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Christina Tkacik

Christina

Christina Tkacik is a food reporter for The Baltimore Banner. She joined the staff of The Baltimore Banner in August of 2022 to cover all things food. Prior to that, she spent more than six years at The Baltimore Sun, including three years as the newspaper's dining reporter and restaurant critic. After all this time in Charm City, she can pick a crab but still can't shuck an oyster.

The latest from Christina Tkacik

The Waterfront Hotel in Fells Point was one of three businesses that faced the liquor board Thursday.
Atlas-owned bars in Fells Point face off with neighbors over liquor licenses
The ongoing friction between the Atlas Restaurant Group and some of its Fells Point neighbors came to a head Thursday.
Our haul from Butcher & Bay by Geresbeck’s, a new gourmet market in Kingsville that offers a combination of generations-old Baltimore culinary staples alongside the latest viral trends.
The Dish: Baltimore’s new destination for viral foods (and sour beef)
If it’s on the shelves at Butcher & Bay, a new specialty market in Kingsville from Geresbeck's, there’s a good chance that it’s either made in Baltimore or going viral on TikTok.
Vendors display their wares on the opening day of the Baltimore Farmers’ Market.
After a bumpy start, the Baltimore Farmers’ Market returns full force
With Hula-Hoops and mini doughnuts in 40-degree weather, the city celebrated the return of its cherished Baltimore Farmers’ Market.
The spread at Wye Oak Tavern in Frederick.
The Dish: Fine dining isn’t dead. Bryan Voltaggio can prove it.
Offering elevated takes on Baltimore staples from coddies to tiger sauce, Wye Oak Tavern from chefs Bryan and Michael Voltaggio is well worth the drive to Frederick.
The Tilted Row on McMechen Street in the Bolton Hill neighborhood has closed.
The Tilted Row closes months after relaunch with new chef
Eight months after relaunching with a new chef, The Tilted Row has shut its doors.
Lou Fleming, general manager of Faidley's Seafood, poses with two frozen raccoon carcasses (right) and a portion of prepared raccoon that he cooked using cayenne pepper, thyme, garlic sauce and salt and pepper. The Lexington Market stand has sold raccoon as well as muskrat since it opened in the 1800s.
Raccoons and muskrats and Lexington Market, oh my!
Though Faidley’s Seafood is better known for its jumbo lump crab cakes, the business at Lexington Market has been selling muskrats and raccoons since it opened in the 1880s.
The Margherita pizza at Pupatella in Columbia.
The Dish: The most authentic Neopolitan pizza in Maryland is in Columbia
Columbia’s new restaurant, Pupatella, is the first pizzeria in Maryland certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.
Café Dear Leon's viral crab dip bagel has a gooey inside of crab dip topped with lump Indonesian crab meat and kernels of corn.
The Dish: Want a crab dip bagel? Get in line.
Café Dear Leon was already popular before releasing its crab dip bagel. And then it went viral.
The Camden Franks walk around Camden Yards on Tuesday.
Soft serve and free refills: Here’s what we’re excited for at Camden Yards
After a bumpy past few years, the food and drink options at Camden Yards just might have turned a corner.
The Neighborhood Bird Bun from Ekiben features Taiwanese curry fried chicken thigh topped with spicy sambal mayo, pickles and fresh herbs.
Ekiben and Attman’s to join Camden Yards starting lineup
Local restaurants and customer favorites Ekiben and Attman's Delicatessen will be at Camden Yards this Orioles season.
Owner Lilly Ordoñez in the newly renovated Owls Corner Cafe.
Her restaurant closed after the Key Bridge disaster. She’s ready to reopen — in a new spot.
Lilly Ordoñez is hoping for a fresh start as she relocates her Owls Corner Cafe restaurant from near the Key Bridge in Dundalk to Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood.
ZaVino's Italian Market carries a wide variety of Italian wines.
The Dish: Trump’s 200% European wine tariff would mean ‘disaster’ for local businesses
Importers, store owners, restaurateurs and even winemakers are nervous about President Trump’s proposal to tax European wines at 200%.
Otterbein’s Bakery, a Baltimore name going back to the 1800s, is closing its Windsor Mill factory and partnering with another local shop to make its signature crisp cookies.
After factory closure, Otterbein to partner with family bakery in Baltimore County
Otterbein’s Bakery is closing its Windsor Mill factory and partnering with another local shop to make its signature crisp cookies.
The site of the Baltimore Farmer's Market on Monday, March 10, 2025. The Market is currently closed but scheduled to reopen in April.
The Dish: It’s almost time for the Baltimore Farmers’ Market. People are worried.
Vendors for this year's Baltimore Farmers' Market have not been announced with just weeks to go until opening day.
Charm City Chocolate, located at 809 W. 36th St. in Hampden, has closed.
The high price of everything closed this Baltimore chocolate shop
High rent, increasing food and product costs, fewer customers. It’s a trifecta of business killers that has hit local eateries hard in recent months. Now it has come for Charm City Chocolate.
Lemon ricotta blueberry pancakes at Eggspectation, which opened in Columbia March 4, 2025.
Eggspectation opens in Columbia’s Merriweather District
This is the chain’s first restaurant in Howard County since the 2023 closure of Eggspectation in Ellicott City.
Jeff Jettson and Olivier Caillabet at Toki Underground on Greenmount Avenue in 2023.
Toki Underground owners are working on a new concept for Baltimore
The owners of Toki Underground are doubling down on Baltimore with Tomboy, a new bar and restaurant set to open on Greenmount Avenue.
A koshary bowl with chicken from Koshary Corner at R. House in Remington.
The Dish: A vegan restaurant added meat to its menu. The backlash was immediate.
R. House vegan restaurant Koshary Corner started selling meat to stay in business. The backlash was immediate.
If you're looking for a paczki for Fat Tuesday, you can get your fill at Herman's Bakery or Polish Table.
These Baltimore bakeries have your Fat Tuesday treats covered
From paczki to king cake to bombolino, eating sweet, fried dough just before Lent is a tradition that spans the globe. Here are the Baltimore bakeries where you can find your Fat Tuesday fix.
Domenico Di Pasquale stands with the recovered Di Pasquale's sign outside the business' Gough Street location.
Di Pasquale’s decades-old sign returns to its Highlandtown building
The Di Pasquale’s sign, a part of the Italian market and restaurant’s history since 1988, had been stolen earlier this week from its Gough Street building, owners said.
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