Brass Elephant

The owners are natives of Greece, but right now you won't find any Greek dishes on the menu at Fells Point's new Gemini Bistro (710 S. Broadway), which opened last week. Instead, chef Brigitte Bledsoe prepares dishes like grilled tuna with wild mushroom beurre blanc topped with crispy fried leeks, and jumbo lump Creole crab cakes with remoulade and roasted corn relish.Greek food will be added as specials soon, says Chris Solomonides, who with his twin brother, Theo, owns Gemini.Bledsoe's cooking is known to Fells Point habitues because she worked at Tapestry before she moved on to Morgan Millard in Roland Park and then to Gemini.

The Handel ChoirThe Handel Choir of Baltimore got some well-deserved Christmas cheer at the lovely home of Madge and Haswell Franklin Sr. after putting on a holiday performance at Goucher College. Choir members, board members and guests attended this gala reception that celebrated the choir's 65th year of performing Handel's ``Messiah.''The party's guest of honor was Christine Meadows of Portland, Ore. Each year the Anne Dimmock Memorial Chair pays to bring a rising young star to town to perform in the ``Messiah.

The Handel ChoirThe Handel Choir of Baltimore got some well-deserved Christmas cheer at the lovely home of Madge and Haswell Franklin Sr. after putting on a holiday performance at Goucher College. Choir members, board members and guests attended this gala reception that celebrated the choir's 65th year of performing Handel's ``Messiah.''The party's guest of honor was Christine Meadows of Portland, Ore. Each year the Anne Dimmock Memorial Chair pays to bring a rising young star to town to perform in the ``Messiah.

The House of Welsh, owned by the same family since 1900, closed its doors in downtown Baltimore in January. It's reopened in Fenwick Island, Del. The new place has much the same menu of steaks and seafood but much larger quarters. (It seats some 300.) Interestingly, it moved into the spot vacated by Galeano's at 1106 Ocean Highway. The Italian restaurant moved to Little Italy and reopened New Year's Eve at 413 S. High St.Brass Elephant at LadewThe Brass Elephant is taking over the cafe and catering business at Ladew Topiary Gardens, the 18th century estate in Monkton.

Social calendarSept. 27: Fall Fun Feast, a crab feast, bull roast and dance to benefit St. Vincent de Paul Society. Columbus Gardens, 8400 Belair Road. 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. $30. Call 410-547-5377.Oct. 1: Mount Vernon's Romantic Legacy Walking Tour begins at the Brass Elephant restaurant, 923 N. Charles St., 5:45 p.m. Tour is free. Dinner, at $35 a person, will be served at Brass Elephant following tour. For dinner reservations, call 410-547-8480.Oct. 1: Centennial Serenade Gala, Liriodendron mansion, 502 W. Gordon St., Bel Air. Benefits restoration of the Ice House on mansion grounds.

Only a few local chefs get to be known to the general public. Add one more to the list that includes luminaries like Mark Henry of the Oregon Grille and Nancy Longo of Pierpoint.David Rudie has made a name for himself with stints at the Milton Inn, Troia at the Walters and Weber's when it was Le Bistro Midi. The Hampden resident has now been named restaurant chef at the Brass Elephant under executive chef Randy Stahl.Diner draws a crowdThe lines are snaking out the door at the newly opened Princess Diner (10055 Baltimore National Pike)

Near where we were seated in the Brass Elephant's main dining room, a couple were getting engaged. There was barely room enough on their table for the enormous bouquet of red roses. He was wearing a tux. The waiter wheeled out a cart with a bottle of champagne and a whole chocolate cake for two (my kind of proposal), and pretty soon she was flashing an enormous diamond ring.I can't imagine a more romantic place to get engaged; and if their meal was as good as ours, they must have been doubly happy.

Things are happening at the Admiral Fell Inn. The Fells Point hotel has a new executive chef, Fred Lewis, who has worked at the Engineering Society for the past seven years. He'll be continuing the New American cuisine served in Hamilton's, the inn's fine-dining restaurant. He'll also be in charge of its casual eatery, the Point.When 1636, the inn's new mid-scale restaurant and late-night venue, opens in December in the basement, Lewis will be responsible for it. Also in his future is the inn's new bakery-deli-cafe, now under construction with an entrance on Thames Street.

The Milton Inn, a Baltimore County landmark that closed last month amid a leasing dispute, could reopen by Thanksgiving.The owners of the Brass Elephant restaurant have signed a lease to operate in the historic inn, and a newly formed group is moving forward with a half-million-dollar renovation, said restaurateur Richard Pirone, a partner in the new operation.A long-term lease agreement for the Sparks inn was announced yesterday by MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services, an affiliate of MacKenzie Properties Inc., the Lutherville company that controls the Milton Inn building and name.

