Harbor East : Buzz

Pabu, the Japanese restaurant inside the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, is celebrating all things sake this week.

Free sake awaits happy hour patrons on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, writes Baltimore magazine. Thursday, the restaurant will hold a five-course dinner with sake pairings. 

You can read more about the sake celebration here. 

The Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore has one of the top 12 “head-turning” infinity pools, according to Conde Nast Traveler. From the complimentary sunscreen, private cabanas and sounds from the nearby Pier 6 Pavilion summer concerts, swimming is only one of the reasons guests should check out the pool, says the magazine.
 
Some of the other hotel pools on the list are located in Tanzania, Africa, Toronto, Turks & Caicos and Bali, Indonesia. 

The Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore continues to get plenty of ink in USA Today. 

In a recent article, the newspaper wrote about Baltimore developer Michael Beatty's decade-long effort to bring the hotel to Charm City. 

"Over the last decade, Beatty's firm has been steadily developing the upscale Harbor East neighborhood along the harbor near trendy Fells Point where the glass-wrapped Four Seasons tower stands," USA Today writes in its story titled "Four Seasons Bets Big on Baltimore."

"The pedestrian-friendly neighborhood contains several towers with pricey corporate offices, apartments and four other hotels including a Hilton Garden Inn and the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. Harbor East's shopping options include national and local clothing shops (Anthropologie and J. Crew will open locations later this summer), as well as a Whole Foods supermarket."

You can read the rest of the story here.

Baltimore may have shed its image as the gritty, crime-infested city depicted in the The Wire. That's according to USA Today, which credits the Four Seasons Baltimore as the watershed development that has helped Baltimore's image. It features a 44-image slideshow of the property. 

"The Four Seasons Baltimore hotel tower is the newest tower on Baltimore's skyline in the upscale Harbor East neighborhood, which contains retail shops, restaurants, galleries, apartments and office space," USA Today writes. "The hip retail shop Anthropologie will open a location in the hotel complex in late summer."

Check out the slideshow here. 

Since opening late last year, the Four Seasons Baltimore has generated plenty of buzz for its chic design and celebrity-chef-owned restaurant. 

We already told you that the hotel's fancy macarons were featured in the Wall Street Journal. 

Now, Conde Nast Traveler has put it on its Hotel List 2012, which lists 121 new standout hotel properties. 

"You’ll see Baltimore’s gritty side as you drive into town, signs of moneyed Old Maryland as you near the water," the magazine says. 

You can read the rest of the description here. 

Fancy cookies are featured from four different venues in the April 6 issue of the Wall Street Journal. 

And among them is an Oreo Macaron from Charm City's own Four Seasons Baltimore. 

" 'It's an ode to Americana and the French,' " pastry chef Chris Ford tells the paper. A pic of the tasty treat, along with cookies baked in Nashville, Washington, D.C., and Lexington, Ky., can be found here. 

Baltimore's coffee shops has gotten some press from the Huffington Post. The website features a slideshow of local spots to get a java jolt, including Hampden's Spro, Mount Vernon's Koffee Therapy and the Four Seasons Baltimore's Lamill Coffee.

"What is different about Baltimore's coffee renaissance is that it has percolated less through the corporate culture of selling high-end brews to rich people than through home town pride," the Huffington Post writes. "The thinking seems to be that this is the sort of economic development that can keep talented people in a city suffering from brain drain."

You can read the rest of the story here. 

Baltimore has a number of chocolate makers in town. And one has earned national recognition.

Complex, an online lifestyle magazine for 20-something men, has named Glarus Chocolatier the sixth best in the nation. 

"Baltimore's Glarus Chocolatier uses traditional Swiss recipes for each of their handcrafted creations," the website writes. "Think a small craft brewery, but with chocolate covered strawberries rather than pilsners and lagers. Got it? We feel drunk already."

It's the only Baltimore chocolate company to earn a spot on the list. 

Baltimoreans all know that Woodberry Kitchen is the city's original and most popular farm-to-table restaurant. Well it seems that word has gotten out to the editors of GQ magazine.

Woodberry Co-owner Spike Gjerde was recently featured in the magazine's food and travel section. Gjerde talks about his favorite spots in Baltimore, which include Hampden's Spro coffee shop, Wit and Wisdom restaurant in the Four Seasons Baltimore and the Thames Street Oyster House in Fells Point. You can read the rest of his picks here. 

It certainly won't be the last we hear of Gjerde. The restaurateur is opening a coffee shop of his own and a fast-casual eatery this spring. 

Esquire contributor John Mariani has featured Baltimore in a new section of his website that highlights good day-trip destinations.

He focuses on restaurants in Mount Vernon, Harbor East and Little Italy, including Tio Pepe, Charleston, Aldo's Italian Restaurant and Chazz: A Bronx Original. 

"A good deal of the charm of the surrounding neighborhoods are its townhouses, built along British lines, with their identifying marble stoops, and there is a thriving Little Italy, adjacent to the Inner Harbor," Mariani writes. 

You can read the rest of his description of Charm City here. 

Philanthropist William Polk Carey, who donated millions to Maryland universities, died Jan. 2 in West Palm Beach, Fla. Newspapers around the country remembered the investment firm owner who managed an $11.8 billion investment portfolio.
That includes the Wall Street Journal, which ran an Associated Press story remembering the late entrepreneur.

Last year, Carey gave $30 million to the University of Maryland law school and gave $50 million to found the Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business in 2006.

U.S. News & World Report has included three Baltimore hotels in its annual list of Best Hotels in the USA. The honored properties include the Hyatt Regency Baltimore, Baltimore Marriott Waterfront and the InterContinental Harbor Court Baltimore.

You can read reviews of the hotels here.

Getting tired of your usual Thanksgiving repertoire? Well it's too late to turn back the clock, but there's always next year.

And here to help is Sergio Vitale, co-owner of Aldo's Italian Restaurant and pizza place Chazz: A Bronx Original. The Wall Street Journal recently featured his brussel sprouts' recipe, made with sriracha and pancetta, among other ingredients.

Actor-turned-restaurant partner Chazz Palminteri, co-owner of the Harbor East pizza joint, shares the recipe with the Journal's readers.

Luxury, thy name is Baltimore.

After years of anticipation, the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore will open its doors this month. The 256-room property will feature a spa, two restaurants, café and two swimming pools. The chain's debut in Charm City has not only attracted the attention of local media, but national travel publications. Read more about the five-star hotel in Elite Traveler.

If you haven't been to Harbor East recently, then you've been missing out on the latest additions to one of Baltimore's most dynamic communities. The city's newest neighborhood continues to evolve and gain kudos for Baltimore.

Here's an excerpt:

"In the last six years, in the hands of the Baltimore-based H&S Properties Development Corporation, the area has sprouted towering condo, hotel and office buildings along with gleaming restaurants and shops, some of which possess a spiffed-up, cookie-cutter Mall of America feel.

Harbor East has proven such a draw that its borders have expanded far beyond what was first planned as an eight-block area, bumping up against neighboring Little Italy."

Read the entire article here.