a while. There were maybe two other tables occupied. We sat at the bar and ordered the bottomless mimosas for $15.00. I’ve said it before, I like sitting at the bar for bottomless because it’s easy for the bartender to see that your glass is empty and fill it back up. I really like the decor at The Owl Bar because it has the historic feel of the original hotel but with a modern twist. With a name like “Owl Bar” of course there is owl memorabilia like stain-glass windows and owl mugs, photos and figurines. They also have a collection of superhero mugs that I notice get requested and used a lot. Cool lighting fixtures and fabric upholstery add to the updated modern appearance.

If mimosas aren’t your think they have a serious Bloody Mary Bar with the fixings.

The brunch menu includes your traditional breakfast items: Omelette, Fritata, Two Eggs Any Style, Eggs Benedict, Quesadilla and Pancakes. The menu also features fresh brick oven pizzas, The Owl Burger, Cobb Salad and Crab Dip. They used to offer the best Chicken and Waffle option in town, but they took it off the menu … I guess it wasn’t a popular item. I’ve had just about everything on the menu except the omelette so I ordered that this go round. I didn’t prefer the omelette because I like my omelette ingredients cooked together. The eggs and the ingredients were cooked separately and the ingredients were put on the egg and it was folded over.

My friend ordered my favorite, the Breakfast Quesadilla with bacon, potatoes and cheddar cheese inside and it’s served with salsa and pico de gallo. I’ve ordered it so many times because I like it and I’ve started making my own at home.

Owl Burger, Cobb Salad, Pancakes & Bacon

My other friends ordered the Owl Burger and the Pancakes with a side of bacon. We also ordered the Cobb Salad to share. The pancakes were light and fluffy. The cut of bacon they use is always great it’s not too thin. The Owl Burger is a house blend of chuck, short rib, brisket and it was tasty! If you like meat, you’ll like this burger. The Cobb Salad is always our go-to shareable item because it features the perfect portion mix of the ingredients and we love the dressing.

owl-bar-brunch — Owl Burger, Brioche French Toast and Nawlins Skillet

ob14 — Lil’ ol’ me leaving brunch reminiscing about the great mimosas

Be sure to follow my foodie and cocktail adventures on Instagram.com/Arlisappetite and twitter.com/ArliBaby.

10
Mar
2016

Happy Hour at Bagby’s TEN TEN

categories: Happy Hour, RESTAURANTS

It’s March, the weather is finally breaking and Spring is upon us. One of my favorite things to do is sit outside and eat. Whether it’s near the water, or on the street, It always makes me feel like I’m in another city or country. Bagby’s Ten Ten American Bistro (1010 Fleet Street) has an incredible interior design, but they also have a quaint and somewhat hidden outdoor eating area also. I recently went there during Happy Hour to enjoy the food and fine weather.

I visited with a friend and we have the same food philosophy — The More The Merrier! We like to order lots of food to share and sample. The Happy Hour menu offers six small plate options and we ordered five of the six “Bites” items. I especially like the 13 beer, wine and cocktail specials.

tthh6 — Korean Tacos with Mongolian beef, avocado, asian slaw, jalapeno and sesame

tthh5 — Chili-Glazed Wings with fried garlic, pickled daikons & carrots, cilantro and black sesame

Look at those chicken wings, they are huge!! The chili glaze flavoring I liked because it was sticky and spicy and unlike any other flavor wing I’d had before. The Korean Tacos were also delicious they were small and not shareable, so we ordered another…why not, they are only $6.00. My absolute favorite were the Herb Parmesan Fries, they were hot, crispy and seasoned well topped with fresh parmesan cheese. I think these are my new favorite fries, they are giving Gordon Biersch’s Garlic Fries a run for their money.

Be sure to follow my foodie and cocktail adventures on Instagram.com/Arlisappetite and twitter.com/ArliBaby.

