Great Grapes, Wine, Arts and Food Festival comes to Hunt Valley

Uncork the fun as the folks at Great Grapes celebrate their 10th year at Oregon Ridge Park Saturday, June 2nd and Sunday, June 3rd from noon to 6 p.m. Expanded entertainment, vintners, and food with special VIP tickets available for one or two days.  Music abounds, wines, crafts and new VIP pavilions: cheese, grilling, spice, wine aroma, and olive oil will tantalize your senses.

Read the full story HERE

Harbor East restaurants - one chef has left and a new one has arrived

Oceanaire assorted seafood appetizers

The bustling Harbor East in Baltimore is alive with new restaurants in the past months. I especially liked Chef Michael Mina’s new Japanese restaurant Pabu which opened the beginning of May. Mina’s first endeavor in the Four Seasons Hotel was Wit and Wisdom which opened just prior to Thanksgiving 2011.

Get the full news HERE.

Gluten-Free Amber designation - what you need to know

Betsy Craig, founder and CEO of Kitchens With Confidence, an organization that trains food service personnel about food allergies including celiac disease enlightened me about a recent controversy. The brouhaha began earlier this month about gluten-free amber designations and Domino’s Pizza gluten free pizza. Over breakfast Betsy went in depth as to what the gluten free amber alert means or doesn’t mean.  This has been a hot topic in the news and Betsy agreed to write this post in hopes to lend greater clarification and understanding.

For Betsy's full story click HERE

Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament is back and seeking competitors

Last summer 32 chefs went head-to-head in a cooking competition for the title of Mason Dixon Master Chef. The culinary competition is back, slightly changed with the number of competing chefs reduced to 16, the location is in Jessup to be more centrally located to more chefs and dinner is not inclusive in the ticket price. The first night of the competition is June 25th.

For more details on the competition the full story is HERE

Discount dining at Aldo's Ristorante Italiano

An e-mail from Sergio Vitale was in my inbox late this afternoon with a heads up about a dining discount coming out Monday, May 21st on Groupon for Aldo’s Ristorante Italiano. This is the first time ever that the Little Italy restaurant is featuring a discount.  This is a perfect opportunity for those who haven’t dined at Aldo’s but had it on their dining wish list to do so and enjoy the Vitale’s hospitality.

Each room at Aldo’s has its own personality and unique feel thanks in great part to Chef Aldo’s cabinet making artistry. If you have never been or if you are a fan, watch www.Groupon.com tomorrow for the discount coupon.

Aldo’s Restaurant
306 S. High Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 727.0700
www.aldositaly.com

New restaurant openings in Baltimore

Pabu Izakaya – Star chef Michael Mina and Ken Tominaga’s first collaboration opened this month in Harbor East at 725 Aliceanna Street across from the Marriott Hotel. As a plus one the other night I got to enjoy a cross section of the Japanese small plates and some knock your socks off saki thanks to one of the county’s leading saki experts, Tiffany Soto, their beverage manager. Izakaya in Japanese is defined as a bar that serves small plates of food. Sit at the bar with a view of the harbor, at the sushi bar and watch the sushi masters create Ken’s roll or a cozy table.

Read the full story and check out the slideshow  HERE 

Please VOTE FOR DINING DISH BLOG

I’ve been writing the Dining Dish blog for over seven years now and I consider the blog one of the forerunners in Baltimore.  My stories or posts have been about food in one form or another; raves, rants, reviews, recipes and reminiscences. It is a labor of love especially when I bring a smile to your face or brighten your table.

Voting – Won’t you please take the three minutes?

Baltimore Magazine was kind enough to nominate the Dining Dish blog in the Baltimore’s Best Blog and I’m truly honored.  I have some very tough competition, The Baltimore Sun’s Baltimore Diner by Richard Gorelick and other writers from the newspaper.

Baltimore Magazine Reader’s Poll is pretty easy to navigate. Name and e-mail address requested, then the categories with drop down menus or write in your own nominee.You need to vote in 10 categories. So pick your favorites or if you don’t know the Baltimore scene just make some choices. 

To vote click HERE

May I recommend my client Sotto Sopra in the Best Italian Restaurant category– they so deserve the recognition.  You can only vote once from a computer/e-mail address.

Dining Dish is in the drop down menu under the “Best Blog” category below the food nominations. I thank you for taking the time.  Voting ends June 15^th. 

May your plate always be full.

Dara Bunjon (aka Dining Dish)

Buy a $100 gift certificate get a $50 gift certificate free at Sotto Sopra

Sotto Sopra Italian Restaurant located in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon district is offering mothers a gift that keeps on giving. On Thursday, May 10, 2012 from 6 a.m. to midnight purchase a $100 gift certificate for Mom on line www.sottosoprainc.com/certificates and you will get a bonus $50 gift certificate for free.

Get all the details - read more HERE

The to-go updated version of "The Food Lover's Guide to Paris" is here

Way back when, in that very famous year of 1984 the first “The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” was published. Cookbook author Patrica Wells’s “ The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” went across the Atlantic so much so that it has racked up its own frequent flier miles.  It was the book that guided you through Paris’s world of gastronomy.

“The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” is new, updated and ready to go on your IPhone and iPod (iOS 5) for your convenience. A tap of your finger can  take you to a Michelin rated restaurant or to a brasserie just around the corner.

Read the full story HERE