February 26, 1998|By Elizabeth Large | Elizabeth Large,SUN RESTAURANT CRITIC
Goodbye, Peter Zimmer. Goodbye, creator of citrus and pumpkinseed seared antelope with Virginia ham and brussels sprout succotash and other off-the-wall but delicious dishes. After two years, the Joy America Cafe's exuberant chef (pictured) has left his post in the American Visionary Art Museum.
For the next couple of months Zimmer will remain in Baltimore as a consultant while sous chef Brian Mathias takes over the reins. No word on what Zimmer's plans are after that. By late spring Joy America will have an alternate menu to go with the current one -- one that will offer more traditional and less expensive choices.
Shula's Steak House
The menu is painted on an official NFL game football signed by Don Shula and brought to the customer on a kicking tee. That's at former Baltimore Colts coach Don Shula's formal -- if I can use the term loosely -- restaurant, Shula's Steak House, which is scheduled to open in the Omni Inner Harbor Hotel this spring. Next to the main restaurant will be a more casual Shula's Steak 2 and a No Name Lounge, all part of a steak house franchise based in Florida. Move over Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Prime Rib and Lennys. Beef is definitely back in Baltimore.
Three-cannoli lunch
At lunch at Troia the Bistro at the Walters the other day, I liked the looks of the three mini-cannoli arranged on a plate on the dessert cart.
"I'll have the cannoli," I said. "I will, too," my friend (another woman) said. The waiter proceeded to take the plate off the cart and put it between us.
"Can't we each have our own?" we had to ask. And not one that's been sitting on the cart, I felt like adding. No, we weren't being greedy -- the three cannoli weren't as big as one usually is. Our waiter raised his eyebrows but brought us each our own dessert.
Still, he couldn't resist asking us if we wanted another round when he cleared our plates. He might as well have come right out and said piggy, piggy, piggy.
Window of opportunity
Windows in the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel is celebrating its 10th anniversary by offering its lunch buffet at the 1988 price. Monday through Friday of next week the buffet will cost $7.95, and you'll get a great view besides.
Table Talk welcomes interesting tidbits of restaurant news. Please send suggestions to Elizabeth Large, Table Talk, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278; fax to 410-783-2519; or e-mail to elizabeth.largaltsun.com.
Pub Date: 2/26/98