07
Mar
2016

Great Prices and Portions at Taste This Baltimore

categories: RESTAURANTS

Some time ago I wrote for a local blog and interviewed young Baltimore Chef Craig Curbean. Fast forward years later and he is now co-owner of the soul food restaurant Taste This Baltimore (102 East 25th Street and 4915 Harford Road). Recently I visited the 25th Street location on a Friday evening around 5:00 pm and ordered take-out dinner.

This was my first time visiting Taste This Baltimore at the Charles Village location. I’d visited the previous soul food restaurant that occupied that space so I had an idea of what the interior would look like. Taste This Baltimore is a take-out restaurant with a few tables for dine-in seating option. The ordering counter has three registers and behind the cashiers is an open-space kitchen. I went to the counter and read over the paper menu and there were so many choices it took me a while to decide. Taste This Baltimore offers the traditional soul food dishes such as: Catfish, Fried Chicken, Pork Ribs and Pork Chops. I’ve also seen photos of massive create your own baked potatoes and specialty liquor-inspired chicken wings in flavors such as: Honey Hennessy, Jose‘ Tequila and Lime, Mango Bacardi Rum and Pineapple Ciroc BBQ. I decided on the smothered pork chop dinner and because I was sharing this meal with a friend, I also ordered a single rack of BBQ Ribs.

TTBalt — Smothered Pork Chop with Collard Greens and Macaroni & Cheese

TTBAlt2 — BBQ Pork Ribs on a bed of rice

Let me say that the portions are huge! With the open kitchen concept, I could see the server give me two hearty scoops of macaroni and cheese. The pork chop was also large and served with a healthy bed of rice. The collard greens were cut and seasoned perfectly and the mac and cheese was flavorful. The BBQ ribs sauce recipe had just the right amount of tangy BBQ flavor and as you can see from the photo the meat was falling off the bone. I would have liked for the pork chop to be more tender but the gravy and seasoning made up for that. For the amount of food I ordered the pricing was very reasonable, the pork chop dinner was $7.95 and the side of ribs were $4.95.

Apparently I’m not the only one that likes the portions and prices because service started to pick up right after 5:00 pm when I placed my order. When I arrived there were three people waiting and when I left… 45 minutes later, there were 10 people waiting for orders.

I also recently visited on my lunch break and ordered the daily lunch special Seafood Caesar Salad. I initially asked for an extra dressing but didn’t use it because the salad was tossed in enough dressing.

My advice would be to call ahead and order so that you won’t have to wait, I will be doing that in the future. I think I will order the wings and a loaded potato on my next visit.

Have you visited Taste This Baltimore? What did you order? What is your favorite?

Be sure to follow my foodie and cocktail adventures on Instagram.com/Arlisappetite and twitter.com/ArliBaby.

03
Mar
2016

Meatballs Galore at 8 Meatball in Fells Point

categories: RESTAURANTS

As if the Fells Point restaurant scene wasn’t cool enough, the newly opened meatball restaurant just made it a little cooler. Last night I visited 8 Meatball (814 S. Broadway St) with fellow food blogger Rachel from Like The Tea Eats and we had a ball…or two (pun intended). 8 Meatball recently opened on February 21st so I didn’t know what to expect because it’s only been open for 1 1/2 weeks but I’ve heard only great reviews.

We arrived around 5:30 pm and it wasn’t crowded for a Wednesday evening, there were about five people sitting at a table and three people sitting at the bar. The restaurant has about seven tables in the main dining room and more in a rear dining area and about 10 high-top bar stools around the bar. We were greeted by a friendly hostess and seated immediately. Our waitress promptly delivered the food and drink menus and informed us about the specials. I was so excited to visit this restaurant that I totally forgot the option of Happy Hour. They do have wine and beer specials on the happy hour menu as well as food items.

The menu is simple with numbers, graphics and step-by-step instructions…this I like. 8 Meatball offers five meatballs: classic, chicken, spicy pork, veggie and the daily special. They offer six sauces: classic tomato, parmesan cream, pesto, spicy pork, mushroom gravy and the daily special sauce. You can have it three ways: bowl of balls, meatball sub or a slider and of course you can add pasta or one of the other four starches they offer. I’m a classic girl so I ordered the spicy pork meatballs with the spicy pork meat sauce in a bowl of spaghetti.

