The Lord Baltimore Hotel is hoping to appeal to lovers of fine art and fine French cuisine with its new restaurant that opened Dec. 3.
The owners of the downtown Baltimore hotel have renovated the hotel's former Versailles Room into the 100-seat
French Kitchen.
Miami-based Rubell Hotels purchased the Lord Baltimore at 20 W. Baltimore St. for $10 million in March and dropped the Radisson flag. It is currently renovating the entire 440-room hotel and expects to wrap up the work in April. The hotel will remain open during the multimillion-dollar renovation.
Menu items at the French Kitchen include french onion soup, cured salmon, steak frites and beef tartar.
The owners had wanted to name it Matisse Kitchen & Tavern, but a conflict came up with the name, Co-owner Mera Rubell says. The original name celebrated the Cone Collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Wealthy Baltimore socialites Claribel and Etta Cone assembled a massive art collection during the Gilded Age, including 500 works by Henri Matisse. In 1949, the collection was bequeathed to the BMA.
“We really want to celebrate the local,” Rubell says. “Our design was very much inspired by Matisse, his sense of color, his sense of food. He is a major, important figure because of his extraordinary paintings.”
Constructed in 1928, the Lord Baltimore was once one of the city’s grand hotels, and the scene of countless weddings and other social events.
The Lord Baltimore has a grand ballroom, meeting space, two terraces, and penthouse accommodations.
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Mera Rubell, co-owner, The Lord Baltimore