baltimores newest johnny dough ...

ive strayed out of my comfort zone this week for your review. instead of staying focused and keeping to the winding path of the sandwich quest, i found myself making a slight detour last night with a group of guys. there were 6 of us all together; brothers from dallas street, roomates from alicanna street, a luzerne ave roomie, and myself. we had discussed earlier the week our desire to head over to one of our favorite finds for drinking this summer, johhny rads, and partake in their happy hour and dinner menu.

im sure some of you already know (or discovered upon clicking on the link above) that rads is the new pizza bar located on eastern ave and straddling the 2 neighborhoods of patterson park and upper fells. the concept for the place is really summed up with the moniker of pizza bar. its a bar that is focused on serving a wide range of quality pizza pies. but to leave out the 'rad' aspect of this pizza bar would rob johhny rads of its pulse and its character.

rads is one of the restaurants in town that i like to group together and call the punk rock culinary scene. other examples of said scene would include sticky rice, jacks bistro, hamilton tavern, and even a place like holy frijoles. and what i mean with the punk rock tag is that these places have decided in one way or another to swim upstream and do something completely different that can be a bit tongue and cheek, but all the while focusing on food and providing the baltimore culinary world with an exciting, inventive, and less traveled culinary path.

wait till you get a blue corn one of these!

johhny rads fits this mold because it is a throw back to a neighborhood pizza parlor one might see on tv or in the movies. a place that caters to all types. a place that while serving food and drink also focuses on providing a place for friends to meet up, have a bite, and catch up. and at rads this is all achieved amidst a skateboarding/james bond theme that stretches from the front door to the bathroom and all the way back to the old school 720 video game machine (games are free. yes thats right free 720).

hosoi pizza

upon this trip to the neighborhood pizza parlor we were pleasantly surprised to find out that instead of just coming in at the end of happy hour (we showed up at 645) that in fact we had an entire additional hour to enjoy $3 draft lagunitas pale ales or victory pilsners because at rads happy hour goes till 8pm! so with beers smoothly sliding across the table and down the proverbial hatches it was time to tuck into some food. the standard/required starter at johhny rads is 100% the hush puppies, which are called 'huf puppies' on the menu. these hand made yellow and blue corn balls are seasoned, breaded, fried to a golden crisp, and served with a chipolte mayo that is so addictive that it might contain crack.

following the fried corn pillows dipped in spicy crack mustard we moved on to the house specialty, the pizza. now i am not a self proclaimed pizza expert, but i know my stuff. pizza is a top favorite food of mine, and if you are not able to trust my opinion or are looking for an expert let me point you in the direction of baltimores own pizza blogger. i digress. the pizza at rads is all about simple, but playful flavors. the dough is semolina based (i think)  100% caputo 00 flour (i know for a fact) and leans towards the doughy side instead of the crunchy side. with that being said the dough is flavorful and isnt too heavy. in fact it has a soft texture that actss as a great base for the specialty pies. the math was simple on this particular visit; 6 dudes = 3 pizzas. so on the docket for dinner was 3 large pizzas:

• a1 meats - a meaty pizza as the name would hint. it had crunchy panchetta, spicy sopressata, and salty proscuitto. olive oil, mozzarella cheese, and chopped basil rounded this one out. definately a tasty pie, but the trio of meats did prove to be a bit heavy for rads' lighter house made pizza dough.
• el gato - the understated pizza on the menu. this was a classic white pie base which was garlic & oil on the base. mozzarella and ricotta on top and whole leaves of basil. the garlic oil was divine. folks were sweeping this pizza tray with their crusts until all remnants of the oil was gone. the tray was clean in other words.
• hosoi - this was the crowd favorite from a previous trip. this spicy creation has mozzarella, panchetta, and the sweet and spicy duo of pineapple and jalepeno. i can understand why my compatriots were super insistent about ordering on of these.

domo ari ... el gato???

all in all the pizza was really good. not jaw dropping amazing, but solid all around. the prices are super affordable. the beers as mention before were a significant bargain at 3 bucks a pop, and the pizzas were $18/$14/$15 for larges (maybe 14 inches). the tonue and cheek theme, the atmosphere, the laid back accepting attitude all come together to make rads a welcome addition to the neighborhood and definitely a welcome addition to baltimores punk rock culinary scene.  if the cheap drinks and quality pizzas arent enough for you to give rads a try, then maybe the punk rock culinary scene isnt for you ... 

human/robot ...

heres a math equation i quite like!


daft punk

+




tron

=

hold the pickle vol. 6 ...

