Best of lists

It couldn't be the end without a best of/worst of list. And, as we reflect on the journey, here are some of the things that stand out:

Favorite outings:

Mr. Bills

Yes, our waitress was great but that’s not the only reason that we loved this outing. (though we did love that she fixed her hair before the photo) And, a local (thank you Eric) confirmed that this is the place for hard shells. Perhaps it started with having to show up two hours early and “having” to order pitchers of beer to pass the time, but we don’t think that’s it either. It wasn’t the gravy fries, cheese balls, crab fluff (ok - true disclosure - we didn’t order that). It was the company! Thank you Heather, Sara, Donya & Julie! (And our unnamed waitress, apparently Mr. Bill’s main squeeze!)

Lexington Market

Two outings. Very different. But both too fun! Big gang for the first one (see posting for list). Sporting our BSSC finery, we ran around the market (only Heather really knew where we were at any given time) gathering goodies. Too much good food. And buried treasure such as Naron candy. A blast from the past! Second trip. Smaller. Bringing in outside food (thank you Trinacria!). Tim and Heather munching on chicken livers. Not that horrible, according to Heather. Tim preferred the gizzards. A true team effort to try it all. (This chicken in the box better than Tyrone’s)

Hampden

Well, this was our lesson in learning to call to make sure places were open! On our first outing, diehards may remember that nothing was open from 3-5. Amazing that we still crossed off numerous random items (and added one to the satellite list - we love you Wine Source!). Second trip seeing the lights and having a great meal at Rocket to Venus was inspired (Brilliant idea, Sara!).

Clipper City (AKA Heavy Seas)

Donya. Squeaking. Tasty beer. Enough said. (Also the first time we met Joey - welcome to the group!) Also, to add to the satellite list – Heavy Seas beer at the Fells Point Festival.

Outdoor Movies (or lack thereof)

New Moon in Fells. Possibly the best of all worlds when we had an amazing meal (thanks to Donya, Julie and furthest traveled foodie Valentina) and then the movie was rained out! But, the food was delicious and we ate it all (couldn’t finish the smith island cake but I’ll bet no one expected us to). Movie in Little Italy. Couldn’t stomach that movie so finished the food and left! Definitely scheduling a return trip next year (and we’ll arrive early to get some lawn chair space).

H Mart.

Thanks to Tim for introducing us to his favorite grocery store. Only regret is no whole fish. Guess we need a return trip! We followed this up with a trip for Pho (not on the list). And, when will Tim open Pearl Jam - oyster farm/restaurant/brewery/jewelry store/crushed shell repository)? Tim, Tom, Steph, Sara & Heather had a fascinating conversation.

Tour of Samos

Our first big event and still near and dear in our hearts. So many have wanted to try Samos and we certainly did the “tour” right! BYOB, no reservations and cash only.

Prime Rib

Our largest outing outside of the parties. Potato skins were a huge surprise. The fun evening was not. The bright pink meat (closer to red!) selected by Mo and Tim (across & next to Heather) was also not a surprise! Think there were some doggie bags taken home.

Picnic

Belongs in the better late than never category, although, in hindsight, fall is the best time to hit Ft McHenry. Think most people were hung over post Halloween, but Sara, Kent, Kate, Jeff, Tim and Heather managed. (And ate well thanks to Heather’s great shopping at Whole Foods.)

Eichenkrantz

When you are the only ones in the restaurant, it always helps to have a chatty waitress. And, when it’s your first time there, it helps to learn the ropes (especially when both the waitress and owner don’t like German food). Maybe the last time we are there too but it was interesting, and the Christmas tree and music were a nice touch. (The food mediocre, the beer tasty – as one would expect.)

Opening party

Eight items. Great way to kick off the list. Single highest night of items consumed. (Not calories consumed - that honor goes to the night that we solely had Vacarros all you can eat, it was all we could eat, in spite of just getting one dessert apiece).

