Restaurant 2
Cinghiale
822 Lancaster Street
Baltimore, MD
As previously mentioned, the premise of this journey is simple. Go to a restaurant, ask the chef which dish best encompasses him or her as a chef, order that dish and find out where they go to get a good meal. The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Sometimes, however, they make for an interesting story...
So when we last left our hero, he was leaving Peter's Inn with the suggestion to visit Cinghiale in the Harbor East section of Charm City. Simple enough. Time to make the reservation.
A quick check on the Chinghiale website enlightened me to two things; one, that I would more than likely need to make a reservation and two, I was getting into fancier territory. Cinghiale is a restaurant operated by the Foreman Wolf group. They operate Charleston, Petit Louis, and Pazo restaurants as well as Bin 201 and Bin 604 Wine Sellers. They seem to know what they are doing when it comes to food and wine in the city. Me? Not a clue.
For some reason, the distant sounding of alarm bells was going off in the back of my head when reading about this restaurant company and reading the staff bios. The term "over your head" started working its way out of my brain pan, but I am not here to be cautious. I'm here to see how far this fiery comet will take me.
Back to the reservation...
I called Cinghiale to make a reservation just to make sure that I could get a seat on the day that I wanted. I also wanted to make sure that the chef would be at the restaurant when I was there so that I could ask my questions. When I asked if the chef would be in and if he could swing by the table before dinner so that I could ask him a couple of questions, I was put on hold while the host checked. She came back and informed me that yes, chef Julian would be there and that he would be able to visit our table. Then I was asked if this was for an article. I informed her that it was for a possible freelance piece. I had to think fast and this was the vaguest somewhat accurate bullshit that I could think of. Possible freelance piece? Sure, I guess. If I turn this into a big compilation, maybe I could turn it into a story for the Baltimore City Paper or a weekly of some kind. People need to know where to eat and everyone likes to observe a fool's folly.
So I filed away the reservation part of the story and though nothing of it. Until...
I get a telephone call the day of the reservation from Allison Parker-Abromitis, Vice President of Development & Communication for Foreman Wolf. She introduced herself and said that she understood that I was doing a piece on Cinghiale. She then offered to get me any bio information, photos of the restaurant and pretty much anything else that she could to assist me in my story. She said that the chef and staff was eagerly awaiting my arrival and she also let me know that the food was sensational and that I was going to have a great experience. She was friendly, sincere and I'm sure that she would have been a great help if I knew exactly what I was doing.
Remember those little alarm bells? Someone just started hitting them with a hammer.
Cut to the restaurant. Cinghiale is a beautiful restaurant, across the street from the harbor. It has a long bar. It is tall and open and as soon as you walk through the door, you know that you are in for a serious night of dining. The restaurant is split into 2 restaurants, an Enoteca - wine bar, and an Osteria - dining room. The wine bar is more casual and the dining room is more upscale.
My dining guest and I arrived at the restaurant and when I mentioned my name to the host the whole place seemed to really snap to. We were whisked to our corner table and there was a flurry of servers and staff to make sure that any needs that we would have would be addressed. We had the same server throughout the night and although I cannot remember his name, I assure you that he was top notch. A perfect guide for the evening's activities and completely professional.
A few minutes after we were seated, chef Julian Marucci stopped by our table. He was younger than I thought he would be for the executive chef of this scale of restaurant. As I have been finding out, most chefs are a little confused about being questioned before a patron's meal. I explained as best I could the premise of my journey and he seemed to get it. I asked him which dish on the menu had the most of him in it. He explained that most chefs have some of himself or herself in the dishes and that it was hard to pick just one. He then settled on a pasta dish that he seemed the most proud of - Pasta del Ovo (we'll get to that in just a minute.)
When the topic of which restaurant he would choose to go out to to get a good dish came up, he mentioned that he was a new father and that he and his wife had very little time for nights out. When he did, however, he said that he liked to go to Pazo. He apologized for picking a restaurant in his own business' chain, but he said that if he was being honest, that was the place that he really liked to go to. So be it.
Chef Julian then asked what it was going to be for the night. Of course, I said, I would be having the pasta. He then came up with a brilliant suggestion - a three course meal. One dish off of the house menu, one off of the then recent Valentines Day menu, and one dish that they would make up in the kitchen just for us. "How does that sound?" How does that sound?!? That sounds awesome! "Would you like the wine pairings, too" Absolutely!
Our server then came out with what looked like a sushi menu, but it turned out to be a wine card with three wines numbered and circled indicating which wines we would be receiving with each course.
