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