The spaghetti and meatballs serving was a generous amount, I had enough to take home for leftovers. There were five spicy meatballs in my bowl in addition to the spicy meat sauce…plenty of meat and topped with parmesan cheese. It wasn’t super spicy, but had a spicy kick.

I also wanted to try one of the sliders and they were on special for $2.00 each on the happy hour menu, so I ordered the Spicy Lamb special meatball slider with the Tzatziki sauce. The slider was a hearty size and delicious. The bread was soft and the combination of the lamb and tzatziki was great!

I figured I’d get a salad just to balance out the carbs so I settled on a seasonal salad that included mixed greens, green apple slices, beets, pecans, tomato and goat cheese.

Rachel ordered the Creamy Cheesy Polenta and three sliders with different sauces: Spicy Lamb with Tzatziki Sauce, Chicken Meatball with Pesto and the Classic Meatball with Mushroom Gravy sauce.

8M1 — Left to Right: Classic Meatball w/ Mushroom Gravy sauce, Chicken Meatball with Pesto and Spicy Lamb with Tzatziki Sauce

I tasted the Polenta and it was definitely creamy and cheesy. I think that was the first time I’ve eaten polenta and it was a cross between rice, mac & cheese and mashed potatoes. You have to look over on Rachel’s Blog to read what she thought about her sliders and her experience at 8 Meatball.

Have you visited 8 Meatball? What was your favorite meatball/sauce combination?

Be sure to follow my foodie and cocktail adventures on Instagram.com/Arlisappetite and twitter.com/ArliBaby.

01
Mar
2016

Bottomless Brunch at Cava Mezze

categories: RESTAURANTS

If you mention the word “Bottomless” to me I get excited, especially if you are speaking about food or drink. I’ve recently heard some buzz about Cava Mezze (1302 Fleet Street), a fairly new restaurant in Harbor East, Baltimore. The main thing I heard about was their .1 bottomless mimosas…yes one cent! This Sunday I went there with my best friend to check it out.

The weekend bottomless brunch is from 11:00 am – 3:30 pm, so we knew we had to get there extra early or a little late to beat the crowd. As my best friend and I pulled up to the restaurant around 2:00 pm, we noticed there was a small crowd of seven people outside. Inside all tables and booths were occupied. I overheard the host ask a party of five if they had reservations and there would be a 30-40 minute wait. Because it was just us two, the friendly host advised us that there was seating space at the bar. We actually prefer the bar seating because you get better service and a faster return on your requests because the bartender is in eyeshot. If you are coming with a party of three or more, I would suggest making reservations.

We went to the bar and was greeted by a the bartender, he began to tell us the deal with the bottomless brunch and mimosas. The brunch is a $30.00 flat fee and it’s all you can eat, you can choose whatever you want from a menu of 21 items. The items are served on small plates in smaller portions, perfect for sharing. The mimosas are .1 if you purchase the brunch option and they are also bottomless. If you don’t want the all-you-can-eat brunch, the mimosas are $5.00 each. They also offer $2.00 Bloody Mary or Sangria with the bottomless brunch option. I ordered an orange juice mimosa and my best friend ordered a grapefruit juice mimosa.

