First up, recaps: I had a rant about fried chicken in the last food post. For the most part, I have not changed my opinion of the quality of Baltimore's version of sad looking chicken parts coated with flavorless batter and then fried. It is terrible. However, there was one place that I visited this year that has helped me cope with the terrible chicken wing purveyors in the 'More. Located in a small space on Greenmount Avenue's slightly scary run through Waverly is a restaurant called Darker Than Blue Cafe. Pictured on the right is the chef, Casey Jenkins, who produces wonderfully flavored dishes of home cooking comfort. His fried chicken has the two crucial elements that aren't found in most chicken box joints: a salty, satisfying crunch of a crust and juicy, flavorful meat. The breast meat (a huge test when it comes to fried chicken) was palatable, which is a complement. It reminded me of Two Sisters' Kitchen in Jackson, Mississippi, where I had my fried chicken epiphany as a 17 year old. Darker Than Blue came close to that feeling of elation, spreading a smile across my greasy lips as I remembered home.
Next recap: Mexican food. First of all, for the people who brought up Nacho Mama's (home of some of the saddest "mexican" fare ever) or Holy Frijoles (decent "mex" food but rivaling many, many Baltimore eateries for worst service ever) don't know what type of Mexican food I crave. There's a type of burrito that's out there where the ingredients are honest, fresh, and seasonal. The burrito composition is basic but well seasoned. The beans used are never over cooked or under-seasoned. The tortilla is steamed, not pressed between two warm pieces of iron. Most importantly, the burritoes explode with heat, flavor, intensity, and joy. Someone suggested Nino's Taco, which I will have to try next time I'm out near Reistertown. Still, I visited three or four small, hole in the wall places, mostly near the Eastern Avenue/down by the harbor area and were mostly disappointed. Yet, there was one place that made me sing was excitement...
Chicken Rico, on Eastern Avenue, is the type of chicken eatery that screams flavor. Their rotisserie style chicken reminds me a bit of Pollo Tropical in the Florida region, except without the flavor injection. The rub they use is light on the heat but still salty and satisfying. The best part of the meal at Chicken Rico, though, are the sides. Their plantains are usually stupendous. If you are more on the adventurous side (as I am) you have to try some of the menudo. A pungent dish of tripe, the barnyard taste can be off-putting for some, but the taste combination with the tomato/pepper sauce is simply awesome. Here's a review from the City Paper.One more ax to grind: Dear purveyors at Joe Squared...why is everything so maddeningly inconsistent with you guys? After my hate filled experience with Joe Squared (see this pleasantly worded review that I previously wrote) I still admired their adventurous pizza toppings and their risotto offerings. On paper, they sound incredibly delicious. So, against my internal critical voice, I ordered from them...and it was great. I had a lamb sandwich, a great salad, and some adequate cheese bread. Next time I ordered, I got some risotto...which was terrible. Third times the charm, maybe? No...got the same lamb sandwich as the last time, and it was nearly inedible (rare lamb doesn't do it, nor does a 1 hour wait time for a 6pm order). I don't know which Joe Squared will show up...therefore, I'll just have to settle for Pizza Boli's or Papa Johns, because everything else in my neighborhood blows. I blame it on the horrible tastes of my art school neighbors.
OK...enough with the past, let's move to the future.
Crabs: Dismal news for crab harvesters on the Chesapeake...but if you want some amazing crab cakes, you've got to go to Faidley's at the Lexington Market. I'm ashamed that it took me this long to try a Faidley's crab cake (or to take advantage of the food shopping at Lexington Market). Their jumbo lump crab cakes are amazing...sweet giant lumps of crab, moist but not runny, bready but not oppressively starchy, perfectly fried and delicious (Look at that smile on my face, purely from crab cake goodness). It shames most of the more expensive seafood/tourist trap crab cakes that ring around the Inner Harbor. Also, if you're in the mood to be adventurous, they sell Muskrat during Muskrat season, perfect to work on your recipe for the Muskrat Cook-Off in Cambridge, MD.
