Hospitality : Development News

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream on the Avenue in Hampden.
 
The Charmery opened at 801 W. 36^th St. at the former location of the Chestnut Pharmacy July 20. The 1,400 square-foot, 15-seat store offers 16 flavors of ice cream made onsite, waffle cones and a dipping station. Flavors include Old Bay Caramel, Md. Mud and Lemon Stick. The Fat Elvis is a mixture of peanut butter and bananas. Other treats include vegan sorbets, homemade sodas and root beer floats. The Charmery will serve homemade hot chocolate in the winter.
 
Canton residents David and Laura Alima say they thought Hampden’s main drag was an ideal spot for an ice cream shop because there aren’t many other ice cream places in the area. The couple was also impressed with how supportive the neighborhood is of local businesses. 

The Alimas make most of their ice cream, brownies and cookies from local ingredients, like dairy, eggs and butter from Trickling Springs Creamery. 

It was always the couple’s dream to open an ice cream shop. The pair would visit area ice cream shops and carry a “black book” filled with ideas, Laura Alima says. Her husband attended the Frozen Dessert Institute in Missouri, which offers a course on running an ice cream store. Laura Alima will keep her job as marketing director for Timonium catering company Chef’s Expressions. 
 
The Alimas say they made a “substantial” investment in the shop, funded by a small business loan and personal savings. They signed a 10-year lease for the space and will employ nine part-time. The pair are applying for an outdoor seating license.
 
 
Writer: Jolene Carr
Source: David and Laura Alima, owners of Charmery

The owners of the Mutiny Pirate Bar & Island Grille are setting sail for Howard County and have their sights set on franchising the concept nationwide.
 
The owners are scouting Howard County for a 3,000- to 4,000- square-foot spot, with seating for up to 150 customers, outdoor dining and good visibility. Brothers Rob Wecker and Steve Wecker spent about $200,000 to open the original bar and restaurant in Glen Burnie two years ago. 
 
Steve Wecker says the Howard County location should open within a year. That's also when they expect to have more details ready on their franchise plans, including how much it will cost. Howard County is where the others operate another restaurant, the popular Iron Bridge Wine Co. 

The Glen Burnie restaurant features 145 types of rum and Caribbean-influenced food. The signature dish is the Shipwreck Burger: a half-pound burger with a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich bun, spiced rum barbecue sauce, tempura onion rings, a fried egg, lettuce and tomato.
 
 “What we tried to do was create something that had a hook, that had a unique marketing program,” Wecker says. “We’re always looking for ways to make the package better, but it is at its core a classic bar and restaurant food with a Caribbean flair.”
 
As for franchising, Wecker says the pirate concept is a great hook that can easily be replicated in cities across the nation.
Wecker says the owners will get financing from banks and private investors. 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Steve Wecker, co-owner Mutiny Pirate Bar & Island Grille
 
 
 

The owner of Dooby’s Coffee in Mount Vernon is adding a new neighbor that he hopes will grow small businesses. 

In mid-July, Phil Han is opening the Hatch, an incubator for small businesses and artisans who wish to showcase their work to the Baltimore community. The space will feature exhibits and retail pop-up shops. The Hatch will also offer hands-on support to budding entrepreneurs who need help with accounting, licensing and other aspects of running a business.

“The Hatch is a little bit more about encouraging other entrepreneurs to test out their ideas and products and services so that they then can be convinced to come out here in Baltimore and open up a business here,” Han says.

The 1,200-square-foot space will be located at 4 W Madison St., the site of the temporary location of Dooby’s Coffee. The coffee shop will remain in the same building but move around the corner to a 2,500-square-foot space at 802 N Charles St. when the Hatch opens. Dooby's has received its liquor license for the new space and will serve coffee, pastries, sandwiches and craft beers. The fire-ravaged building was once home to My Thai and Donna's.

For Han, establishing these businesses is about creating a sense of community.

“Given right now as our community and population have been growing, there just aren’t enough local cafes and coffee shops where people are hanging out,” he says.

His goal is to use the Hatch to bring new entrepreneurs to Baltimore, and also new customers to Dooby’s Coffee, which will be expanding its menu to include more restaurant items.

Until these projects are completed, Han says that Dooby’s Coffee will still be offering its full coffee bar, as well as baked goods, pastries, sandwiches and salads.

Writer: Daryl Hale
Source: Phil Han, Dooby's Coffee

Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood boasts world cuisine ranging from Spanish to Thai, Indian to Italian. But diners craving a good deli sandwich have just a few options.
 
