Menu

Baltimore soon will be getting a taste of Bubba Gump Shrimp.It's easy to forget that, behind all the controversy surrounding Inner Harbor development issues, there is actually a restaurant. It is a unique restaurant at that: based on a popular movie and sporting some of the most strangely named food this side of the Atlantic.The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. chain was born out of a joint venture between Paramount Pictures and the California-based Rusty Pelican Restaurants.The first of these theme restaurants, based on Paramount's 1994 Oscar-winning film, "Forrest Gump," opened two years ago on Cannery Row in Monterey, Calif.

Plug Ugly's Publick House is a strange name for a tavern. But Baltimore history buffs know the Plug Uglies were a thuggish street gang/political club that ran riot on Baltimore's streets in the 1850s. Don't worry. The newest resident of O'Donnell Square isn't a gangland. Bartenders with untucked shirts are about as rough as it gets, and the staff here, you may be sorry to know, seems to have been chosen for their gentle dispositions. At first glance, Plug Ugly's could pass for any number of its neighbors, but look closer: The wood-filled bar area and dining rooms have been generously furnished with salvaged material like church pews and antique lighting fixtures.

Joe Squared is asking the good people of Baltimore to write its new menu. The Write Our Menu contest runs through Feb. 15. Go to their website and pick out the five new pizzas, risotto dishes, wings, soups and potato skins you want to see show up on the restaurant's next menu. The choices consist of specials that Joe Squared has run over the past few years. The restaurant-bar is awarding $1,000 in Joe Squared gift cards to individual winners of the contest as well as a $5 coupon to anyone who votes.

The setting for Silo.5% Wine Bar is Silo Point, a glamorous luxury condominium carved out of a former working grain terminal in Locust Point. The complex is surrounded by the remnants of industry, and even from the ground floor, the views of the freight lines and the working harbor are stirring. On its best day, peninsula-bound Locust Point is one of your more remote Baltimore neighborhoods. With the Fort Avenue bridge under construction, it has taken on a lost-colony feel. Right now, that's part of the attraction for Silo.5%, which still has the allure of a secret despite being open for about six months.

Portside Tavern in Canton has a new chef, Freddie Melgar. Melgar, who worked for Washington, D.C.'s Madhatter Group and the northern Virginia-based Great American Restaurants, has introduced a new Prince Island mussels menu. The newly released menu features six preparations including the "Mostard," with spicy bison sausage, leeks, Dijon and thyme broth; the "Jalfrezzi" with red pepper, onion, garlic, curry, tomato and coconut milk and the "Baltimore," with Old Bay, garlic, herbs and IPA beer broth.

CHICAGO - Burger King plans to launch a new coffee line as it tries to overhaul its breakfast menu and boost its slumping business. The nation's No. 2 burger chain will add Starbucks Corp.'s Seattle's Best Coffee to all its U.S. restaurants in a phased roll-out that begins this summer, executives said Tuesday. The move takes a page from rival McDonald's Corp.'s success with its line of coffee drinks. - Associated Press

Spring arrived officially weeks ago, but restaurants are just rolling out their spring menus now. That's our planet for you; real spring arrives when it's good and ready. Bluegrass Tavern in South Baltimore debuts its spring menu Thursday night. New among the First Bites on Ray Kumm's menu: spring asparagus served with Vermont quark ravioli and hazelnut honey, Taylor Bay scallops with egg-yolk vermicelli and oyster mushrooms and chilled English pea soup with smokehouse-almond gelato and crawfish oil. Main Bites on Bluegrass Tavern's spring menu include Pan seared grouper, with butter braised leeks and crispy Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms; milk-braise rabbit thigh; roasted poussin; crispy smoked Creekstone beef belly and grilled Broken Ranch antelope with fried duck egg, antelope "Merguez" and fava beans.

Fall menus are arriving. Bluegrass Tavern executive chef Ray Kumm rolled out his fall menu on Sept. 9. Debuting at Bluegrass -- elk tartare, with violet mustard dressing, marinated corn and fried quail egg. Foie gras is back, with crispy pork belly, nectarines and cherry bourbon pudding. Cockles are on the light fare menu, steamed with four kinds of onions. Rabbit is on the menu, and butter poached sturgeon, but what caught my eye was this entree. Pan seared red drum -- tasso ham tortelli, cockles, chayote, tomato broth.

Roughly translated, Las Vegas, according to our server, means "the suburbs. " The Las Vegas in Nevada pretty much started out that way, as a stopover and R&R locale for the folks working on the Boulder Dam. Our local Las Vegas is also in the 'burbs. In Jessup, on Route 1, just south of Route 175, next to a Burger King. Indeed, you can't get much more "modern" suburban than locating your eatery in a strip center. Co-owner, manager, cook and all-around general factotum Tomas Cruz, a native of San Salvador, opened this 70-seat, south-of-the-border themed restaurant in April 2009.

