Category: Reviews

Holy Molting Batman! It’s Soft Shell Crab Season!

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As sure as the cool April winds give way to blistering, 100 degree days in our humble burg, you can be sure that the east coast delicacies known as Callinectes sapidus (“beautiful savory swimmer” – aka the Maryland Blue Crab) will be hitting our better restaurants, ready to be munched on whole, without the necessity of pounding, poking and pricking your way into all those crabby delights.

Yep….that’s right….you eat ’em whole, skin and all, biting right through the claws and the soft carapace to get to all that good meat.

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Eat This Now – Octopus Tiganito at THE FAT GREEK (+ one unique cheeseburger)

We told you some time ago that The Fat Greek was being run by Russians.

At first, this disturbed us, but a recent visit demonstrated no slippage in the souvlaki or doldrums in the dolmades.

As solid as those standards continue to be, it was two unexpected dishes that brought hosannas to Hera. One was simple grilled octopus (called octopus Tiganito on the menu):

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…that was as tender and lemony as this cephalopod can get.

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CARNEVINO: Grandmaster of Meat

After a meal at Carnevino and having one of their amazing 90-120 day aged cuts of meat, I’m going to have to totally agree with Mr. Curtas’ classification of them as one of the best steakhouses in the country (his repeated, vitriolic endorsement certainly motivated me).

It’s like if the cold-war era wasn’t fought over nuclear stockpiles, patrolling bombers, and space travel, but rather steaks.  And while the Kremlin was trying to cross breed a Holstein with a Pachyderm, or putting the first person to stop clapping for Stalin in an abattoir, we were perfecting Carnevino.  Behind the facade of a giant Italian castle’s dining halls, there is a well-oiled (with artisanal olive oil, of course) machine working in back and off-site to turn cows into gold.

The Head Honcho, Exec Chef Nicole Brisson is a true Gangsta for real.  I was quite pleased to find that she was doing a couple items with ramps, an east-coast seasonal foraged green, that I was interested in trying.  In fact, I ended up trying quite a few things.  I would even go so far to say, just weighing in on food alone, Carnevino could stand as a wonderfully unique and creative restaurant even if there were NO STEAKS on the menu.

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