Exit 19
Northwest Expressway, Reisterstown / Westminster
When it's pickin' time (fruit-pickin', not crab-pickin'), you can roam the shed attached to Baugher's Restaurant (289 W. Main St., Westminster [410] 848-7413) and select bounty from the Baugher clan's own orchardsor homemade pies constructed from same. Inside the large, plain dining rooms, settle in with farm families from Carroll County and city folk like yourself to enjoy home cooking, from chicken-fried steak to roast beef or turkey with all the trimmings. We'll help ourselves to a heaping platter of fried chicken livers, a head-on cholesterol collision that's worth the risk. You definitely want to have the pie à la mode, since ice cream is what started the Baugher's hullabaloo years ago.
In deference to its largely white-haired clientele, Rudy's 2900 (2900 Baltimore Blvd., Finksburg, [410] 833-5777) offers a lot of heart-healthy entrées (fish and seafood), but we suspect anyone venturing out here is going Continental, fat and calories be damned. Start with oysters Brittany, perhaps, or seafood sausage. Move on to hearts of palm with watercress and duck breast. Sit back in full expectation for roast rack of lamb, tournedos with morels and Madeira cream, or roast duckling with plum sauce. Desserts are beautiful but, frankly, by this point in the meal, we can only sip coffee and groan.
Maggie's Restaurant (310 E. Green St., Westminster, [410] 876-6868) does down-home casual with an urbane twist in downtown Westminster, drawing crowds for American standards like crab cakes and Continental creations like veal Madeira and chicken champagne. Just the place to revive after fatiguing yourself at the Carroll County Farm Museum.
Tucked so far into a strip mall that you'll need a treasure map to find it, big, open Scotto's Restaurant (521 Jermor Lane [140 Village Shopping Center], Westminster, [410] 876-6303) is a monument to light, simple, affordable Italian cooking. There's a come-as-you-are joviality about the place, especially when you're tucking into delicate manicotti, luscious lasagne, and good bread. You can find more elaborate offerings, especially at dinner, and we're sure they're good; it's just that we tend not to mess with perfection.
Price Point (3/3/2010)
EAT: City Paper's annual dining guide
Central (3/3/2010)
Harbor Area (3/3/2010)
812 Park Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 523-2300
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