Food Court

Jazz competition The lowdown: The Chick Webb Jazz Combo Competition honors the legacy of Baltimore's Chick Webb, whose performances as a jazz drummer made him the premier drummer of the swing era. Several performers are slated to compete, including Phil Ravita Jazz Group, David McGarvey Trio, Bay Jazz Project, The Lionel Lyles Quintet and Todd Marcus Quintet. If you go: The competition is Saturday at the Everyman Theatre, 1727 N. Charles St. Performances run 3 p.m.-5 p.m., and the winner will perform at Artscape on Sunday.

In a boost for the Towson Commons commercial complex, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge has ruled that Pizzeria Uno may not sever the remaining six years of its lease. The West Roxbury, Mass., restaurant chain alleged that its business has suffered because Towson Commons converted from being primarily a shopping center to a complex offering office space. Under the original configuration, the property at York Road and Pennsylvania Avenue contained a second-floor food court where Pizzeria Uno held a prominent entrance.

Frank Taliaferro, a founder and former chairman of the RTKL architects recalled as the "soul" of that firm, died of lung cancer Saturday at his Santa Monica, Calif., home. The former resident of Harwood in Anne Arundel County was 89. Remembered as a mentor to numerous designers at RTKL, Mr. Taliaferro led architects who refined old retail strip centers and finessed them into shopping malls, including Harundale in Glen Burnie and Paramus Park in New Jersey, known for its early food court.

First it sweltered, then it poured, but the weather seemed hardly to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds that descended on Artscape, Baltimore's 25th annual outdoor festival of the arts. From funnel cakes to evening concerts there was much that was familiar along the Mount Royal Avenue corridor and elsewhere around the city - but there also were new touches including the 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel in front of the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the fireworks on Friday's opening night. We sent a team of arts writers - pop music critic Rashod Ollison, theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck, classical music critic Tim Smith, restaurant critic Elizabeth Large and art critic Glenn McNatt - to survey the scene.

David Zepp could hardly believe his eyes when he reached for a second piece of fried chicken while lunching at the newly renovated food court in The Mall in Columbia on Sunday. There, right next to the mashed potatoes, was a live mouse staring back at him. His wife, Susie, screamed. The mouse stayed on the tray. "I guess it was stunned," Zepp said. "It had fallen about 15 feet from the ceiling. It just looked at me. "When I shook the tray, the mouse jumped down on the floor. My wife jumped up on her chair.

Less than a year after buying Security Square mall, its owners have begun breathing new life into an aging center struggling to compete with newer, more upscale malls in the region.Capitol Investment Associates, a Chevy Chase-based owner of retail and residential properties, hopes to remake the 25-year-old mall in appearance and image, starting with $2 million in renovations.The mall will soon get a redesigned food court centered around a huge jukebox, along with remodeled restrooms, additional signage and a fresher overall look.

I'm going to break some new ground today with a hearty recommendation of a carry-out restaurant located in, of all places, a mall. Mazagrill, in the old Annapolis Mall -- which is now know as Westfield Shoppingtown -- was both a surprise and a delight. The small eatery is sandwiched between a Japanese place and a McDonald's in the sprawling mall's food court. Its menu offers a familiar sample of Mediterranean-style skewers and pita dishes, as well as a handful of appetizers. The cook prepared the grilled entrees over an open flame at one end of the kitchen, and the staff had our large order ready promptly.

Downtown Annapolis' Market House, a historic landmark that has been open only intermittently since 2003, is scheduled to reopen in the spring after being closed this year, according to Mayor Joshua Cohen. "In terms of a specific opening date, it's premature to mark that. Our focus with the Market House is not just to get it open, but to get it done well," Cohen said. The reopening, he said, will begin a "new chapter of the Market House's history. " The 19th-century waterfront building was flooded in 2003 during Tropical Storm Isabel, and since then has faced disputes with renters and political opposition.

There is so much talk about not taking children to Arundel Mills Mall if slots are there. We took my 27-year-old son who is a missionary in the Ukraine to the mall. As soon as we stepped on the curb, we heard terrible yelling and swearing. It was not a customer or teen! It was the security guard who had parked his Segway between the doors in the food court and was outside using loud and extremely foul language. It bothered me, not only for our family, but those with children coming behind.

  Consumers who buy clothing and footwear under $100 will get a break on the state's sales tax during Maryland-Tax-Free Week from Sunday, Aug. 12 to Sat. Aug. 18. Managers at Towson Town Center said they plan to lure shoppers on the first day of the week with gift card prizes ranging from $10 to $500. Starting at noon on Sunday, Aug. 12, the first 500 shoppers to visit the mall's customer service booth in the food court on level three will get a scratch off game card, a chance to win a gift card.