{"id":2429,"date":"2017-10-25T07:30:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T11:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.citywalkerapp.com\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2018-06-05T03:36:38","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T03:36:38","slug":"federal-hill-south-baltimore-part-v","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citywalkerapp.com\/cw\/federal-hill-south-baltimore-part-v\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Hill and South Baltimore, part V"},"content":{"rendered":"

This installment of our walking tour through Federal Hill and South Baltimore is going to meander a bit more than usual. There are several more notable restaurants left in the area, but unlike the others I\u2019ve written about, these are a bit farther apart. But they are worth visiting and definitely worth a mention.<\/p>\n

The first restaurant we\u2019ll talk about is Rowhouse Grille, located on Light Street three or four blocks south of the Cross Street Market. It\u2019s a neighborhood tavern that offers great daily specials. For example, Thursday\u2019s<\/span><\/span> special is All You Can Drink Wine. Dangerous for some, but by that point in the work week, a necessity. On Tuesday<\/span><\/span> they offer a free appetizer to couples on a Tinder date, plus deals on tacos and tequila drinks. Tinder dates + tequila seem a sensible combo, no? Perhaps not, but I am sure it\u2019s a popular night. Rowhouse also has some great happy hour bargains, but food prices there are generally pretty reasonable at dinnertime, too. Sandwiches and salads dominate the menu, but there are bigger plates as well, like a filet mignon, seafood gumbo, and pan-seared salmon.<\/p>\n

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

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Down in the next block is a new-ish place called In Bloom. I say \u201c-ish\u201d because up until a few months ago, the place was called Liv2Eat. The original owners, a husband and wife duo, have partnered up with another husband and wife team. In addition to the new name, the menu is a bit different, but is still seasonally-driven. I\u2019ll go into more detail about In Bloom in a future Spotlight post–stay tuned for that.<\/p>\n

The next cross street is Fort Avenue. If you hang a right and walk six blocks to Hanover Street, you\u2019ll come up on Bluegrass Tavern. (If you get peckish on the way, I won\u2019t blame you if you stop at Delia Foley\u2019s and snag some .99 wings, corned beef egg rolls, and a beer or two.) The menu at Bluegrass touts \u201cSouthern Scratch Cooking,\u201d and includes fried chicken and pimento cheese, but also lots of dishes with heavy Cajun and Creole influences. I don\u2019t tend to think of po\u2019 boys and jambalaya as \u201csouthern\u201d cuisine, despite them originating from areas that are, geographically, in the south part of the US. They\u2019re part of a whole delicious world unto itself, but I\u2019m always happy to eat blackened catfish jambalaya, especially when it also includes a bounty of other goodies like andouille, chicken, shrimp, and crawfish. Shrimp and grits is a fave, too. At Bluegrass it\u2019s made with andouille, peppers, onions, and a gumbo gravy. Someday I\u2019m going to take myself on a tour of all the versions of shrimp and grits served in Baltimore, as I\u2019ve never tried two that are in any way alike. (Never had a bad one, either.)<\/p>\n

Head south on Hanover and turn right onto Randall. Walk a few blocks east and you\u2019ll find SoBo Market, sister restaurant to SoBo Cafe, which we covered in a past installment. In addition to a menu comprised of small plates and sandwiches and a few larger items, there\u2019s also a selection of prepared items to-go. Grab a loaf of their amazing baked-in-house bread and a roasted cage-free chicken, eggplant spread, and the arugula pesto pasta salad and you have the makings of a fab picnic. (Riverside Park is just a few more blocks to the east, if you need a picnic spot.)<\/p>\n

\"Hersh\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

There are three more restaurants back over on Light Street that are worth mentioning. They\u2019re pretty far off the beaten path, a good mile south from the Inner Harbor. First on the list is HomeSlyce Pizza Bar, on the corner of Light and Barney Streets. Their speciality is what they call a \u201cslyce,\u201d but what is also known as a \u201cpide,\u201d a type of boat-shaped flatbread that can be considered a Turkish pizza. (The folks who own HomeSlyce also own the Turkish restaurant Casbar on North Charles Street in the Cathedral Hill neighborhood just north of the downtown business district.) They also have the familiar round pizzas in both 10\u201d and 16\u201d sizes, plus calzones, sandwiches, and a mix of Middle Eastern\/Mediterranean-style apps like spinach pie and hummus. All of the pies can be had with various unusual combinations of toppings, like the \u201cTouchdown Pie\u201d with tomatoes, parsley, onions, home-ground spicy beef, and feta cheese, or the \u201c1741 Reci-Pie\u201d with pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes, homemade sausage, and…pineapple. You can also build your own, choosing a sauce, cheese, veggie, and protein or nuts. Yes, nuts. It\u2019s entirely possible to get a personal pie slathered in a spicy sauce of herbs, walnuts, and oil with gorgonzola, okra, and pistachios, if you so desire. You can also make a gluten-free vegan pizza if you choose the GF crust and vegan cheese. There\u2019s definitely something for every taste at HomeSlyce.<\/p>\n

On the far corner of the next block is Hersh\u2019s, my personal favorite pizza joint in the whole city (and county). Ok, maybe I\u2019m doing the restaurant a disservice by calling it a \u201cpizza joint\u201d because that\u2019s not all they do. Pastas and other dishes are fan-f*ing-tastic, and I\u2019ll talk about them more in depth in a separate Spotlight post. Honestly, if Hersh\u2019s wasn\u2019t so very far from where I live, I\u2019d eat there once a week. At least.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s Minnow, in the 2 East Wells<\/a> apartment building across the street from Hersh\u2019s. This is the second restaurant from brothers Ben and Jacob Lefenfeld, who also own the Basque-inspired La Cuchara in Woodberry. The focus at Minnow is regional seafood, from moules frites topped with aioli and fresh anchovies with olive tapenade, to a lovely shrimp ceviche and grilled whole fish like sea bream or rainbow trout. There are a couple of meat dishes on the menu too, like the range steak (from the end of a strip loin) served with a lovely smoked oyster butter, and crisply fried chicken. Even a vegetarian will find several things to make them happy. A recent menu included a dish of fideos (a paella-like dish made with ultra-skinny pasta instead of rice) with zucchini and tomatoes; a melon gazpacho; crispy tofu with green mango; and the ever-popular avocado toast. And don\u2019t forget to try both drinks and dessert (like you need a reminder).<\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s all for now, at least as far as restaurants in the Federal Hill\/South Baltimore area. Stay tuned for a couple of Spotlights on restaurants in this area before I take a short break to allow for holiday stress.<\/p>\n

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