well said, brother

Yes you are! Love yourself!

> mostly red county folks or ppl that wished the lived in red county. More than likely trash ppl anyways and best to avoid their toxic personality.

This whole sentence is gross. Baltimore is dangerous...to say otherwise is disingenuous, regardless of what your politics are.

Yeesh.

You can talk about the good parts of Baltimore and still mention the parts to keep an eye out for without being "trash ppl".

> Not everyone is going to agree on food.

> … if I’ve never had something before, I probably wouldn’t care so much how authentic it was if I enjoyed it…

Agreed on both points. While none of the places I recommend are revelatory, I think they are great and represent the Baltimore food scene.

For a casual spot with great food (menu is not static) and solid cocktails - Sally O’s

Maybe a bit late in the year, but crab cakes by some boats - Nick’s Fish House

Deli sandwiches, especially “The Real Italian”, and an Italian market (sauces, wine, premade food, etc.) - DiPasquale’s

While it doesn’t beat spots in Annandale or K-town in NYC, Korean fried chicken - Kong Pocha

Pizza is one of things that Baltimore doesn’t do great, but I have enjoyed it from a couple places -

Matthew’s Pizzeria

Isabella’s

Wings (there is a redditor with an impressive ongoing review in this subreddit) -

Kislings Tavern

iBar

Don’t Know Tavern

Tacos. The lengua was a disappointment, but the other meat tacos were good. The mezcal and margaritas were awesome - Clavel

Expensive, but great pasta and a broad wine menu - Cinghiale

For a special occasion/to really treat yourself - Charleston

Yes, it is sad that we have so many, esp from the surrounding counties who are cheerleaders for our failure. Despite so many of their neighbors who are prime instigators of our decay. Many of the decayed buildings are owned by no city residents or entities. The ghettoizing of the city after the 2nd war was to provide the counties with fewer poor and mostly white residents. The annexing of infrastructure, esp sewer and water essentially allowed the county residents a free ride. Too many outsiders fishing at the Baltimore pond, too few restocking.

Pizzas are excellent. Even the GF ones are very good. Meatballs are fire. I personally like the Roma sandwich. The bread is great and I believe is made in house. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I have yet to get the wings but from what I heard they are also very good

Any dishes you'd particularly recommend?

Zella’s.

Yeah but we also need tourists to come here and spend money, we need taxpayers to move here, entrepreneurs to come here and open up new businesses, etc etc.

Was reminded of one more place my husband and I found recently: Grilled Cheese and Co. It's outside the city proper, in Catonsville, but still close enough that I think it would count for our purposes. I wasn't expecting too much, I mean it's just grilled cheese right? Boy was I surprised! I've had two of their Grilled Cheese Sandwiches so far - the Sweet Caroline and the Philly, and both were excellent. Their Broccoli Cheddar soup is also great! And my husband loves their Crabby Melt!

I felt way safer in detroit ,And its a ghost town downtown at night.

Franchesca's looks great, though I may end up being a little inauthentic and trying one of their fusion options - that Korean BBQ Steak bowl is tempting me. I'm sure I'll try the more traditional options on the menu too! And not sure what I'll get at Sajhoma, there are a lot of options looking tempting. Thank you for the recs!

Please don’t do any PR. The second a place becomes “hip,” it is no longer the place.

I think the murder rates in Bmore are higher because the city has a relatively small population. And there's shows like The Wire and We Own This City (ok, that's a true story) that give Bmore the reputation. When people think of Seattle, they think of Starbucks and cafes? Traverse North Avenue -- people from out of town get freaked out by the abandoned rowhouses.

Baltimore is my home town - Detroit is my wife's home town.

You are absolutely correct - Baltimore is a great town going through a hard time.

Would things be different if the news showed the great things in Baltimore? Like Camden Yards or Washington Monument and the Walters or Fells Point or the Katyn Monument or the Aquarium or all the great places to eat? I think so.

That said it would be doing a disservice to anyone wanting to visit or move without also adding that Baltimore does have its issues.

I went once recently and they were not.

The Ace in Canton does knives. No shears though, which is a bummer.

Oop. Found the info:

The Baltimore Farmers Market

The Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar, located underneath the Jones Falls Expressway (JFX) at Holliday and Saratoga Streets, takes place rain or shine. 7a.m. - noon. April through December.

Pro Edge Sharpening will be at the Baltimore Farmers Market every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month.

Baltimore has a poverty rate of 21.2%, comparable to Columbus (19.5%), Houston (20.5%), Pittsburgh (20.5%) and Atlanta (20.8%), and less than Philadelphia (24.3%) and Cleveland (32.7%), to name but a few. All of those other cities have significantly lower violent crime rates than Baltimore.

Even “safe” East Coast cities have a lot of poverty- see Boston (18.9%) and NYC (17.9%). source: US Census Bureau 2021 and FBI Crime Data 2019).

There aren’t consistent or serious penalties for criminal behavior in Baltimore, which means the culture bred by poverty has an outsized influence on the lived experience here. We just let our problems fester more than other places with a similar proportion of miserable assholes.

I don't think I've ever had Senegalese. Looks like it's time to change that!

Thank you for recommending Abbey Burger - I've had them before but it's been a while and I've been trying to think of the name and it was just not coming to me. I kept mixing it up with Clarke Burger, which is also good but not the same.

They do look good! Are they still requiring reservations?

If Cuban is what you seek, Franchesca’s Empanada Cafe is excellent. Sajhoma Resturtant is great Cuban/Dominican food also.

I haven't gotten over into Ellicott City proper in a while. My husband and I used to frequent Ellicott Mills Brewery for many years. We'll have to give Manor Hill a try.

>i don't know why almost every restaurant in Baltimore has to center around a bar

Because so much of the building stock in Baltimore are long and narrow spaces that do not set up well for a restaurant only.

Not everyone is going to agree on food. If you can't recommend Little Havana, where would you recommend?

Not everyone is going to agree on food. For some people, whether it is authentically Cuban is going to take a back seat to whether the food tastes good. For others, the two are inextricably linked. I can understand both sides - if I've never had something before, I probably wouldn't care so much how authentic it was if I enjoyed it, while if it was something I was very familiar with and had grown up with, I probably wouldn't like it if it significantly deviated from my expectations even if it might be enjoyable if billed as something new. If you can't recommend Little Havana, where would you recommend?