My first course was a simple salad with candied walnuts, feta and a balsamic vinaigrette that was simple in its preparation but fantastic in flavor. My dining partner had fried calamari, also simply prepared with rosemary, olive oil and chili flake. It was also very good and the wines matched up perfectly.
Throughout the course, in addition to our server, a couple of different staff members checked in to see how things were going. Meanwhile, I'm trying to write what I'm eating in my notebook and hold down polite conversation.
The second course was the slam dunk. The pasta dish was ravioli filled with a spinach ricotta mousse and a partially cooked egg. The ravioli was served in a truffle butter sauce with sliced truffles on top. When you cut into the ravioli, the egg spilled out and blended into the sauce. It was as delicious and as decadent as it sounds. It was the type of dish that you savor very slowly and are extremely reluctant to share. But share we did. My dining partner had a tossed pasta dish with huge Japanese prawns. A little heat and plenty of flavor. Delightful.
More people checking in and spectacularly matched wines. So far, they're batting 1.000.
On to the final course. My dish was a magret of duck with parsnip puree and preserved cherries. I haven't have a lot of well prepared duck dishes in my life but this was wonderful. The texture of the duck was exactly like steak in my mouth. It had great flavor. Not the best dish of the three, but a close second. The dining partner had Tasmanian sea trout. What is a Tasmanian sea trout, you say? Heck if I know! Looked like salmon, tasted like salmon. It had an extremely flavorful and crusted skin and the meat was perfect.
The wine pairings again, were wonderful and this time, one of the people who came to check in on us was the owner, Tony Wolf himself. He didn't introduce himself. He just came over to ask if everything was alright. At that point someone had torn the alarm bells in my head off of their mounts and was now throwing them down metal stairs. I actually turned to my dining companion and said "If they catch on to the fact that we're not legit, they're going to run us out of here on a rail!" We laughed and I was assured that technically, I was doing a freelance piece and I was and still am kind of legit.
Desserts? How about a panna cotta and three fantastic gelatos? Add to that sparkling wine and port and you have a great ending to a night filled with fantastic food, world class service, some of the best wine ever to touch these lips.
Cinghiale is pricey, no doubt about it but the whole experience is worth every penny. I cannot stress that enough. A perfect special occasion restaurant. It is a perfect example of what I had in mind when I came up with this foolishness.
Next up: Pazo
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Well, you have to start somewhere...
Restaurant 1
Peter's Inn
504 South Ann Street
Baltimore, Maryland
So what would the basis be for picking the first restaurant on my list? Quite simple, really. While hanging out with my upstairs neighbors Jenn and Carlos, Jenn professed to be hungry. That's how it starts; "I'm hungry. Let's eat." She recommended that we all go out together. Her first pick is Peter's Inn in Fell's Point, a place that she and Carlos really like. It is all the way across town, and being hungry and lazy, Carlos and I are pushed for the closer Woodberry Kitchen. I have heard nothing but good things about Woodberry and to be honest, I have been looking forward to trying it out. Where better, I think, to start this journey?
Woodberry Kitchen, from day one has been extremely popular. Located in the revitalized Clipper Mill area of Baltimore, it is a farm to table restaurant with incredible food, or so I am told. Unfortunately, they were completely packed even before official dinner time, so that left Peter's as the go-to place for the night.
We arrived at Peter's about an hour before the kitchen opened but they had no problem with that because the bar was ready. We were seated at a table right next to the bathroom. Oh, yeah, that's right, the bathroom. We must have exuded class, so they put us in a place befitting our stature.
A brief word on the bathroom at Peter's inn...it has a lot of cool art on the wall and a nice collection of items to keep you looking and smelling fresh. It's a little odd in there but they have a cool piece on the wall depicting the mug shots of Frank Sinatra and Sid Vicious with the words I did it my way below. If that piece ever goes missing, it might be at my house. I'm just saying.
The waiter that we had was a friendly enough and he knew to point us in the right direction when it came to drinks. I asked to see the chef when he or she had a chance. Jenn said that the she heard that the chef at Peter's was rumored to have an issue with her drinking but that she was a really good chef. Sure enough, the waiter walked over to get the chef who was standing at the bar with a drink in her hand holding court with a couple of other patrons.
The chef's name was Karin Tiffany and she could not have been nicer. I explained what we were up to and when I asked which dish best exemplified her as a chef, she seemed on the fence with most of the dishes, as her menu changes constantly depending what is in season. She did say that she liked tonight's shrimp and grits with two small pork belly sandwiches with mint alioli. Carlos picked the seared scallops with lobster ravioli and Jenn, I believe had the trout. I may be a little off on her selection because it was a while ago and she's not here to yell to when I'm writing this. I remember that it was good, though.
