Horn Horn

A popular Westminster smorgasbord restaurant plans to reopen by lunchtime tomorrow after an electrical fire left soot throughout the establishment last week.No one was injured in the fire. State fire marshals estimated damage at $150,000.Robert Katz, president of Horn & Horn Inc., said Friday that crews would work throughout the weekend to replace the ceiling and wipe away the black residue."The soot is on everything, but we're planning on being ready for county inspectors [tomorrow]," he said.

It's peach cake time again in Baltimore, and let the debate begin. This is a peculiar season, when locals scramble in search of the perfect summertime confection made of raised dough and peaches. I lament the loss of what I consider the perfect peach cake. I believe that like so much in Baltimore, the perfect peach cake has no frills. But many devotees will give me a loud argument on this one. Just as Old Bay seasoning has no place in a crab cake recipe, apricot or raspberry jellies — or cinnamon — have no place in a proper peach cake.

The Horn & Horn Smorgasbord in Westminster will close after dinner Easter Sunday, April 12, to be renovated and will reopen in May with a new identity -- Cactus Willie's Buffet and Bakery.Cactus Willie's has applied to the city for a sign permit at the site of the Horn & Horn, which has been at the 140 Village Shopping Center for more than 20 years."We hope to be open and operating by Friday, May 1." said Bob Katz, president of Horn & Horn and a managing partner in Cactus Willie's, an all-you-can-eat chain restaurant that features sirloin steak grilled to order, baked ham, fish, ribs, fried chicken, vegetables, a pasta bar, a salad bar and desserts.

The name on the window said Maron, and inside were candy counters and an ice cream parlor. I was walking along Philadelphia's Chestnut Street and, for a second, I was back home 40 years ago. I thought of the old Baltimore Maron and couldn't help remembering all the revered but now-vanished foods once distinctive to the city. Do unattainable foods resonate better in our memories? I'm sorry, but the fountain Coca-Colas of my youth, made by a uniformed drugstore soda fountain employee, were superior to today's bottled Cokes.

A Baltimore-based smorgasbord restaurant chain is redesigning four area eateries, hoping to beat stiff competition from national chains.By the end of the year, Horn & Horn Buffets in Essex, Westminster and Glen Burnie will adopt the concept and name of Cactus Willie's Steak and Buffet Bakery, a Hanover, Pa.-based all-you-can-eat restaurant.Horn & Horn currently serves ham, fish, ribs, fried chicken, vegetables, and offers pasta and salad bars and desserts. After the renovation and name change, it will also feature steak and a fresh bakery.

THE FACADE OF THE historic Horn & Horn lunchroom in downtown Baltimore, originally targeted for salvation by the Baltimore City Life Museums, may be reduced to rubble after all unless an angel can be found to save it.The private museum has been negotiating with the city of Baltimore to save the arched stone front when the rest of the building is razed to make way for a public garage.Museum spokesman Jamie Hunt said this month that the parties had reached tentative agreement on a plan to save the facade and store it for re-erection elsewhere in the city, possibly as part of an addition to the City Life campus in East Baltimore.

You win some, you lose some.Even before Severna Park Mall shoppers could rejoice over news that Caldor plans to renew operations, Horn & Horn Smorgasbords -- one of the mall's last original tenants -- suddenly closed up shop yesterday, saying they didn't want to continueinvesting in a "dead" mall.Caldor's decision to float back to its 89,000-square-foot anchorage by Oct. 31 clearly outweighs Horn & Horn's move, but other merchants were disturbed nonetheless."It was a shock to everybody," saidMonique Longmore, manager of the News Center of Severna Park.

THE BALTIMORE City Life Museums have saved and re-erected the cast-iron front of the G. Fava Fruit Co. warehouse from South Charles Street and the shell of a White Tower coffee shop from Howard Street.Now curators want to save a third architectural remnant of old Baltimore -- the facade of the 1908 Horn & Horn restaurant at 304 E. Baltimore St.The museums have made arrangements to salvage the south facade, with its large central stone arch and cast-iron storefront, before the building is razed this fall with seven others to make way for a public parking garage.

The name on the window said Maron, and inside were candy counters and an ice cream parlor. I was walking along Philadelphia's Chestnut Street and, for a second, I was back home 40 years ago. I thought of the old Baltimore Maron and couldn't help remembering all the revered but now-vanished foods once distinctive to the city. Do unattainable foods resonate better in our memories? I'm sorry, but the fountain Coca-Colas of my youth, made by a uniformed drugstore soda fountain employee, were superior to today's bottled Cokes.

Alongside the kitchen telephone was a piece of paper headed by the phrase "Emergency Numbers." In that pre-911 era of 30 years ago, my family dutifully listed the Northern District police, the Fire Department and their favorite ice cream makers.After all, what could be a bigger emergency on a warm summer evening that an unsatisfied hankering for a dish of Horn & Horn's coffee ice cream?This was a time when Baltimore actually had real and vigorous ice cream competition. The stuff was all local, made in neighborhoods, and generally not sold any farther west than the Enchanted Forest or farther east than Middle River.