Opening in early July, the new Tavern on the Hill restaurant at 900 Cathedral St. will feature burgers, salads and classic deli fare like corned beef and brisket. The restaurant will be on the ground floor of the 58-unit Cathedral Court apartment building.
 
Co-owner Lee Cohen says when the former Howard’s Restaurant became available, he and partner Benjamin “Rubin” Schechman jumped at the chance to take over the space.
 
The partners have spruced up the 2,300-square-foot restaurant with new paint, carpeting and tile. Landlord Matrix Management helped out with the installation of new HVAC. Cohen declined to discuss the cost of renovations.
 
The owners’ goal is to keep the menu affordable. A burger with fries will cost $8, and most other menu items will be less than $10. Wine will be under $20 a bottle. The restaurant and bar will seat about 80 inside, with room for about 10 people out front, and space for an additional 30 in the dog-friendly patio out back.
 
“Mount Vernon is a pretty cool place,” says Cohen. “Our goal is to meld into the community and have good, quality, consistent food.”

Cohen says he expects to bring back trivia night, a fixture of the former Howard’s. Cohen expects to have 10 to 20 employees. The restaurant’s operating hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Lee Cohen, co-owner Tavern on the Hill

Liam Flynn’s Ale House in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District is expanding with additional seating and a new kitchen, featuring Scottish and Irish favorites to go with their popular beers and ales.
 
The expansion will increase the Ale House’s footprint within the North Avenue Market building where it’s located from 2,200 square feet to 3,000 square feet, says Liam Flynn, who co-owns the bar with wife Jessica. The Ale House currently seats about 64 and after the renovation, it will increase its capacity to about 100 with new outdoor tables and more seats at the bar. The new kitchen should be ready by August.
 
Located at 22 W. North Ave., the bar carries 15 beers on tap and specializes in British Isles ales, whiskeys, beers and ciders. Currently, it brings in pre-packaged foods from other restaurants, but hasn’t had a kitchen of its own.
 
Flynn says they get a lot of customers who come from the train station and area theaters, but because they don’t serve food, patrons have a pint and leave.
 
Once the new kitchen is open, Flynn says they’ll add a menu of Scottish and Irish favorites, such as Scotch eggs, and a Plowman’s Platter of bread, cheese and relish. The summer menu will feature smoked meat and fish, the winter menu will showcase slow cooked game. Flynn says he hopes to source as much food locally as possible.
 
The Ale House has six employees. With the new kitchen and planned daytime hours, Flynn says the number could double. Currently, the bar opens at 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and at 1 p.m. on Sundays.
 
Partnering with community groups, Flynn hopes to use the Ale House as a home base to train neighborhood residents for jobs in the food service industry. “We just want to be a positive influence in the neighborhood, especially coming from that we’re selling alcohol.”
 
The North Avenue Market building underwent a $1 million facelift last year. In addition to Liam Flynn’s, the Market building houses the WindUp Space and the Baltimore Print Studios. Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, previously located in Mount Vernon, plans to move to the building this fall.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Liam Flynn, co-owner Liam Flynn’s Ale House.
 

It’s a good time to celebrate the Roaring 20s. Director Baz Luhrmann has remade “The Great Gatsby” movie. WC Harlan in Remington is one of Baltimore’s hottest bars. And now the former Martick’s Restaurant Francis is about to be remade into a modern-day speakeasy when it reopens in August.

Speakeasies were hidden bars where in-the-know customers could enjoy a cocktail during Prohibition. It will still be called Martick’s, in honor of the late Morris Martick, the restaurant’s long-time owner, but there won’t be a sign at the Mount Vernon restaurant — just like its predecessor. If the light is on, it’s open. If not, you’re out of luck, says Co-owner Brooks Bennett. Another co-owner is Alex Martick, Morris Martick’s brother.

The property at 214 W. Mulberry St. in Mount Vernon consists of a first floor main dining room and the original 1933 bar, plus a second floor slated to be used for private parties. The first floor can seat about 75.

Bennett says they’re bringing in a chef and a mixologist who will showcase seasonal and regional beverages, highlighting Prohibition-era cocktails.

The menu is preliminary but will feature about a half dozen appetizers, including fries made from blue, white and yellow potatoes. The half dozen or so entrees will emphasize seafood.

The operators are leasing the building from the Martick family. The building will undergo a renovation with an eye toward giving it an old-timey speakeasy atmosphere, with reclaimed wooden floors and photos of the late Martick. 

Bennet hopes to do a soft opening in August, with an official opening in September. Currently Martick’s will likely be open Wednesdays through Sundays, but if business is good, the owners may expand the hours. Bennett says he expects the city to approve the liquor license in July.