so here we are with the 6th installment of my new calling in life, the new phenomenon sweeping across the inter webs (mainly to my friends), the sandwich quest. in this installment i want to go over what it is that i am trying to do/achieve with this noblest of noble quests ... 

ive set out on a thankless quest to scour the greater baltimore, maryland area for the tastiest, whackiest, most outrageous, and most creative things that you can pile between two slices of bread. i want to meet the people who put so much into something we all take for granted, the sandwich. on my don quixote-esque excursions i will keep you all informed of where the proverbial sandwich x's should be on your sandwich map of baltimore.

alright enough of the blabber. on to the latest stop on the quest. so far ive been to delis, a bbq joint, a heady soup and sandwich place in the county, and an irish pub that i am quite biased towards, but this stop happened to be something a little different. last week i moseyed into a place called south beach sandwicherie. now let me point out the irony that kind of lies in this name. 1st ... this is a sandwich place in baltimore 2nd ... its on saratoga street, not much like any street in south beach, 3rd ... isnt sandwicherie kinda french sounding? is south beach and/or baltimore predominantly dominated by a french culture? (listen bmorefrench ... you might be the only one who thinks there might be some truth to this statemnet, but there isnt mon ami) the name had me confused and this seemed like a dime a dozen sandwich shop catering to city officials, lawyers, and the good folks at mercy hospital. but to my surprise i had a couple of different people suggest that i stop in. so i checked my irony at the door and strolled in for a sammy.

the menu is simple and dressed down. choose a meat. i chose roast beef. chose a bread. 2 were suggested; baguette or croissant. i chose baguette. choose a cheese. i chose mozzarella. choose topping. i chose lettuce, tomato, onions, hots, and the house made vinaigrette. super simple process and super simple menu. not very south beachie, but i didnt order any of the specials which is where all the creativity seemed to poured into. baltimore style chicken salad and turkey, brie, and apple seemed like they would spice up the day for any working professional that found themselves craving a sandwich while near/on/or around saratoga street.

the sandwich was good. not knock your socks off great, but good. the baguette was out of this world. the vinaigrette was amazing. in fact i asked for the bottle and found myself ripping the ends off my baguette and squirting the vinaigrette on top and taking that down for good measure. the mozzarella was tasty, but the roast beef was kind of just plain ordinary. the hots i liked because they werent your stereotypical deli hot spread, but rather hot pickled peppers (i can mess with the pickled pepper) that had been sliced and placed on top.

the sandwiches here are made by hand and made to order. there is definately a lot of care that goes into each one of these crunchy treats. the cheese is sliced to fit your roll. there was the perfect amount of greens. the tomato was not too thick. the hots were tasty and unique. and the vinaigreete should be bottled and sold at giant. this might not be a destination place or a future baltimore insitution, but it still is quality and it still is made with thought, effort, and care. so if your in the mid town area looking for a sammy then by all means make sure you stop by the south beach sandwicherie.

bienvenidos a roast beef & mozz

welcome to sticky baltimore

on tuesday night i was out to celebrate a good friends first foray into the working world as a rookie barrister (thats a lawyer person to you and me), and found myself at a four top littered with oriental patterned plates, crumbled up chop stick wrappers, and plates left barren minus the molehill like remnants of what once were wasabi mountains.

at first glance you probably would of guessed we were at one of the numerous sushi establishments that baltimore has to offer. were we at the harbor east swankery ra? nope. what about the other place in harbor east,  chius, the sushi place that is more japanese paper doll than swanky place? nope. what about asahi in fells? nope. we were actually sitting next to what used to be the old big bar at friends which has recently received a face lift, a new proprietor, and a complete cultural overhaul to become the latest restaurant to open in fells point, sticky rice.

we didnt wind up at sticky rice at random, rather there had been a little buzz about the place for a while and this trip was intentional. the sticky rice in baltimore is the new born little sister of sticky rice in dc. like lots of other newish things coming out of dc, sticky rice was well blogged/tweeted about, so we were very interested to see what the baltimore locale had to offer.

theme and setting. check.

when walking in the bar draws all your attention. its the big bar from friends which in a sushi restaurant does two things instantly. 1.) it disarms you by making you feel comfortable, like youre just walking into any corner bar baltimore, usa. 2.) it boisterously proclaims that this is the sushi joint where youd find mr miyagi. the space was dark, but not too dark. the bar was wood, and the floor was wood. there was some art on the walls and a loud variety of tunes coming from ipods. a very warm space.

