Atmosphere

Food **1/2 (2 1/2 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Pierpoint is Baltimore's forgotten restaurant. When Nancy Longo opened it in 1989, the New American bistro with a Maryland accent was an instant hit. But over the years the restaurant and its personable chef-owner have gotten less and less attention as newer, trendier places arrived on the scene. With the opening late last year of Longo's in Green Spring Station, Nancy Longo's second restaurant, I thought there might be a rebound effect for the original place, still doing its thing in Fells Point.

Food ** 1/2 (2 1/2 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere ** 1/2 (2 1/2 stars) If you're a serious carnivore, Fogo de Chao is the restaurant you've been dreaming of. Not only will servers bring beef, lamb, pork, chicken and sausage to your table until you beg for mercy, but seafood isn't even an option here. You don't have to have the smallest twinge of guilt for choosing the steak. Pretty amazing for a Baltimore restaurant in the Inner Harbor. Fogo de Chao (pronounced fo-go dee shouwn)

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) The news that Michael Tabrizi is back with Tabrizi's in the Harborview complex means something to Baltimoreans who have been around for a while. They remember his first wonderful Mediterranean restaurant of the same name, a cozy spot in Federal Hill where Corks is now. It closed over a decade ago. I expected more buzz about the reopening, but the lack of it may be because Tabrizi's has arrived in the shadow of a much showier new restaurant.

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) The restaurant that's currently the buzz in Annapolis is Osteria 177, a new place on Main Street that bills itself as "the evolution of Italian-Mediterranean cuisine." It has all the right ingredients, starting with the high-style dining room. Check out the huge crystal chandeliers juxtaposed with industrial-look exposed pipes, the futuristic chairs that seem to be metal but are actually vinyl, the deep red walls decorated with contemporary art. All this in a space that was previously a steak house, a Burger King, a drugstore, and I don't know what else.

Antiques by the seaExamine American and English fine furniture, jewelry, dolls, china and linens tomorrow through Monday at the Antiques By-The-Sea Show & Sale at the Convention Center in Ocean City. Sponsored by St. Paul's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, the 55th annual event opens with a Champagne Preview Night this evening that includes appetizers, assorted pasta and chamber music by the Antares Trio from Salisbury State University.The Convention Center is at Coastal Highway and 40th Street.

PASADENA, Calif. -- The El Nino current wreaking havoc with the world's weather is resurging with new strength across the tropical Pacific Ocean, according to satellite data released yesterday by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.The new satellite measurements, which show the current regaining momentum after receding dramatically earlier this month, bolster federal forecasts of a fierce, tempestuous winter, climate experts said. Drawn from the Topex/Poseidon satellite, the images indicate that El Nino grew by 10 percent in the first 10 days of December, after shrinking by the same amount at the end of November.

Like snowflakes settling on the windshield, thousands of loosely packed snowballs the size of small houses are pelting Earth's upper atmosphere every day and sending tons of water vapor drifting toward the oceans, according to scientists from the University of Iowa.As many as 20 of these comet-like objects break up over Earth every minute, said space physicist Louis A. Frank, who presented photographs of the 10- to 20-ton objects streaking toward Earth.If they have been falling since the formation of the solar system, he said, the snowballs could explain how Earth's oceans were formed.

In its successful plunge into the crushing Jovian depths last month, a capsule from the Galileo spacecraft survived for 57 minutes to transmit a wealth of data from the first view inside the atmosphere of Jupiter or any of the giant gaseous planets.It was time enough to jolt scientists with surprises about the planet's clouds, winds, water and chemical composition and second thoughts about their own theories of planetary formation.Scientists reported yesterday that Jupiter appeared to have much less water than expected, clearer skies, less lightning but fierce atmospheric turbulence, winds that grow stronger at depths, and lower than expected levels of helium, neon and some heavy elements like carbon, oxygen and sulfur.

Bacteria story proves nothing''Hocus-Pocus,'' says the scientist, ''watch it appear.'' Another article to show us how some scientists think evolution began. Does The Sun's staff really believe that its readers are this gullible as to believe anything by reproducing the article, ''Bacteria found in wells could live on Mars''(Oct. 22)?Let's get this straight. Something found on Earth means it might be on Mars and this ''also demonstrates what life might have looked like on Earth more than 2.8 billion years ago before plants started pumping oxygen into the atmosphere.

Most of the world's telescopes on the ground and in space will be pointed at Jupiter this summer, watching for a cosmic collision that is certain to happen and waiting to give scientists their first view of the kind of catastrophic event that may have accounted for mass extinctions on Earth long ago and the eventual emergence of humans.A comet, now shattered into at least 21 icy chunks, is zeroing in on the largest planet in the solar system.Scientists have been tracking the course of the comet, Shoemaker-Levy, for more than a year.

