For Foodies : Buzz

Maryland Live Casino took home the jackpot in Casino Player magazine's Best of Dining & Nightlife Awards.

Local restaurants the Prime Rib and Phillips Seafood won best steakhouse and best seafood restaurants, respectively. Casino Player surveyed readers to come up with the results. Readers selected Rams Head Center Stage as one of the best casinos to see a concert and the R Bar as one of best places to grab a cocktail. The Live Buffet, Bobby’s Burger Palace and the Cheesecake Factory were also recognized by readers.

See the entire list of awards here.

Baltimore gotten some serious foodie cred, according to Fodor's Travel. 

From swanky joints like Ouzo Bay in Harbor East and farm-to-table restaurants like Fleet Street Kitchen, Baltimore is undergoing a culinary renaissance, Fodor's writes.

"Chefs are embracing the farm-to-table movement, working with growers from across Maryland and Virginia to incorporate locally grown ingredients on their menus," Fodor's writes.

Fodor's also mentions the Food Market in Hampden; Waterfront Kitchen in Fells Point; Pabu and Wit & Wisdom, both located in the Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore; and, Woodberry Kitchen. It also mentions Canton's the Fork & Wrench, whose owners are opening another restaurant in Fells Point. Read the entire story here. 

If you're flying out of BWI, you have some healthy alternatives to pizza or a burger and fries.

Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport came in at No. 4 in a report that ranked airports according to how many of their restaurants serve a plant-based, cholesterol free entrée. BWI tied with Washington Dulles International Airport in the report from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The report found that 33 of BWI's 41 eateries offer some sort of healthful fare. 

Denver International Airport came in at No.1. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Chicago O'Hare International tied for No. 2. Los Angeles International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport tied for the No. 3 spot.

Though it may have closed its longstanding restaurant in Fells Point two years ago, Obrycki's airport spots are still garnering good reviews.

CNN named it one of the 10 best airport restaurants that give travelers a taste of the hometown. Obrycki's Restaurant and Bar is located in Concourse B and Obrycki's A-Bar is located in Concourse A at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

"The BWI locale sticks pretty close to the formula that made the restaurant a Charm City classic," CNN writes. You can also go Obrycki's at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. 

The article also has recommendations for barbeque in Memphis and shrimp etoufée in New Orleans. Read the entire story here. 

Food Republic has given its readers seven restaurants in Baltimore they ought to visit. In a piece titled "Beyond Crab Cakes and Crime" (clever), the food site sings the praises of Charm City's culinary scene, calling it one of the more underrated food cities.

"Decades of well-reported urban decline, not to mention a little television juggernaut called The Wire, have given the city something of an image problem," Food Republic writes. "But the mid-Atlantic port is on the rise, as the convergence of inexpensive rents, creative culinary talent and incredible regional ingredients create one of the most dynamic restaurant scenes on the East coast."

The story mentions Birroteca, Woodberry Kitchen, the Food Market, Joe Squared, the Crown and Spike Gjerde's recently opened Shoo-Fly Diner in Belvedere Square. It even mentions Paulie Gee's, a Brooklyn pizza place that is opening an outlet in Hampden. 

New York Magazine has devoted a Weekend Travel section to Baltimore, hitting an impressive array of eclectic shops, restaurants, museums and neighborhoods. 

This isn't your grandmother's guide to Charm City. New York Mag tells its readers to "Hang with hipsters in Hampden, a popular neighborhood of galleries, bars, and boutiques that feels a little like Williamsburg ten years ago."

Whoa, a New Yorker comparing Baltimore to Brooklyn?

"Go on an art crawl in Station North, Baltimore’s newest arts district. Stroll along North Avenue, Charles, and Barclay Streets to see 23 murals and installations by 30 local and international taggers like Gaia, Momo, Vhils, and Freddy Sam," New York Magazine writes. 

It also highlights veggie cuisine at Golden West, Spike Gjerde's newly opened Shoo-Fly Diner and the comfort food cuisine of the Food Market. Read the whole story here. 

USA Today recently featured the latest trend in hotel bars: fizzy bottled cocktails. They look like old-fashioned sodas, but there's booze in 'em.

The article highlights a drink at downtown Baltimore's B&O American Brasserie, located in the Hotel Monaco. The Grape Drink is a bottled, carbonated cocktail with homemade Concord grape syrup with cardamon and cinnamon, USA Today writes. 

"They are popped table-side and served with a striped paper straw."

Read the entire story here. 

USA Today has compiled a list of the 51 best burger joints in America, choosing one from each U.S. state and the District of Columbia.

The recommendations came from local foodies. The winner in Maryland? The Abbey Burger Bistro in Federal Hill. 

