After 20 years of working together at Pete's Grill, a Waverly comfort-food landmark, sisters Cathy Carter and Debbie Crum took a gamble and opened their own restaurant, Two Sisters Grille, in nearby Remington.
The offerings and atmosphere of Two Sisters resemble the restaurant they left behind: good, cheap food, with an emphasis on fast, filling breakfast fare such as egg sandwiches ($3), pancakes ($4.50) and French toast ($4.50).
Lunch includes meatloaf ($7.95), as well as half-pound burgers ($4.30), liver and onions ($6.75) and tuna sandwiches ($4.40). The menu could have been created in the 1950s -- there's not a scrap of ethnicity or a hint of recent trends on it, just simple, homey food. The front cover even boasts a charming line drawing of the two owners, who grew up in Hampden, smiling and standing close to each other.
Below that drawing is a bold claim: "The New Home of Baltimore's Best Breakfast!" The morning meal, a focal point for the restaurant, is served until 3 p.m. And to the restaurant's credit, customers can certainly fill up on scrapple ($5.50), waffles ($4.50) and grits ($1) without breaking the bank.
But best in Baltimore? Sorry, no. The pancakes, available with blueberries or chocolate chips for an additional buck, have an almost too-sharp buttermilk tang, and are not particularly light or fluffy. The waffles aren't really large enough to be properly called Belgian, as the menu claims, and the link sausages are fatty.
On the plus side, a veggie omelet ($5.50) (like others at the restaurant, made with only two eggs) was filled with fresh, still slightly crunchy green pepper and onion, as well as bits of tomato and potato. The grits were creamy without being overly rich, and the French toast ($4.50), dusted with confectioner's sugar and gently flavored with cinnamon, was close to perfect.
These dishes arrive without garnish -- not even a chunk of pineapple or sliver of orange to break up the blandness of the plate. Ordinarily, that would be fine, but if you want to be known as the best, you have to give a little something extra.
Even my chocolate milkshake, which should be a home run at a place like Two Sisters, was more like a run batted in. It was thin and tasted strongly of chocolate syrup. And it arrived in a tall glass, not the metal milkshake canister, and topped with a dollop of whipped cream. That's not standard milkshake protocol.