Some suburbanites are heading into the city in growing numbers, but they aren't the ones the Chamber of Commerce - or urban gardeners - will welcome with open arms. The white-tailed deer staking claims in Baltimore are a prime example of creative adaptation to Maryland's changing landscape as well as a hearty challenge to the two-legged residents. But we expect they can adapt, too. These next few weeks, though, are the most challenging of the year. "The rut," as experts put it, has begun, with bucks chasing does, vehicles and even their own reflections in plate-glass windows; the successful ones will soon settle down to creating fawns.

A Baltimore-based smorgasbord restaurant chain is redesigning four area eateries, hoping to beat stiff competition from national chains.By the end of the year, Horn & Horn Buffets in Essex, Westminster and Glen Burnie will adopt the concept and name of Cactus Willie's Steak and Buffet Bakery, a Hanover, Pa.-based all-you-can-eat restaurant.Horn & Horn currently serves ham, fish, ribs, fried chicken, vegetables, and offers pasta and salad bars and desserts. After the renovation and name change, it will also feature steak and a fresh bakery.

The Horn & Horn Smorgasbord in Westminster will close after dinner Easter Sunday, April 12, to be renovated and will reopen in May with a new identity -- Cactus Willie's Buffet and Bakery.Cactus Willie's has applied to the city for a sign permit at the site of the Horn & Horn, which has been at the 140 Village Shopping Center for more than 20 years."We hope to be open and operating by Friday, May 1." said Bob Katz, president of Horn & Horn and a managing partner in Cactus Willie's, an all-you-can-eat chain restaurant that features sirloin steak grilled to order, baked ham, fish, ribs, fried chicken, vegetables, a pasta bar, a salad bar and desserts.

William Lewis Butler, 47, Horn & Horn managerWilliam Lewis Butler, the former general manager for the Horn & Horn Smorgasbord in Towson, died of cancer Wednesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Edgewood resident was 47.Mr. Butler became general manager of the Horn & Horn on Cromwell Bridge Road in 1986 and retired last year because of health problems.A native of Waldorf, he came to Baltimore in 1967 to attend Morgan State College.While at Morgan, he worked as general manager at the old White Coffee Pot restaurant in the Northwood Shopping Center until 1973, when he was named to the same position at the White Coffee Pot on Howard Street downtown.

The season of joy has passed, and the more somber season of review is upon us. In arts and entertainment, 1996 was marked by many a going (Horn & Horn lunchroom, Shakespeare on Wheels, the announcement of David Zinman's departure) and an important staying (the Lucas Collection). Bad guys (Jack Valenti with his Hollywood-friendly TV ratings system) were as likely to make news as angels (John Travolta in "Michael"), and personalities (the Michael Jackson marriage saga) got more attention than performances (Alanis Morissette's best-selling album)

A popular Westminster smorgasbord restaurant plans to reopen by lunchtime tomorrow after an electrical fire left soot throughout the establishment last week.No one was injured in the fire. State fire marshals estimated damage at $150,000.Robert Katz, president of Horn & Horn Inc., said Friday that crews would work throughout the weekend to replace the ceiling and wipe away the black residue."The soot is on everything, but we're planning on being ready for county inspectors [tomorrow]," he said.

William Lewis Butler, 47, Horn & Horn managerWilliam Lewis Butler, the former general manager for the Horn & Horn Smorgasbord in Towson, died of cancer Wednesday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Edgewood resident was 47.Mr. Butler became general manager of the Horn & Horn on Cromwell Bridge Road in 1986 and retired last year because of health problems.A native of Waldorf, he came to Baltimore in 1967 to attend Morgan State College.While at Morgan, he worked as general manager at the old White Coffee Pot restaurant in the Northwood Shopping Center until 1973, when he was named to the same position at the White Coffee Pot on Howard Street downtown.

Gay former sailor to speak at AACCA former midshipman who contends he was forced out of the Naval Academy just months before graduation because he said he is a homosexual will speak at Anne Arundel Community College Feb. 9.Joe Steffan wrote a book, "Honor Bound," in which he details his experiences in the military from his plebe year to his selection as a battalion commander just before his resignation.Mr. Steffan's talk will detail what he sees as the military's history of discrimination against blacks, women and gays.

THE FACADE OF THE historic Horn & Horn lunchroom in downtown Baltimore, originally targeted for salvation by the Baltimore City Life Museums, may be reduced to rubble after all unless an angel can be found to save it.The private museum has been negotiating with the city of Baltimore to save the arched stone front when the rest of the building is razed to make way for a public garage.Museum spokesman Jamie Hunt said this month that the parties had reached tentative agreement on a plan to save the facade and store it for re-erection elsewhere in the city, possibly as part of an addition to the City Life campus in East Baltimore.

THE BALTIMORE City Life Museums have saved and re-erected the cast-iron front of the G. Fava Fruit Co. warehouse from South Charles Street and the shell of a White Tower coffee shop from Howard Street.Now curators want to save a third architectural remnant of old Baltimore -- the facade of the 1908 Horn & Horn restaurant at 304 E. Baltimore St.The museums have made arrangements to salvage the south facade, with its large central stone arch and cast-iron storefront, before the building is razed this fall with seven others to make way for a public parking garage.