Wifey got her first paycheck and it just happened to be restaurant week in Baltimore. It couldn’t have been a better time to check out some fine dines in the city that is famous for crabs. She had made all the plans, including the reservations and transport to get to the place which was serving a three course seafood meal. To top it off, she had also decided upon the courses. I just had to dress up and accompany her!
Dress up?! Huh? I was visiting from Boston and had no idea about her plans. Fortunately the place did not require a formal attire and I had brought enough clothes to appropriately present myself with the lady. Attire was approved … well..sort of!
*
Inner Harbor is the place to be if you are in Baltimore, and in a mood of dining on a water front. Black Olive was the name of the restaurant she had picked. A four point some star, three dollar sign restaurant did not raise my eyebrows as the first paycheck was slated to be spent on making the husband happy. Situated few yards from the waters, this mom-and-pop business looked to be an authentic Greek tavern. The place was full. We were offered a table on the patio outside, but the inner ambience was so romantic that we did not want to let it go. We decided to wait for a “few minutes” as it was told by the hostess.
Patrons were arriving after us and taking the patio deal. After a while, we realized we were the only couple in the corridors waiting for table inside. Slowly we started to understand why we were offered the patio to begin with. Folks comfortable indoors were taking their own sweet time to wine and dine. And there was absolutely no rush from the hosts as well. Brick interior, dimmed lights, light music, people in suits dining with their significant others, a bar in a corner hosted by a handsome young man with a ponytail, juggling bottles as he made cocktails – all of this made people relax in their seats for hours… While we stood in the corner, hungry, looking at each table one after another to see whose meal was about to finish.
*
After almost an hour’s wait, the hostess must have felt really bad for us and kept apologizing. That handsome young man juggling bottles of liquor was looking at all of this, now approached us, apologized and out of nowhere, told us that our dinner was on the house! We soon realized, he happened to be the owner of the establishment and wanted his patrons to be happy. A three course meal for two.. on the house?!! Yeah baby! Coming from a place where “waiting for an hour for a 10 min breakfast at Vaishali after which the waiters would kick you out as other hungry people are in the line”, is a norm — this was quite an unexpected treat! We were obliged.
We soon got a table and the courses begin to flow. The appetizers on the menu were stuffed calamari and bread pudding stuffed with mushrooms and nuts. According to yelp, the egg shaped calamari stuffed with cheese and served on a salad was one of the specialties of that place. It was not on the restaurant week specials, but they graciously agreed to prepare one for us. A bronzini followed as a main course which the waiter filleted it in front of us. Quite an experience looking at someone fillet an entire fish right in front out you and serve it on a plate with apples on the side. The other entrée was rockfish fillet, again served with pickled apple slices.
*Bronzini
We took our time to savor the entrees. We were taken good care of. The deserts presented were Baklava icecream and a choice between tiramisu and chocolate mousse. Icecream with crushed baklava in it was an interesting mix of a desert. A little on the spicy side, this icecream with the tiramisu was a perfect conclusion to a delicious dinner.
So, it was an evening to remember, but the first paycheck party is still pending—and wifey is all in to recreate the experience elsewhere.
* from google
The Cobbled Path 