Monday, July 27, 2009

Recent Baltimore Restauranting

I feel like I do a lot of apologizing in this blog. The apologizing mostly comes when I miss a post that was supposed to happen either on Monday or Friday, which are my assigned times. I don't have much of an excuse most times I miss. I assigned myself these days, and even enlisted the help of three great friends to cover the middle of the week to give me more of a fighting chance to get the Monday and Friday posts in on time. This past Friday my Mac Book blew up. I didn't have any way to post. So while I am sorry, I also feel like this is an adequate excuse. I type now on a laptop I borrowed from my parents and hope that tomorrows appointment at the Mac genius bar will solve my computer problems. I am not optimistic that it will be so quick. Mac laptop problems, anyone?

Like I said in a previous post, I haven't seen many movies lately. I love movies, I just haven't seen any lately to recommend. I hope to change this soon. I am excited for THIS even thought it is a ways away. More CGI than I expected/had hoped for, but what can you do. I still have high hopes and still think I will enjoy it more than the Willy Wonka remake. That's all.

Also recently I've been thinking of giving It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia a second chance, because the first chance didn't leave a great impression. I'll be back with an update on that. In the meantime just watch Arrested Development in it's entirety again. I can't imagine that getting old.

Something I have been doing is eating. July is a birthday packed month, including my own and eating out seems to be a thing that happens around birthdays. I'll keep these short, but a couple of recent highlights for me for Baltimore eating (these aren't ranked, just numbered for organization):

1. Lumbini Restaurant--322 N Charles Street--Heather and I went here for lunch on my birthday. I'd been to this Indian buffet before, but as far as the downtown Indian buffets go this is my favorite. I used to love Akbar, but then there was a weird sewage rumor and although I'm not sure if it was true or not I haven't been back. Not saying I won't go back, I just haven't been. Sewage rumor or not I prefer the Lumbini Buffet. There is more of a selection (especially for vegetarians), their Chicken Tikka Marsala is great (which is the dish I judge all Indian buffets by), AND they have chai tea with the buffet. Most places don't do this, but the chai really ties the meal together. Really. Chtry it. Also, this is cheap. I think it was $8.99. I'm not sure, but it was well worth it.

2. The Yabba Pot--2433 St. Paul Street--One of Baltimore's well-known vegan restaurants. I am not a vegan and I probably would have never picked this restaurant. Heather is a vegetarian so it was her choice for her birthday. I was pleasantly surprised. While it was all vegan, I left full and happy. They call it soul food. I guess that generally implies spicy, which a lot of it was. You basically go into the place, tell them how many sides you want (sides are basically what they call any kind of food there), and point to them. Then you go eat. Heather and I each got six sides and rice which is like the Rolls Royce of Yabba Pot dining. I couldn't finish, and for a vegan meal I was pretty full. If you are feeling adventurous or in the mood for some sort of healthiness check it out. Maybe skip the ginger beer. It was OK but the plant outside seemed to enjoy it more than we did. No sign of alcohol in this place if that is your thing.

3. One World Cafe--100 W University Parkway--Another very vegetarian friendly place (you can tell that Heather had a birthday in July too!) This was also great. Maybe the greatest part, aside from the coffee, was the wide range of vegetarian options. You could get almost anything. Heather got a meatball sub. Seriously a vegetarian meatball sub. You can even get that. I got some kind of noodles in some kind of sauce. It was good. Also cheap. I've never been impressed by vegan desert and this place didn't change my opinion of that, but the meal was good. If you are up by Hopkins, and you are feeling more like a hippy than normal you should definitely check it out.

4. Lebanese Taverna--719 S President Street--If you are down in Harbor East during lunch time you should only go here. I'd been for dinner and I loved it. I went for lunch and I still loved it. I got a shwarma (sp?) which is a lot like a chicken souvlaki with rice and salad and it was $7.99 I think. And it was awesome. I felt full, but still ready to run a race after it. Not at all heavy, but filling. If you park in Whole Foods lot and buy anything from Whole Foods you get your parking validated. So we ate at Lebanese Taverna which I already mentioned was awesome, and then I got a Naked Juice from Whole Foods and got my parking validated for free. Maybe my favorite place on the list, but that shouldn't knock down the other places. I just really like this one. Really. For real.

6 comments:

h. van de mark said...

ooh you forgot to talk about the bread at lebanese taverna! this is probably the best bang for your buck for lunch. it's great.

and go yabba pot, i can't wait to go back for a faux chicken drumstick.

and the meatball sub at one world, was fine, but not a winner, try something else.

and i liked the indian place too. the chai really pushes it over the goodness edge.

Unknown said...

These are all great recommends. The idea of an Indian buffet is just too much goodness. I have definitely tried some gross things there though, but there is enough variety to keep anyone happy.

I actually think that Yabba Pot makes a lot of really gross dishes and they are too pricey. The best thing on the menu is either the all berry smoothy or the banana peanut butter smoothy. They usually have some really good spicy tofu, but any of their green salads are too overloaded with garlic.

I don't know why you say that One World is for hippies. It's a really classy restaurant/cafe/bar. As far as I'm concerned, that place has it all and is one of my favorite restaurants in Baltimore. They have a meatless crabcake that sounds disgusting, but is actually quite delicious. And they also have some of the best mac & cheese around. And Adam lies. They're deserts are great. I went for my 29th birthday and when my girlfriend asked for a candle in it, they didn't have one so they put a sparkler in it instead. It was great.

I just tried Lebanese Tavern this past week, and yes the bread is amazing, though kind of gross after two days of being in a refrigerator. Hummus, Baba Ganoush, stewed lamb, it's all good. Go for happy hour for $3 beers and appetizers.

Laundre said...

Hey guys,

Sarah and I went for a walk to find some place to eat in our new neighborhood yesterday and came across this little restaurant called Baba's Mediterranean Kitchen (http://www.babaskitchen.net/). Apparently it opened recently. The owner was super nice, the food was great and reasonably priced and there are a bunch of awesome looking things to try out so we'll probably be going a lot.

I think the menu said they were vegan friendly too but it might have just been vegetarian since I can't confirm that right now. It's on Fort Ave near Locust Point.

Unknown said...

This Baba's place is owned by a friend of a friend and came highly recommended as well. I haven't been yet, but I foresee going there in the near future.

h. van de mark said...

oh neat i work down there, am glad to have a veggie place to check out.

Jessica said...

i'm checking out Mekong Delta Cafe tomorrow, which I've heard great things about from more than one source also -- i'll report back my findings!