Atwater's

Location: Belvedere Market in Belvedere Square off of York Rd.
Price: Inexpensive
How to get there: car, cab
Service: great!

Arugula, clemetine, cheese, and pomegranate seed salad

         While Belvedere Market is someplace that we have frequented throughout our years at Loyola, it wasn’t until recently that Atwater’s became one of our new favorite spots. Atwater’s, located within Belvedere Market in Belvedere Square off of York Road, is one of the best places near Loyola to grab breakfast or lunch! As soon as you walk up to the counter at Atwater’s you see a pile of homemade loaves of bread, a case full of cakes and cookies, a selection of gourmet cheeses, and jars of homemade jams. If you're anything like us, you'll be mesmerized by the homemade, yummy goodness!

Banana pancakes with a side of bacon

While the breakfast and lunch menus change daily, they always offer customers a variety of dishes made with fresh ingredients. Whether you’re in the mood for a bowl of oatmeal and toast or you feel like eating a stack of banana pancakes, Atwater’s has something that will fill your breakfast craving. 

Oatmeal served with brown sugar, golden raisins,
and warm milk

Some of our favorites include the cheesy grits, toast served with their homemade jam, the apricots scones, and the Southwestern omelet. An extremely popular item is the the huevos rancheros as well. Even if don't want to get something to eat, you must stop by Atwater’s for a cup of coffee. They truly serve the best cup of coffee around!

 

Apricot scone with homemade jam

Latte

For lunch, Atwater’s offers customers an assortment of soups, salads, and sandwiches. Many of the sandwiches can be ordered as half sandwiches as well if you’re looking to try a few different items on the menu in one visit.

Provolone cheese, apple, and bacon sandwich

One of the best sandwiches we ever had at Atwater’s was a turkey, avocado, cheddar cheese, and jalapeno sandwich served on a warm cheddar biscuit. So good! Another awesome lunch item is the arugula salad, made with arugula, shaved fennel, clementines, pomegranate seeds, and shards of salty cheese.

Cheddar Biscuit sandwich with turkey, jalapenos,
avocado, & cheddar cheese

Atwater’s has a Dairy Bar menu as well. This menu includes options like milkshakes, sundaes, and yogurt platters with marinated vegetables and crackers to dip.

Cranberries, brie, apples, turkey, & mixed greens on flax seed toast

Although Atwater’s is packed on a Sunday morning, you never have to stand in line to find a table. Therefore, it's a great alternative to some of the other busy breakfast places around Baltimore!

Cheesy grits

The Dogwood Restaurant

Location: Hampden

Price: pricey

How to get there: car, taxi

Service: very helpful! Gave good menu suggestions!

When walking down W. 36th in Hampden, you may have walked by the Dogwood Restaurant many times without noticing. Despite its inconspicuous facade, the Dogwood is a restaurant worth noting.

Irish Brown Bread with Mango Butter

Regardless of its good reviews, we were hesitant to try the Dogwood due to its slightly expensive menu. However, this week’s Restaurant Week menu (three courses for $30.13) provided us with the opportunity to sample many options from the Dogwood’s menu for a reasonable price.

Baltimore Crab Soup

Shrimp and Grits

The Dogwood’s walls, covered in whimsical, painted murals and ceilings, decked with strings of lights and paper stars, make for a cozy, casual dining atmosphere.  The menu consists of an eclectic mix of cuisine, including many Mediterranean and southern American-inspired dishes. For starters, we ordered shrimp and grits served with a tomato Creole sauce and a spicy tomato-based Baltimore crab soup.

                         

                              Slow Braised Liberty Delight Farm's Beef Brisket

For our main courses, we had Moroccan spiced lamb borek and slow braised Liberty Delight Farm’s beef brisket. The lamb, in phyllo dough with spinach and feta cheese, was served over salad with tzatziki sauce. The braised beef was covered in an ancho-chipotle barbeque sauce with sautéed kale and green chile cornbread.

Moroccan Spiced Lamb Borek

For our third course we split two desserts. A piece of salted caramel cheesecake and a chocolate pot de crème (it was like a very thick, fudgy pudding) provided us with a wonderful ending to our delicious meals.

Chocolate Pot de Creme

While the Dogwood’s menu is full of creative and unique dishes, the restaurant prides itself on showcasing the natural flavors of the food. By using seasonal ingredients from local farms, the Dogwood’s ever-changing menu features fresh food with incredible flavor.

