Baltimore has a solid group of well-known chefs who have helped the city compete with the culinary scenes in New York and DC. New chefs in town (and a few with past successes) are shaking things up with new, innovate takes on tapas, pub fare, and sustainable resources.

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Innovative Chefs Look to Broaden Charm City's Palate
RENEE LIBBY BECK | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011
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CENTRO TAPAS BAR - ARIANNE TEEPLE STORIES
RELATED IMAGES Many of Baltimore's restaurants still focus on what Jen Royle's Year In the Life of
the city traditionally does best: crabs. And while Baltimore
Opening Day is just around the corner
celebrated chefs like Cindy Wolf, Spike Gjerde, and and Jen Royle is about to enter her
John Shields have carved their own interesting second year reporting on the Orioles and Ravens. Prior
niches, Baltimore is still largely known for its old to that, she spent seven years w orking in New York
covering the Yankees for the YES Netw ork. If you
standbys. Recently, however, a new crop of innovative think a situation like that might lead to friction, you
ENLARGE chefs has begun infiltrating the city, encouraged by could be on to something. Read on to learn more
local foodies and ready to shake up the local culinary about Ms. Royle and her first year in Charm City.
scene. Video: Life of an Entrepreneur With
Honest Tea and Figure 53
As Baltimore nightlife and entertainment writer Startup City Poised to Turn Baltimore Into
an Entrepreneurial Hub
"Downtown Diane" Macklin puts it, "Today's Baltimore
chefs are more innovative than ever. Taking an idea Photo Essay: The Monumental City
and making it his or her own is what separates the MICA Students and Faculty Team Up to
Explore Baltimore: Open City
great chefs in town."
Developing a Different Kind of
Renaissance in Park Heights
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2. Demi Baltimore-based Scholar Returns to
Amplify Her Hometown
Chef Tae Strain of Demi wants to do just that. He Drafting the Future of Education at
ENLARGE
came to Baltimore from New York's Public House, Baltimore Design School
and he sees a growing Baltimore food community Baltimore's Green Masterminds
that's embracing and encouraging innovation and risk The Inner Harbor: What the World Can
taking along the way. Learn From Baltimore
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Demi shares a space with Crush, the contemporary
ENLARGE establishment in North Baltimore's Belvedere Square.
Strain notes that where Crush focuses on American
flavors that have garnered loyal clientele, Demi is
invested in global influences. Demi's space in the
lower level of Crush offers an open kitchen with
front-row seats to Strain's culinary team.
ENLARGE
Demi considers its small plates to be light entrees,
and diners can expect a lot of pork belly, a chef
favorite. Strain's commitment to reinterpretation
allows Demi to carve out an identity unique not only
from Crush, but from other restaurants in town, as
ENLARGE
well.
Centro
Tapas restaurants often have an early expiration date
in Baltimore - a city that doesn't tolerate paying a lot
to eat a little - but Chef George Dailey is betting
ENLARGE
against that trend with Centro.
"The truth is, you can count with your fingers how
many tapas restaurants are in the city," Dailey says.
"Yes, there are a lot of restaurants that serve small
plates but cannot call themselves a true tapas
ENLARGE restaurant. [Centro] is different because we offer the
true tapas experience," Dailey says.
Dailey's Spanish and Latin American heritage helps
him create authentic tapas like his mother cooked
when he was growing up in Venezuela. To properly
order at Centro, adopt a thick Spanish accent -
Cachapa, a sweet corn pancake; sobrasada
mallorquina, spreadable chorizo sausage; and arepas,
a Venezuelan corn masa, aren't exactly words that roll
easily off the tongue.
Dailey, who saw previous success with On The Hill in
ENLARGE
Bolton Hill, understands that these dishes can
RELATED TAGS intimidate. With that in mind, Centro's $3 tapas
ARTS AND CULTURE, FOR nights and happy hours are designed to allow
FOODIES, VISIT BALTIMORE patrons to get acquainted with the menu while
enjoying fresh seafood from sustainable sources
along with organic produce and meat.
