Baltimore's Food Scene Overrated? (Cumberland, California: appointed, rent, buy)

[Vision6800]

I like Baltimore.

But do we really have an exciting food scene here? There is a ridiculous amount of restaurants/bars. Good food is available. But do we have a great food scene filled with chefs producing innovative or world class offerings? Maybe a few spots but in general it's a lot of average/decent food and we can't hold a candle to NYC, SF; or even smaller cities like Austin, Minneapolis...

What say you?

[MDAllstar]

Top 10 Restaurant Cities in USA:
01. New York City
02. Chicago
03. San Francisco
04. New Orleans
05. Los Angeles
06. Las Vegas
07. Houston
08. Washington DC
09. Boston
10. Seattle


Best Restaurant Cities - The Best Restaurant Cities in America 2010 - Esquire

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

We have the best affordable food scene in the country, in my opinion.

[jonjj]

Just curious. Who said it was overrated?

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by jonjj

Just curious. Who said it was overrated?

I think the OP did, in a very trollish way.

Anyway, on the topic of food scene, I highly recommend Chef Mac's on Harford Rd near the intersection of Moravia/Cold Spring Ln. He's just moved from the main strip of Lauraville to this much bigger space, which has a stage and bar (but BYOB, liquor store adjacent) and live blues on the weekends.

My fiance' and I had a delicious cajun dinner for $30 last night - which included an appetizer, salads for each of us, and massive helpings of crawfish etoufee and red beans and rice with andouille sausage. Because we had to wait a while (there were two big parties going on) Chef Mac came out and gave us a big platter of melt-in-your-mouth fried shrimp.

I can't imagine getting a deal like that for such remarkable food in any of the "top" dining cities on that list.

Reason #456 to love Baltimore.

Edit to add that the only other place I've found good cajun food in Maryland is a little place in downtown Cumberland called the Baltimore St Grill.

Maybe we should get a Baltimore favorite restaurants sticky going? Check out the Albuquerque forum, they've got a good one. I think it could be a valuable asset to the forum.

[westsideboy]

I have learned over the years not to order seafood outside of our fair state. You can't do better than steamed blue crabs, oyster stew (or raw with a little lemon and cocktail sauce) or a whole grilled rockfish (head on, of course.) The OB of North Carolina is only exception I ever found to this rule.

Does this qualify Baltimore as a top flight food destination? That is debateable, but if creatures from the sea are your favorite eats, there is no better place.

[jonjj]

Here's a recommendation:
I am very picky about corn chips. I rarely buy the bags offered at the store and often just make them myself. However, there is a place "Tortilleria Sinaloa" on Eastern near Broadway who makes their own corn chips and sells them fresh in the bag at their restaurant. Anyone who loves a good corn chip should go there and buy a bag. You won't be disappointed.

Also, their tamales are near the best I've had in Baltimore. But, ask if they were made that day. If so, you won't be disappointed in that either.

I know corn chips isn't exactly the "fine dining" offer but I had to get that written because I have been so impressed with them.

[jonjj]

While I'm at it, "La Sirenita" in Highlandtown on Eastern Avenue has wooed me over for Mexican food. I have had pretty good meals there since they have opened. So, if you like decent Mexican food, give it a try.

For a good corned beef sandwich, I still go to Lenny's and the other places on Corn-Beef Row. If anyone knows of a better place for that type of thing, please pass it on. The first thing I do when I hit NYC is look for the delis.

[barante]

jonjj -- One of the most remarkable changes over the past two decades has been the near-disappearance of Jewish dellies. They used to be all over the central business district. Now there are still some in the various northwestern areas of the city, starting with Miller's at Greenspring Shopping Center and continuing from there. And Lenny's on Lombard Street, although I am quite sure that its days are numbered and the Jewish Museum of Maryland will expand to the site.
I first visited Jack's, as the place was called then after its proprietor, an Israeli named Jack Goldensohn, about one day after I began working in Baltimore. This was in 1969, the year after the riots. Even Jack's was close to the epicenter of riots, a year later it was still open until 11 p.m. Its tourist attraction was a machine gun on the delli counter which Jack had toted on the roof in efforts to repel a surging mob from torching his corn beef emporium.
Over several years, I got to know Jack a bit. He was a risk-taker who had a stock ticker in his store. He also kept a hell of a lot of cash in the place. How do I know this? Because Jack would cash my paychecks (without charging a fee) and I would see him in his chaotic office where dollar bills were literally stuffed into desk drawers.
In those days, you could see nearly everybody at Jack's, including out-of-town tour buses. Today's Lenny's (apparently named after a relative of Jack's, who moved to Arizona and died there) is a pale copy.
I remember going to Jack's with a leading landlord, who always wanted a Rumanian pastramani sandwich from the celly, rather than from the corned beef line. "That unfortunate man," he said of the butcher behind the counter. "Why unfortunate?" I asked. My friend answered, " He has numbers on his arm" -- a Nazi concentration camp survivor.

[rudy_d]

Originally Posted by barante

And Lenny's on Lombard Street, although I am quite sure that its days are numbered and the Jewish Museum of Maryland will expand to the site.

Barante, I read a while back that Lenny's Deli planned to open a shop at the Pratt St. Inner Harbor pavilion sometime soon in the space where California Pizza Kitchen once was. Do you know anything about it? I think it could be really successful with the downtown lunch crowd if the rent doesn't drive up prices. Maybe testing the waters to change locations?