A Special Occasion Place Without Fail

Restaurante Tio Pepe

10 E Franklin St

Baltimore, MD  

443-863-8808

http://www.tiopepebaltimore.com/

Twas a friend’s birthday and Tio Pepe was her choice of choices so off we all went for a quick scoot down the JFX and but one right turn to land in the public parking garage directly across from Tio Pepe. It wasn’t our first time there and certainly won't be our last; they do things well at this Spanish landmark.

I don't know just how long Tio Pepe has been in business but it surely one of those restaurants in Baltimore that have established a regular clientele over decade and are recognized a restaurant for that special occasion.

We were escorted right in on the Sunday night we visited but I have to warn you that there is usually a bit of a wait even with a reservation. Without the reservation on a busy night the wait list is hours long.

The decor is something like that of a grotto, a noisy grotto. Or perhaps it is reminiscent of catacombs as this is one of those restaurants you have to step down into to enter.

The wait staff is professional with many of the waiters having worked there many years. Fresh bread and free (yes, free) water arrives immediately after you are seated and our attentive waiter was on the spot to tell us about the specials and take our drink orders. I venture that 80% of those dining at Tio Pepe order the house sangria rather than a bottle from their very complete wine list. The Sangria is a trademark of Tio Pepe and arrives in a pitcher full of wine and fresh fruits.

The wine can either be a full bodied Spanish red or white with triple sec and brandy mixed in, along with the prerequisite slices of apple, oranges and lemons - and ice. It's a party in a jug.

The menu is deep, very deep. The appetizers and salads can be quite amazing although I would not order the onion soup I had again as it was a bit mild for my liking. The star of this course was the shrimp marinated in garlic sauce, a bowl of ample shrimp in a zesty sauce.

It was my intention to convince another of us order the Paella for their entree as it is only prepared for two and provides two huge portions ($52.50 for both). But this night they had roast suckling duck as a special on the menu and my friend suggested there was none to be compared with in Baltimore. So I forced myself to try it. Another had the crab cakes and Debbie ordered the escalloped veal with ham & Swiss cheese (go figure?)

The two orders of roasted pig came out as huge portions in a delightful brown sauce and black beans. Really huge with crackling skin and hardly a bone on the plate. So much so that both of us took at least 1/2 of our entrees home for a big leftover meal the following night. The beans I was not so enthusiastic about.

The two crab cakes were typical Baltimore portions, huge two inch thick slabs of backfin crab. There had to be some filler in them I suppose but none that we could detect. You don't order crab cakes in any restaurant and expect a bargain, what you hope for is perfection. These were perfection and one made the trip home with that piggy bag.

Debbie loved the veal and indeed it was a large serving over saffron rice and too much to finish that evening. It may not have been a true test of the Tio Pepe kitchen but hey, some people I know only like macaroni and cheese.

People rave about the desserts at Tio Pepe but I am always too full for dessert. How is it that the others at this meal couldn't finish their entrees but could find room for slices off the chocolate - crème cake / log? They loved it so, what the hey.

Now Tio Pepe is not a bargain restaurant but I am here to tell you that there are many restaurants in Baltimore that don't do as well for far more moolah. Our very good meal for four, with a pitcher of sangria and a respectable tip came to $120 per couple. Many a special occasion restaurant in the Baltimore area would have come to $200 per couple.

Parking is an additional $10 at the garage but then few restaurants in Baltimore still offer free parking (The Prime Rib does).

If you check out the Tio Pepe menu on line I'm sure you will find several dishes to your liking and you'll quickly understand the popularity of the restaurant after being seated.

Grilled Caesar Salad?

La Scala Ristorante

1012 Eastern Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21202

Phone: 410-783-920

http://lascaladining.com/contact.php

Another gem in Little Italy, La Scala does many things Italian well, including having the only indoor Bocce Ball court in Baltimore. We had not come for the Bocce; we came for Easter Dinner and were glad we had after a great evening in a relaxed atmosphere. Our tip to try La Scala came from Tony the tile master who had just recently finished some incredible examples of his craft in our newly renovated master bathroom.

The dining rooms are very comfortable with the main room overlooking the Bocce Ball court. It's a busy, noisy place with an executive chef who is constantly checking with you to be assured that you are satisfied with the meal. Our server, Carlos, was an old pro who made our whole night flow well. We were no sooner seated than a plate of marinated green beans and potatoes with garlic were put on the table along with a basket of fresh chewy bread. Not sure quite what to do with the cold green beans and potato wedges we were forced to eat them - all of them.

