Grill

Baltimore lawmakers had tough questions for Caesars executives during a Friday morning delegation meeting in Annapolis, with elected officials grilling the gambling giant on its commitment to the city. At issue is Caesars' support for legislation that would allow a sixth casino in Maryland -- a mega gambling palace potentially at National Harbor in Prince George's County that many believe would suck business from Baltimore. The company's position has led some lawmakers to believe Caesars is eying bidding there and abandoning their city proposal.

Easter options are plentiful this year, and a few are lavish. The offerings at The Capital Grille (500 E. Pratt St., 443-703-4064, thecapitalgrille.com) include a carving station, raw bar, and breakfast station with scrambled eggs, French toast and roasted Kona tenderloin. Wit & Wisdom (200 International Drive, 410-576-5800, witandwisdombaltimore.com) at the Four Seasons Hotel is serving a three-course brunch with featuring chicory-glazed ham and, for dessert, a banana cream puff with chocolate, coconut tapioca and hazelnut sherbet.

A t Christmastime, I am drawn to fire. But the flames that attract me are not glowing in a fireplace; rather they are crackling in my barbecue kettle cooker. After all the commotion and tension of the holidays, standing out in the cold and watching a fire sparkle is strangely soothing. Traditionally on Christmas Eve, I find myself in the backyard in the company of beef tenderloin. I have rubbed it with 1 tablespoon of sea salt and 1/2 tablespoon of black pepper, and I cook it over an indirect charcoal fire until the interior registers 125-130 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.

Rudy's Mediterranean Grill & Diner has a pretty descriptive name, suggesting a menu filled with typical diner fare — omelets, sandwiches, a few Greek specialties. But with roots planted on the Turkish side of the Mediterranean, Rudy's adds a new twist to traditional fare. Owner Rudy Keskin moved to the U.S. in 1998, leaving his native Istanbul, where he spent summers working in family restaurants — he calls his hometown, "the most interesting city in the world. " At Rudy's, Keskin shares his passion for Istanbul via well-executed traditional Turkish recipes (Keskin himself isn't behind the stove, though his chef is also a Turkish native)

John Lindner's Lunch Timed review in Monday's Sunrise section is of Duesenberg's in Catonsville. Time does not always turn out to be a factor in these Lunch Timed reviews. But this time it was. Some folks think the slang word " doozy " stems from "Deusey," the nickname for the American luxury car, but there are etymological sightings of "doozy" that predate the manufacture of the automobile. Here's Lindner's review of Duesenberg's .

On July 22, 2006, MARTHA L. GRILL; beloved daughter of Philip A. and Margaret (nee Mc Kim) Grill; devoted sister of Philip M. Grill and his wife Stephanie D., Elizabeth G. Pietrini and her husband Louis P., John C. Grill and his wife Kim H. and Margaret G. Tickner and her husband David H. Also survived by six nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (beltway exit 26), on Monday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M., where a funeral service will be held on Tuesday at 10 A.M. Interment Loudon Park Cemetery.

Q: Last year I followed a recipe for a grilled turkey, which was the best I have ever had. Unfortunately, I have lost the recipe. Can you help?A: Start a day in advance. Rinse the turkey and remove the giblets. I find that a brine creates a beautifully moist turkey. Place the turkey in a large pot and rub 1 pound of salt and 1/2 pound of sugar in the cavity and into the skin of the bird. Add cool water to cover the turkey. Refrigerate for 24 hours.An unstuffed bird will cook quickly and more evenly, so bake the stuffing, wrapped in heavy duty foil, on the grill next to the turkey, over indirect heat.

Swordfish steaks -- ivory and fine-grained, meaty and juicy -- are the paragon of grilled food. Nothing is as easy to grill or as wondrous to eat. With a rich flavor somewhere between those of tuna and pork, and a just-chewy-enough texture, this is one fish that everyone loves.Most recipes for swordfish are simple and Mediterranean in origin, involving grilling with expected but nevertheless welcome flavors, such as olive oil, lemon, garlic, vinegar, tomatoes and herbs. But swordfish responds equally well to Asian-style treatments, warming brilliantly to soy sauce, ginger and related seasonings.

LIFE SEEMS SLOW, same-old, same-old chicken breasts are on the menu, and you are looking for a way to liven up your diet. So you grab a brick and start squashing things. That is what happened recently at our house, during the night the bricks hit the barbecue grill. This was not the first time I had picked up bricks for culinary purposes. One evening back in 1993, I tried to flatten an entire chicken in a frying pan with bricks. Back then I was trying to imitate the Italians, or at least their pollo al mattone dish, as outlined in a Patricia Wells cookbook, Trattoria.

