NEWS
By Marie Gullard | November 8, 2009
Two years ago last August, Melissa and Rick Henry decided to sell their Baltimore County townhouse and move to a single-family home. "We were looking for an open floor plan," said Melissa Henry, a stay-at-home mother of two. "[We] wanted to see our kids from any room on the [first] floor." Rick Henry, a 35-year-old liquor salesman, on a different wave of thought, added that the couple likes to welcome guests. "We entertain a lot," he said. "This house is great for entertaining."
NEWS
By Elizabeth Large | November 1, 2009
What's a nice semi-boneless quail with couscous and roasted shallots doing in a place like this? From what I understand, the new Reserve is a serious upgrade from what was there before. But the upgrade consists of two bars, more flat-screen TVs than you can shake a stick at, some high-top tables, exposed brick walls, really loud music and no fabric to speak of. All that adds up to a typical South Baltimore bar, nicer than some, but not exactly where you expect to find duck confit salad and creme brulee.
NEWS
By Edward Gunts | September 2, 2009
Baltimore's Center Club is holding two "grand reopening" celebrations next week to unveil the results of a $2.7 million renovation completed over the summer. The private dining club at 100 Light St. has scheduled a reception for government, business and civic leaders on Sept. 9 and a members-only reception on Sept. 10. The project represented a show of faith by the club and its board of governors in downtown Baltimore, where it started in 1962. The club's first significant upgrade in 20 years, it included a new harbor-view dining room, wine room, bar and lounge area, dance floor and private dining rooms.
NEWS
By Marie Gullard | July 19, 2009
In October 1998, David and Susan Balderson moved one mile across Route 29 in Ellicott City, from the east side to the west, because they wanted to own the imposing Colonial home whose 34 windows always boasted a lighted electric candle. Wayside Inn, circa 1780, was up for sale and the couple felt lucky to acquire the house and property for $400,000. In one year's time, they would completely renovate, and David Balderson would take up where the prior owner left off - running the 6,000-square-foot home as a bed and breakfast.
NEWS
By Marie Gullard | July 12, 2009
When they became engaged last year, Ed Stone, a Perry Hall native and Kathy Merz, who lived downtown in Federal Hill, began to look for a home. They wanted a new place where they could start their life together. "[Ed] didn't want the city," Kathy Stone remembered. "And I didn't think I could leave it." Then the couple found the new community of Quarry Lake, northwest of the city off Greenspring Avenue. "It was a great compromise," Kathy Stone remembered. "[Quarry Lake] has shops, restaurants and a drugstore for me and greenery and open spaces for Ed."
NEWS
By Richard Gorelick | July 9, 2009
Courtney's is now Piv's Pub. Kind of. When Courtney's restaurant was in Timonium, where Christopher Daniel is now, Piv's Pub was the name of its sidekick bar. A few years ago, Courtney's - and Piv's Pub - moved to its current location in Cockeysville, where the old Bare Bones used to be. The whole establishment has recently been renovated and all of it is now known as Piv's Pub. The overhaul, which includes a new party room, looks sharp, like someone put...
NEWS
By Marie Gullard | July 5, 2009
Peering into the front window of their future home, all that AMY Grace and Karen Blood could see was a center spiral staircase. They were hooked. The couple's friends thought they were crazy to leave their lush, suburban environs north of the city for a building that was broken up into office space and needed a total rehab. But the two women wanted both the Federal Hill neighborhood and the challenge of renovation. They purchased the 16-foot-wide by 70-foot-deep two-story rowhouse on a 120-foot deep lot for $72,000.
NEWS
By Marie Gullard | June 14, 2009
Here is a smidgen of information Barry Werner shares with visitors to his home, which doubles as a business: As a child, he used to play a game of "bed and breakfast" with his grandmother. "I have always wanted to be an innkeeper," he said with the matter-of-fact tone of a man who achieved his lifelong aspiration. Werner and his partner (in business and life), Jeff Finlay, happened upon Scarborough Fair in the heart of Federal Hill. A historic property, it had been on the market for three years, its owners having turned three separate, brick Colonial rowhouse dwellings, circa 1801, into an inn. Very much a turn-key operation, all the inn needed was innkeepers.
NEWS
By Richard Gorelick | June 4, 2009
Would the industrial hum of refrigeration in a dining room bother you enough to keep you from fully enjoying your evening? Maybe it's nothing you'd ever notice, and when Fazzini's is crowded with diners, you might not hear it even if you tried to. But it was the hum from Fazzini's big takeout case and, more generally, the pervasive drabness about its storefront dining room that I think colored my appreciation of this long-popular Cockeysville restaurant....
NEWS
By Andrea F. Siegel | April 5, 2009
A traditional floor plan? Almost. Lots of light? Absolutely. Convenient storage? Everywhere. Those were among the key points in discussions with an architect when Mary Ellen and Leon Kaplan sought to have a home built in Cockeysville 15 years ago. They wanted a traditional house with substantial areas open not only for guests, but also so they could watch their four children. "We've had parties with up to 100 people, and you can do more in the summer when you use the patios," Mary Ellen Kaplan said.