The building really was a speakeasy back during Prohibition. After repeal, it became a legitimate bar. For 38 years, Morris Martick ran his French restaurant there before retiring in 2008.  Martick died in 2011 at age 88.

Speakeasies are making a comeback. Bennett says he visited modern day speakeasies from New York to Virginia to get a sense of what might work here in Baltimore.

“It’s all about the mystique and the mood,” he says.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Brooks Bennett, co-owner Martick’s Speakeasy.

Downtown Baltimore’s west side will get another dining destination when a wine bar and brick-oven pizza restaurant opens this fall.
 
Bryan Noto, a former manager at Alewife, is spending $500,000 to open Forno at the Avalon Centerpoint apartment building at 17 N. Eutaw St. Noto says he expects to hire 25 to 30 to work at the 130-seat restaurant, which will open by the end of September.
 
Noto describes the restaurant as “upscale casual,” which will hopefully appeal to downtown workers, young professionals who live in the area and theater fans. The location is across the street from the Hippodrome and next to the new home of Everyman Theatre. The space once housed World of Wings and has been vacant for a number of years.
 
Forno — which means oven in Italian — will serve artisanal 10-inch pizzas, craft beers and 30 wines by the glass.
 
“We’ll try to get some local wineries on board,” Noto says.

It will also serve six to 10 entrees and small plates, varying the Northern California-inspired menu each season according to what’s fresh at the local farms it will use to source the produce.
 
Noto says he is financing the restaurant with a bank loan, his own money and some money from the developer that will go toward construction. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Bryan Noto, Alewife 

Sweet Caroline’s Bistro and Tavern will open in Pazza Luna’s old space in Locust Point by early August.

Owner John Ferrari Jr. is renovating the 2,100-square-foot spot at 1401 E. Clement St., adding new lighting, paint, upgrading the floors and doing some repairs. The restaurant will seat 80 indoors and about another 16 outside. Ferrari declined to discuss his investment in the property or his financing for the 80-seat restaurant.

He says Sweet Caroline’s will be upscale but relaxed, American cuisine with influences from Italy and Spain. The restaurant's dishes will include crab guacamole, a bruschetta trio and a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. Sweet Caroline’s will be family friendly, with a kids’ menu as well.

Ferrari expects to employ about 10 to 12 people and is currently interviewing chefs.   

Ferrari used to own Bamboo’s Restaurant in Ocean City, which he sold a couple of years ago. After six years on the Eastern Shore, Ferrari says the time was right to head back to Baltimore. Between the fast-growing Under Armour and the influx of young families, Locust Point is the place to be, he says. Nearly 1,600 people work at Under Armour’s Locust Point headquarters, and the company recently announced plans to hire an additional 300 this year.

Ferrari chose the name Sweet Caroline’s because it’s a “good, catchy name,” that says “come out and have a good time.”

The Facebook page and website will be up shortly. 

Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: John Ferrari Jr., Sweet Caroline's

Two employees of a music promotion firm want to revive the space that held Bourbon Street and Hammerjacks nightclubs for a new live entertainment venue in downtown Baltimore.

Evan Weinstein and Elliot Lidard have applied for an arena liquor license under the name Area 316 LLC at 316-318 Guilford Ave. The application says Area 316 plans to offer live performances, alcohol and food though one of the applicants, Evan Weinstein, says there are no plans to serve food. The deadline for public comment on the application is May 30. The Baltimore City liquor board says the hearing will be scheduled sometime after then.

The liquor license application names Weinstein as Area 316’s president and Elliot Lidard as its secretary. Weinstein is in charge of marketing and promotions and Lidard of production for Steez Promo, which promotes music acts and shows in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Boston. Steez Promo is promoting the Moonrise Festival, which will be held June 8-9 at Port Covington. 

Weinstein says Area 316 will own and operate the business. He declined to comment further until the details are worked out. Lidard could not be reached for comment. 

Bourbon Street opened in 2008. One of its rooms held 1,300 people and 500 fit into another, according to reverbnation.com. Bands and DJs played rap, rock and dance music. A man was stabbed to death there April 2, 2011, the Baltimore Sun reported. It closed six months later.

In 2000, the two-story building became the new home of Hammerjacks, whose original space was demolished for Ravens stadium parking. The club closed in 2006. Competition had increased two years earlier with the start of Rams Head Live several blocks away in Power Plant Live. 

Writer: Wayne Countryman
Sources: Baltimore City liquor board, Evan Weinstein. 

The Admiral’s Cup Restaurant & Bar is expanding to include the second and third floors of the Fells Point building as Kali’s Restaurant Group continues its renovation of the property.

