Dopkin

The name will stay the same and so will the huge hamburgers. But the ownership of Alonso's is changing -- and so will some of the atmosphere that helped make the bar and restaurant a North Baltimore institution for generations of college students, sports fans and neighbors.bTC The bar and restaurant on West Coldspring Lane on the edge of Roland Park that has been owned by the same family for nearly 70 years is being bought for an undisclosed sum by Loco Hombre, the popular 4-year-old Tex-Mex restaurant next door.

As if he didn't have enough on his plate, Loco Hombre owner Edward Dopkin - who recently bought Alonso's next door - will be taking over Jasper's in Pikesville, probably in August. To be more precise, Dopkin is a partner both in the Classic Restaurant Management Group, which will be running the restaurant proper, and a separate entity, Classic Catering People. The catering company will take over the multipurpose banquet room, which will now be called the Classic Room.By late August, after some renovation, Jasper's should reopen as a second Loco Hombre.

Ansela Dopkin, whose culinary skills as a Mount Washington homemaker turned into a career as a founder and principal of one of Baltimore's largest catering firms, died of cancer Friday at Union Memorial Hospital. She was 68 and was a Pikesville resident.Mrs. Dopkin was vice president of sales and principal in The Classic Catering People. One of the largest off-premises caterers in the area, it employs 350 and caters 2,400 events annually in Maryland, Virginia, Washington and southern Pennsylvania.

Pssst! You there, on the frayed blanket, with the floppy hat, the sunburned shoulders, the hot beer and cold hot dog . . . I see you gazing longingly across the infield toward the bandstand and the tops of the sheltering tents of Preakness Village, where high rollers, high society, and high and mighty captains of industry and finance sip and sup and play today. . . . Want to know what you're missing?Savor this: Shucked oysters, beef tenderloin, Texas brisket, pan-roasted chicken with garlic, rosemary and white wine, pasta salad with fresh tomato basil sauce, savory baked cheese twists, roasted herbed Idaho and sweet potato wedges, crab cakes made from the still-secret recipe of the Old Pimlico Restaurant by a chef who worked there, marinated smoked turkey breast, Caesar salad, roast vegetables, wine, beer, mixed drinks, black-eyed Susans, lemonade, iced tea, espresso and cappuccino, Linzer torte cookies and brandy snaps, make-your-own berry shortcakes and do-it-yourself sundaes, plus afternoon tea, all freshly prepared and served by the Classic Catering People of Owings Mills.

Our search for the perfect fajita continues with this news: Mexican food is making its way into Roland Park.Classic Catering People, the union of Polo Grill owners Gail and Lenny Kaplan and Ansela, Michael and Edward Dopkin, is expanding its food fiefdom, having taken over what was once Roland Park Cafe. The group is currently turning the space at 413 W. Cold Spring Lane (near Alonso's) into Loco Hombre, a Mexican/Southwestern restaurant scheduled to open in late May.The name, which means Crazy Man, has real meaning for Edward Dopkin, president of the business.

Sophie Dopkin, a Baltimore philanthropist whose contributions to Baltimore County General Hospital (BCGH) included an emergency room waiting area, died Feb. 25 at Sinai Hospital of congestive heart failure.Mrs. Dopkin, 90, was a board member of the Associated Jewish Charities and Welfare Fund and the third president of the auxiliary at the Levindale Home for the Aged. Last year, she was honored by Levindale as its woman of the year.Active in the founding of BCGH, Mrs. Dopkin joined a petition drive for the construction of an area hospital many years before it opened.

As you may have heard, an all-star lineup of entertainers performed for President Clinton and his guests at the Lincoln Memorial last Sunday. What you may not know is that a Baltimore caterer fed most of the performers.HBO, which had exclusive rights to broadcast the show, had contacted the Classic Catering People to provide food for a hospitality tent. Unfortunately, HBO learned that the inaugural committee had committed to another caterer, so the Classic Catering People were out -- temporarily.

Deli to try its luck near convention centerThe bad luck of other eateries at the small indoor mall across from the Baltimore Convention Center shouldn't rub off on a new bakery/deli venture, according to Edward L. Dopkin, president of the Classic Catering People Inc."If it doesn't work, it's my fault," Mr. Dopkin said.Classic To Go Cafe -- which will specialize in baked goods, sandwiches, espresso, cappuccino and assorted other goodies -- will be launched Monday in the complex at 100 S. Charles St., which houses administrative offices of NationsBank.

Michael Dopkin, like many Americans, didn't want war.How could the United States defend democracy in Kuwait since that country had no democratic traditions? Why were U.S. leaders suddenly worried about oil when they had never developed a national energy policy?And most important, what about the innocent lives that would be sacrificed in state-of-the-art combat?But Mr. Dopkin's moral qualms about the justness of war and the inappropriateness of civilian casualties have been supplanted by a larger concern.

When you open a restaurant, you sweat the small stuff.That is what I discovered the other day when I went to lunch with Lenny Kaplan and Ed Dopkin, operators of the Pavilion, the new restaurant at the Hackerman House, the Walters Art Gallery's Museum of Asian Art. It was the second day of operation for the 130-seat, lunch-only restaurant.Before I got there, I had a vision of what eating lunch with the owners of a new restaurant would be like. I thought we would all sit around like royalty, feasting, discussing the sweet life and being fawned over.

Over dinner at the Brass Elephant in January, two couples pored over their calendars to iron out this year's schedule for their Ocean City beach house. They decided when to open the oceanfront town house for the year, which owner has the place each week and which weeks are for renters. The two Baltimore couples, Deborah and Mark Dopkin and Elissa and Stanley Hellman, bought the house a decade ago and split the cost. The arrangement gives each full run of the beach house while paying only half the utilities, fees and maintenance.