Feast @ 4 East
That dedication to sustainability is more and more becoming a common practice.
Feast @ 4 East's kitchen, tucked away in a brownstone at 4 East Madison in Mt.
Vernon, is run by local loyalist Sandy Lawler. When asked how she combats the
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3. idea that sustainable food is a trend, she dismisses the notion.
"The only challenge is the competition of year-round availability. An occasional
treat of a strawberry out of season is one thing, but its flavor will never compare
with a locally grown one in season," she says.
Lawler's best-selling dish, local rockfish, is served with lemon-caper butter or a
tarragon-chive drizzle. The trickier sell is Chesapeake stingray, which overruns the
Bay, eating oysters and crabs without predators. It's abundantly available but
often tough to convince diners to try.
The Point
Lawler isn't the only one with a hard message. Convincing a patron to try edgier
fare at a more upscale establishment like Feast can be easier than selling duck
confit on shaved fennel salad at a corner pub, which is just what The Point's head
chef, Jacob Raitt, is attempting.
The Point, situated on the well-worn corner of Thames and Ann streets in Fells
Point (in the former Miss Irene's), embraces culinary surprise with unique flavors
and presentation. Raitt doesn't aim to reinvent the wheel, only to have The Point's
upscale pub fare mentioned alongside the likes of Baltimore's most respected
restaurants. Raitt has an edge, having worked under the likes of Chef Marc Dixon
at Bistro Blanc and Chef Jason Ambrose at Salt.
"I have taken from [the chefs I've worked with] a devotion to fresh food and
creative innovation." Raitt says, "II take an approach to food without vanity, and
with a humility that makes our customers feel comfortable even with ingredients
and techniques they may not be familiar with."
To entice patrons, Raitt keeps dish descriptions simple. While the pot roast only
lists three ingredients, Raitt employs a painstaking process that involves braising
the beef and glazing and roasting vegetables to create depth of flavor that cannot
be replicated with bases or pre-processed sauces. He admits to an arduous
approach, but once a unique dish - like beef tongue and bone marrow - is tasted,
it's almost always well-received.
Slainte
Down Thames Street, Slainte is fighting a similar battle. The restaurant was
always known for having good pub food, but wanted to fully embrace the gastro
pub concept. Chef Bill Crouse -- a former executive chef at Sotto Sopra who holds
degrees in cooking, baking, and nutrition -- has the credentials needed to make
Slainte a name in upscale pub fare.
In Crouse's kitchen - like Dailey's and Lawler's - local fare is essential. Patrons can
enjoy a traditional Shepard's pie or corned beef sandwich, but they're also
encouraged to try mushroom gnudi, a fried gnocchi served with brown butter and
sage sauce.
"I'm just feeding people a good meal. The word of mouth will become more
powerful than anything I could dream up," Crouse says.
While each of these trendsetters is happy to serve up traditional fare, they're also
looking to challenge Baltimore's taste buds by introducing surprising new
approaches.
Downtown Diane hopes more folks will notice and take a chance on creative
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4. dishes in Baltimore. "If you taste food that a chef's made his or her own, you
know that every time you go to that restaurant, you can count on taste and
creativity. It's what makes dining in Charm City so exciting."
Renee Libby Beck made Baltimore her home after a short-lived post-collegiate
venture in Florida. By day, she is the Public Relations Coordinator for Medifast,
Inc. In her minimal spare time, Renee serves as the Baltimore Food Examiner and
writes for other local blogs and publications. After an amazing meal, she can't
stop salivating over it and often tries to recreate it - with minimal success.
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Photos by Arianne Teeple:
- Dishes created by Chef and Owner George Dailey at Centro Tapas Bar
- Chef and Owner George Dailey of Centro Tapas Bar
- A dish created by Chef Tae Strain at Demi
- Chef Tae Strain of Demi
- A dish created by Chef Sandy Lawler at Feast @ 4 East
- Chef Sandy Lawler of Feast @ 4 East
- A dish created by Chef Bill Crouse at Slainte
- Chef Bill Crouse of Slainte
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