Korean Food: So, I was a regular at Namkang for many months, averaging a visit a week until I just got tired of the place. Don't know what it is...maybe the lack of anonymity after frequenting a place. Well, there's a great place out by the H-Mart (Han Ah Reum Asian Supermarket) in Catonsville, an adjacent, huge, cafeteria style Korean restaurant. Serving over 120 choices, including sushi, the place is a bit overwhelming...and I can speak the language. However, step up, order off the three large overhead billboards, and wait for your number to pop up. You'll get authentically spiced Korean food. You know, most urban asian restaurants don't lay on the spice that would appease the native taste bud. No such guile at this place. I had a proper food sweat going with the Dukbokee (rice cakes, fish cakes, sweet hot pepper paste sauce) while the ELV (future Mrs. ELV-N) had a spicy Yukgehjang (spicy broth with brisket and veg). Great food, and it was inexpensive.
Pizza: Iggie's, located in Mt. Vernon, is home to some great Neapolitan style pies. Try the Funghi pizza, with mushroom ragu, leeks, mozzarella and goat cheese...if you don't like it, then, well, sucks to be you with your defective tongue. It's BYOB, so bring some beers.
Pet Peev: Since the indoor smoking ban on restaurants and bars, all the smokers have now moved outside to get their fume on. This makes it dangerous walking on a sidewalk because a> you've got angry smokers staring you down and b> you've got clouds of smoke coming from the displaced masses. I love walking into a restaurant and not having it completed choked with smoke...I just hate the smokers outside. Many peevs about it. If the door's open, you get the whiff. If you're sitting outside, trying to enjoy the air, forget about it, because someone, most likely a dour looking woman firing up a Salem 100, then spending most of the time just wafting it around while you're at a different table, trying not to remember how wonderful it was to smoke. It sucks, but can't change it...so I'll just complain about. Done.
Quick Hits:
- Worst Beer I've Had In a Long Time: the wheat beers on tap at the Owl Bar, in the Belvedere. Amazingly, I had three different wheat/summer ales, and all three came out barely cold and just nasty skunked. Awful, but I was thirsty.
- Best Place I Ate At this Calendar Year, Thus Far: Dukem, the Ethiopian joint on Maryland Ave. My goodness, it was spectacular. I mean, ridiculously good, right down to the coffee spiced with cardamon.
- Best Pho: the former Ms Pho in the Security Mall up on Security Bvld. It's part of the Seoul Plaza failure, and I'm afraid that business at the location is going to force them to close. Seriously, it is never busy. They make a honest, solid pho and wonderful summer rolls. Sure, we've got Saigon Remembered for variety in rolls, but the Security Blvd place has a great summer roll AND some kick ass pho. I get the number one, large. Get it.
- Worst Place I Ate At This Year: It has to be Zen West near the Senator Theatre. I love everything about Cafe Zen. Their take on tex-mex, though, is forgetable and, possibly, sinful. Not sinful like that chocolate cake is decadent, but sinful like the "chefs" ought to be in sack cloth, gnashing their teeth for such unimaginative, derivative, flavorless food. Their chili does not have enough spice. We tried their margaritas (ehhh, a C for "Chili's). We tried their pork (dry, heat lamped, brittle pieces of flesh that had the consistency of stringy sawdust) and something else completely unmemorable (though I distinctly remember it being left half picked at). We paid the same amount of money that you could spend getting twice as much food at Cafe Zen and really regretted the choice. Yet, there were tons of preppy families and business attired schmucks crowded around the bar and at the booths, getting their bland fajitas. I just don't get it. Why eat there when Cafe Zen is half filled? With Egyptian Pizza, Belvedere Square markets, Saigon Remembered, and even the Swallow at the Hollow within crawling distance?!!
- Best Restaurant I Thought I Would Hate: The Yabba Pot. Everything about the Yabba Pot screams hippy. It's called the freakin' Yabba Pot. It's a poetry filled, vegan friendly, hemp clothed, world music spouting, beret encouraged joint that is all about slow food, organic food, vegetarian food. Yet, when you try their Chick-Un BBQ, their seaweed salad, or their plain and simple brown rice, you smile a little yourselves. I found myself tolerating spoken word poems and people extolling the virtues of animal liberation. I didn't mind the fact that Ian from High Fidelity could have walked in and I might have hugged him. It's good food.
Thanks, military people, for your continual sacrifices. Screw the politicians and their ridiculous hyperbole. Come home safe.
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