We chatted with two young ladies sitting beside us at the bar and they had already ordered six items and gave us their suggestions. Needless to say we went to town with out brunch choices…

MINI CAVA BREAKFAST – fried egg, potato hash and bacon

CM2 — BREAKFAST BURRITO – chicken sage sausage, eggs, feta, tomato, onion, harissa topped with Greek yogurt

cm9 — SALMON BENNIE – hickory smoked, dill, hollandaise and capers

cm10 — CHICKEN SAGE SAUSAGE- house made chicken sausage and sage

cm11 — GRILLED CHEESE- tomato, aged barrel feta, oregano and olive oil

cm12 — NUTELLA WAFFLE- walnuts, nutella, bananas and cream

cm8 — SKILLET CAKE – pancakes with chocolate chips, powdered sugar and whipped cream

cm13 — VILLAGE FRITATTA- spinach, egg, feta, leeks and green onion

cm14 — FRENCH TOAST- thick cut challah, honey, berries and cream

cm15 — BANANAS FRITTERS – honey, walnuts and powdered sugar

cm16 — CRISPY PORK BELLY- Berkshire pork, thyme and honey

The food came out really fast, maybe 10 minutes after we ordered it. I would suggest ordering items in sets of three or four because it can get cold fast if you aren’t eating it right away.

Everything that we ordered was delicious. I especially liked the meats and the sweets. The chicken sausage with sage was so good that we ordered another serving. The bacon that came with the Mini Cava Breakfast was think and filling. The Crispy Pork Belly was excellent and the honey added a sweetness to the savory pork. All of the sweet items were great. The Banana Fritters were my favorite, they remind me of the apple fritters my grandmother makes and my best friend especially liked the Nutella Waffle.

This restaurant atmosphere was chill and relaxing, letting all the light come in from the large open windows at the front. They played 90’s music and kept the mimosas coming. When the weather breaks I know this will be a popular brunch location in Harbor East.

Have you been to the Bottomless Brunch at Cava Mezze? What did you think?

Be sure to follow my foodie and cocktail adventures on Instagram.com/Arlisappetite and twitter.com/ArliBaby.

18
Feb
2016

Brunch at Barcocina

categories: RESTAURANTS

Brunch is hands down my favorite meal of the day. If you invite me to brunch, chances are I’ll say “Yes” every single time. I especially love restaurant menus that experiment with flavors and cultures from around the world. Recently I visited Barcocina (1629 Thames Street, Fells Point), a Mexican-inspired restaurant with a unique food sharing concept.

On this particular Sunday, my best friend and I decided to sit outside and enjoy the weather. Barcocina is in a prime location in Fells Point. It’s on the water with views of the harbor, tourists and all the weekend aquatic activities. Looking over the menu I noticed the different options for the Mexican-inspired items. There were six guacamole options, three salsa options and eight taco options. Some were very unique because I would never think to mix the ingredients. There was an “Eggs and Bacon” guacamole, and a “Reuben” taco that caught my eye, but I had a taste for the traditional American breakfast items. The traditional breakfast items also had a Mexican-inspired flair We ordered the Breakfast Quesadillas, Huevos Rancheros, Butternut Squash Enchiladas and the Maple Pancake Sliders.

The breakfast quesadillas were delicious. They were made with smoked cheddar eggs and crumbled pepper bacon and topped with sweet corn salsa and a sour cream drizzle. The huevos rancheros was good, my best friend liked them but my only suggestion would be to add more of the citrus sour cream. My favorite were the Maple Sausage Pancake Sliders, it was prepared like a McDonald’s McGriddle but better. The Butternut Squash Enchilada was flavorful with fresh ingredients. We also ordered Jalapeno Skillet Cornbread and the Skillet Potatoes.

The cornbread was excellent!!! That was the first time I’d tasted spicy cornbread. I’m used to my cornbread being savory and sweet, but I liked the spicy kick. We devoured that skillet and wished it was a little larger because we both wanted more.

Barcocina’s Brunch also offers $10.00 Bottomless Mimosas and $12.00 Bottomless Bloody Maria’s or Bloody Mary’s. If you are looking for a chill outdoor or indoor dining experience, visit Barcocina…you won’t be disappointed.

And always follow my foodie and cocktail adventures on social media …

Owl Drink To That: Brunch at The Owl Bar

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Happy Hour at Bagby’s TEN TEN

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Great Prices and Portions at Taste This Baltimore

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Meatballs Galore at 8 Meatball in Fells Point

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Bottomless Brunch at Cava Mezze

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Brunch at Barcocina

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