It's 1 o'clock by the time the five men arrive at Liberatore's. They're hungry. A waitress shows them to a big round table in the back of the restaurant, a nice corner all to themselves. They look like an easy enough crowd: a group of bespectacled grandfathers out for a Friday lunch. But behind the specs and sports shirts, five canny minds are at work, taking in everything from the tablecloth (a nice touch), to the acoustics (there's a noisy lunch crowd and even in the back it's a little hard to hear each other)

Not often did William Donald Schaefer call me, but on that Monday more than 30 years ago, I expected it. I'd had written an article in the old News American detailing how the old Potthast Brothers' furniture showroom at 924 N. Charles St. would be converted into a restaurant. A few months later, it made its debut as The Brass Elephant. A lot has happened along Charles Street since 1977, when the original article ran. But until the Elephant closed a few weeks ago, the old place remained true to the standards established by the German immigrant brothers who displayed their fine cabinetry in that Charles Street show window.

Tracy Hall and her husband, Josh, used to love a decadent dinner out - cocktails and appetizers, wine with dinner and dessert. But for their five-year anniversary in June, what would have typically been a culinary blowout, the Canton couple ended up at a neighborhood tavern, trying to keep their bill under $70. With only one salary to support the family of three and layoffs happening everywhere, the Halls are holding tight to their wallets. "We really wanted to splurge," she says. "But we are gun-shy about spending the money on things we don't need to spend it on."

The Brass Elephant, a landmark Mount Vernon restaurant known for its fine dining and elegant atmosphere, has closed. Mounting expenses and a dwindling customer base contributed to co-owner Randy Stahl's decision to shut the restaurant this week. Stahl and the other owners recently put the four-story building up for sale with the intention of using the money to help keep the restaurant afloat. Though there are interested buyers, they haven't completed a deal yet, he said. If the building sells, Stahl hopes to reopen the restaurant under the same name but with a new direction, he said.

Last week was not a good week for fine dining along Charles Street in the Mount Vernon area. First came the news that Ixia was closing, which it did on June 26. Then the building that houses the Brass Elephant - once known as the most beautiful restaurant in Baltimore - was put up for sale. The Brass Elephant remains open. In an ideal world, said Randy Stahl, one of the owners, the building would be sold but not the business. The restaurant and catering company would become a tenant, make improvements like putting in an elevator and a first-floor bathroom, and would try to hold on until the economy improves.

After Kawasaki on Charles Street closed three years ago when its owners pleaded guilty to hiring illegal workers, the building was bought by the owner of the popular Joss Cafe & Sushi Bar in Annapolis. Renovations were clearly under way, but nothing happened until a couple of weeks ago when the Baltimore branch of Joss (413 N. Charles St., Mount Vernon, 410-244-6988) quietly opened. Heather Lee, general manager of both locations, said the Baltimore menu is a little different, with more of a focus on sushi, fewer Japanese entrees and more small plates.

Luckily for us, Cyrus Keefer got tired of taking the train down from Philadelphia to see his fiancee in Sparks, so he decided to move to Baltimore. Keefer is the executive chef of the new Brasserie 10 South (10 S. Calvert St., 410-528-8994), but you might have eaten his cooking when he was the sous-chef under Kevin Miller at Ixia in Mount Vernon or the chef who opened Saute in Canton. At the beginning, Keefer says, his new place was set up to be a restaurant like Red Maple - that is, as a nightclub dining room.

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)

A second Sushi Hana (6080 Falls Road, 410-377-4228) opened two weeks ago in Lake Falls Village where the Panda Gourmet was for years. It's a branch of the popular sushi place in Towson, with basically the same menu of sushi, tempura, teriyaki and noodle dishes. "Lots of our customers live in this area," says the owner, Po Chan, explaining why he thinks his restaurant will succeed in this hidden location. Of course, it won't hurt to get a liquor license, and he says he has his lawyer working on it. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday; noon to 11 p.m. Saturday; 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.

How many stories have you read about a big chain store or restaurant moving into an area and taking over where a mom-and-pop place used to be? Well, here's one story where just the reverse has happened. In 1968, the International House of Pancakes opened on Baltimore National Pike in Catonsville. Shirley Stein was among the waitresses there. Stein continued working there over the years, eventually becoming a manager and helping to open a couple of other IHOPs around Baltimore. Fifteen years ago, Stein's daughter Karen Rocha joined her on the job. She, too, eventually became a manager, then general manager there.

OYSTERS: THE RAW FACTS Are you ready for oysters? September, being an R month, brings the start of oyster season. To celebrate, Legal Sea Foods is hoping to introduce consumers to the world of the oyster. Here are some oyster facts to consider: Although the advice to eat oysters only in months with R's in them dates back hundreds of years, today's farming and refrigeration practices make it safe to eat oysters all year long (although some connoisseurs believe oysters harvested in the cool months are more flavorful)