Lobsterama, lobster stack, lobster sale and lobster roll

photograph by Dara Bunjon©

Tis the season here in Baltimore to partake of our Chesapeake Bay bounty of blue crabs, steamed up heavy with Maryland seafood seasoning on newspaper covered tables with wooden mallets ready to do the nasty to the claws. I love Maryland crabs; in fact they recently came in 2nd in the most iconic foods in USA Today’s- 10Best travel website. I pay homage to our Maryland crustacean BUT lobster is my real indulgence.

If lobster is in your culinary repertoire; part of your seafood agenda then do I have some lobster news for you.

Read the full story and watch the video HERE. 

Baltimore City and Baltimore County Summer Restaurant Weeks

The official Summer Restaurant Week for Baltimore City has ended Sunday, August 4^th BUT there are 20 restaurants that are extending the promotion. . From the ever delicious Fleet Street Kitchen to the newest of downtown restaurants, Ozra one can get a taste from the farm to the Mediterranean – check out the Baltimore Restaurant Week website.   The Downtown Partnership and Visit Baltimore are recommending you call the individual restaurants to see how far they are extending the promotion and confirm the menus Those extending have a large “E” next to their names. 

Baltimore County’s Restaurant Week is kicking in on Friday, August 9^th and continuing for over two weeks through to Sunday, August 25^th with 51 restaurants participating from fine dining to casual, independently owned restaurants to chains. They all have set up their own specials for restaurant week for lunch, lunch and dinner or dinner at varying prices. Restaurants throughout Baltimore County will feature fixed price, one to three course lunch and/or dinner menus.

The Milton in is doing a Restaurant Week Sunday Brunch prefix  menu for the three Sundays, Aug 11, Aug 18 and Aug 25^th for $25.13 along with their lunch and dinner menus Monday through Saturday.

I have looked at every one of the menus and there is a terrific selection of culinary offerings, I especially want to give out a gold star to The Grill at Harryman House for the time they took to put together a visually appealing menu as well as menu offerings. 

Where will you be dining?

Who will be top chef at Spike Gjerde's farm styled diner Shoo-Fly

The food media has reported that Baltimore’s James Beard Award nominee and renowned restaurateur and chef, Spike Gjerde is opening a diner in the Belvedere Square neighborhood’s former Crush restaurant, and that is a truth. 

Schedule to go into the spot will be a rustic farm-styled diner. BMoreMedia reported that one of the signature items will be a serpentine 22 seat counter and Chef Gjerde will be moving his canning and pickling for his restaurants to this location.

Read the full story HERE.

Fork & Wrench – Canton’s dining gem

Executive Chef Sajin Renae recently left Fork & Wrench for a turn at motherhood and to live in the Big Apple. That is when Executive Chef Cyrus Keefer, former chef at Birroteca, came in to put his personal touch to their farm-to-table cuisine.

Chef Keefer invited me to taste a selection of his offerings on the Fork & Wrench Summer 2013 menu. I had a preconceived notion of the restaurants and bars along Boston Street and what they look like, and they were all pretty pub-like with a push for happy hour drinkers.  I was totally surprised, in a very good way, as to the appearance of this restaurant. Think retro businesses of the past; a factory, library, pharmacy - each room stylishly appointed in its theme. 

Read the full review, watch the slideshow HERE

More news from Hampden restaurants

Here’s the scoop from Baltimore’s growing Hampden neighborhood, or I like to call it Baltimore’s Restaurant Row.  

Today kicks off Summer Restaurant Week where one can dine on a two course lunch for $15.13 and a three course dinner for $30.13. Both Alchemy and The Food Market are participating.  Speaking of the Food Market, they now have their own food truck that delivers their ever fresh, tasty and innovative cuisine to your venue of choice.  

Read all the news HERE

Win a Food Lion $100 gift card

Well I had to work hard for my $100 gift card, I was one of 12 food related bloggers  that competed in Food Lion’s “Frugal Cook-Off” at Talara Restaurant in Baltimore.  We were paired in teams; my teammates were Laura Harders of BeltwayBargainMom and  John Thomas of www.grilling24x7.com. Our challenge was to create and cook a wholesome, low-cost meal for a family of four using Food Lion’s Essentials brand products for less than $15.

You can win the $100 gift card to Food Lion by sending me an e-mail, darasgiveaway @ outlook.com answering the following questions that can be answered by reading my DiningExaminer.com stories.   

1.   What are the two top items stolen from restaurants?
2.     Shrubs are a trend at the Summer Fancy Food show, what is a shrub and what is the main ingredient?
3.    A gallon of BBQ sauce sold for how much?

Those entries with the correct answers will be put into a drawing.  Contest ends Sunday, July 28, 2001 at 5 p.m. Winner will be notified via email.  

Watch the slideshow, video and read the full story HERE

Celebrate National Ice Cream Day

If you are in Baltimore, where should you celebrate National Ice Cream Day. Top of my list is The Charmery, on the corner of Chestnut and W. 36th Street which just opened their doors yesterday.

The brightly colored ice cream parlor features sixteen flavors of ice cream, some traditional and some Baltimore themed like Zeke’s Coffee ice cream, Lemon Stick sorbet and even an Old Bay Caramel ice cream. All the ice creams, froyo and sorbets use only the freshest ingredients, sourced from local farms and producers. As the seasons change so will the flavors and offerings. The cooler months will have hot chocolates and house-made marshmallows.

Check out the slideshow and read the full story HERE

Idaho Potato Commission’s Recipe Photo Contest - $5000 in prizes

[photograph by Steve Adams -Steve Adams Studio)

Do you photograph food? Do your photographs of food get ooooohs and aaaaahs? Are you the next Kyle Dreier, Stephen Hamilton or Steve Adams of food photography? Well, do I have a food photography contest just suited for you. There are going to be ten winners, each with a $500 prize. Sounding more interesting?

The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) is now hosting a bigger and better-than-ever recipe photo contest and they are calling enthusiastic home cooks and shutterbugs!

Read the details how your digital photo can win the prize money HERE.

Hailing a cab with Streit's Matzo

Eddie Applefeld and Downtown Diane both forwarded a link to a video on Streit’s Matzo, it is a teaser for a full length documentary , www.matzofilm.com , being done on this old world business still operating from the lower east side of Manhattan.  It brought back a very fond memory, one stored in my 4 meg RAM brain and by a small miracle avoided the many bad sectors. 

It was this time of year, 10 years ago that friends and I were on our sojourn to New York City for the Fancy Food Show.  It was always our goal to try out the newest, hottest places to eat on all our trips.  Chef Wylie Dufresne had opened WD50 that April to rave reviews.  In fact, Chef Dufresne just won the James Beard Award for 2013 Best Chef in New York City.  

Watch the video and read the full story HERE.

Summer International Fancy Food Show sets trends for your table

It was just the beginning of July when the 2013 Summer International Fancy Food Show was held in New York City’s Jacob Javits Center. The show was the largest in their history, with 2400 plus specialty food and beverage exhibitors from the United States and around the world with first time exhibitors from Bulgaria, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Switzerland. Italy had the largest international presence, followed by Turkey, France and Spain.

Over the years, the way the nation wants or needs to eat becomes prominent, usually starting in the restaurants, specialty stores and on line. The ever changing landscape of educated consumers, wanting to know the who, what, where, why and when of the foods and products that impact their lives and their families.Non- GMO verified seems to be in the forefront.  Ten years ago, certified organic food was the nation’s cry, seven years ago gluten-free became prominent and this year

Check out the slideshow and read the full story on the trends HERE

Date night Italian cooking class

Chef Simone Martini is cooking up the perfect date night cooking class for Italian food lovers.  Martini, a personal chef, cooking instructor is inviting you to enjoy a demonstration cooking class focusing on summer entertaining, Saturday, August 3rd at 6 p.m. but cocktails start at 5:30 p.m. 

The Penthouse Condominium at 28 Allegheny Avenue – 7^th floor in Towson will be the place to be to not only watch the preparation but enjoy the food itself along with paired wines.  

Check out the menu for the evening and contact information HERE