Holiday party

It was a race to get everything, but we made it work (and no snowstorm this year). Great turnout and great beverages. Oh and foodie stuff, quite an eclectic mix of leftovers – assorted ham (and veggie ham) items, biscuits, chicken salad and Mary Sue Easter Eggs (yes, purchased in December). Perfect mix to go with the eclectic white elephant gifts!

Cinghale, cinghale, cinghale...

Glasses of wine consumed: 23 (and counting?)

Times told Tony wasn’t there: 6

Others who joined in quest to find Tony: 8

Times that we humored Clark: 2

Overly expensive checks: 1+

Glasses of overpriced port: 3

Free items received: 1

Getting to meet Tony Foreman: Priceless

Charleston:

Perfect way to celebrate the end to any challenge.

Outdated

Blue Agave chocolate chile bread pudding - where did you go?

Rob formerly of Cinghale - deserted us to Chicago

Naron candy - not really even sold anymore. Why are you on the list?

Only in because we’re in Maryland:

Natty Boh (award for cheapest item on the list!)

Marshmallow & snowball (who thought of this combo? How? and most importantly, why?)

Chicken box (is it really worthy of two spots on the list?) (no)

Shrimp salad (so Maryland. Mary Mervis - so delicious)

Flower mart (still question the crabcake here, but the lemon, peppermint? Yum)

Bull oyster roast (Now we know what it is - and it doesn’t even need a bull or an oyster!)

Pit beef without a door (thank you Mo)

Old bay (it’s everywhere you want to be)

Too hard/obscure

a-rab for fruits and veggies (why are you so hard to find when we are looking for you and why did we wait so long?)

Murky middle (not the top; not the bottom; maybe belong on the list; but not really worth talking about)

Bertha’s mussels

2 chicken boxes

Corned beef Attmans

Black eyed susan at preakness

Pit beef from Boogs (really a ploy to get people to go to an O’s game)

Shoes & chocolate together

Sausages (do we need 3 on the list?)

Peach cake

Wockenfuss - both

Liquid earth

Charcuterie

Vacarros

Donna’s roasted veggies

Da mimmo

Bookmaker salad

bagel - gregs

tamales

coddies

attmans

gravy fries

grauls

otterbeins

pastores

wine market

BES cupcake

MS easter eggs

eichenkrantz

We don't really need a list for...

Ok, we don't really need a list to tell us what to do, but if we did, these would be on it.

These are things many of us had done prior, but the return visit is always a pleasure! Needless to say, we agree with these and they are keepers.

1. Resurrection Ale and garlic fries at Brewers Art
2. Mac and Cheese and Chocolate at Jack's Bistro
3. JFX Farmers Market
4. Pumpkin appetizer at the Helmand
5. Iggies and Joe Squared
6. Pitango Gelato (try the espresso/chocolate noir combo - it's our favorite!)
7. Rocket to Venus and Golden West
8. Woodberry Kitchen (though really - deviled eggs & popcorn - so much is better there!)
9. Mozzarella pie at Matthew's
10. Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding at Ale Marys
11. Tour of Samos
12. Sofis crepes and a movie at the Charles
13. Oysters and beer at Cross Street Market (see - we do go to Federal Hill)
14. Zeke's coffee
15. Margarita in a hubcap at Nacho Mamas
16. Sip n Bite
17. Bloody Mary with an old bay rimmer (enjoyed many times this past year!)
18. Dinner at Salt

See you at all of these places in 2011 and beyond!

Foodie Rankings

Some of our favorites and not so favorites. Every time we talked to someone new about the list they always wanted to know our favorites. We've decided to create several lists. It was the best of food, it was the worst of food.