The wine list is impressive, long and impressive with bottles of affordable table wine, wine by the glass and wine for those with expense accounts. From a list of at least eight Chianti Classico Reservas, I am very glad I selected the Antinori Peppoli - very full bodied but still fresh and blah, blah, blah and all those other characteristics of nose and taste. No leather, cigars or mellon though, thank heavens. This is not a restaurant to go to when you are in a rush - this is a place where you want to sit back and comfortably enjoy several courses of great Italian food over conversation. No one tried to jam us with a $15 bottle of imported sparkling water.

The menu here is long with many veal and pasta dishes as one might suspect in Little Italy. I have to admit being a bit disappointed at not finding more of a choice of charcuterie among the appetizers but that was entirely due to a mistake on my part for not understanding just what to do with the separate Salumeria menu on our table. I couldn't eat the menu so I just set this wonderful list of fine cheeses and aged meats aside. It turns out this list is for ordering from as an antipasti selection - this is an Italian secret that must be taken for granted by those from Sicily.

Instead we just ordered a plate of the Calamari Fritti for our appetizer, expecting the usual. Wrong! The Calamari at La Scala is among the best we have ever had, rivaling even that at Ristorante Filomena in Georgetown wher it is soaked overnight in a buttermilk bath before cooking. The tender squid at la Scala is lightly battered and there isn't a trace of greasiness to be found. The large portion is accompanied by a bowl of very good marinara sauce.

Tony the Tile guy had recommended that I get a house specialty, the grilled Caesar salad. I would order a Caesar salad for my meal if I knew it to be my last. I probably wouldn't have it grilled but that's just my personal taste, most folks would love the extra tang that comes from grilling the lettuce head. Yep, it is enormous - half a head of Romaine that has been permeated with Caesar dressing crushed croutons and shredded parmesan cheese. I almost had to eat the entire plate full to decide if I was satisfied with it.

Debbie stuck with the typical Italian fare by ordering the veal Parmigiana - it was no disappointment as the large, tender veal cutlet was covered with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese, accompanied with penne pasta. I went way out of my norm and ordered the Lobster with cognac, butter and garlic served over some wonderful fresh linguine, they call it the Aragosta all' Americana. This was probably the first time I had ordered lobster for an entree in 20 years. I have no regrets but I am already ready for a return trip to sample some of the other great dishes on the La Scala menu.

We were so full from our meal that we not only didn't order dessert, I didn't even have room for a sip of grappa. We chose to use the restaurants $6.00 valet parking and were off in minutes of asking for our car. Maybe there was free street-side parking just around the corner but this is a luxury that I've become accustomed to and the courteous prompt door-side service available throughout Little Italy helps make each visit there a little more special.

Hats off to the attentive Chef Nino and his staff at this great Ristorante.

RESTAURANT WEEK RESCUED

Sabatino’s

901 Fawn Street
Little Italy
Baltimore, MD 21202
410-727-9414
http://www.sabatinos.com/index.asp
Reservations via Open Table: http://www.opentable.com/sabatinos-reservations-baltimore?rid=45034&restref=45034

Some friends could not join us on a weeknight for dinner earlier in the week at Da Mimmo but suggested that we join them for dinner on Saturday night at Sabatino’s, another of the many restaurants participating in Restaurant Week Baltimore.

I’m very glad we accepted their offer.

This was an entirely different experience from the Da Mimmo trip, from atmosphere to meal. Saturday night is a very busy time in Little Italy; the streets are hopping with tourists on the sidewalks and diners arriving by car. Sabatino’s is on one of the busiest corners, sharing it with 3 other popular eateries. We chose to use the very efficient valet parking at a cost of $10.00 rather than try to find a rare paring space along the narrow streets or park in the garage two blocks away at Bank & Exeter Streets. The valet parking team really hustles, pretty well directing the traffic in the area while doing so.

