Citronelle is a wonderful restaurant on the top flor of the Latham Hotel. It has a dramatic nighttime view of Baltimore's Washington Monument, and the food is superb. My wife and I had a wonderful dinner there a while back. Make reservations early (in the week, not in the day) and ask if it is possible to get a table with a view of the monument. Marconi's is also a wonderful Italian restaurant in Little Italy that you might want to try.
Baltimore, MD
Baltimore (MD) request
Tio Pepe: A Baltimore institution, some excellent things [shrimp in garlic first course, suckling pig - [ask them to save you some when you make your reservation], many good seafood preparations. Huge portions, at least for a "serious" restaurant. Don't count on getting in and out in a hurry - you ALWAYS have to wait at least 20-25 minutes after your reserved time. And there's something just faintly run down about the place these days. Not seedy, just not as "upscale" as you might expect. Citronelle: Often excellent food, very nice view, adequate service [for a restaurant of this class]. Highly variable, depending on who's in the kitchen on a given night. Generally safer to order the specials rather than the constant menu items [as at many places, of course]. M. Guettier's, on Broadway near Fell's Point: Undoubtedly one of the best bargains for serious food in the city. Interesting menu, well executed, reasonable prices [including wine prices]. Milton Inn, Sparks MD [about 10 miles north of Baltimore]: For my money (and they've gotten a good bit of it....), this is the best restaurant in the Baltimore area. Outstanding food, an excellent (and not too overpriced) winelist, charming country-inn setting. Not cheap, but not in the league of New York "not cheap" restaurants by any means. Definitely go here if you have a car and can get out of town. Spike and Charlie's: wine bar and restaurant right by the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Surprisingly good food for someplace this convenient:-) Not great, but if you're going to the Meyerhoff (or the Lyric Opera), and you call at least a week (prefereably more) in advance so you can get a reservation, it's quite satisfactory. Sisson's [Cross Street, Federal Hill]: Quite good moderately priced New Orleans style food, excellent in-house microbrewed beers. The food isn't really cajun, but it's as close as you'll get in Bawl'mer, and it's pretty good. The smoked crayfish cakes are really outstanding, even in crabcake country. Crabs: Obrycki's: If you're in Baltimore for the first (or just the second) time, you must of course eat steamed crabs, armed only with a small knife and a wooden mallet, These are the one thing it's really worth coming here for. Obrycki's is civilized enough for the tourist, but close enough to the real thing to be very good. If you're a bit more adventurous (and have transportation and a map) you should go to Gunning's Crab House in the Brooklyn section of town. It's more of a dive than Obrycki's (still not grungy, though), and much less convenient for visitors, but the crabs are marginally better I think. Obrycki's is, let's face it, more for tourists than for Bawl'mer natives, but it's still very good and vastly better than places like Phillips (Harborplace), which many people who've never been anywhere else claim to like. Little Italy: Many people fall in love with the places in this tiny neighborhood. Some even think it's one of Baltimore's major attractions, and drive here from some distance. Many others think this little pocket of Italo-American cliche food is more of a blight on the town than "The Block" [porn district]. It is interesting to note that neither I, nor anyone I know (including a large number of Italian colleagues and guests) have ever heard anyone except tourists speak Italian in Baltimore's Little Italy (as opposed, say, to Boston's North End). If you decide to go (and quite a few otherwise-discerning people I know actually like it), Caesar's Den is the place I've had the most successful meals. But if you want Italian food in Baltimore, you'd do better to go to Cafe Troia up in Towson. Not at all in the same league with the many outstanding Italian restaurants in DC (Galileo, I Ricchi, Obelisk, etc.), but pretty good and a pleasant (if simple) interior. And then I should help you avoid The Brass Elephant: Hugely over-hyped, uniformly disappointing food and a limited, over-priced winelist that wastes the setting in a nice (if somewhat tarted-up) town house. Sfuzzi: If you're around the Inner Harbor, you might be tempted by the Baltimore branch of this chain, because it looks as if it might be nicer than the food stalls and other places in the Harborplace pavillions. It isn't. The one in DC, in Union Station, is pretty good (even though the pizza always seems to be cold by the time I get it), but the Baltimore one is a complete loser. --Steve Anderson
Stephen A. wrote: [useful recommendations snipped--though I think Tio Pepe is also over-rated] > And then I should help you avoid > > The Brass Elephant: Hugely over-hyped, uniformly disappointing food > and a limited, over-priced winelist that wastes the setting in a nice > (if somewhat tarted-up) town house. > > Sfuzzi: If you're around the Inner Harbor, you might be tempted by the > Baltimore branch of this chain, because it looks as if it might be > nicer than the food stalls and other places in the Harborplace > pavillions. It isn't. The one in DC, in Union Station, is pretty good > (even though the pizza always seems to be cold by the time I get it), > but the Baltimore one is a complete loser. > > --Steve Anderson Absolutely on the money with these criticisms, especially the Brass Elephant. Generally, I would say avoid eating in the Inner Harbor as a whole, including Phillips. There is (or was--been a year since we were in Baltimore) a pretty decent Indian place called Bombay Grill just off of Charles Street. If you want something casual but pretty decent, and don't mind indifferent service, Louie's on Charles Street is okay.