If you didn’t know it already, 2024 made it clear: Baltimore is a great eating town.
We welcomed some inventive new concepts like Yebo Kitchen in Old Goucher and The Duchess and The Urban Oyster in Hampden. Some neighborhoods saw small-scale dining booms, with the arrival of ZaVino Italian Marketplace and Cece’s of Roland Park to Cross Keys and the reworked Rye Street Tavern to South Baltimore. Greek food and cheesesteaks shook the suburbs. Meanwhile, some treasured local eateries were named semifinalists for the James Beard Awards and one newcomer made it to The New York Times’ list of best restaurants.
I didn’t make it to every spot on my list this year, but I did manage to eat well while reporting on the city’s dining scene — meals that surprised me, delighted me and made me think about them months after the fact.
Duck confit gumbo from Rooted Rotisserie
Rooted Rotisserie became one of 2024′s feel-good dining stories when the Hollins Market bistro from Foreman Wolf alum Joe Burton and his wife Amanda got a shoutout from Keith Lee. The mega-popular TikTok restaurant critic didn’t just like the couple’s French-influenced fare — he rolled his eyes in ecstasy at their duck confit gumbo. Hungry crowds soon followed. Though Lee ate in his car, Rooted cut off takeout orders after his visit to encourage customers like me to enjoy the full experience of thoughtfully prepared, stunningly presented fare inside their restaurant, where good vibes and family photos abound. Lee’s favorite dish was also one of the best meals I ate this year, with duck skin that crackled atop perfectly moist meat. And few chefs treat side dishes like fried okra and sautéed cabbage with such care, even veneration.
Toast at Le Comptoir du Vin
In the age where “phone eats first” and restaurants live and die by Instagram, it’s refreshing to see a chef who’s unafraid to serve food that tastes fantastic but looks … not great. That’s what Station North has in Will Mester of Le Comptoir du Vin, who serves traditional peasant fare like haggis, offal and bone-in skate wings and challenges diners to eat outside their comfort zone. But man, does this guy know his way around a simple piece of bread. During a meal there this spring, I ordered the pig head toast with dandelion greens, a meal that tasted simultaneously indulgent and restrained, unpretentious yet artful. All the more reason to be excited about The Wren, a Fells Point pub Mester and business partner Rosemary Liss are preparing to launch in Fells Point in January.
Oxtails and roti from Blacksauce Kitchen
I’m not sure if there’s someone cooking up more confident, interesting and just plain delicious fare in Baltimore than chef Damian Mosley of Blacksauce Kitchen. His Remington restaurant, which serves food inspired by the African diaspora, is open just two days a week and operates a stand at the 32nd Street farmers market. It’s a quirky business model that not just anyone could pull off, but take a bite of Blacksauce’s smoky meats or comforting carbs and you’ll see why foodies look forward to Wednesdays, when Mosley posts his menu online (pickup is Thursday and Saturday). While reporting on the business this year, I made short work of an order of succulent oxtail with a side of roti.
Cake from Doppio Pasticceria
The Sicilian bakery from Luke Ilardo and Megan Cowman has been one of my favorite new businesses to enter the scene in recent memory, offering a viewpoint on Italian food that’s as specific and cerebral as it is delicious. The duo uses freshly milled flour in dishes like arancini and cannoli, which you can find at local farmers markets or their pop-up at 2600 North Howard Street in Remington, while they await completion of their permanent home nearby on 29th Street. (Ilardo says it should open early next year.) Their olive oil chiffon cake, a simple and not-too-sweet treat topped with fruit, is proof that sometimes less really is more.
Escargot at Milton Inn
I wasn’t always an escargot gal, but somewhere along the way I saw the light. It probably has something to do with Milton Inn chef and co-owner Chris Scanga, who serves the delicacy in a cast iron dish with pools of garlic and butter. Half the fun is soaking your bread in the juices afterward. When I sampled the snails as an appetizer earlier this year, I felt I was biting into the French countryside — rainy and fresh and redolent of spring.
Sauerkraut and sausage inspired by Little Donna’s
It’s always cozy season at Little Donna’s, a Fells Point haunt that opened two years ago in the former Henninger’s Tavern but feels like it’s been there forever. I love the decor, which features salmon pink walls and a grandma’s attic worth of knickknacks. Chef and owner Robbie Tutlewski, a protégé of Arizona pizza guru Chris Bianco, cooks straight from the heart, too, with Eastern European staples and New York Times-endorsed tavern pie inspired by his Midwestern upbringing. His richly flavored sauerkraut and sausage, an optional menu add-on to the house pierogi, speaks to my soul. After Tutlewski shared the recipe (originally his dad’s), Banner staff made it as part of our Thanksgiving roundup. Weeks later, I’m still craving a second helping.
Macaroni and cheese at Jerk at Nite
Chef Loic Sany’s CV includes such venerated restaurants as the Inn at Little Washington, and I’m excited to see him flex his skills in the kitchen at Jerk at Nite, which welcomed diners this fall to the long-vacant Alewife space near the Hippodrome. Coming soon: The Nest, a tasting-menu only concept that will operate inside Jerk at Nite, offering elevated fare that reflects Sany’s own rich culinary background and roots in Cameroon. But a great chef’s talents show up even in more modest dishes, and his macaroni and cheese is among the best I’ve ever had.
Gabriel Pizza at Oleum
Restaurants flourished in some unexpected locations this year. After initially rolling out as a ghost kitchen inside the former Stratford University, plant-based eatery Oleum opened a sit-down restaurant in the soon-to-be-demolished Harborplace. No matter the location, customers are coming. Owner Alisha Adibe serves up globally inspired fare like a delectable mezze platter with some of the best hummus and garlic toum around, practically a meal with pillowy flatbread. She told me about one guy who was straight-up addicted to her Gabriel pizza, topped with housemade “cheese” and pesto sauce, meatless sausage and Calabrian peppers — the kind of gooey, spicy, meaty, perfectly baked pie that will have you saying: “I can’t believe it’s vegan.”
Salmon apple salad from Neopol Smokery
Readers rarely steer me wrong, and I owe thanks to those who recommended I check out the smoked salmon apple salad at Neopol Smokery during my quest this spring to find the area’s best salads. My stop by the company’s Belvedere Square branch — and a perfect salad, complete with green apples, red onion, salmon and capers on a bed of greens — helped reignite my appreciation for this Hollins Market-headquartered eatery, where a nourishing, delicious and affordably priced lunch takes just a moment.
Italian cold cut sandwich from Isabella’s Brick Oven
Unforgettable meals aren’t just about the food, but often equally about the environment. Few gustatory memories of 2024 top the hefty cold cut sandwich I scarfed solo from Isabella’s Brick Oven in Little Italy on a warm day while sitting in the empty bocce court next door. I got a little bit obsessed with Italian cold cut sandwiches this year, and Banner readers joined with me in the fun, ranking their top 16 local favorites.
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