Toasts Of The Town

Focus On Bars

Baltimore appears to be moving up the party scale with more specialty bars setting up in town. We made the rounds through the city's nightspots and came up with an informal cheatsheet to imbibing.

Cheers.

The Brewer's Art

1106 N. Charles St.

410-547-9310

Specialty: Microbrews and imported beer

Got a hankering for a Belgian Moinette Farmhouse Ale or a Finnish Skullsplitter Orkney Ale?

You can't go wrong at the Brewer's Art if you're seeking a particularly eclectic beer or if you're just looking to experiment. Besides the usual five beers on tap, this bar and restaurant serves up more than 100 microbrews and imports. The beer menu has a heavy European bent. Try the interesting German Berliner Kindl Weisse, a wheat beer mixed with raspberry syrup in a clear goblet.

And the Brewer's Art lets you pick your surroundings. Yuppie- or artist-types can find comfort in the airy upstairs bar with its mirrored walls, soft couches and bar stools. But those seeking a bit more edge can traipse downstairs to a dark, dungeon-like bar with small tables crammed into every corner.

Cosmopolitan

2933 O' Donnell St.

410-563-5000

Specialty: Martinis

With martinis making a comeback among the hipsters of today, Cosmopolitan in Canton is a great place to visit to get up to speed.

This new restaurant in a narrow Canton rowhouse on O'Donnell Square features a well-stocked bar and a menu with 19 types of martinis priced between $4.25 and $6.50. The yummy variations include a chocolate martini with vodka and Kahlua garnished with a chocolate-covered cherry; the Bellini martini with vodka, peach Schnapps and a splash of orange juice; and the Canton martini with vodka, black raspberry and a dash of pineapple juice.

Smokers are welcome at the first floor bar and dining room, but for the perfect martini-sipping experience, ask for a table upstairs. The walls and ceiling of the second floor are painted like a dark blue night sky complete with stars. And if you think the experience couldn't get much better, order the crab dip. It's wonderful.

Helen's Garden

2908 O'Donnell St.

410-276-2233

Specialty: Wine

This restaurant and bar in a tiny Canton rowhouse doesn't look like much from the outside, but Helen's Garden is the place for wine-lovers.