{"id":1086,"date":"2017-05-17T07:30:06","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T11:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.citywalkerapp.com\/?p=1086"},"modified":"2018-06-19T02:43:21","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T02:43:21","slug":"spotlight-on-wit-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citywalkerapp.com\/cw\/spotlight-on-wit-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on: Wit & Wisdom in Baltimore"},"content":{"rendered":"

I knew Baltimore<\/a> had arrived when we got our own Four Seasons Hotel. Not only that, but Michelin-starred chef Michael Mina was opening not one, not two, but three eateries in the hotel. Chef Mina, whose restaurants are mostly on the west coast, may not have been familiar to Baltimoreans at the time, but I knew of him and knew that his restaurants, Wit & Wisdom, Pabu, and coffee shop<\/a> LAMill would be as posh as the hotel that housed them. (Note to husband: watching all those seasons of Top Chef was not a waste!)<\/p>\n

Two of those restaurants are gone. Frankly, I felt Lamill was overpriced and balked at paying $$$ for a small tea latte made with a teaspoonful of rare tea leaves that had been pooped out by a yeti somewhere in the Himalayas. (If you\u2019re into that sort of thing, there\u2019s a LAMill in Los Angeles<\/a>.) Pabu, on the other hand, quickly became one of my favorite restaurants. While the sushi and sashimi there were impeccable, my favorite dishes were chef\/partner Ken Tominaga\u2019s \u201chappy spoons\u201d and his okonomiyaki (an eggy cabbage pancake). The former comprises a tiny raw oyster, uni, salmon caviar, and a ponzu cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche and is one of the most delicious bites ever. Of course that\u2019s neither here nor there, as there is no longer a Pabu in Baltimore. But, like LAMill, the restaurant exists elsewhere; if \u00a0you find yourself in San Francisco or Boston, do go.<\/p>\n

\"kitchen<\/p>\n

Thankfully it doesn\u2019t appear that Wit & Wisdom is going anywhere. It\u2019s one of those places that is great for every occasion, from special to ordinary. It is a hotel restaurant, so they serve breakfast and lunch as well as dinner, plus they have a great bar\/lounge area where you can grab a snack like blue crab deviled eggs or a burger and a signature cocktail<\/a>. In the warmer months, they open \u201cWit on the Water,\u201d the restaurant\u2019s waterside patio, which has its own menu. This year, steamed blue crabs will be featured for the first time, along with crispy soft shell crabs and crab cakes. Pair them with sides of hush puppies, pickled cole slaw, and corn on the cob, and you\u2019ll have the makings of a quintessential Maryland summer meal.<\/p>\n

The chef at Wit & Wisdom is Zack Mills<\/a>, a Maryland native with a love for local ingredients and a wealth of knowledge about Chesapeake Bay-area cuisine. However, Wit is not a Maryland-style seafood restaurant. Sure, local treats like blue crab, oysters, and rockfish appear on the menu, but so do Mina favorites like Michael\u2019s Maine lobster pot pie and \u201cBourbon Steak\u201d burger, and a selection of pasture-raised beef and bison steaks. My favorite menu items are Chef Mills\u2019 creations, which change seasonally or as ingredients are available, for example, green garlic agnolotti with chorizo and clams, asparagus soup with Maine lobster, and goat cheese-filled crispy squash blossoms with tomato fennel puree and preserved lemon. Those are just examples from the regular menu. Where Mills really gets to shine is the special themed dinners served at the 12-seat counter in front of the open kitchen, aka Kitchen Table. Last year, a weekly series called \u201cCurated\u201d showcased items like heritage pork, truffles, and fall vegetables. There were also dinners featuring items from Pabu, Italian classics, and an all dessert menu by pastry chef Dyan Ng.<\/p>\n

Best Bmore Shirts<\/a><\/h3>\n
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