Eats and Drinks
Best New Restaurant
Chameleon Café
It's been a good year for us restaurant dilettantes who like to graze new pastures as often as possible. Red Maple upped the town's tapas ante with high style--carefully concocted small plates served in ultra-swank surroundings--and Soigné dressed up the South Baltimore bar scene with its oh-so-SoHo continental/pan-Asian fusion fare and stylishly simple décor. But this year's big shiny Best New Restaurant trophy goes to Lauraville's lovable little Chameleon Café. We love the brief but intelligent seasonal menu, changing often enough to keep us intrigued, and the fare that ranges from humbly heartwarming (the divine charcuterie plate) to inventive and even daring (grilled fresh fennel and mozzarella Napoleon, the perfect warm-weather supper). We love the perspicacious yet moderately priced wine list, the divine desserts, and the homey, welcoming dining room. We especially love the sight of earnest young cooks dashing around the open kitchen, clearly in love with their work, aka our dinner. But the clincher is Chameleon Café's reasonable prices and daring location: this place would be the instant darling of any trendy neighborhood (and Canton desperately needs a place like this), but owners Jeff and Brenda Wolf Smith staked their claim in unglamorous Lauraville. On such solidly stellar foundations is a neighborhood renaissance begun.
Other Awards for Best New Restaurant:
Mekong Delta, 9/16/2009
Woodberry Kitchen, 9/17/2008
Rocket to Venus, 9/19/2007
Salt, 9/20/2006
Pazo, 9/21/2005
Soo’s Kimchee House, 9/22/2004
Kali's Court Mezze, 9/17/2003
Blue Agave Restaurante y Tequileria, 9/19/2001
The Bicycle, 9/13/2000
Atlantic, 9/15/1999
Holy Frijoles, 9/18/1996
