Springing

Slowly but surely, Spring is coming to Baltimore.

The Tusk Lounge

Last night, we had dinner in the Tusk Lounge, the bar in Baltimore's long-lived Brass Elephant restaurant. The food was awful. Truly disgusting. I can't begin to convey how terrible it was. That said, the cocktails were quite quaffable, the barkeep, Cliff, was most attentive, and the ambiance, aside from the marked absence of patrons, was lovely.

The stairs leading from the main restaurant to the lounge:


Ben and the bar:


Cliff the barkeep:


The room we had all to ourselves:


Handsome fellas and gorgeous leaded glass:


What are these windows called? They look like bottle bottoms...


Moroccan lanterns:


Skylights:


We'd like the Brass Elephant and the Tusk Lounge to stick around, but something must be done about the food. Until then, we can only recommend the building and the cocktails. You could pretend that you're having a drink in your very own three-story mansion. Since you're likely to be the only patron, it shouldn't be that hard.

Brewer's Art

If you're having a day - any kind of day, really - a happy ending can be found at Baltimore's Brewer's Art. Not only do they brew their own Belgian-style beers, they also have food that will make you a happy glutton.

The restaurant was once a fabulous old mansion:



But now it'll serve the goodies to any old riff-raff. And what goodies they are. Like burgers with rosemary garlic fries:


Chipotle and caramelized onion mac and cheese:



And crispy pork belly atop short bread with port-stewed cherries. Oh sweet Jesus.


We're pigs:




But we're happy pigs: