River Park, River Park Farm and lunch with Suzanne

What a day in New York usually means to me dining in as many restaurants as possible and for my trip the next to the last day of May was no exception. The reason for the trip was to write a story on three Baltimore’s restaurants and their chefs that were creating a five course dinner at the James Beard House –read the full story – Charm City culinary stars shine at the legendary James Beard House. That would be dinner.

Where to dine for lunch? I've learned to leave that up to my New York City dwelling friends, most often Suzanne, a chef, sought after cookbook editor and indexer. She never fails me with interesting and delicious meals from a Korean tofu house, Vietnamese, Indian and American cuisine restaurants – all memorable, all delicious.

Read the full story, watch slideshow and video HERE 

Esquire Magazine's John Mariani talks Baltimore and dining in Little Italy

I have been subscribing to John Mariani's dining reviews for a number of years and even have his The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink as one of my desktop references. There is no doubt that Mariani is considered an expert on Italian dining and Italian wines, good enough to write for Esquire Magazine.
 
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Mariani's  review City on the Harbor: Baltimore takes a broad stroke look at Baltimore's history, our symphony, our film makers Waters and Levinson, a look back at restaurants that have come and gone, the chain restaurants of Harbor Place and more specifically at dining in Little Italy.

Read the full story HERE

The matzo ball restaurant review theory

Food and how it tastes like many things is subjective. How do you judge that a dish is good, bad or lackluster? I have my own theory; it is the matzo ball restaurant review theory. 

The foods we grew up eating tend to be our guideline, i.e. – soft, fluffy matzo balls or solid, chewy, heavy matzo balls. I'm a fluffy matzo ball kind of gal. My mother would just die when her matzo balls weren't light as air. If I go into a restaurant that serves chicken matzo ball soup and the matzo balls are heavy as lead - to me, the soup is a disappointment but if you grew up on the heavy dense balls, it is a good.

So what did that food reviewer grow up eating: was it a hard or soft matzo ball, was their meat served rare or well done, or was mom heavy handed with salt or used little or no seasoning at all? Where have these people dined? Is their experience with Italian food Carrabba's Italian Grill, their local Little Italy, Mario Batali’s Babbo Restaurant in New York or dining at a trattoria in Tuscany? 

Which reviewers’ voice do you trust?

With so many sites inviting everyone’s opinion on restaurants, whose voice or taste do you trust? There are many food bloggers that really know food and some who are limited in their food experience.  Do they know how to cook, do they understand the nuances of a dish or is mango something foreign to them?

I highly suggest reading many of the reviewer’s restaurant reviews; especially from restaurants where you have dined and see if your feelings are on par with theirs. If you seem to be at the opposite end of the spectrum of what they have said, then it is a pretty good shot you'll like places they don't and vice versa. If everyone dishes a place, there is nothing subjective about that.

Restaurant reviews are a guide and whether you like a place or not could be because your mom, grandmother or dad made it the same way or different.   

Dining Dish is curious as to your experiences with restaurant reviews - have any let you down, were some dead on - do share.

Tags;  #tidal, reviews, Italian, restaurants