like i said the bar grabs your attention, well at least it grabbed our attention because we wound up sitting and enjoying $2 happy hour pbr drafts (note there were plenty of other draft options ... maybe 12 or so, but we were in the pbr mood) so without knowing about the place i wouldve said that we had just walked into a new, thoughtfully re-done, hipster centered, local drinking spot. couldnt of been anymore wrong, because while those are all true aspects of sticky, its the food that dominates here.

rather than walk you through the menu ill just list the prodigious amounts of deliciousness we painstakingly consumed.

starters:

tuna tartar - this wasnt a classic tartar that is cubed then stacked, rather this was blended and left it the consistency of a more terrestrial ground meat. this texture coupled with the quail yoke that was nestled a top of the tartar allowed for a sticky consistency that was very scoopable with chop sticks once blended together.  make sure to dip the tips of your sticks in the siracha before scooping. lovely special and an inventive take on a dish thats been made a gizillion times ... will order again, but not every time i dine there.

sticky balls - these came recommended to us by our server (forget the guys name, but he was awesome) who said that sticky balls were sticky rices signature dish. we had these for a starter with the tartar and they were wonderful. light and crisp pack with flavors and not greasy at all. heres the description from the menu 'tuna, crab, siracha rice in an inari pocket fried topped w/scallions, wasabi dressing and eel sauce' ... going to be hard not to order every time i go.

surprise course: these came out as a surprise from the sushi chef (it was a tuesday and we were 1 of 5 tables there and definitely the ones eating the most, so tip of the cap to the sushi chef who saw a captivated audience and pounced) 

spincy tuna - like the salmon avocado roll the spicy tuna is offered everywhere and can serve as a pseudo gold standard for sushi comparison. this one did not disappoint. tuna was season with spices, but still fatty cut that wasnt over powered. the rice was thinly layered and the siracha came throuh perfectly ... in a bind and not going for the wow factor i will order this plenty of times.  

snap, crackle, pop

crunchy shrimp - tempura shrimp, avocado, and cucs with a dash of spicy mayo? ummmm yes please! ... this along with the sticky balls will be my go to starters, you know start fried then work your way to healthy.

tuna sashimi - great knife work. these were small slices that had been kissed with so soy and some seasame.  refreshing ... when im having one of my 'i need to re-examine my life style and start putting more healthy things in my body' i will be eating alot of the sashimi here.

on to the rolls:

drawn n buttered - again our server whos name i cannot recall suggested this roll pretty heavily. i liked the concept of the dran n buttered; tempura shrimp and crab roll with a dish of clarified butter thats been garnished with scallions for dunking. sushi and butter. could this be the pairing thats been missing from the culinary cannon of my life? sadly no. the gimmick was nice and creative, but it falls short. maybe if there was more spice that could be cut with the fattyness of the butter ... will order with large groups, but wont order solo

godzirra - 'oh no they say hes got go ... go, go, go godzirra!' this could easily become their signature roll. its got a quirky name, its 12 pcs, its got shripm, avocado, cream cheese, wasabi mayo, and an amazing crunchy texture throughout ... if i am with more than 1 other person i am 100% going to order this 

chili roll - lena, our sandwich slinging (no for real she runs a sandwich shop ... interesting right?!?!) bartender suggested this roll when she was going over her favorite healthy-ish pics from the menu. i got to be honest and say that upon ordering, this was the one i was least excited about. but as we all know the ending, this was the one i enjoyed the most. it consists of tuna, cilantro, jalapeno, and grilled pineapple. at first i was thrown off by the heat of jalapeno, the sweetness of the pineapple, and the bursting freshness of the cilantro in a sushi roll. but after getting involved in the siracha mayo on the side it all came together. sweet, fresh, and spicy ... i will order this every time i go.

snap crackle and pop -  i know i know youre probably thinking 'how much freaking food did these dudes eat?' ... the answer is a lot. i told you that already. well the rice crispy themed roll was the only salmon based roll that we had and the origin of it is inventive name comes from; snap of the cucumbers, crackle of the crisp rice, and pop of the jalapeno ... i was honestly 3 quarters of the way into of food comma, so i will have to eat this bad boy the next time i go in to do it justice.

billy goats gruff - we ended up having this roll for dessert. seriously we had talked about ordering it before, but i got lost in the ordering. the table next to us told us that we had missed out on a gem, so before grabbing the check we put in an order. great call. seriously rich bite sized treats that were simply an asparagus spear surrounded by goat cheese wrapped in tuna and then baked with a soy ginger flavoring. contrast for the soft fishy goat cheese pillow was provided by cucumber straws. will order this on a semi regular basis bc of how rich it is.

im excited to have sticky rice here in fells point. it has hints of my favorite restaurant in the world, momofuku saam bar. when i say its like saam bar i am not at all putting them on the same plain, but rather pointing out that they share similar characteristics; bucking the trend, fusion that works, catering to everyone, hip staff, rock and roll chefs, and most importantly food that kicks ass! this is a great step forward in the culinary world of baltimore.

