{"id":2425,"date":"2017-09-28T08:07:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T12:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.citywalkerapp.com\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2018-06-05T03:22:34","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T03:22:34","slug":"federal-hill-south-baltimore-part-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citywalkerapp.com\/cw\/federal-hill-south-baltimore-part-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Hill and South Baltimore, Part IV"},"content":{"rendered":"
This week\u2019s installment of our tour through Federal Hill and South Baltimore<\/a> will be more similar to the way Baltimore locals<\/a> scout out dining options, with one exception: locals live here. So we already know where all the good eats can be found. But you, intrepid traveler, probably have no idea that there are some very fine noms to be had in restaurants located deep in residential or industrial neighborhoods<\/a>. Because you have no need to be in those neighborhoods. But if you happen to be wandering aimlessly down Key Highway because the weather is nice and you\u2019re lost in thought after a fun tour through the American Visionary Art Museum<\/a>, rest assured that you\u2019ll find several places to slake your thirst and hunger before you realize you are hopelessly lost and should probably call a car to get back to your hotel.<\/div>\n
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\"Order<\/div>\n
Say you\u2019ve just walked past the Harborview complex when you realize that a cup of coffee or tea would really hit the spot. Perhaps accompanied by something snacky, like a waffle. (Yes, I said \u201cwaffle.\u201d) Then Order & Chaos is the place for you. They\u2019re only open until 5pm<\/span><\/span>, so if it\u2019s currently later in the day, I\u2019m sorry that you\u2019ve missed out on a cup of locally roasted (just blocks away!) Pfefferkorns Coffee, or a peanut butter smoothie, and a \u201cwalking waffle.\u201d They\u2019re really liege waffles, a crisp yeasted treat that has the extra crunch of caramelized pearl sugar inside. Unlike a normal waffle, which is big and square and goes kinda floppy after a few moments out of the waffle iron, the liege stays crispy and can be eaten quite easily on the go, hence the \u201cwalking\u201d moniker. You can get them with toppings at Order & Chaos, but they\u2019re perfect just as they are.<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a bit more than coffee and a snack and it happens to be early on a weekend, hit up brunch spot Home Maid, next door. Or if you prefer something with a Latin flavor, try Little Havana across the street. They have a great patio for al fresco dining, and a fun Cuban vibe indoors. Appropriately, the Cubano sandwich is their most popular dish, but there are lots of other menu items with that Caribbean flair.<\/p>\n

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You can find still more restaurants if you head southwest (away from the water) down Webster Street, which runs between Little Havana and Home Maid. Walk three blocks to Fort Avenue, which is kinda like the Main Street of this part of town. Take a right, walk a block to Jackson Street, and you\u2019ll find Rachel, one of the newer additions to the Baltimore restaurant scene. They specialize in locally-sourced, farm-to-table cuisine, which by now is a pretty familiar concept. I definitely still appreciate when a restaurant goes out of the way to find ingredients rather than call up the giant wholesale purveyor to deliver everything to their door. Rachel\u2019s menu includes items that are quickly becoming hallmarks of Modern American cuisine: octopus; scallops; duck. A recent menu had the octopus served with white beans (a perfect pairing), sweet Peppadew peppers and pork belly, the scallops with a pea puree and an intriguing lemon saffron gelee, and the duck with a wild blueberry bbq sauce and parsnip puree. Don\u2019t know about you, but I\u2019m hungry now. Rachel also has a nice happy hour Tues – Fri when spicy habanero-sauced pork short ribs and a beer will set you back about ten bucks.<\/p>\n


Catty-corner from Rachel is Captain Larry\u2019s, a lively neighborhood bar with a menu of pub grub and sandwiches. Another neighborhood haunt, Shotti\u2019s Point, is down the street. They also serve pub food, but their crispy and moist wings come in 10 varieties and there are items like seared duck breast tacos and even poke. You\u2019ll find Baba\u2019s Mediterranean Kitchen in the next block, a delightful spot for Middle Eastern yumminess like falafel and baba ghannoush. Or in this case, Baba\u2019s ghannoush. This place is great for vegetarians, and many dishes can be made gluten free by omitting the accompanying pita and replacing it with quinoa.<\/p>\n

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If you stroll down a bit more, you\u2019ll come to a shopping center called Southside Marketplace, home to a couple notable eateries. There\u2019s fast food, sure, but also South Asian cuisine<\/a> at Kumari, square pies at Ledo Pizza–a Maryland favorite since 1955–and Bar Liquorice. The latter is more bar than restaurant, though they do have a short menu of snacks and panini, plus warm Nutella bread pudding. Mmm! Cocktails are the real draw here, both classic and new, carefully crafted and inventively named. Even Yelp!ers have a hard time finding a bad thing to say about the place. While Bar Liquorice is a cocktail bar, Wiley Gunter\u2019s, on the other end of the same strip of shops, is more of a beer bar. They regularly have a dozen-and-a-half beers on draft and over 100 in bottles and cans. Well-prepared bar food is on the menu, with lots of specials on Game Day. Be forewarned: if you\u2019re looking for a place to watch the home team Baltimore Ravens, Wiley Gunter\u2019s is a Washington Redskins bar. (Booo!) But if you\u2019re an out-of-towner, that probably doesn\u2019t bother you as much as it bothers me.<\/p>\n

\"Wine<\/a><\/p>\n

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Beyond the shopping center, at the intersection of Fort Ave and Key Highway, is the Wine Market Bistro. They\u2019ve been going strong for over a dozen years now, serving sustainably-sourced chow and carefully-selected small producer wines. Food is familiar yet inventive, like the roasted beet salad with goat cheese, prosciutto, arugula…and salted caramel pecans and a brown butter vinaigrette. Or the pan-seared rockfish (that\u2019s striped bass to folks outside Maryland) served with smoked fish croquettes, spaghetti squash, blood orange gastrique, and a sauce gribiche. Not only can you get wine with your meal, but you can also pop into the attached wine shop and buy a bottle or ten, 7 days a week. (If you haven\u2019t realized this, Maryland\u2019s liquor laws are pretty stodgy, and 99% of places that sell alcoholic beverages are closed on Sundays.)<\/p>\n

\"Best<\/a><\/p>\n

Another block down Fort Ave to the corner of Woodall Street is LP Steamers. \u201cLP\u201d stands for Locust Point, which is the neighborhood we\u2019re in now and that covers the rest of the peninsula, including Fort McHenry at the easternmost edge. LP Steamers is your typical Baltimore crab-a-palooza kind of restaurant, offering delicious steamed crabs, crab soup, crab cakes, soft shell crabs, and lots of other fried, steamed, and raw seafood. And burgers<\/a>, for the weirdos who go to a seafood restaurant and won\u2019t eat seafood. (Or can\u2019t, in that case they\u2019re not a weirdo, just missing out.) If you continue down Woodall Street, it becomes Whetstone Way at the beginning of the McHenry Row complex of businesses and residences, and home to several eateries. If you like beer and loudness, head on to World of Beer down by the circle, otherwise stop by Ruby 8 for sushi and other pan-Asian treats, Samos Greek Island Grill (a spin-off of one of the best Greek restaurants in town) for souvlaki, lamb chops, and spinach pie, or the newly opened outpost of breakfast-all-day favorite Iron Rooster. I\u2019ll be featuring the latter in a Spotlight post in the weeks to come. Right now, I\u2019m ready for lunch!<\/p>\n

Check out more places from this series<\/h2>\n