It was all pretty good. The scallops were the best of the three. The shrimp and grits were fantastic and cooked perfectly. I was excited for the pork belly sandwiches because I had never had pork belly before. The flavor was drowned out by the mint alioli. It basically tasted like a creamy mint sandwich. It was a good, creamy mint sandwich, but that's not the flavor that I was looking for as a standout.
We had a couple more drinks while chatting away and hadn't realized that the restaurant had completely filled up and that there were people waiting inside for seats. We asked for the bill and received it in a quick fashion. Dinner for the 3 of us totaled just around a hundred dollars plus our bar tab of around fifty, but when the check came, the number written on the back was just around a hundred.
This is a test of one's morals and let me assure you that Carlos is a lot more moral than I am. He saw that there was a clerical error and with the table's approval, he asked the waiter over and pointed out that the numbers added up incorrectly. This was a seasoned waiter. You could tell that by the way that he worked the room. However, he re-examined the check, turned it over and said that the check was correct.
We shrugged and paid the check, knowing that although we had been honest, we were getting away cheap. With a spring in our steps and songs in our hearts, we left Peter's Inn feeling full and happy.
As for the second question that I asked Chef Tiffany; where do you go to get an excellent dish, her answer was Cinghiale in Baltimore's Harbor East district. She loved to go there because she knew that whenever she went she could get a really good fish dish.
Did I know anything about this restaurant? Nope. Was I about to find out? Yep. Was it going to be a funny story? Absolutely...
Peter's Inn
504 South Ann Street
Baltimore, Maryland
So what would the basis be for picking the first restaurant on my list? Quite simple, really. While hanging out with my upstairs neighbors Jenn and Carlos, Jenn professed to be hungry. That's how it starts; "I'm hungry. Let's eat." She recommended that we all go out together. Her first pick is Peter's Inn in Fell's Point, a place that she and Carlos really like. It is all the way across town, and being hungry and lazy, Carlos and I are pushed for the closer Woodberry Kitchen. I have heard nothing but good things about Woodberry and to be honest, I have been looking forward to trying it out. Where better, I think, to start this journey?
Woodberry Kitchen, from day one has been extremely popular. Located in the revitalized Clipper Mill area of Baltimore, it is a farm to table restaurant with incredible food, or so I am told. Unfortunately, they were completely packed even before official dinner time, so that left Peter's as the go-to place for the night.
We arrived at Peter's about an hour before the kitchen opened but they had no problem with that because the bar was ready. We were seated at a table right next to the bathroom. Oh, yeah, that's right, the bathroom. We must have exuded class, so they put us in a place befitting our stature.
A brief word on the bathroom at Peter's inn...it has a lot of cool art on the wall and a nice collection of items to keep you looking and smelling fresh. It's a little odd in there but they have a cool piece on the wall depicting the mug shots of Frank Sinatra and Sid Vicious with the words I did it my way below. If that piece ever goes missing, it might be at my house. I'm just saying.
The waiter that we had was a friendly enough and he knew to point us in the right direction when it came to drinks. I asked to see the chef when he or she had a chance. Jenn said that the she heard that the chef at Peter's was rumored to have an issue with her drinking but that she was a really good chef. Sure enough, the waiter walked over to get the chef who was standing at the bar with a drink in her hand holding court with a couple of other patrons.
The chef's name was Karin Tiffany and she could not have been nicer. I explained what we were up to and when I asked which dish best exemplified her as a chef, she seemed on the fence with most of the dishes, as her menu changes constantly depending what is in season. She did say that she liked tonight's shrimp and grits with two small pork belly sandwiches with mint alioli. Carlos picked the seared scallops with lobster ravioli and Jenn, I believe had the trout. I may be a little off on her selection because it was a while ago and she's not here to yell to when I'm writing this. I remember that it was good, though.
It was all pretty good. The scallops were the best of the three. The shrimp and grits were fantastic and cooked perfectly. I was excited for the pork belly sandwiches because I had never had pork belly before. The flavor was drowned out by the mint alioli. It basically tasted like a creamy mint sandwich. It was a good, creamy mint sandwich, but that's not the flavor that I was looking for as a standout.
