Blog Baltimore

Last night my fianc and I went out to do dinner and a movie. Everyone’s been talking up “The Dark Night” and I finally saw why. We started off our evening by going to Ra Sushi because we’ve had some friends go there and have said some good things. The atmosphere at the restaurant was really cool and the layout was very modern. They seated us at a two person table near the main sushi chef line so I got to see how fast and efficient they worked. Ra Right now is participating in Restaurant Week if you want to check it out. The menu was decent even though they had to make some substitutions due to the problems with jalapenos. Their drink specials were nice, we ordered the Tsunami Punch which has a minimum of 2 people per drink. We ordered a couple of rolls and a couple appetizers. The overall meal I would say was decent. There were somethings about the Pacific Roll that we didn’t enjoy such as the cooked fish. I wouldn’t say the Pacific Roll was bad, cooked (smoked?) salmon’s just not my thing. The rest of the meal was good.

After dinner we headed over to the Harbor East Cinemas which was awesome. It’s right in the heart of the Fells Point/Downtown connection which has been booming in real estate and new restaurants. The movie theater greets you with a glow of screens that show the current movie times and upcoming movies.

Inside the atmosphere is nothing like all the other cinemas. This cinema is small and personal, you can go to the bar and have a drink (or take it with you) or go pick up food. I was truly impressed by The Harbor East Cinemas and even though it was a dollar more for a movie, I’ll gladly pay that and not have to worry about people talking on their cell phones or yelling during the movie like at Hoyts near BWI or Egyptian Cinemas at Arundel Mills. I’ve been so disgusted with movies thanks to the theaters that Arundel Mills and Harbor East has been a nice breath of fresh air.

We went out Saturday night and got tickets for the U2 3D IMax presentation. We grabbed sushi from a local Federal Hill joint called Kiku Sushi. I’d have to say the sushi was sub par and the appetizers were decent, nothing too special. It would have been better if the meal hadn’t felt like it was rushed, even though it took a bit of time to get. The Edamame seemed like it was soaked in salt water and then microwaved and some of the salads were drenched in dressing, giving more of a soup than salad feeling. The sushi wasn’t too impressive, with the fish being pretty fatty and nothing too spectacular about the rolls. Then again, if I were to classify it as a standard joint with no frills, this would probably be it. My favorite straight up sushi joint with no frills is still Asahi Sushi in Fells Point.

U2 3D at the Maryland Science Center was a good show. I’m not a huge fan of U2 so my opinion could be somewhat skewed, regardless it was worth the money. The camera work and the effects of the presentation was very cool. The only problem I had, and it might have had more to do with how the IMax works, was that the special effects put strain on my eyes which made them very tired. I enjoyed the show and it was very cool!