My first impression of Sabatino’s was that it is huge with several different dining rooms on two floors, it is a family place, and both crowded and noisy. We were promptly seated by a maître‘d who was quite calm amid the flurry of diners arriving and leaving, occasionally shouting to someone at the top of the stairway to ask if a table was available for diners. It works for them as the place was packed with obvious regulars who have been coming for decades. Hey, there were linen tablecloths on every table, something I fully appreciate in this day of paper placemats.
The servers work as a team to assure that all guests are taken care of promptly and attentively. As soon as we were seated a waitress brought us very plain glasses of cold tap water, followed only a few moments later with a huge basket of fresh, crusty Italian bread and our menus, both the regular and specials for Restaurant Week. Unlike the specials at Da Mimmo, this list was quite long, offering four appetizers, eight entrees and three deserts. And then the most pleasant surprise of the even appeared, our waitress Kitty. We knew immediately from her demeanor that we had a server who was at ease with the pandemonium around us and capable of the multi-tasking that working at Sabatino’s demands. While my friend and I discussed a choice from the wine list (prices from $18 to $75), Kitty near floored us by offering a special Restaurant Week wine list with about eight very reasonably priced selections from which we quickly settled on the Ruffino Chianti so that if we felt the urge to share a second bottle it wouldn’t give us second thoughts. I won’t be writing a paragraph praising the complexity of this wine but it ended up the perfect match of an acceptable Italian red wine to go with a fine Italian meal. I come from an age when restaurants in little Italy served inexpensive home-made house red wine in pitchers with the meals and no-one at the table cared that it didn’t come from Montepulciano in Tuscany because no one could pronounce it anyway. (Remember Maria's 300 on Albemarle St. from decades ago and Mamma Maria with a rose in her high hat hair -do?)
I was disappointed when we ordered that we didn’t choose a wider array of entrees to provide a better sampling of the choices but that’s the last complaint you will hear of me about this night out. Two diners had the fried calamari which arrived in more typical large portions with a large bowl of marina sauce, unlike the portion at DaMimo of which one could count the number of calamari rings with one hand. The calamari was breaded and nicely fried. I chose to overindulge and spend an extra $2.50 to convert the garden salad to a house specialty, a “Bookmakers” salad which added large portions of shrimp, salami, hardboiled egg, pepperoncini and olives, making a monstrous proportion of a salad covered in the creamy house  dressing. In all fairness, that salad would make a meal for some people I know. My friend had the regular house salad, also large, and he raved about it.

Out of the eight possible entrée selections, three of us somehow decided to have the Chicken Parmigiana. Timing throughout the meal was perfect – how Kitty and the kitchen manage to keep things that way on such a busy night is no easy task. Having enough servers is no doubt a part of it and we could see that there were several other attentive waitresses working our large dining room, often communication with one another by shouts to assure that all the tables were adequately covered and the food flowing. The pounded chicken breast fully covered the plate, lightly breaded and covered in mozzarella cheese a tomato sauce. The spaghetti with sauce had to be served in a separate bowl. Perhaps because of my Bookmaker salad, this was the first time I can recall in many years that I could not eat all of my entrée – I usually scoff at the idea of there being anything left to take home in a doggie-bag. The odd meal of our table was the Shrimp Renato, large butterflied shrimp in a brandy, lemon & white wine sauce. The numerous shrimp were accompanied by a side order of spaghetti.

Dessert came with the special menu although I don’t believe any of us needed a dessert to top off that meal. We chose the house-made cannoli and rum cake. The cake was indeed rum flavored and had a delicious layered filling in addition to the icing glaze. In keeping with all things Sabatino’s, the portion was not sparse. The cannoli’s disappeared so quickly I never had a chance to steal a sample. Our friend capped off her meal with a cappuccino served beautifully in a glass mug. Kitty was a terrific waitress, offering suggestions and filling us in on the restaurant that she is obviously pleased to work for. It isn’t often these days that you receive such personable, attentive service. We noticed that the owner was right in there with his crew escorting diners to their tables and checking with every table to make sure they were pleased with their meals.

The valet neither lost nor damaged the car, making it a pretty successful evening out.

If you decide to go to Sabatino’s be sure to pick up one of the free maps of Little Italy available in the foyer, it’ll help you plan future trips as all the restaurants and points of interest in the community are featured. Dress code is what has unfortunately come to be accepted in Baltimore these days: just about anything and everything from t-shirt & jeans to suit & tie. They won’t try to bump up your bill at Sabatino’s with unrequested bottled water or harking of garlic bread & bruschetta, although I have no doubt all are available on request. They even offer large and small carafes of inexpensive house wines as well as wine by the glass for those so inclined.

The great service and a vast regular menu are certainly enough to have me planning on another trip to Sabatino’s.

