Blog Baltimore

I went back to Lagers Pub with my friends last night for their Trivia Night. This is the first time I’ve been back to Lagers in over a few years. I wasn’t a fan of their bartenders before this recent management change. I’ll say I was pleasantly impressed with the Trivia and the setup. The bartenders were a bit slow but much better than before. Also the atmosphere in the bar was much better.

I ate their “Mama’s Meatloaf” which I thought was awesome. It was meatloaf with bits of bacon all inside and slightly chard with “Baltimore BBQ Sauce.”

I’d do another trivia night there, as long as it isn’t had hard as this one was!

Went there tonight and loved the food. Not your average burger joint, as a matter of fact they don’t even advertise that. Great selection and ton of burger choices. Vegan and vegetarian options as well. Service was slow at times but still enjoyable and affordable. Would definitely recommend.

Its now Hollywoods. What food styling they offer and drinkstylings, I don’t know. I’d like to see a decent business stick around for a while. Maybe the rents too high? Could be a front too. Who knows? (If you do, let me know!?

I always skirted Bartenders on Boston St. because I thought it was one of those yuppie bars where they try to impress you every week with a new flare and style. We met up with some friends there for a wine tasting which completely changed my opinion. Not only does Bartenders have a great wine selection, above most bars, they’ve got KILLER pizza. This isn’t just something they pull from the oven. These are gourmet, decently priced, well made pizzas. Our personal favorite so far is the Spence pizza which is roasted red peppers, andouille sausage, onions, cheddar and Parmesan cheese.

The wine tasting was presented by Tim Schestag from Republic National Distributing Company. It involved 6 wines:

Finca El Origen Torrontes, Argentina
The Infamous Goose Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand
Red Guitar Old Vine Tempranillo Garnacha, Spain
14 Hands Merlot, Washington
Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon, California
Vermonte Primus, Chile

Tim did a great job of explaining and helping us discover the intricacies of the wine while Dave, the bartender, did a phenomenal job of keeping our drinks going and the food plentiful.

If you haven’t been to Bartenders yet, it’s definitely the place to go on Boston Street!
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Went to Meridian 54 for brunch today. I was excited about the bottomless momosas and bloodymarys and their breakfast food. After we finished, ill never go back to that place for brunch again. The food was great but the service and the drinks were horrible. It took us 10 minutes to even see a server after we were seated. Also the delivery of drinks and water was horrible. The bloodymarys tasted like cocktail sauce and it definitely didn’t taste like there was alcohol. Like I said earlier, the food was good but the service was horrible. If it was busy I could understand but it wasn’t even that busy.

Clutch Bar in Canton had their grand opening Saturday night. The place was decently packed with crowds coming and going. There was also a raging block party over on Belnord (S?) that added to the night at some point. I have to say though I was not impressed with my second visit to Clutch. The wait staff was extremely new and extremely confused as to how to handle the crowd. At one point, in an attempt to leave due to frustrations with getting a drink, arguments were carried out as to where certain alcohol was located and who’s job it was to deliver it to the requested place. I’m hoping this is all just growing pains as the bar expands because I like the location and the atmosphere. When it takes 30 minutes to get a beer and your check (due to the aggrevation of attemping to get a beer) you have to evaluate where the breakdown is. I think I’ll be avoiding the place for a bit in hopes that things will work themselves in to an even keel instead of the train wreck wait staff that was Saturday night.

Previous Review

Location

Clutch is a new bar/club that’s opened up on Hudson and Kenwood in Canton. The atmosphere is different; the music a little more on the dance hip/hop side which is a good change. The place was previously an Italian joint called Tiburzi’s. They cleaned up the place and stripped a lot of the “bar” feel out, leaving a very open and welcoming space with lots of room. I especially enjoyed the second floor. With TV’s strategically placed along with couches and a very un-intrusive bar, it felt inviting as well as fun. Off the back of the second floor, they have a wide open patio where you can go outside and enjoy the weather with your drinks. Clutch definitely isn’t your run of the mill bar scene and brings a welcome change to the area.
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JD’s Smoke House in Canton has changed up their menu and it’s quite good! Before they had a wide assortment of “bar foods” with a decent amount of standard dinner foods but now they’ve got a very good and very strong dinner menu. I had the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli which was very good. The broccoli had a very good tenderness and the meatloaf was tasty. My girlfriend had some form of chicken which I cannot remember but she loved that as well. We frequent JD’s quite a bit and this is a nice change to their standard fair.