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Best New Restaurant
Salt
Let's define terms. What we're praising Salt for is having a vision and sticking to it. We can tell ...
Best New Entrée
Bouillabaisse at the Brewer's Art
Tip Carter took over the kitchen from Ravi Narayanan last year, and his first year's worth of season...
Best New Appetizer, Upscale
Salt's foie gras and sirloin slider burger
We have no official opinion about the great foie gras wars of 2006. We promise to think about it. Fo...
Best New Appetizer, Downscale
Mex's El Corn
Corn on the cob, grilled, slathered in something sticky like mayonnaise, and sprinkled with chili po...
Best Fancy Restaurant
Charleston
There is a long list of special-occasion worthy restaurants in the Fells Point/Harbor East area (the...
Best Return from D.C.
Edward Kim at Saffron
We're naturally nosy, you know, so we'd love to know what really went down when Soigné closed its Lo...
Best Restaurant Service
The Prime Rib
Straight-up. Heaven bless the unflappable staff at Jimmy's in Fells Point, the flappable Miss Gina a...
Best Kid-Friendly Dining
Donna's Café at Cross Keys
We almost hate to recommend restaurants we like in this category, because, well, truth be told, we k...
Best Cheap Restaurant
Port Truck Stop
The burger's $1.95; shrimp basket is $4.50, and from the pale tile floor (a kerosene heater stands r...
Best Free Food
Viva House
For 40 years Willa Bickham and Brendan Walsh have fed, housed, clothed, and helped people on Baltimo...
Best Restaurant for Vegetarians
The Yabba Pot
Some restaurants are just so good you can't help but overeat. Yabba Pot is one of those places. But ...
Best Restaurant for Vegetarians and Meat Eaters
Zodiac
Yes, the Yabba Pot. We all love the Yabba Pot. But when the in-laws come to town, it's hard to sell ...
Best Takeout Vegan
Monkton Village Market
If you're going to mess with the meat in meat loaf, you best know what you're doing. Who hasn't been...
Best Place to Eat in the Inner Harbor
M&S Grill
As much as we grump about the lack of appealing options year after year after year, we don't want mu...
Best Place to Eat Alone
Sofi's Crêpes
First of all, Sofi's is named after a dog. If single people can't relate to that, we don't know who ...
Best Courtyard Dining
Arcos
The unexpectedness of it matters, the incongruity of such a blissful space behind what ranks as one ...
Best Deck Dining
Vin
Throwing money into a forgotten corner of Towson Circle's old Hutzler building created the goofily g...
Best Cafeteria-Style Dining
St. Nicholas Greek Folk Festival
Rather than the usual row of kiosks serving food of varying quality that you usually find at festiva...
Best Breakfast
Suburban House
We've never had such a huge bagel. Sliced three ways, layered with eggs and cheese, it was a heart a...
Best Brunch
Red Star
Taking Grandma to a lovely Sunday brunch this weekend? Yeah, right. We know you. You woke up at 1 p....
Best Bagels
Greg's Bagels
We often find ourselves munching a bagel from Greg's straight up, no cream cheese, no nothing, not e...
Best Cup of Coffee
Zeke's Coffee
High-quality coffee used to be about snotty attitudes in smoky dungeon-like coffeehouses, long befor...
Best Espresso Shot with a Story
High Grounds Coffee
Some of us here have the kind of sensitive stomachs typically associated with, well, aging. And espr...
Best Tea House
Teavolve
On Eastern Avenue, right off Broadway, is Teavolve. Inside, there's a short stone bar deep enough fo...
Best Bakery
New System Bakery
Best toast: crunchy cinnamon swirl with butter. The lines of cinnamon add just a touch of sweet, no ...
Best Dessert
Original Colosseo at Vaccaro's
The portrait on the wall of Little Italy's Vaccaro's pretty much says everything you need to know ab...
Best Reason for Tastebuds
Kirchmayr Chocolatier
Chocolate . . . omigod . . . mmmmmmmm. Just the word itself sends your senses into a desperate longi...
Best Place to Get Ice Cream
Sylvan Beach Café
Summer in the city is bikini season, sure, but it's also hot as hell. While beach-bound boys and bab...
Best Gourmet Summertime Treat
The Cow
Skylite? Please. You can get your Windex-in-a-cone wherever, but if you want actual food in your sum...
Best Milk Shake
Cold Stone Creamery
When we got to the counter at the Cold Stone Creamery, we asked for a large chocolate malted milk sh...