Hold the pickle vol. 5 ...

i knew this would happen. i started out on my quest with noblest of intentions to stay true to my sandwich quest code. i was only going to go to places that were recommended to me. i was only going to try sandwiches from the menu. i was not going to go to restaurants, only carry out/deli/lunch counters. and for you purists out there, i need to apologize. i broke my code last friday.

last week was a monster week for me work wise. i was at 3 different food shows (1 attending and 2 presenting), introduced 3 new products to my largest account, and put more than 1200 miles on my car. so when lunch time on friday rolled around and i had to make my last drop of the day, my weekly pastry allotment to ceilies water front inn at fell point, the lure of a quick bite and a cold magners at slainte on thames was too difficult to resist.

full disclosure: this wasnt a random visit to a place that i hardly know. in fact quite the opposite. slainte is best known for being open way too early on weekends in order to broadcast live epl matches to thirsty sports fans who come together in order to cheer on their favorite squads and to be there for each other justifications for having a shot of whiskey before 930am. i happen to be one of those looking for justification on saturdays. in addition to frequenting slainte (aka 'the pub') to support arsenal fc, this place also houses one of my best friends, chef bill crouse.

now on this particular friday i knew bill was there and i hadnt seen him all week, so under this false cover i strolled in and popped my head in the kitchen to say 'hey'. after some small talk bill (i think he knew all along) broke the ice by asking if i wanted lunch .... and hoping/longing for this question i promptly gave a simple simple reply:

'only if you make me a sandwich'

well bill delivered (see photo), and what he delivered was his take on a pork sandwich. this wasnt your uncles pork sandwich though. the pork was slow roasted with some earthy spices and then shaved thin and piled way too high (this is a good thing people) on a toasted bun. spread on the bun was one of my favorite components to this dish, and that was a cumin mayo spread. id be lying if i told you that i wont be stealing this and putting it on almost everything. kind of like what i did with david chang and his ginger scallion sauce. but that wasnt it. most all meat sandwiches are indeed artery clogging good, but can sometime be overpowering with meatiness (too much protein can sometimes be an issue), so to combat this chef bill had laid out a small stack of grilled fresh asparagus that cut the meatiness, prevented the bun from getting soggy, and added a distinct texture and flavor contrast to the pork. who knew asparagus on a sandwich is a winner! the only downside to this tasty delight is that you do have to pay restaurant prices ($12-$15) for chef bill sandwiches, but if you want to splurge on a special lunch for you and youre taste buds then this is where you want to be.

without my previously stated biases i would still highly recommend stopping in at slainte. whether its at 9am on a saturday, a ravens game, or for dinner the place has the food (chefs new menu out this month), the ambiance, character, and staff to make you want to stay ..... for a long time.

hold the pickle vol. 4 ...

it wouldnt be a successful week without another update about my city/county/pseudo-state wide sandwich quest.  youre adventurer has been getting some positive feedback which has spurred the quest to go on and on and on. also the deliciousness that i have been experiencing along the way has not hindered my quests progress.

cant judge a sandwich by its wrapper

this weeks stop on my 'quest del bocadillo' (spanish for sandwich quest) led me to another baltimore italian hot spot, but this time i was on the west side of town to indulge in the culinary concoctions created by trinacria foods on paca street. trinacria is a no nonsense and no frill italian bakery/deli/grocer that has been in existance for more than a 100 years, and many of the blogs faithful readers have urged me to stop here on my quest. like any good hero i have to do what the people want .... thanks wily and chas.

this was my 1st time at trinacria, and i had some interesting 1st impressions. upon finding a parking spot directly across the street i noticed the 1960s era exterior, the grates around all of the windows, and for a moment i thought that this was just another vacant building that had seen its hey day, but succumbed to the west baltimore blight. that fleeting thought was quickly banished from my head when a gentleman (pictured with out permission ... shhhh) came barging through the front door in full ravens gear carrying a case of wine and a box of groceries that was nearly overflowing. this guy wasnt you, small, or stupid and right then and there i knew i was in for a treat.

upon walking into the cramped deli/grocery store your eyes cant avoid the rows and rows of italian cookies behind the counter or the rows and rows of house made and bottle sauces to the right. beyond the counter in the front and easily visible in the back half to the store is the deli and sandwich counter, so i headed straight back to gaze at the menu before stepping up to slay one of their culinary beasts. mistake. i waited to be helped only to realize how much of a trinacria noob i was because i didnt grab a number from the ticket machine right at the front door. after that hiccup i was ready to draw my line in the sand and grab a sandwich ....
but wait i cant decide .... so much to choose from ..... '

number 47' ....

oh no! .... 'ummm ill take an italian with everything'

'lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo, and hots?'

