Fins, the bar and grill at 2318 Fleet St., should be open again by tomorrow under new management. It closed in January while the owner worked on a new Ocean City Fins, scheduled to open in late spring.
Back to the Fins in Baltimore: The name will stay the same; but the Jimmy Buffett memorabilia will come down, and the menu will change from seafood and bar fare to Southwestern.
Lennys for lunch
Who said opening a restaurant was risky business? The new Lennys Chop House in Harbor Inn Pier 5 is doing so well that owner Lenny Kaplan has decided to open for lunch, starting with Secretaries Day, April 22.
After that the luxe restaurant will be open for lunch Monday through Friday. Prices at lunch will range from $8 to $20.
Lunch again
Sotto Sopra, at 405 N. Charles St., has taken a little longer to open for lunch. After two years, it's finally taking the plunge Monday through Friday.
It can be a bit pricey; but if you don't want a substantial meal, you can dine happily on salad and a first course like vitello tonnato (thin slices of veal in a tuna, cream and anchovy sauce) or a mixed grill of eggplant, zucchini, endive, mushrooms and other vegetables or a delicious sweet potato soup with scallops.
And dinner at Sascha's
On the other hand, Sascha's Daily, at 5 E. Hamilton St. just off Charles Street, has just started staying open until 7:30 p.m. for eat-in or carry-out dinner. Besides daily hot entrees and gourmet sandwiches, Sascha's has interesting vegetarian side dishes, like Moroccan lentils with orange sections, black bean and corn salad, Szechuan noodles and grilled vegetables.
Louie's, Louie's
Now that John DeLauro and his wife, Catherine Ronalds-DeLauro, have bought Louie's the Bookstore Cafe, at 518 N. Charles St., Baltimoreans may be worried about what changes the two New Yorkers will make. After all, Louie's started as a funky coffee house; but it's become a Baltimore institution.
DeLauro is, not surprisingly, careful to suggest only changes for the better while keeping all the charm of the original. (And the Chestertown chicken.)
"I'm fond of a traditional bistro menu," he says. "I'd like to see more entrees on the menu and to keep prices where they are to encourage dinner business. I'd like to serve hors d'oeuvres at the bar." Asked about Louie's reputation for charming but not always efficient service, he says, "The tools are here to have the best of both worlds, both charm and good service. It's more of a logistic problem than anything else." Just keep the Chestertown chicken.