We had a couple more drinks while chatting away and hadn't realized that the restaurant had completely filled up and that there were people waiting inside for seats. We asked for the bill and received it in a quick fashion. Dinner for the 3 of us totaled just around a hundred dollars plus our bar tab of around fifty, but when the check came, the number written on the back was just around a hundred.
This is a test of one's morals and let me assure you that Carlos is a lot more moral than I am. He saw that there was a clerical error and with the table's approval, he asked the waiter over and pointed out that the numbers added up incorrectly. This was a seasoned waiter. You could tell that by the way that he worked the room. However, he re-examined the check, turned it over and said that the check was correct.
We shrugged and paid the check, knowing that although we had been honest, we were getting away cheap. With a spring in our steps and songs in our hearts, we left Peter's Inn feeling full and happy.
As for the second question that I asked Chef Tiffany; where do you go to get an excellent dish, her answer was Cinghiale in Baltimore's Harbor East district. She loved to go there because she knew that whenever she went she could get a really good fish dish.
Did I know anything about this restaurant? Nope. Was I about to find out? Yep. Was it going to be a funny story? Absolutely...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
It has begun...
To give one an explanation and a reason for the journey that I have just started, it is good to take a quick step back in time. The reason for this trip? Simply to explain that a lot of fun can be gained from ideas that spring up from boredom...
When I first attended college at the University of Rhode Island in the late eighties I resided in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house. Those who know me now may be quite surprised to know this, but I have become older and hopefully wiser. Those were young and foolish days and that house was as fine a place to be young and foolish.
The house was technically on campus but it was as far away from anything on campus as you could get. It was far enough away so that when most of the guys in the house went home for the weekend, there wasn't much for the skeleton crew of die-hards to do.
One lazy Sunday (I had no cupcakes, cousin), I was sitting around bored watching television when inspiration struck. I thought to myself that I would love to go to the movies. Unfortunately I was flat broke. I thought to myself "who gets to go to the movies for free? Movie Critics!" So the next day, I walked into the main office of the University newspaper The Good Five Cent Cigar and asked if they had a movie critic. I was told that they didn't have one. When I asked if they wanted one, they said "Sure."
A few days later, I went to the local multiplex and explained to the manager who I was and what I wanted to do. He said that whenever I wanted to see a movie, all I had to do was call and I would have a pair of tickets waiting at the box office. I spent the next year taking my friends out to the movies and writing some of the worst reviews imaginable. I couldn't have been happier.
With that in mind, another journey begins...
The Playstation 3 is an outstanding device. Take away the mindless hours of video gaming that it can provide or the way that it plays whatever video files you throw at it via a thumb drive or even its spectacular Blu-Ray capabilities (the latter being my justification for the purchase after buying an HDTV). For this story, the PS3s skill in question is the ability to stream Netflix.
One lazy Sunday I was watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. It was the show's 100th episode and Tony was in Paris. He was hanging out with Joël Robuchon and Eric Ripert among others. If I am remembering correctly, they were discussing where they, chefs, people in the restaurant business, like to get something good to eat. Now this is interesting, As Joël Robuchon operates 12 restaurants with 26 Michelin stars between them and Eric Ripert is no slouch either. Where do these guys go to get something good? They have to know amazing places!
So this got me thinking...
I have lived here in Baltimore for about 4 years now. I am a lot like other people. I find restaurants that I like and I go to them. They usually have food I like, so I end up going back over and over again. The problem is that sometimes that can put you in a terrible rut. Here I am in Baltimore, home to AMAZING world class restaurants, but I have no idea what they are. It also has holes-in-the-wall where you can get food to die for cheap. I don't know where they are either. What I know is where I go. This is no way to eat!
I processed this particular episode and figured out a way to apply it to my dilemma. The premise for this food journey is simple: Ask 2 questions.
To start, I simply pick a restaurant. Upon arrival to the restaurant I ask for the chef to stop by the table. When he or she arrives, after introducing myself and explaining why I am there, I ask which dish on the menu most embodies the chef. Which dish has the most of his or her heart and soul in it. When someone asks which dish personifies him or her, THAT is the one dish. I then order that dish for dinner. For what is a better representation of the core of the restaurant than the dish that has been the most crafted by the chef?
The second question I ask is where he or she, as a chef and someone in the food trade, goes to get an amazing dish. The restaurant can be high-end, or a greasy spoon, just a place where he or she gets one dish that amazes them. That restaurant then becomes the next stop on the trip. And so it goes...