'yes please .... and can i also have a fresh mozzarella sandwich'

'you want both?'

'yes ma'am'

ahh sweet compromise. why make set in stone ultimatum filled decisions, when you can order 2 sandwiches. after all its just a sandwich, and i will need something to eat before going to the orioles game tonight. it didnt take long for the sandwiches to come out, but i had no problem killing that small amount of time browsing through their product packed isles. there was marinara sauce, puttanesca sause, fra diavolo sauce, pomodoro sauce, vodka sauce ... you get the idea! there was every shape, color, and size of imported dried pasta. but the best of all were the freezers all the way in the back. these bad boys were chalk full of lasagna, ziti, various parmesans, marsalas, ravioli, and calzones. i made a note to myself that next trip down panca st would result in a tv dinner trinacria style!

the sandwiches came, and i had to take them to go since there is no place to eat at trinacria. i floored it all the way home because a. these little parcels wrapped in deli paper smelled outrageous and b. i hadnt had anything since my special k at 445 in the morning. once at home i was able to unwrap these bad boys and just stare in awe for a while all the time wondering which one i was going to sink my teeth into first. the italian sub won.

best value purchase in baltimore???

this little 6 inch sub roll (dont know if it was baked on premises) was packed full of thinly sliced meats and cheeses, topped with fresh tomatoes, long cut white onions, and smattered with hots, oil, vinegar, and mayo. when you close your eyes and think of an italian sandwich this is what youre thinking about. the lettuce was shredded so it didnt slide everywhere. the hots were not over powering. the oil and vinegar were applied in perfect proportion. the meats and cheeses? forget about it. the only draw back on this sandwich was that there was too much mayo. normally i wouldnt complain, but the sub roll was soft, and italians are moist, and too much mayo really over saturated the roll and made it a little too soggy at times for my liking. this issue can be easily resolved. ask for light on the mayo. oh and let me not forget the best upside to this sandwich, the cost. this might be the best deal in all of baltimore .... its a $3.29 sandwich. bang that just just happened. seriously.

you need to try it ...

even with too much mayo, i had to stop myself at half the italian so i could dive into the fresh mozzarella sandwich. unlike the italian, the mozzarella sammy was served on what was obviously house made tomato foccacia. i need to let you know that i am always a bit hesitant to eat of focaccia sandwich because focaccia tends to dry out easily, and when you through a bunch of other things on it it gets really dry and becomes a hindrance to what should be an enjoyable sandwich experience. well obviously the folks at trinacria have thought this one through. the mozzarella sandwich has three ingredients: mozzarella, proscuitto di parma, and pesto. the 'too dry focaccia syndrome' is easily avoided by the application of the pesto, which wasnt too oily and had a mild basil flavor, on both pieces of bread. next the house made mozzarella was sliced super thin and wasnt too milky and actually had some serious flavor to it. and finally they obviously knew i was going to be talking about this sandwich for weeks to come (no they didnt) because there was easily a quarter pound of di parma on there. this might be the best sandwich ive had so far on this quest (ive had 6). at $5.99 its one of the most expensive sandwiches on the menu, but well worth it. just look at that bad boy.

the long of the short on this adventure ... great place and awesome recommendation from chas and wily. this reminds me of dipasquales, and therefore has been affectionately dubbed the west side dipasquales. but trinacria stands out on its own despite its nickname (that only i use, and have only been using for the past 2 hours). the market selection is similar, but the house made products set is aside. the deli section is stocked with imported meats and cheeses that would make any of the cast on jersey shore proud. the prices on their sandwiches are sooooo affordable that if i worked in or around midtown i would be there at least once a week (man city im looking at you). and finally in all seriousness i think that the best value purchase in baltimore might be the italian cold cut at trinacria for a whopping $3.29 ... thats less than a domestic bottle at field house!

**always looking for feedback and suggestions. have an awesome weekend and just an fyi, im in love with fall, the season.**