10 Most Surprising (in a good way) - in no particular order

1. Mr. Bills Terrace Inn (no terrace, in fact no windows, but darn good crabs)
2. Red Canoe (who knew?!)
3. Sushi in Towson (insulting to have to leave the city but necessary)
4. Andy Nelson's (funny that a BBQ place made the top for two non-meat eaters)
5. Brunch at the Ambassador (definitely sit outside and have mangosas to wash down Indian and an omelet station!)
6. Cafe Zen string bean rolls (huge roll, huge surprise, look up the photo!)
7. Dominion Ice Cream (veggie ice cream) (the best way to eat veggies - spinach, beet, carrot anyone?)
8. Trinacria! (amazing Italian deli - even away from Little Italy)
9. Sandwich at Eddie's (check out the sandwich board!)
10. Dog with the works at Polock Johnny's (wasn't expecting that, great on turkey dogs)

Top 10 Favorites (in no particular order, too hard to compare), this one had to go to Eleven

1. Rheb's buttercreams (best of candy on the list, by far, thank you Christina!)
2. Smith Island cake from Sugarbakers (you must see the photo!)
3. Trinacria (yes, on both lists)
4. Charleston ('nuff said)
5. Ma Petite Shoe (really, how could shoes & chocolate not make the list)
6. Faidley's crab cake (the original, the best, the only - apologies to G&M)
7. Tour of Samos (great food, great group, and BYOB)
8. Berger cookies & Berger cookie pie! (decadent and worth the calories, a MD treasure)
9. Chiaparelli's salad! (the best salad, it's all about the cheese)
10. Tio Pepe Sangria! (way better than the food)
11. DiPasquales (yum, worth trying all kinds of things there)

The WTF list (aka what were they thinking)

1. Soft shell crabs on white bread (shudder, shudder, shudder)
2. Fried green pepper rings at Gunnings (shudder, shudder, shudder)
3. Fried chicken livers at Lexington Market (although better than gizzards)
4. MD stuffed ham (Sara's version was ok)
5. Turkey & sauerkraut (veggie turkey didn't quite cut it, Sara still has a gallon of sauerkraut in her fridge!)
6. MD beaten biscuits (labor intensive for Julie, we appreciated the effort and elbow grease)
7. Raw beef & onion (the tuna tartare substitute wasn't bad)
8. Lake trout & grape soda (looked better on TV in The Wire)
9. Late night dinner at Bel Loc Diner (it closes at 10pm!)
10. Fruits & veggies from an a-rab (too hard to find when you're looking for him!)

THE List

With all the posts and the items, we've never presented the full list. So, here's the list as originally published in the Baltimore Sun, which we saw posted in many establishments along the way!

We'll post a readable one (sortable) soon.

(this one was from either Smokey's or Gunnings)

Last one!

December 9

#88 - have an ice cream with vegetables at Dominion Ice Cream

Of course we have to end with something sweet - and this is a great one. Sara and Heather headed to the Hopkins area to check out this store and met owner Donna who could not have been nicer - and wanted to hear all about our foodie challenge! We sampled many of the delicious ice creams (no garlic in stock - and seemed to bring out their fall vegetable flavors - sweet potato, butternut squash) We settled on the spinach and butternut squash - we needed a lot to serve at the holiday party!

As promised, we served it at the holiday party where we had many adventurous souls willing to try the delicious ice cream. We probably shouldn't have told them it was veggies before they tried it, but we did. And, everyone loved it! Great way to eat our veggies!!

Missed items - lost count of which number!

December 8

#39 - try the charcuterie at Clementine

Sara, Heather, Tim and Kent headed to Lauraville (past our new favorite Red Canoe) to dine at Clementine. What a cute place - only wish it was a little closer as we all agreed that we would definitely go more often. We tried the seafood charcuterie. Kind of a disappointment but the rest of the food (and the cocktails) were really great! This should absolutely be on the list - just maybe not for the charcuterie. We'd suggest for the fun cocktails (though that also suggests that we may choose to put more drinks than food on the list!)

I feel like there were more fun stories from this night - help me out folks?