To make up this list of the best restaurants I reviewed this year, I went to the Sun's archives and started reading my old reviews. What I found was that the stars awarded weren't always an indication of whether I would love to go back. Sometimes it's not something you can put in words (or stars) that pleases you about a restaurant and makes you want to return. 1 Abacrombie near the Meyerhoff: Food: *** 1/2 , service: ***, atmosphere: *** 2 Woodberry Kitchen in Hampden/Woodberry: Food: ***, service: ***, atmosphere: *** 1/2 3 Fin Steak & Seafood in Fells Point: Food: *** 1/2 , service: ** 1/2 , atmosphere: ** 1/2 4 Corks in Federal Hill: Food: ***, service: ***, atmosphere: *** 5 Mari Luna Latin Grille in Pikesville: Food: ***, service: **, atmosphere: *** (I think the comparatively low service rating was a fluke because it was so overwhelmed by its success at the beginning.

Food **1/2 (2 1/2 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Saute, a fancy new bar-restaurant, opened in March where the Duck Inn was in Canton. It generated a lot of buzz, and it's the kind of place I would normally review a month or so after it opened. But, like Three... near Patterson Park, there was considerable turmoil in the kitchen after the first few weeks. The executive chef, Cyrus Keefer, left and was replaced by Mark Suliga, who had been at Cosmopolitan and Dooby's, and then Brian Mathias, formerly at Hampton's, Joy America and Brasserie Tatin.

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) When Stone Mill Bakery expanded its territory (both literally and figuratively) last spring, it got plenty of press for its new Gourmet to Go space. What had been a bakery best known for its artisan breads and wicked desserts started turning out many more soups, salads and sandwiches. It also added pizzas and entrees to its menu. What you may not have heard about is that this spring, Stone Mill is serving dinner from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. every evening.

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Every once in a while, a new restaurant hits the jackpot. It's the right kind of food in the right kind of location with the right kind of atmosphere. There is hardly any competition. And people are knocking down the doors to get in. No matter how much research you do as a prospective restaurant owner, it must come as a surprise when your place is an overnight success. That's the kind of response Woodberry Kitchen in Woodberry/Hampden had from the moment it opened, and that's what seems to be happening with Catonsville Gourmet Market & Fine Foods in Catonsville.

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Naming your restaurant after one ingredient can be a dangerous thing. As appealing as it might seem, it does limit the chef unless the ingredient is something commonly used in both sweet and savory dishes, such as, say, butter. Vasilios Keramidas and the Kali's Restaurant Group decided to take the chance. But when they opened their patisserie and bistro to complement their fine dining and midprice options (Kali's Court and Mezze)

Food *** (3 stars) Service ** (2 1/2 stars) Atmosphere ** (2 1/2 stars) Sometimes restaurants have to reinvent themselves to stay in the public eye. We haven't heard much from the Brass Elephant lately, but now with a couple of changes this Mount Vernon fixture has gotten a new lease on life. The most obvious change is the Brass Elephant's new executive chef, Andrew Maggitti. He's created an entertaining menu of mostly Italian dishes (the Maryland crab cakes being the obvious exception)

Food *** (3 stars) Service *** (3 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Some interesting things are happening in Locust Point restaurant-wise, but only the Wine Market gets much press. If you don't live in the area, it's easy to forget about Hull Street Blues, Pazza Luna, Nasu Blanca, Aloha Tokyo and, now, Luca's Cafe. Luca's is the newest of the places that are part of a general gentrification of the area. The old Truman's Bar has been gutted, and a sparkling little restaurant has opened in its place.

So how do you send a spacecraft to the sun without broiling it to a cinder? "We go at night," said Andrew A. Dantzler, project manager for Solar Probe, a new space science mission announced yesterday by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab near Laurel. That has been the running joke around the lab, Dantzler said. But APL scientists and engineers are perfectly serious about the $750 million NASA-funded mission - the first ever to fly scientific instruments through the sun's million-degree corona and to within 4.1 million miles of its roiling surface.

Food *** (3 STARS) Service *** (3 STARS) Atmosphere *** (3 STARS) In the evening, Baltimore Pho is a bright oasis in the deserted Hollins Market area. During the day, the market may be bustling; but at night the neighborhood is quiet, and you notice the empty sidewalks and boarded-up storefronts. (No parking worries here.) Then suddenly you spot the colorful facade of the city's newest Vietnamese restaurant. The owners took their time to renovate what was Mencken's Cultured Pearl. They did a good job of it, creating a serene space in red, black and white.

Food **1/2 (2 1/2 stars) Service ***1/2 (3 1/2 stars) Atmosphere *** (3 stars) Some locations are doomed, as restaurant after restaurant tries and fails to make a go of it there. The space at Green Spring Station, I'm happy to say, turns out not to be one of those after all. Of course, it's early days yet, but the new Tark's Grill seems to be making customers happy. The energy is certainly there. As we approached the entrance on a recent weeknight, the noise from the crowded bar was audible from across the courtyard.