Harbor East restaurants like Talara, Taco Fiesta, Lebanese Taverna James Joyce and Fleming's will be offering selections of their menus at Harbor East's Fall Harvest Fest on Saturday. Taco Fiesta will be bringing chips, guacamole, salsa and burritos; Lebanese Taverna will have chicken shazam and hummus; Fleming's will be serving lamb chop lollipops and Talara will show up with smoked pulled pork brisket sandwiches and red cabbage slaw. They're all bringing booze, too. The Harbor East Fall Harvest Fest will also feature live music and strolling entertainment.

The Brewer's Art reveals its spring menu on Wednesday night, and Chef David Newman is taking the season very seriously. You want spring? How about gnocchi filled with stinging-nettle ricotta and morel ricotta, served with fava beans, peas and cipollini onions? Not spring-y enough? Then, what about chilled asparagus soup served with Maryland crab salad, or grilled asparagus with a Cherry Glen chevre "fondue" or a spring pea ravioli baked with mushrooms, fava beans and asparagus.

Spring arrived officially weeks ago, but restaurants are just rolling out their spring menus now. That's our planet for you; real spring arrives when it's good and ready. Bluegrass Tavern in South Baltimore debuts its spring menu Thursday night. New among the First Bites on Ray Kumm's menu: spring asparagus served with Vermont quark ravioli and hazelnut honey, Taylor Bay scallops with egg-yolk vermicelli and oyster mushrooms and chilled English pea soup with smokehouse-almond gelato and crawfish oil. Main Bites on Bluegrass Tavern's spring menu include Pan seared grouper, with butter braised leeks and crispy Hen-of-the-Woods mushrooms; milk-braise rabbit thigh; roasted poussin; crispy smoked Creekstone beef belly and grilled Broken Ranch antelope with fried duck egg, antelope "Merguez" and fava beans.

The home of the Whopper is adding fruit smoothies, snack wraps and an array of salads to its menu in what it says is a strategy to offer better-for-you food choices. Burger King joinsMcDonald's, Chik-fil-A and other fast food restaurants that have tried to offer healthier fare to their menus. Burger King said it is the broadest menu change in its 58-year history. The new menu is being promoted in a series of commercials that feature celebrities like singer Mary J. Blige, actress Salma Hayek, talk show host Jay Leno and David Beckham.

There are so many things to admire about Heavy Seas Alehouse, the thoroughly winning new establishment in Little Italy's Holland Tack Factory. There is the understated, comfortable decor, mercifully free of pirate paraphernalia. (Frankly, I was worried about that.) The smartly conceived menu from executive chef Matt Seeber is instantly appealing and accessible, and is being executed with impressive confidence. The front-of-house staff is welcoming and impressively trained. They're fully on board with this new project, and their pride comes through.

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.

It's Wednesday night in Upper Fells Point and I'm sitting at the bar of the restaurant Salt. The restaurant has entered its chilled-out mode; dinner service ends in a half-hour at 10:30 p.m. A jazzy score - Charles Mingus and Roy Hargrove - murmurs in the background, and a mute TV is ignored in a far corner. A dozen or so green-colored lamps that look like a squadron of flying saucers give the bar a cool, moody glow. Though the atmosphere is serene, the bar, which seats about 12, is full.

The Corner Bistro & Wine Bar in Ridgely's Delight is observing the 30th anniversary of the University of North Carolina's NCAA basketball championship with a three-course "March to Wine Madness" menu. No, you haven't been re-routed to the Daily Tar Heel. Ridgely's Delight, and the Corner Bistro, are right here in the Old Line State. It's a free country. The menu includes "tip-off" appetizers, a "full-court press" house salad, "3-point play" entrees and "highlight jam" desserts.

Seems summer is the time to freshen up menus around town, even if you're the new kid on the block. Like George's on Mount Vernon Square, which opened the end of April on the Monument Street level of the Clarion Peabody Court Hotel (note the new name there). The hotel's food and beverage director, Jason Franke, describes the restaurant as "fine dining done casually." In a couple of days, patrons will get their first crack at the restaurant's new menu, which includes items such as tomato and basil bruschetta ($5.50)

Portside Tavern in Canton has a new chef, Freddie Melgar. Melgar, who worked for Washington, D.C.'s Madhatter Group and the northern Virginia-based Great American Restaurants, has introduced a new Prince Island mussels menu. The newly released menu features six preparations including the "Mostard," with spicy bison sausage, leeks, Dijon and thyme broth; the "Jalfrezzi" with red pepper, onion, garlic, curry, tomato and coconut milk and the "Baltimore," with Old Bay, garlic, herbs and IPA beer broth.

The Corner Bistro & Wine Bar in Ridgely's Delight is observing the 30th anniversary of the University of North Carolina's NCAA basketball championship with a three-course "March to Wine Madness" menu. No, you haven't been re-routed to the Daily Tar Heel. Ridgely's Delight, and the Corner Bistro, are right here in the Old Line State. It's a free country. The menu includes "tip-off" appetizers, a "full-court press" house salad, "3-point play" entrees and "highlight jam" desserts.