Missed items - part three

December 4

#51 - Dipasquales in Highlandtown

After (ok, during) a very fun afternoon of baking cookies at Cathy's, we needed a break for some real food (while chocolate martinis, other fun drinks, and, of course cookies are wonderful - we needed some other, more substantive food too!) What better opportunity than to venture over to Dipasquales for an Italian sub (and veggie for those who didn't want the Italian). It is such a cute market and I can't believe that it took me so long to get there! They were just closing so there was no real time to look around - we just picked up the sandwiches and headed back to Cathy's. But the subs were as good as everyone says they are. Even the veggie was flavorful (no green peppers here!) and of course, the Italian sub was supposedly incredible.

Because we couldn't rely solely on the subs, we decided to get #62 - a few mozzarella pies from Matthews pizza. For those of you keeping track, this is the third time this year we've done this one. Its just so good, we couldn't resist! I think we also threw in a meat pie too for those who wanted a little something extra.

The food helped bring us down from our sugar high, but the fun continued way into the night - particularly when Ryan played his first pool game ever with partner Cathy. They proved to be a winning team!

Missed items - part two

November 17

#44 - "Veal chop" at DaMimmos

You'd think when you are only able to do two foodie outings in a whole month, we may have been able to write about this one in a more timely manner, but alas no. We could blame the ten days in Barcelona, but we won't. (amazing foodie adventures there by the way, but that's a story for another blog). We could also blame the holiday season, but won't because they were relaxing and fun. Anyway, let's make a long story, short (too late!)

We ventured to the bar at DaMimmos. Only Heather and Sara were available for this outing but we went anyway. And, we knew we had to substitute something for the veal. We told the bartender about our foodie quest and she thought a substitution was fine (of course!) She said we had to substitute with the sea bass as it was spectacular and worthy of a top 100 foodie item in Baltimore. We thought it was good. Maybe worthy. The pumpkin martini was our favorite part of the meal though! That was truly yummy.

Always fun to sit at a bar and eat and the DaMimmos bar was excellent. Worth the trip for sure!

Missed items - part one

Well, as odd as it feels to post events after we finished the challenge, we have just realized that there are 7 that were not written up. And, they really shouldn't be forgotten. So this is the first of a couple of posts about other fun times along the way...

October 31

#12 - Breakfast at Blue Moon Cafe

After a very fun halloween where all of us dressed up like it was St. Patrick's Day (happy birthday again Heather!), six of us made it until the end of the night wanting a late night breakfast at Blue Moon. Unlike the late night at the Bel Loc (still can't believe it could be called late night when they close at 10!), this was true late night style. Fantastic meal (omlettes and scrambles all around). Wish it was more memorable (but it was very yummy and one of the favorite items on the list). Breakfast is never disappointing here - especially after a fun night in fells! Several newcomers joined this group - now remind me who was there again? Sorry - did I mention it was two months ago and memory is not necessarily my strong point!

#80 - picnic at Ft. McHenry

Yes, it took us until October to finally make it to Ft. McHenry. And, we decided to take advantage of what could be the last nice day to eat outside (in retrospect, an excellent choice! While it wasn't exactly the last nice day, it was probably the best of the rest of the year). Kent, Kate, Tim and new Jeff joined Sara and Heather on the picnic tables on the grounds to eat loads of Whole Foods' finest (thanks to Heather for picking it up!) It was a quick lunch - after all, it is a football day and what better place to go for the game than No Idea? Very convenient to the park. We will have to do this one again next year - and hopefully others will join (and earlier). Always interesting to have a picnic in jackets! :) This goes in the better late than never category and just whet our appetite for more picnics next year!

#35 - Have a special occasion dinner at the Charleston

December 29

What could be a better occasion than the conclusion of the 100 things every foodie should do in Baltimore than dinner at the Charleston? Thank you to Mo, Donya and Gautam for joining us for this supper special dinner!