Best Cracklike Dairy Product
Chocolate Milk from Trickling Springs Creamery
OK, so it might hint at a less than sparkling social life that we get our knickers all in a twist ov...
Best Fresh Yogurt
Carma's Café
Carma's Café makes a lot of Charles Villagers happy with its fresh soups, mochas, muffalettas, and m...
Best Smoothie
Liquid Earth's Hippy Lippy
Everyone loves smoothies now, but Liquid Earth was slinging them across counters well before the res...
Best Sno-ball
Walther Gardens
Summer, for us parental types, is a time for heaping happy childhood memories upon our young. We all...
Best Deli
Attman's Authentic New York Delicatessen
As Baltimore's once famous Corned Beef Row slowly turns into Yet Another Pricey Condo Block Row, Att...
Best Place to Get a Sandwich
Café Mocha
The "Sandwich King" we call him. Kader Camara opened Café Mocha on Howard Street's Antique Row four ...
Best Cheap Turkey Sandwich
Eddies of Mount Vernon
In the hierarchy of turkey sandwiches, the day-after-Thanksgiving, fresh-off-the-bird sandwich ranks...
Best Two-Handed Vegetarian Sandwich
Falafel sandwich at Parsa Kabob
This is one monster sandwich: three plump falafel patties stuffed into a dinner-plate-sized round of...
Best Grilled Cheese
Papermoon Diner
Grilled cheese is a purist's art--no fancy cheeses, no sprigs of scallion, no weird breads, no mushr...
Best Shrimp Salad
Kibby's Restaurant and Lounge
Don't serve us canned krill, mixed with a dollop of mayo, some celery hunks, and a spoonful of Old B...
Best Price War
$1.50 Cold-Cut Subs at Northeast Market
The delicatessen stands over at Northeast Market--Rex's, the University, and Harry's--are having the...
Best Cheese Steak
MaGerk's Pub and Grill
Geno's or Pat's? It's the South Street equivalent of Coke or Pepsi to the residents of Philadelphia,...
Best Hamburger
Swallow at the Hollow
If there's one thing college students and senior citizens can agree on, it's a bargain. Take, for ex...
Best Hot Dog
Pulaski Liquor Emporium and Dog House Tavern
This stretch of Pulaski Highway, with the Gentleman's Gold Club and the Adult Video Outlet to the we...
Best Pretzel Dog
The Pretzel Twist
Many people hit Cross Street Market for the fresh seafood, desserts, flowers, and Utz potato chips, ...
Best Pit Beef
Jerry D's Seafood
Judging pit beef sandwiches, like sno-balls and crab cakes, is a fool's game. Everybody thinks that ...
Best Barbecue
Andy Nelson's Southern Pit Barbecue
Having eaten our way around most of the major barbecue-producing regions of this great, smoky nation...
Best Fried Chicken
Kimmy's Restaurant and Carryout
Fried chicken is a staple of the cuisine known as soul food. In fact, it's the centerpiece. That's w...
Best Place to Pick Up Fried Chicken and a Sex Toy
New York Fried Chicken
Sometimes you're on your lunch break downtown, and you pass a few cafés and think no. And you pass a...
Best French Fries
The Brewer's Art Rosemary Garlic Fries
Now, we have been known to eat a plate of fries as a meal. We're not proud, but it happens. But the ...
Best Pizza Fries
Matthew's Pizza
Until some enterprising Montréalais(e) decides to bless Baltimore with an authentic place to get pou...
Best Pizza
Iggies
Pizza isn't usually a meal that people rave about for days afterward. It's generally eaten on the fl...
Best Mall Pizza
Italian Gardens
Sbarro sucks. Back in the day, every mall worth its salt was home to a thoroughly decent pizza joint...
Best Soups
Soup's On at Rose's Cookies
Good soup is hard to find; most delis offer "homemade" soup prepared by opening the Cryovac pouches ...
Best Crab Cake
Buddy's Elliott Street Bar and Grille
The discovery of a new crab cake confers more happiness on humanity than a new star, said Brillat-Sa...
Best Crab House
Mr. Bill's Terrace Inn
Mr. Bill's Terrace Inn is the crab house's Platonic ideal. Reservations democratically not accepted-...
Best Raw Bar
Nick's Inner Harbor Seafood
If you agree that some things are better in the raw, then Nick's is the place for you. Fight for a s...