A Trip To the Cleaners

Da Mimmo

217 High Street

Little Italy

Baltimore, MD 21202

4100-727-8776

www.damimmo.com

The lesson from this meal is that one should choose their dining choices during Restaurant Week carefully because what looks like a bargain at the $30 per meal price can be very deceptive. It was at Da Mimmo in Little Italy, Baltimore.

Granted, we expected a limited menu before four of us dined there on a week night; in fact we reviewed the menu on line before going there. Da Mimmo is a very popular restaurant and for good reason. The kitchen has a very flavorful way with food, the atmosphere is comfortable Meditterean and it is probably the only restaurant in Little Italy that offers free parking on its nearby own lot. Forgedaboud trying to find a parking space on one of these garlic perfumed side streets, the residents and valet parking vendor have collected them all.

The trouble with our trip started in a very inauspicious way just after we were seated when a server began our meal by pouring our table water from a bottle. I suppose bells and whistles should have gone off before the first drop hit a glass but we had come to relax and have a fine meal at a fixed cost, not worry about the house trying to slip one over on this. This was after a very troubling situation before our arrival when we were virtually trapped on Albemarle Street for ten minutes when a truck from a rental furniture company refused to move while the employees repossessed goods from a residence. In an age not too long ago I believe I would have tried to resolve that situation with something other than patience. Such must be life in the city in the 21^st Century.

To compound the injury, the wait staff continued to fill our water glasses from yet another bottle of imported water.  Shame on us for being so naive as to think that a restaurant would not add an additional $20 to the bill without asking first (alas, the water was no better or different than Baltimore’s tap water). The amount wasn’t a lot in light of the total bill but there was a basic dining etiquette violated here to my way of perceiving things. We were later offered garlic bread or bruschetta by our server and fully expected to pay an additional charge for it when we accepted the offer. The garlic bread was quite delicious, full of garlic &  olive oil and quite cheesy too.

We also ordered a very nice bottle of Nobile de Montepulciano red wine from pretty limited wine list. Be prepared to pay a minimum of $45 for a bottle of wine at Da Mimmo and wine by the glass was not offered. As for the meal, it had some extreme highs and lows for us. First I must comment that the list of specials the kitchen had available was quite impressive, albeit that none were on the $30 Restaurant Week menu. It showed a certain amount of creativity available from the kitchen but I detect it was also a ruse to detract diners from ordering beyond the limited menu at a considerable hike in the cost. This has not been my experience at other restaurants during Restaurant Week when most see it as an opportunity to put on their best faces to lure new diners throughout the rest of the year. The Lesson from Da Mimmo was, OK, nice meal but I won’t go back for more abuse thank you.

I have a real culinary aversion to cucumbers. Hate the damn things unless they have been transformed into a pickle. The smell of a cucumber alone is a turn off to me so anytime I order salad I ask that the restaurant make certain that cucumber not be added. Such it was at Da Mimmo and the server nonchalantly agreed to make sure my salad arrived without cukes. Unfortunately, while there weren’t any cucumber slices in my salad it still reeked and tasted of cucumber. Apparently the kitchen had made a large quantity of the salad in advance and simply removed the cuke slices from my dish. The rest of my salad, what I could taste of it, was pretty unexceptional.

We tried the full array of appetizers. The lady ordering the Shrimp Reganati was quite pleased with the dish. Those who ordered the calamari were similarly pleased but from a distance I would fault the incredibly small portion offered, although some would find it just fine. I ordered the sausage and peppers and was disappointed to find it consisted of a few slices of an unexceptional sausage in a non-descript concoction of olive oil, green pepper slices and diced onion.

From viewing my friends entrée of Orange Roughy I suspect that that particularly fish must be quite small compared to others in the fish tank. She loved it though so who am I to pass judgment. I ordered the penne puttanesca and it arrived as advertised, flavorful and the pasta was accompanied with cherry tomatoes, capers, olives and grated padano cheese. The portion would have made a nice side dish elsewhere. The remaining entrees to reach the table were a contradiction to everything else about the meal because the veal chops were enormous, cooked to perfection and as pungent as anything I have ever stolen off my wife’s plate. Go figure how the chef decided on those entrée proportions.

We capped our meal off with a few glasses of a lovely grappa, one of the tamest, smoothest I have ever downed. Yes, it added to the price of the meal but also to the moment. I would not warn readers off from going to Da Mimmo entirely because what they do with specials and the regular menu could be quite different from our Restaurant Week experience. Just be prepared to pay for it accordingly. At least the parking is free.