Our evening began with a wonderful greeting from the staff who knew exactly why we were there and seemed excited to see us! (at least they asked all the right questions and made us feel really good about completing the challenge here!) They even knew of our visit with Tony Foreman the week before (see last week's blog for more info on one of our funnier stops along the way- #42)

We sat at the table and were very well taken care of by Brian who we later discovered was the assistant sommelier. He was very familiar with the list and asked one of the more insightful questions - did we get to talk to Rob about wine before he left town (#54 on the list). We hadn't - substituted Tim instead. He graciously offered that he might be able to get him on the phone for us which Sara immediately said, we'd love that! (he never did, but it was still a fantastic offer)

I guess we really should talk about the food here. And, as expected, it was a phenomenal meal. We did kick it off with a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, because we were celebrating (and it must be champagne, Tony only serves champagne, no cava or prosecco). It was so good that maybe he is right about cava, but we are really not ready to admit that yet. Sara chose to follow the list verbatim and let Cindy Wolf choose what she thought was best that night (don't think she was actually in the restaurant but you never know). And, that didn't disappoint. My first course was tuna tartare which was good but the real star of the meal was a lobster curry soup that came second. Too yummy. This was followed by turbot (which was fantastic because I really thought I didn't like turbot but would apprarently like anything that the Charleston cooks!). The fourth course was salmon - cooked perfectly. Heather ordered perfectly - started with an incredible artichoke reggiano soup with arugula oil drizzled on top, followed by the aforementioned tuna tartare then the stunning chanterelle mushroom atop a grit/polenta cake with goat cheese puree (this description is not doing it justice, it was the most amazing combination of flavors, textures - perfect) it out shone the salmon which was the last course. We all did the wine pairing which was an adventure in glassware!

The glass really does make a difference. Brian brought out a glass of pinot noir in two different glasses. They do all really talk to each other, this was because of a conversation we had last week at Cinghiale. Apparently there was much discussion on which type of glass to serve our barbera d'alba. Brian proved that the glass can make the wine taste differently - it even smells different in different glasses!

We ended the meal with after dinner cocktails that were phenomenal. You really can tell the difference with a top end, old port (thank you Mo for giving us a small sip of heaven! - and Gautam's was excellent too). Definitely worth the splurge.

All in all a perfect way to end the perfect challenge (eh - maybe not perfect i.e. the softshell crab on white bread & fried green pepper rings)! But definitely an amazing year with fabulous food, drinks and friends! Thanks for the journey and many, many lasting memories. Bon appetit and cheers!

#34 - Check out the "hipsters" in Hampden at either Rocket to Venus or Golden West

December 28

Our last two big nights and it's both exciting to be reaching the end - and also a little sad. But, what's to be sad about when you have a block like 34th street in Hampden with more lights than any lighting store. None of us had experienced the true power of it while living in Baltimore (Heather was there once before she moved here - and came anyway!) so it was something that we wanted to do - and got something off the list at the same time. The big goal was to try both Rocket to Venus and Golden West but we had so much fun at Rocket to Venus that we never left!

Donya, Tim, Sara and Heather were joined by Jeff and Erica and had some really good gnocchi, singapore noodles (a little spicy) and veggie wimpies (ok, sliders). Jeff was super excited about his wasabi mashed potatoes. Tasty cocktails, too.

On a side note, we did try Hampden much earlier, in July. However, we discovered that Rocket to Venus doesn't open until 5pm and Golden West which does serve breakfast, closes from 3 - 5pm. So, another trip was required and that's when Sara had the brilliant idea to "reschedule" #34 for the holiday season. Bright lights in Hampden!

(We did end up at Frazier's on the Avenue and were able to salvage the day with #95 bloody marys with old bay rimmers. And, the highlight #20 - shoes & chocolate at Ma Petite Shoe. Even the boys enjoyed the chocolate. No one walked out with new shoes. But, we were so hungry that we ate our chocolate as we were waiting for our meals. Kent, Gautam, Jim from Pittsburgh and Mo enjoyed the bacon chocolate while Sara, Heather, Julie and Kate preferred the spicy chili chocolate and salted caramel. Yum - who knew you could even have salt & black pepper chocolate.)