Baltimore is a city that can use more bagel shops. Now we have a new one, the Roland Park Bagel Co. (500 W. Cold Spring Lane, 410-889-3332). This is the latest in the Crazy Man Restaurant Group, which includes Loco Hombre, two Miss Shirley's, Alonso's and S'ghetti Eddie's. The new shop replaces Sam's Bagels, so I asked owner Edward Dopkin why he thought another bagel shop would succeed in the same location. For one thing, he says, it's a more ambitious endeavor, offering sandwiches made with "quality meats" on wraps, flatbread and ciabatta rolls as well as bagels.

Blue was everywhere but in the moods of the guests at "Rhapsody in Blue: A Salute to the Gershwin Era," the Concert Artists of Baltimore gala. You had huge blue back-lit cutouts of skyscrapers around the edges of the Belvedere ballroom. Tables were draped in blue. And so were some of the guests. "I bought my blue gown just for this," said Towson University student Andy Berman, in a gorgeous navy one-shoulder number. Event chair Barbara Cox - decked out in a black-and-blue brocade jacket - also pointed out the evening's gift bags were made of blue velvet.

Customers order at the counter at S'ghetti Eddie's, so I grabbed a paper menu by the cash register and started scanning the choices. Pistachio-crusted trout? Barbecued ribs? It sounded great, but not what I was expecting from a pizza and pasta place. Whoops. I had picked up the Loco Hombre menu instead. I might just as easily have grabbed menus for Alonso's or Miss Shirley's, which were also on the counter. All are helmed by Edward Dopkin of the Classic Catering People Dopkins. Poor:]

Alonsoville has been the nickname for the section of West Cold Spring Lane between St. Mary's Lane and Keswick Road, so called in honor of its longtime resident restaurant, Alonso's. In recent years, Alonso's has become the anchor eatery of a group of restaurants - all co-owned by Eddie Dopkin - along that stretch of Cold Spring. Now, with Dopkin's newest addition to the clan set to open tomorrow, perhaps the area should just be renamed Eddieville. Say hi to S'ghetti Eddie's. It has taken over the space vacated a couple of months ago when its previous resident, Miss Shirley's Cafe & Bakery, moved to larger digs across the street.

About a year and a half after opening, the popular Cold Spring Lane eatery Miss Shirley's Cafe has shut its doors. Not to worry. It's opened new doors catty-corner across the street. Eddie Dopkin, who owns the restaurant with son David, says the two found they had a "good problem" with the original location. "At lunch, and all day Saturday and Sunday, the demand exceeded the capacity we could handle," Dopkin says. He says there were often people waiting for tables crowded inside the front door and out onto the parking lot. So when Big Sky Bakery closed across the street, the Dopkins saw the larger space as a perfect new home for Miss Shirley.

Who knew that Roland Park was so starved for a place to have breakfast? ---Miss Shirley's is busy from the moment it opens its doors at 7:30 a.m. (7 a.m. on the weekends) to when it closes its doors at 3:30 p.m. (4 on the weekends), our waiter told us. I'm sure if owner Eddie Dopkin had realized people would be beating down his doors for the Belgian waffles and eggs Benedict, he would have put more than 50 seats in his retro cafe. As I understand it, Dopkin -- also owner of Alonso's and Loco Hombre across the street -- bought the location because of its parking lot. Parking is in short supply in the area, as anyone who has ever stopped by Alonso's for a hamburger or Loco Hombre for Tex-Mex can attest.

Cal Ripken Jr. will soon be bringing national attention back to Baltimore. That's the word from WMAR-TV vice president/general manager Drew Berry. Drew says Cal will be playing tour guide in a television special, My Kind Of Town, which will air this summer on the Fine Living Network. Fine Living is one of several cable networks owned by WMAR Channel 2's parent company, E.W. Scripps. Drew says the show will give the inside scoop on three cities -- New York, Chicago and Baltimore. Apparently, Kevin Bacon and brother Michael will host the NYC segment, actor Joe Mantegna will do so in Chicago, and our own Iron Man will do the honors here.

On Friday, March 11, 2005, BEATRICE DOPKIN COHEN (nee Posner), beloved wife of the late Samuel Benjamin Cohen; loving mother of Meryle Feinstein and Lillian Garonzik both of Baltimore and the late Gittel Cohen; dear mother-in-law of Harvey Garonzik and the late Nathan Feinstein; beloved daughter of the late Morris and Mary Posner (nee Dopkin); adored sister of Herbert, Victor, Morton, Robert, Leroy and Lawrence Posner and Irene Sopher; loving grandmother of Mandy and Robert Pet, Pamela Feinstein, Michelle Garonzik, Michael and Shauna Garonzik, Dr. Ira and Daina Garonzik and Jacqueline Garonzik; loving great-grandmother of Jessie and Dustin Pet, Samantha Garonzik, Benjamin, Sophie and Brooke Garonzik.

On Sunday, March 6, 2005 BEVERLY DOPKIN (nee Dregant) beloved wife of the late Wilford Dopkin; loving mother of Mark D. Dopkin of Baltimore and Roslyn D. Katz of Naples, FL; mother-in-law of Deborah Dopkin and Albert Katz; sister of Shirlee Schwartz of Atlantic City, NJ; sister-in-law of Sol Schwartz and Hilda Dopkin; loving grandmother of Rebecca D. and Joseph De Mattos, Jr., Allen G. Katz, Susan K. and Donald Gervais, Jr., Peter D. Dopkin and Robin E....