The expansion will give the restaurant a rooftop deck and wrap up in summer of 2014, adding 2,000 square feet and space for another 200 guests, says Admiral’s Cup General Manager Kenneth Petty. The current 1,250-square-foot restaurant holds can accommodate 110.

The restaurant group is adding a different concept on the upper floors to go along with the restaurant’s rustic nautical theme, says Petty, who is also a partner at Kali’s. He declined to divulge all of the details until all the partners are ready to disclose the information later this year.

The restaurant will continue to offer its “upscale casual” pub menu that is seafood-heavy, with dishes like Maryland crab soup, crab cakes and broiled salmon.

With waterfront views from all of its windows, the building has potential to bring in more business, Petty says. “This corner is a marquee property in Fells Point,” Petty says.

Kali’s bought the Admiral’s Cup in 2010 for $2 million and has spent more than $1 million on renovations. It hired Baltimore design firm Rita St. Clair to redo the interior, which features tin ceilings, restored hardwood floors and flat-screen TVs.

Kali’s owns Tapas Adela, Kali’s Court and Mezze in Fells Point. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Kenneth Petty, Admiral's Cup

There’s a new place in Mount Vernon for residents to pick up steamed pork buns, Cuban pastries, Turkish coffee and Paraguayan empanadas.

The Bun Shop opened last month at 239 W. Read St. Co-owner Andrew Bui says he and his business partner Minh Vo will expand the BYOB café’s offerings in the next month to include furniture, home goods and flowers since the 1,700-square-foot spot offers room to grow.

“Originally we wanted a small store front but we just found this place. It was a bakery so it had a lot of equipment that we needed that we couldn’t afford,” Bui says.

The owners also will begin selling Vietnamese spring rolls and other appetizers on the weekends starting this month. The café will host its first event with the May 17 launch party for Slight-Mag, a fashion magazine started by Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) students.

Childhood friends Bui and Bo spent about $30,000 to open the Bun Shop, using their own cash and money borrowed from family. Bui says he left a product design job in New York while Bo left his pharmacology Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins University.

Bui says the Bun Shop has been attracting area residents, including MICA and University of Baltimore students, interested in late-night cheap eats. The Bun Shop is open until 3 a.m. 

Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Andrew Bui, the Bun Shop

A new art gallery, café and gift shop is coming to Highlandtown this summer that will showcase local artists in permanent and revolving art exhibits.  
 
Highlandtown Art Gallery Owner Felicia Zannino-Baker will showcase10 to 12 artists per month at the 1,000-square-foot gallery at  248 S. Conkling St., near the recently opened Baltimore Threadquarters. Baker will devote an area to slideshows of historical Highlandtown and host book signings, artist talks and workshops with local crafters making scarves, wooden puzzles, textiles, wooden puzzles, collages and handbags.
 
The gift shop will sell notecards, duffle bags, mugs and local books, including Gary Helton’s “History of Highlandtown.” Baker says she is working with the owners of Highlandtown's High Grounds Coffee Roasters to create a special blend specifically for the gallery café.
 
Baker was born and raised in Highlandtown and owns the residential and commercial design company Magnolia Studios LLC. In addition to a Washington, D.C., location, Magnolia previously had a location next to the gallery and now has a studio on Eastern Ave.
 
Baker is also a member of the Highlandtown Arts and Entertainment District advisory board. “This is a wonderful experience. Once you tap into these people, you see it’s very rich and diverse, and there’s something for everyone. It’s all different mediums: sculpture, watercolor, collage. You name it, they’re there. It’s in their hearts and in their minds.”
 
Baker owns the building that houses the gallery. The gallery will occupy the first floor while the second and third floors are residential space.
 
Writer: Jolene Carr
Source: Felicia Zannino-Baker, Highlandtown Art Gallery

The owner of Waverly’s popular Darker Than Blue Café is opening a neighborhood sports bar in the city’s Cedmont community, six blocks south of Northern Parkway.

Casey Jenkins’ new Birdland Sports Bar & Grill at 6319 Belair Road will open by late May. It's just one of several restaurant projects for Jenkins, who is scouting new locations for an expanded Darker Than Blue.  

Jenkins says he’s put about $100,000 into redoing what was once the Ray Charles Lounge. The 2,000-square-foot space will seat 125 and employ six.

While Darker Than Blue is an 85-seat white tablecloth establishment, Birdland will have a bright, more casual vibe. The menu will feature some Southern cuisine — Darker Than Blue’s specialty – and serve pasta and 15 types of sliders. The restaurant will be decorated with art and memorabilia that links the city’s rich sports history of the Colts and the Orioles of old, with the Ravens and Orioles of today.

“It’s gonna be a hip sports bar,” Jenkins says.