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

Besides the Dogwood’s mission to serve great food, the restaurant has a social mission as well. The restaurant is home to the Dogwood Apprenticeship Program. This program aims to hire and train adults who have experienced addiction, incarceration, or homelessness. Therefore, the Dogwood works to better the lives of the people in the apprenticeship by helping them establish skills needed to obtain jobs in the food industry. 

DiPasquales

DiPasquales Market Place

Location: Canton - Highlandtown

DiPasquales storefront

Price: $

How to get there: car, taxi (will be a bit pricey)

Service: self serve, order at counter and sit

 website: http://dipasquales.com

            This might be the best Italian food we’ve had thus far in Baltimore.  If you are in the mood for anything Italian from sandwiches to lasagna to brick-oven pizza, DiPasquales is absolutely the answer. 

            One thing to keep in mind when planning a trip to this quaint Italian market/eatery is the hours of operation.  Open from 9 am to 6pm Mondays through Saturdays, lunch would be the best meal option to plan for.  Sometimes they are open on Sunday for limited hours so be sure to check their website before you go. 

DiPasquales side mural

            You might think you have the wrong address the first time you look for DiPasquales, since it is mostly surrounded by row houses in the neighborhood of Highlandtown just outside of Canton.  If you can drive there, which we recommend, the parking can be spotty, so look for a spot on the road on surrounding streets.  There won’t be a huge sign to look for, but it is really worth the adventure of finding. 

The Rustico Sandwich

            Once inside, you’ll find yourself in one of the most authentic Italian markets in Baltimore.  They stock everything Italian including olive oil, homemade pasta and sauce, wine, specialty candy, and much more (remember to pick something up for dinner during the week!).  Grab a menu and you’ll see why Guy from "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" stopped here.  The whole order of things can be a bit confusing the first time you go.  Order first at the counter, then pay at the front, and then sit and servers bring your food right to you.  It can be very crowded so expect to wait a couple of minutes for a table to clear out – but it’s worth the wait! 

We’ve had the meatball sub, which is large enough to share and unlike any I have had before, the “Real Italian” sandwich, the Rustico, and their signature rice ball.  We are planning to try the lasagna that is supposedly to die for and the dish they served to Guy Fieri.  If you are still hungry make sure to get some dessert to bring home.  The bread pudding made from Italian panettone bread topped with vanilla cream proved to be a good choice.  We recently tried their hand-stuffed pistachio canolis – wow.  Every single thing we have ordered has been better than the last, so DiPasquales rates very high on our go-to guilty pleasure spots.

Pistachio Canoli

The "Real Italian" Sandwich

  

The Food Market

Location: Hampden, West 36th St.

Price: $$

How to get there: car, taxi

Service: great!

The Food Market is another great find in the Baltimore’s charming area of Hampden. The Food Market recently opened in June of 2012 and is already a popular spot on 36th. We’ve been here twice now and truly enjoyed ourselves both times. It’s a great spot to have your parents treat you to dinner because it’s close to campus and serves great food, but is a little pricey!

Crab Cake

Rainbow Trout

The food is described as “approachable, serious comfort food” by the restaurant, itself. Both times we dined at The Food Market, we went with groups of people and, in turn, were able to sample many of the dishes. Our favorites included the crab cake served over lobster mac and cheese, the scallops served over butternut squash risotto with a bacon cream sauce, and the Cajun cornmeal encrusted rainbow trout served over a sweet potato latke and green beans with beurre blanc.

Calamari

The restaurant offers a variety of appetizers (called “littles” and “smalls”) as well. We tried the risotto crusted mozzarella and the calamari, which were both a big hit with our groups. Other popular appetizers that we hope to try in the future are the Amish soft pretzel served with beer-cheese fondue and the buffalo pickles with gorgonzola and hot sauce. We finished off our meals by sharing a large helping of toffee bread pudding made out of Texas toast that was the perfect ending to great dining experience.

Toffee Bread Pudding (partially eaten, whoops!)

(The Food Market also serves brunch on Saturdays and Sundays. While we haven’t tried it yet, we hope to soon!)

The restaurant’s atmosphere is very modern, but still feels warm and welcoming.  A bar, offering drinks such as fireside sangria and the Pimlico playboy, is situated at the front of the restaurant. The majority of the restaurant offers plenty of seating and the back features an open kitchen.

If you know anything about Hampden at all, you know that it can be incredibly hard to find parking. Therefore, the restaurant’s complimentary valet parking is an added bonus when dining at The Food Market.

Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen

Location: Fed Hill, 745 East Fort Ave.

Price: cheap

How to get there: car

Service: Great!

   Baba’s Mediterranean Kitchen is definitely going to be one of our new favorites! Inexpensive, delicious, Mediterranean food? It couldn’t get much better! Baba’s is a tiny corner restaurant in Federal Hill with plenty of street parking outside. There are only 5 or 6 tables and 4 counter seats for people to dine in, but the smallness provides an intimate and cozy atmosphere. 

Because there were no tables open when we arrived, we sat at the counter and watched the chefs (sporting shirts that read “Friends don’t let friends eat store-bought hummus”)  make all of the food. Dozens of pick-up orders were put together in front of us that included dishes such as falafel, tabouleh, dolmas, baba ghannouge, spanokopita, zucchini fries, and backlava. We ordered the lamb kabobs and shrimp ouzo, both served on top of rice. For an extra $3, you can turn any meal into a platter, adding a greek salad, homemade hummus, and pitas to your meal. Everything was fantastic and the hummus was good enough to eat by itself! For meals that cost $11.50 each, we both left incredibly full. Another notable fact about Baba’s is that it’s BYOB. There is no uncorking fee and they provide you with wine glasses!

Lamb Kabob

Next time we return to Baba’s, we will order a medley plate, which includes falafel, dolmas, spanokopita, hummus, olives, and feta, to get a taste of everything Baba's has to offer. The only thing we would change about Baba’s is its location; we wish it were closer to Loyola!

Greek Salad

Medley Plate

Holy Frijoles

Location: Hampden
Price: Cheap
How to get there: Car, taxi
Service: Good

              Everyone loves a good mexican restaurant and Holy Frijoles in Hampden is a great option!  Whether it is for happy hour or your in the mood for some good food, we definitely recommend it.  For drinks, the margarita is great as well as their selection of local beers.  Their happy hour is extensive with signature drinks and beers half price from 4-7pm on weekdays.  We recommend the cucumber margarita (sounds weird) which has flavors that you wouldn't expect would work that amazingly do.

 Chicken Fajitas

               Free endless chips and salsa always start off a meal on the right foot.  They even make their own tortilla chips in house.  For dinner, the fish tacos and chicken fajitas are excellent, and a generous portion which ensures leftovers for later.  They always have fresh guacamole and this traditional Mexican food is a welcomed break from chipotle and qdoba (not that we don't love them too!).  Although it sounds intimidating, the chimichanga was also delectable - not too fried like we thought it was going to turn out.

Chimichanga

             The service at Holy Frijoles is welcoming but very simple and to the point. The good food and fun atmosphere makes this a perfect place to go with a group of friends for dinner.  It is casual and laid back looking over the cute town of Hampden.  If you haven't gone to Hampden yet consider going before Christmas Break - they have some of the most famous Christmas lights in the country which light up all the houses and businesses on 34th street.  If you love classic Mexican make sure you check out Holy Frijoles!

13.5% Wine Bar

Location: Hampden

Cost: moderate

How to get there: car, taxi, walk (if you’re really motivated)

Service: good

          While we love our food, we love a good glass of wine now and then too. Recently, we checked out 13.5% Wine Bar in Hampden. Filled with leather chairs, dark woods, and a wall full of wine bottles, this wine bar has really cool and modern atmosphere.

Although we didn’t eat at 13.5%, they do have a selection of snacks, salads, pizzas, dinners, and desserts. If you’re going with someone who isn’t a fan of wine, they also have an assortment of beers and other cocktails.
On our visit to 13.5%, we weren’t quite sure what to order to drink. Both being 21, we are not connoisseurs of wine quite yet. Because we couldn’t make up our minds, what seemed to be the most logical decision at the time was for us each to get a flight of wine. One of us ordered a flight of white wines and another ordered a flight of sparkling wines. Therefore, we each got three 3 oz. glasses. If you're wondering, a normal glass of wine is 6 oz, so a flight equaled about one and half glasses. The waitress was very kind and explained each of the wines to us. We really enjoyed being able to sit outside and sample each of the wines we ordered. It was a very relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Just a warning if you end up getting a flight there as well: although you only get 3 oz. in each glass, they put the wine in normal sized wine glasses. Because we sat outside, countless people came over and questioned why we had 6 glasses for the 2 of us. That was slightly embarrassing. Still, getting to sample a few of the wines was totally worth the judgment.

Definitely check 13.5% Wine Bar out!