Corner BYOB in Baltimore

On the Avenue in Hampden in Baltimore, a new restaurant, Corner BYOB, opened in the last few months, and I stopped in for an early dinner one evening a few weeks ago. The chef, Bernard Dehaene, from Brussels, previously cooked at a Belgian place called Mannequin Pis in Olney, and I had heard that his new venture had a more adventurous menu. When I was seated, one of the days specials included kangaroo tenderloin, but I was immediately attracted to the boudin noir and the just in soft shell crab.
The crab arrived first on a bed of fiddlehead ferns. This started truly captured the local and seasonal spirit of the area. The crab was fantastic, just simply pan fried with no battering at all, and it paired wonderfully with the fiddleheads.
My second starter was the boudin noir on a bed of mash and topped with a whole grain mustard. The texture was creamy and the flavor was nice and earthy. I think Corner won me over with just this dish alone.
For my entree, I had the Veal Orloff, a veal that starts braised, then is topped with mushrooms and bacon, and finished in the oven. It's then smothered with a béchamel sauce. I liked it, but the star of the meal was the blood sausage.
I was too stuffed to try dessert, but I hope to return soon.

850 W. 36th St.
Baltimore, MD
(443)869-5075

Fiola, DC

Fiola is a recently opened Italian restaurant in DC. It marks the return to the area of James Beard award winning chef Fabio Trabocchi. Despite being open only a few weeks, there is already a back and forth on the net about the food from Fiola. However, I had a pretty great dinner there this week.
I was glad to have a fellow DC foodie along so we were able to try several item from their menu. We started with two antipastos. First was Apulia buffalo mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, and a pesto of basil Genovese. While simple, the ingredients were fantastic, and the flavors particularly of the pesto were confident and delicious.
We also shared a salad of violet baby artichoke, fava beans, English peas, and mint. The peas were a puree at the bottom of the salad. This was light, beautiful and fresh tasting.

For the pasta course, we shared a spaghetti with Dungeness crab, a sauce made of sea urchin, and sprinkled with red chile flakes. This was a wonderfully complex and rich plate. The urchin sauce was creamy and coated the noodles, and the chile added a nice surprise in the mouth.

For my main course, I ordered the Branzino served on a bed of olive oil crushed potato and topped with a brodetto, a stew of littleneck clams and fish. The fish was perfectly prepared- light and tender, and the "sauce" complemented it well, and had a slight kick to it as well.

My friend ordered the veal chop. This was prepared with a layer of mushrooms all wrapped in proscuitto. It was accompanied by hazelnuts and Jerusalem artichoke puree. It was a contrast to the fish course- much more rich and hearty. The veal was also perfectly cooked.






For dessert, we tried two items. I ordered the fennel gelato with blood orange on top of an olive oil semolina cake. The fennel flavor was so good. It had a licorice-like quality without the harshness. The tanginess of the blood orange and the sweetness of the cake went well with the fennel flavor.
My friend had the trifle of fresh strawberry and lemon granita. Like the other dessert, this was a wonderful combination of flavors: the sweetness of the cream, the sour flavor of the granita, and the strawberries.
We also received a trio small petit fours from the pastry chef including a chocolate chip macaroon.
Needless to say, we were stuffed by the end of the meal. I'm very hopeful for Fiola, and I look forward to returning very soon.


601 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington DC
(202)628-2888

Baltimore Winter Restaurant Week

Apologies for this belated post. Baltimore Restaurant week was at the end of January, and I went to two places: lunch at the The Wine Market in Locust Point, and back to Bluegrass Tavern in Federal Hill.

At The Wine Market, I started with some cornmeal fried oysters with a bacon buerre blanc. Pretty good.
My main was a seared tuna wrap with kimchee, baby corn, avocado, and soy aioli. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of wraps, but it was lunch, and I liked the idea of kimchee. It came with fried wonton chips and a wasabi dip.
The main reason I went was for dessert, the chocolate pretzel pavé with caramel, topped with malt powder and caramel ice cream. It was a great combination of salty & sweet.

For the dinner restaurant week menu at Bluegrass, chef decided on three savory courses instead of a dessert. No complaints here as I am a fan of Chef Morrow's skill with meat.
I started with a rutabaga bisque drizzled with pomegranate syrup. It was surprisingly light and tasted very fresh.
Second course was a braised veal cheek topped with almonds and mint served over a cauliflower porridge. The cheek was beautifully braised and incredibly tender, and the cauliflower was a pleasant surrogate for the usual mash.


The third course was a sous vide duroc pork loin, with mashed white yams, a sherry & raisin puree, & baconnaise. Chef really excels with the sous vide technique.


The Wine Market
921 East Fort Avenue
Baltimore, MD
(410)244-6166

Bluegrass
1500 S. Hanover Street
Baltimore, MD
(410)244-5101