Jenkins says he hopes to repeat the recipe for success he’s had with Darker Than Blue on Greenmount Avenue with this new venture on Belair Road. That is, he’s opening a locally owned restaurant on a major thoroughfare in a neighborhood underserved by good dining options. He predicts Birdland will be the spark that brings other local businesses to the community.

Jenkins attended a community meeting to hear what neighborhood residents themselves wanted along Belair Road.

“They said they wanted someplace they could sit and go to. There are no sit-down restaurants in that corridor, and that’s extremely shocking to me, and that’s exactly what they said in the Cedmont community meeting.”

The renovations are being financed by Jenkins and two partners. Jenkins is also looking at gap financing, including micro-loans.

Birdland will feature a a full bar. The menu will showcase about 15 different types of sliders, pastas, and a variety of dishes with “Southern flair.”
 
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Casey Jenkins, owner, Darker Than Blue, Birdland Sports Bar & Grill.

The owner of Waverly’s Darker Than Blue Café is talking to the developers of two of Baltimore City’s biggest residential and retail projects near Johns Hopkins University about relocating the popular restaurant to a bigger spot. And he’s cooking up plans for a new eatery at his current home on Greenmount Avenue.

Casey Jenkins says he is working with Artios Retail LLC, a Bel Air leasing and brokerage firm, to assist with the expansion by 2015. The business owner is looking at the Rotunda in Hampden and the lot at 32^nd Street and Saint Paul Street in Charles Village as possible locations for the expanded Darker Than Blue.

“Our dream is to move to a large development,” Jenkins says, noting that a larger development will give the restaurant more visibility.

Jenkins opened the 85-seat Darker Than Blue at 3034 Greenmount Ave. seven years ago. The move will hopefully allow him to seat as many as 150 in the expanded location. The new Darker Than Blue will be more polished and upscale and have less of a mom-and-pop feel.

The restaurant will still serve Southern-inspired food, including catfish and grits and chicken and waffles. Jenkins will also continue to feature regular live jazz. A bigger restaurant will allow Jenkins to feature new items, including a rotisserie with ribs, pork and chicken. 

Virginia’s Armada Hoffler and Baltimore’s Beatty Development Group LLC are leading the redevelopment of the lot near Johns Hopkins University. Formerly a condo project called the Olmsted, it is now dubbed the St. Paul Street Project in Charles Village.

New Jersey’s Hekemian & Co. is leading the $70M Rotunda redevelopment in Hampden, slated to include a local grocer, apartments and restaurants when it is completed in summer 2015.

Meanwhile, Jenkins says he will open a new restaurant in the current Darker Than Blue location — most likely West Indian or Latin. Jenkins says he’ll probably open up the space a little more, and that the new place will be a bit more casual than Darker Than Blue. The as-yet unnamed restaurant would seat the same number of people.

Jenkins is in expansion mode. In May, he’s opening Birdland Sports Bar and Grill in Cedmont.
 
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Casey Jenkins, owner of Darker Than Blue and Birdland Sports Bar & Grill

The owner of a new Mount Vernon eatery bDelight Restaurant is out to prove that a nutritious meal can still be tasty.
 
The 50-seat restaurant will open in the former Five Guys Burgers and Fries space, across from the Walters Art Museum, on April 19. The 2,000-square-foot restaurant at 111 Center St. will employ 12.
 
BDelight will offer customers food choices based on their daily calorie intake goal and use this to determine what items to order off the menu. They also have the option of ordering individual items, or a 1,000-calorie “balanced meal” that is low in cholesterol and saturated fat. Each balanced meal costs $12 and includes a main dish of a sandwich, pasta or a Chinese dish, along with a drink, salad, side and dessert. Individual menu items cost between $4 and $7 and include fruit cup, marinated vegetable salad and reduced-fat potato chips. Sweet-and-sour tofu with vegetables and beef with broccoli are among the Chinese dishes.
 
If successful, owner Rajah Anandarajah says he plans to open more Baltimore locations and possibly expand nationwide, including locations in California where he has relatives.
 
“People are watching what they eat these days. The local community, is more health conscious,” Anandarajah says.
 
Computers and scales in the kitchen area provide prompts to remind cooks and prep workers how much of each ingredient should be included for each dish, Owner Rajah Anandarajah says. Customers can place delivery orders on the website. The restaurant also has cashiers and two kiosks for self-orders.
 
Anandarajah says he used personal finances to purchase the 2,000 square-foot space. He declined to say how much he spent.
 
Writer: Jolene Carr
Sources: Rajah Anandarajah, owner of bDelight Restaurant; Christina Camba, Profiles PR