Who is going to know better than a chef. These are people who have spent years in the food business who work with the best ingredients on a daily basis and easily tell good from bad, food or otherwise. They go out to eat just like we do but they have the ability to judge where they go based on what they know as professionals. They can splurge their pay on elite fare and fine linens, or they can throw back drinks after work and head out to find the best late night nosh to fill that grease-seeking cavity that only a 12 hour shift can carve out. Either way, for this project, I am going to use their expertise to work for me; to bring me out of my food shell and show me the best dining experiences - world class through working class, that Baltimore has to offer.
...either that or they'll throw me out on my ass.
Well, that's the introduction. For the record, last night I visited my second restaurant, so I guess that makes this project official. I'll post my experience at restaurant #1 next. Stay tuned.
When I first attended college at the University of Rhode Island in the late eighties I resided in the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity house. Those who know me now may be quite surprised to know this, but I have become older and hopefully wiser. Those were young and foolish days and that house was as fine a place to be young and foolish.
The house was technically on campus but it was as far away from anything on campus as you could get. It was far enough away so that when most of the guys in the house went home for the weekend, there wasn't much for the skeleton crew of die-hards to do.
One lazy Sunday (I had no cupcakes, cousin), I was sitting around bored watching television when inspiration struck. I thought to myself that I would love to go to the movies. Unfortunately I was flat broke. I thought to myself "who gets to go to the movies for free? Movie Critics!" So the next day, I walked into the main office of the University newspaper The Good Five Cent Cigar and asked if they had a movie critic. I was told that they didn't have one. When I asked if they wanted one, they said "Sure."
A few days later, I went to the local multiplex and explained to the manager who I was and what I wanted to do. He said that whenever I wanted to see a movie, all I had to do was call and I would have a pair of tickets waiting at the box office. I spent the next year taking my friends out to the movies and writing some of the worst reviews imaginable. I couldn't have been happier.
With that in mind, another journey begins...
The Playstation 3 is an outstanding device. Take away the mindless hours of video gaming that it can provide or the way that it plays whatever video files you throw at it via a thumb drive or even its spectacular Blu-Ray capabilities (the latter being my justification for the purchase after buying an HDTV). For this story, the PS3s skill in question is the ability to stream Netflix.
One lazy Sunday I was watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. It was the show's 100th episode and Tony was in Paris. He was hanging out with Joël Robuchon and Eric Ripert among others. If I am remembering correctly, they were discussing where they, chefs, people in the restaurant business, like to get something good to eat. Now this is interesting, As Joël Robuchon operates 12 restaurants with 26 Michelin stars between them and Eric Ripert is no slouch either. Where do these guys go to get something good? They have to know amazing places!
So this got me thinking...
I have lived here in Baltimore for about 4 years now. I am a lot like other people. I find restaurants that I like and I go to them. They usually have food I like, so I end up going back over and over again. The problem is that sometimes that can put you in a terrible rut. Here I am in Baltimore, home to AMAZING world class restaurants, but I have no idea what they are. It also has holes-in-the-wall where you can get food to die for cheap. I don't know where they are either. What I know is where I go. This is no way to eat!
I processed this particular episode and figured out a way to apply it to my dilemma. The premise for this food journey is simple: Ask 2 questions.
To start, I simply pick a restaurant. Upon arrival to the restaurant I ask for the chef to stop by the table. When he or she arrives, after introducing myself and explaining why I am there, I ask which dish on the menu most embodies the chef. Which dish has the most of his or her heart and soul in it. When someone asks which dish personifies him or her, THAT is the one dish. I then order that dish for dinner. For what is a better representation of the core of the restaurant than the dish that has been the most crafted by the chef?
The second question I ask is where he or she, as a chef and someone in the food trade, goes to get an amazing dish. The restaurant can be high-end, or a greasy spoon, just a place where he or she gets one dish that amazes them. That restaurant then becomes the next stop on the trip. And so it goes...
Who is going to know better than a chef. These are people who have spent years in the food business who work with the best ingredients on a daily basis and easily tell good from bad, food or otherwise. They go out to eat just like we do but they have the ability to judge where they go based on what they know as professionals. They can splurge their pay on elite fare and fine linens, or they can throw back drinks after work and head out to find the best late night nosh to fill that grease-seeking cavity that only a 12 hour shift can carve out. Either way, for this project, I am going to use their expertise to work for me; to bring me out of my food shell and show me the best dining experiences - world class through working class, that Baltimore has to offer.
...either that or they'll throw me out on my ass.
Well, that's the introduction. For the record, last night I visited my second restaurant, so I guess that makes this project official. I'll post my experience at restaurant #1 next. Stay tuned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)