New Baltimore Places! WOO HOO (Day 2)

Day 2 in Baltimore was shaping up as an easy one stop day.  I headed out from the hotel to my stop for the day.  I ended up again in the northern part of the city near Baltimore's Loyola University.  I wasn't sure what to expect from this place, it has very unusual hours 11a-2a and from what I had heard and read it was pretty much just a very small bar, but if it was good for Guy, it would be good for me!

I arrived shortly after "Swallow at the Hollow" had opened for the day.  I wasn't really sure if it was open because the tour is tinted dark and it looked dark inside.  Luckily for me it was open!  I walked in and was warmly greeted by the Waitress/Bar Tender and was seated at a table just inside the door.

 

I looked over their menu and asked what they had made for the show and from what I was told, they made about 6 different items so I had a lot to choose from.  Two sort of caught my attention, the Tangy Ghost Wings and the Crab Cake.  Thinking that the Ghost was a reference to the Ghost Chili pepper, which is the hottest pepper in the world, I decided that the Crab Cake Sandwich was the meal for me.

The Bar at The Swallow at the Hollow

As I was waiting for the meal I walked around the place and there was really neat photos of bar scenes during the restaurants history.  One that was hanging behind me was a bar scene from 1952 and another was from the 1970s and the bar area has not changed that much, some updates and flat screen TVs but it really is a blast from the past.

My meal arrived and the Crab Cake was very good!  It was served with fries on the side.  There was very little filler in the cake and filled with a lot of crab meat. 

My Crab Cake Sandwich meal

Real Crab meat Crab Cake!

As I was enjoying my meal, the owner, Jim, came over and we had a nice conversation about the place.  The Swallow had been just a small bar and there was a barber shop next door, but a few years ago the barber shop closed and they bought it out and created a small dining room.  I asked him how they had been selected and he told me that they had been recommended by a viewer or patron.  From there the production office of the show called and from there he had several long (1 hour plus) phone calls that led to the decision to put them on the show.  He told me that it was 3 or 4 very intensive days of filming that included Guy visiting for about 3 hours to do his scenes.  He had a lot of great things to say about the crew, especially Neil Martin the crew member who had given me the locations that they filmed in Baltimore.  The day after they had finished the staff and film crew all went to Camden Yards to see the Orioles play!  As I prepared to leave I was shown a special Swallow Bowling Shirt that they had Guy sign and the Penguin Mascot on this special shirt had Guy's hairdo!  I was also shown the baking pan that Guy decorated with his signature "Guy Ate Here" design.

"Guy Ate Here"!

Just before I left Jim told me that they had also filmed a place nearby and I had hear the same thing at all of the other places I had visited, so now my day of one place to visit became 2!  I loved this place, Jim and his staff were great, delicious food and great conversation, what more can you ask for!

I headed out with a new place to get to.  I headed off and in about 15 minutes I was at "Clementine - Maker of Fine Food".  I really lucked out on this one, this place is only open for lunch on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays and today was Friday!  What an interesting place.  It looked like a Coffee bar as you entered there was an area of sofas for lingering over your cup of joe, but as you went further in there was divided dining area and some really interesting wall art.  I took a seat at the bar and started to talk to the bar tender, Kristen and wanted to make sure that they had filmed there and she did confirm it.  I told her about my travels and she told that her husband Winston, the chef and co-owner would come out to sign my book.

Winston came out, he is a guy with a big Grizzly Adams style beard and was as nice as could be.  We chatted for a few moments about the place and the filming and he asked me about my travels, I also had a great conversation with Kristen.  The menu looked great and the prices were the most reasonable that I had seen in a long time at a DDD place.  I chose to get the Catfish meal which included Winston's special Cheese Grits, it was the Cheese Grits that made up my mind.

The bar at Clementine

The Specialty Beer menu

For a Friday lunch the place was very busy, the waiters and waitresses were very busy and after a few minutes my meal came.  The catfish was tasty, I think that catfish is my favorite fish.  There was a corn mix on top that was really tasty but the cheese grits really made he meal.  Sitting a few seats down the bar was one of book keepers of the place and she started telling me about how much she loved the meal I had ordered and by the time I left she told me that she ordered it for herself. 

My Catfish meal at Clementine

 I had finished my trip to Baltimore on a very high note.  All of the places I visited were top notch and the staff at each were so friendly and accommodating.  Thanks to all of them!  My DDD count now stands at 361 and 400 isn't too far off!