"The Abbey Burger Bistro has a patty for every taste: Black Angus beef, bison, lamb, elk and turkey," USA Today writes. "The build-a-burger menu offers cheese (including brie, Swiss, blue, American), avocado, peanut butter, truffle oil, and a fried egg along with the usual suspects."

The pick came from Baltimore writer Martha Thomas, whose most recent BmoreMedia story was a Q&A with Mink Stole.  

USA Today has published a list of the 51 Great Pizza Parlors in every U.S. state and the District of Columbia, based on recommendations from local foodies and writers.

Highlandtown's Matthew's Pizza — known for its deep-dish pie — makes the cut in Maryland. 

"In Baltimore, everybody loves Matthew's Pizza," USA Today writes. "It's just a hole in the wall, but it dishes out pies with volume: thick, with soft-but-chewy crust, rich tomato-y sauce and the right amount of gooey, salty cheese."

USA Today notes that the pizza joint has been around since 1943. Local writer Mary K. Tilghman chose the spot on behalf of the publication. You can see the entire list of favorite pizza joints here. 

Farmers' markets have become popular across Baltimore, but according to Inhabitat.com, Real Food Farm is taking the farmers' market idea one step further.

The design and sustaintability weblog reports that Real Food Farm has established a "mobile market" food truck that brings fresh produce to the area surrounding Clifton Park in northeast Baltimore. This area is a food desert, a place where residents may not have access to a supermarket.

Designed by students at the Maryland Institute College of Art, the truck delivers fresh produce from the Real Food Farm's location in Clifton Park and makes scheduled stops at farmers' markets, private houses and schools.

Two Baltimore establishments, Charleston and Woodberry Kitchen, made Wine Spectator's list of the 100 Best Wine Restaurants in the U.S.

The restaurants selected for this list all "serve up a true passion for presenting mind-blowing wine-and-food pairings," Wine Spectator writes.
 
"The global wine list—boasting more than 800 selections—was designed to complement the modern American menu, showcasing fine wines as well as excellent wine values," Wine Spectator says of Harbor East's Charleston.

The magazine praised Woodberry Kitchen for highlighting regional and organic wines. 

"The wine list aims to provide exposure for wines from the Mid-Atlantic, specifically Maryland and Virginia, followed by organic and biodynamic wines from Europe and South America." 

You can see the entire list here. 

It turns out that Maryland crabs are loved by all, not just us folks who live in the Free State.

Readers of USA Today and 10Best travel website named crabs sold in Baltimore among the best iconic American foods. Maryland crabs were No. 2 on the list.

“House of Cards” isn't the only show shooting in Maryland anymore, as this week filming in Maryland turns from the political to edible.

Food Network show “The Great Food Truck Race” filmed in Annapolis June 21, the Baltimore Sun writes. The multi-week, coast-to-coast challenge pits food truck vendors against one another to see who can sell the most tacos, burgers and other fare.

The Indian-Mexican inspired Tikka Tikka Taco, the Hawaiian-style Aloha Plate Truck and cheese-steak vendor Samboni Boys took part in the Annapolis challenge, the Sun reports.

The Annapolis episode will air Sept. 15. Read the full story here.

National Geographic Traveler recently highlighted Baltimore’s best destinations in its June/July issue in a piece called “48 Hours: Baltimore, Maryland.”
 
NatGeo explored Mount Vernon, Hampden, Highlandtown, Locust Point, Little Italy and the Inner Harbor in its two-day itinerary.
 
It begins in Mount Vernon, noting the contributions of the “Gilded Age Industrialists" behind free institutions like the Walters Art Museum and the Peabody Library.

The article also explores the diversity of Highlandtown, “old-world bakeries” such as Vaccaro’s and crab cakes in Fells Point.

Read the entire story here.

Rodney Henry, the owner of Dangerously Delicious Pies, was off to a strong start in the first episode of the "The Next Food Network Star."

Henry is one of 12 contestants, which included several restaurant owners and one former model, competing for the chance to host his own show on the network. Dangerously Delicious has stores in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Giada De Laurentiis, Alton Brown and Bobby Flay host the show. 

In the first challenge, the TV hopefuls had to create a 30-second pitch tape for Food Network executives. Later, individuals in a focus group voted whether they liked or disliked the contestants. The cooks then turned up the heat by making a dish with potatoes.

The audience loved Henry's pitch and a Food Network exec said he believed Henry is "the pie guy." Though his mini potato-and-crab pies didn't turn out as expected, the judges liked the taste. Henry, however, didn't make the top three performers in the first episode.

You can watch the entire episode here.