Best Tapas/Small Plates
Pazo
Is tapas half past trendy now? Whatever, we still love Pazo. It's a rare little plate that comes out...
Best Late-Night Dining
Kali's Mezze
It's Friday at midnight, and you haven't eaten. Every joint in town is closed except for the greasy ...
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Best Really Late-Night Dining
Nam Kang
Here's what the perfect late-night restaurant should be: The décor should be chintzy enough so you c...
Best Diner
Happy Day Diner
Most 24-hour diners are created equal, but the Happy Day Diner boasts not only the usual hefty menu ...
Best Delivery
Joe Squared
OK, this one is a bit of a tease. Though the Joe Squared pizza that was delivered to our home was th...
Best 24-Hour TakeOut
Bay View Carry Out
For some of us, late-night food isn't about quirky ambiance or spray-painted mannequins jumping out ...
Best Street Vendor
Paylor's
On a recent rainy afternoon, Paylor's set up a bright blue tent in front of its cart to protect not ...
Best Corner to Buy a Bean Pie
North Avenue and St. Paul Street
Lunchtime. You're headed north on St. Paul Street, and as you approach the Kentucky Fried Chicken at...
Best Soul Food Restaurant
Symone's Soul Café
Symone's Soul Café features soul food at its best. It offers the taste of home cooking in a clean, s...
Best Defunct Eatery
The Roost
As they say, all things must come to an end. But that gives no comfort to fans of the Roost. Over th...
Best Lake Trout
Lake Trout
The interesting thing about lake trout--aside from the fact that it's not even trout; it's whiting--...
Best Chinese Restaurant
Café Zen
Café Zen's fare isn't substantially better than the average Chinese restaurant's (though it definite...
Best Ethiopian Restaurant
Dukem Restaurant
At this point, the nice people at Dukem practically know us by voice when we call up to order the No...
Best Greek Restaurant
Samos
It's pretty hard to argue with reasonable prices for large-portioned plates of freshly prepared savo...
Best Indian Restaurant
India Rasoi
We feel like a broken record sometimes with our friends--yes, it's an Indian place, yes it's in Litt...
Best Samosas
Ambassador Dining Room
A good samosa is harder to come by than you'd think. The crust has to be both flaky and chewy, avoid...
Best Italian Restaurant
Café Amore
One would think opening up a good and cheap Italian restaurant would be simple. Get a few recipes fr...
Best Jamaican Restaurant
Ras Doobie de Chef at Carolyn's Café
Personality goes a long way. In fact, it's one of the reasons why Ras Doobie gets pushed to the top ...
Best Japanese Restaurant
Matsuri
Truth is, Baltimore needs more Japanese restaurants like Matsuri. Federal Hill's breezy, well-lighte...
Best Sushi
Matsuri
Judging from the amount of carry-out Matsuri did on the rainy evening we sat at the 90-degree sushi ...
Best Pho
Miss Pho
If Baltimore had the sort of Vietnamese population of an Orange County, Calif., or Houston, this cat...
Best Latino Restaurant
Dominicano Internacional
First, brush up on your Spanish. Last time we ate here, no servers spoke English beyond "Coca-Cola,"...
Best Mexican Restaurant
Arcos
It's not just the tasty fried tacos, the yummy chicken enchiladas, and delicious sangria that will k...
Best Middle Eastern Restaurant
The Helmand
You know what we love? Going out to a nice casual yet elegant restaurant, having a tasty meal in a w...
Best Gyro
Never on Sunday
Gyros aren't that hard to make. Slice off a few hunks from the rotating lamb loaf, plunk them on a s...
Best Thai Restaurant
Thai Restaurant
Year after year, we hand this category to Waverly's humble Thai Restaurant. A lesser establishment w...
Best Trinidad and Tobagoan
Caribbean Food Store
As everyone's favorite underdog in this year's World Cup, Trinidad and Tobago put smiles on the face...
Best Mysterious Closure of a Local Landmark
Big Sky Bread Co.
A handwritten sign was the only announcement: closed. The Big Sky Bread Co. in Roland Park survived ...
Best Restaurant Scandal
Kawasaki
Up until recently, Kawasaki was known for its sushi. Now it's known for the scandal that shut its do...
Best Bar Food
One-Eyed Mike's
Clean décor, attention to detail, and quality food and service--the type not normally associated wit...
Best Happy Hour Food
Babalu Grill
Savvy restaurants offer abbreviated versions of their big-menu items at neat little happy hour price...