New Baltimore places! WOO HOO!! (Day 1)

It's been a while since I have been able to get to any new DDD places.  Summer is always a tough time to travel (since I fly stand by) and I have been to most of the places that are within driving distance. so I am looking forward to a trip in the early fall to check-out.  I have been stuck on 357 since May and I am getting the itch to try some more.  On Labor Day weekend I saw a post on one of the DDD Facebook sites that showed 3 places in Baltimore, now I had no idea about any of these places, but I knew that Guy had been in Baltimore for the opening of the new Horseshoe Casino, as he has a restaurant in the casino, so it made sense.  I asked the guy who posted it, Neil Martin aka Boy Band is an Associate Producer for the show and I need to thank him for the tip!

I headed up to Baltimore after work one Thursday to try and get to the 3 places that Neil had posted.  It took about an hour to get from Dulles to the Baltimore area, traffic was really not too bad.  I had to use the Harbor Tunnel to get to northern area of Baltimore and the Dundalk area of the city.  Dundalk is a very industrial area and the restaurant is across the street for some sort of warehouse that supports the Port of Baltimore.  I pulled into a small parking lot for what was a pretty big building. 
Jimmy's Famous Seafood" was at first sort of confusing to figure out.  there is a package store, a carry-out area, a bar on the upper floor and on the side of the building is a nice entrance to the dining area.  Inside this is a very nice place, a bit dark but all the tables were very nicely appointed with cloth table settings and cloth napkins. 

I looked over the menu and although this is a seafood themed restaurant, the menu is very diverse with a varied cuisine.  I saw something that made me chuckle and since this news item was only days old upon my visit I have a feeling that there will be a menu change.  They do have a line of sushi items and some of them are named after players of the local NFL team, Ravens and one of them is the Ray Rice Roll, I had a lot of things go through my mind, as you can imagine.  They feature a huge lunch special menu at a fixed $11.99 price, which is no too bad and one of the items was a Soft Shell Crab sandwich.  I don't get too many opportunities to have Soft Shell Crab, so I decided on that.  After a short wait the sandwich arrived and was served with potato wedges.

My Soft Shell Crab Sandwich lunch

It was really good, I had asked that they not add the hot sauce as I am not a real fan of spicy stuff.  The crab as great and they had Jimmy's special mustard sauce and that just added to great taste.  I would like to return and try their signature Crab Cakes (but in Baltimore EVERY place has a signature Crab Cake!).  There weren't too many patrons but the staff seemed very busy and I had to wait much longer than expected to get the bill and get my book signed. 

After going up to get a hotel for the night I had made arrangements to meet my niece Elaine and her husband Matt at a place near the Fells Point area of Baltimore.  On the way from my hotel to the restaurant I must have past about 3 or 4 other DDD places, including G and A, DiPasquales and Sip and Bite.  Parking around this place was very difficult as there are a number of row houses, stores, bars and restaurants in the area.  I found a place about 3 blocks away and walk to a very unique place called Johnny Rad's Pizzeria and Tavern. 

This is the first time I have ever been to a skateboarding themed restaurant.  On the tvs were videos of skateboard demonstrations.  On a night that the Ravens were playing (and beating) the Pittsburgh Steelers they video entertainment was not football!  I had to wait for Elaine and Matt, as they had some trouble finding parking as well.  this game me some time to talk with the staff and owners of the place and they were super nice.  The owner was excited to see me and that there future TV appearance (about 6 to 9 months until it airs) was reaping some rewards.  After Elaine and Matt arrived we decided to try a few different things and ordered their signature Risotto Balls as an appetizer.

Johnny Rad's Risotto Balls

Lightly fried Risotto served with a marinara sauce.  The balls were stuffed with mozzarella and were done great!  The marinara was served cold, which was strange to me a first but it went really well with the  risotto.  None of the pizza choices really jumped up at me and when Elaine decided to try a pizza and offered for me to try it I decided on a item that did jump at me, the BLT which featured Pancetta Bacon.  It was served with house made russet chips and a side of Bleu Cheese.  The tomato was probably the biggest and thickest cut tomato I have ever had on a sandwich.  I actually put it on the plate and cut it and ate it like a beefsteak tomato!

Johnny Rad's Pancetta BLT

It was a great time catching up with my niece, I don't get a lot of opportunities to see her so that made it nice.  As the owner came to sign my book, he gave me one of their beer can koozies, I really appreciated that and it was pretty cool.

Front side of the Koozie

Very cool and funny back side

I say good bye to Elaine and Matt and headed back to the hotel and as I passed another DDD place, the Broadway Diner, I had to stop and try one of their typically Greek deserts.  Day one was done and my DDD count is at 359!