Tight on space? Weber-Stephen's new Baby Q grill will let you cook out almost anywhere. The Baby Q, like the Weber Q the company introduced last year, is a portable gas grill with a futuristic design, only the Baby Q is even smaller. This new model weighs 35 pounds (vs. 41 for the Weber Q) and is only 14 inches high, 27 inches wide and 16 inches deep. It has a cooking surface of 189 square inches. Although it is small, it is a true grill with a P-shaped burner that emits open flames under a porcelain-enabled, cast-iron cooking grate.

The folks at Colonial Players have found a foolproof recipe for feel-good entertainment at "The Spitfire Grill. " The players' current musical presentation is based on TV writer/director Lee David Zlotoff's 1996 Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award-winning film. The musical version won the Richard Rogers Production Award in New Jersey before opening on Broadway in September 2001. It closed after four weeks, a victim of 9/ll. Over the past decade "The Spitfire Grill" has spread its uplifting message of renewal and redemption, reinforced by its intriguing score, to a growing number of appreciative audiences.

The street-level restaurant space at Pratt and Light streets has lain vacant since a Legal Sea Foods pulled out more than four years ago. That's a long time for an Inner Harbor space to sit empty, especially with Harbor East beckoning diners to its dense crop of glitzy restaurants. Now, the anchor spot at 100 E. Pratt St. is alive again. Since opening there in early March, Brio, a chain based in Columbus, Ohio, has in short order managed to liven up its location more than its predecessor ever did. Brio has done more than just occupy a moribund space; it has energized it. The outdoor seating already has the solid look of something permanent, a space that's ready for company.

Baltimore lawmakers had tough questions for Caesars executives during a Friday morning delegation meeting in Annapolis, with elected officials grilling the gambling giant on its commitment to the city. At issue is Caesars' support for legislation that would allow a sixth casino in Maryland -- a mega gambling palace potentially at National Harbor in Prince George's County that many believe would suck business from Baltimore. The company's position has led some lawmakers to believe Caesars is eying bidding there and abandoning their city proposal.

There is peace on Lake Kittamaqundi. The teenage brothers who write the entertaining 2 Dudes Who Love Food blog posted all the way back in early February about their visit to Rudy's Mediterranean Grill & Diner. The newish big-menu serves breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week but things really get interesting after 4 p.m., when Rudy's rolls out its Turkish menu. The 2 Dudes had traveled to Turkey last year, and they were pretty pleased with what they found at Rudy's.

BRIO Tuscan Grille is headed for a March 2 opening. The restaurant will be located on the corner of Pratt and Calvert streets, in a space formerly occupied by a Legal Seafood. BRIO will occupy 7,200 square feet at 100 East Pratt Street , with indoor seating for 180 in addition to a 16-seat bar and 69-seat terrace. BRIO, which is described as "an upscale affordable restaurant serving authentic, northern Italian cuisine," will be open seven nights a week for dinner, weekdays for lunch and weekends for a "Bellini brunch.

Chris Ford of Baltimore's Wit & Wisdom has been named "People's Best New Pastry Chef," a national award chosen by readers of Food & Wine magazine. Food & Wine, which has been naming America's best new chefs for 24 years, introduced a category for pastry chefs this year. In an online promotion for the new category, Food & Wine ran a poll in which readers were asked to select one pastry chef in each of the East, Central and West regions. The pastry chef with the most votes overall would win the honor.

I think I could feel my heart actually shudder for a moment as the cook at Nick's Submarines scooped out a blob of butter and plopped it onto some onions beginning to heat up on the grill. Next to the pile of onions simmered a big pile of thinly sliced beef, which she battered into submission with an 18-inch-long chopper. Before long she layered on the cheese - the bright yellow kind, not the familiar provolone - and, finally, yet another heart-stopping cheese steak had come to life from Nick's grill.

A 17-year-old Baltimore County girl was in critical condition Thursday, severely burned over half her body, after someone poured gasoline over burning embers in a grill that then exploded, fire officials say. Two other teens — another 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy — were also injured in the fire about 9 p.m. Wednesday outside a house in the 6000 block of Shady Spring Ave. in Rosedale, near Interstate 95 and the Baltimore Beltway....

Bars at malls don't have to try as hard. The venue doesn't expect them to, and neither does the clientele. Unlike at destination bars, people just want a place to linger after shopping, a variation on a T.G.I. Friday's. Some light lagers, bright lights, maybe an arcade machine. It is the measure of a great bar to have ambitions that go beyond, and Punk's Backyard Grill steps up to the challenge. This Westfield Annapolis mall bar and restaurant, celebrating its third anniversary this year, is casual to a fault - its premise is an indoors American cookout.