Best Happy Hour
Dizzy Issie's
The best thing about Dizzy Issie's is the newly done wood floors. Kidding. We kid. We do love the sh...
Best Local Beer
The Brewer's Art
It's a foregone conclusion--Brewer's Art has the lock on the local beer market. Brewer's originals l...
Best Selection of Beers on Tap
Max's Taphouse
Max's Taphouse has been quenching the thirst of Fells Point beer enthusiasts for more than 20 years ...
Best Cheap Drink
A Natty Boh and a Shot of Pikesville Rye at the Mount Royal Tavern
Three dollars and seventy-five cents for a buzz dripping with sad Mobtown nostalgia, man, at a bar t...
Best Specialty Drink
Orange Crush at Mama's on the Half Shell
Don't let the straw fool you. The Orange Crush ($6) may be fruity, but it's definitely not weak. Ref...
Best Bar Olives
Cheesecake Factory
Cheesecake Factory isn't exactly where you go to avoid a crowd, but now and then a meticulously prep...
Best Place for One Drink Too Many
Club Charles
Barhopping seems like a good idea on any given Friday or Saturday night--or Wednesday or Thursday de...
Best Bar for Nonsmokers
Golden West Café
While we dread the inevitable day when smoking is banned in all Baltimore bars, our lungs (and jeans...
Best Neighborhood Bar
O'Hara's Irish Pub
Picking the best neighborhood bar from a city of neighborhoods and bars seems unfair. How could one ...
Best Corner Bar
Parkside Restaurant
If ever there was a neighborhood longing for a clean, comfortable corner bar, it was this one. Locat...
Best Irish Pub
Maggie Moore's
Irish pubs tend to come in two flavors: the kind that attracts frat boys looking to tie one on, and ...
Best Dive Bar
Leadbetters Tavern
Sometimes you just want a damn drink--not a green faux-tini, not a nutmeg-and smoke-infused microbre...
Best NonBar Hangout
Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse
There's a lot to celebrate when it comes to Red Emma's. This isn't a town with a lot of collectively...
Best Place to Chill, Drink, and Get Political
Eden's Lounge
Every Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m., media entrepreneur and political analyst Doni Glover hosts Politics ...
Best Gay Bar
Grand Central
Grand Central's cozy front room, lined with brick walls and huge windows facing the street, is alway...
Best Lesbian Bar
Gallagher's Bar and Grill
This cute neighborhood bar is located just far enough from Canton Square that you can find a parking...
Best Wine Bar
Grand Cru
The wine is waiting at this inviting spot in hopping Belvedere Square. Whether you're looking for an...
Best Upscale Bar
Tusk Lounge
When you want to go out and have a few beers and a fist full of nachos or mozzarella sticks you can ...
Best Tourist-Friendly Bar
McCormick and Schmick's
If you've got guests in town of the less-than-adventurous variety, or you are flagged down by a mob ...
Best Pregame Bar
Pickles Pub
Just a home run away from Camden Yards, Pickles Pub is the perfect spot for some Orioles pregame fes...
Best Sports Bar
Huckas
Going to a sports bar usually means having some dude standing on your feet while you crane your neck...
Best Drunken Hookup Night
College Night At Power Plant Live!
OMYGOD!! COLLEGE!! WOOOOO!!! Did you hear they might be ending college night at Power Plant Live!? T...
Best Place for College Girls to Pass Out
The Den
Sure, it's no Power Plant Live!, but if you're looking for yet another reason to hate college kids, ...
Best Enforcement of Dress Code
Mad River
One night at Mad River in Federal Hill, an occasional City Paper contributor hanging out with friend...
Best Scenester Bar
The Depot
What exactly is a scenester? Traditionally speaking, "scene" implies stereotypes. There's the rock s...
Best Wannabe Scenester Bar
Sonar
Do you secretly wish that local musicians, show promoters, DJs, artists, and scene kids would notice...
Best Bartender
Anna "Spooky" Makauskas
Sometimes bartenders should be recognized for who they are, not just for what they do well. Sure, th...
Best Bathroom
Peter's Inn
Dating can be nerve-racking, sure, but at Peter's Inn in Fells Point ladies need not worry so much--...
Best Bathroom to Leave Embarrassing Drunken Messages
Dionysus
There are many reasons to love Dionysus--good pizza, relaxed atmosphere, nice bartenders, all the us...
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