Mussels

Because I'm not a big fan of mussels, the shellfish rarely show up on my menu at home. But this garlicky dish is an exception. It's delicious and quick. It is always best to consume mussels the same day you purchase them. Small black mussels work best for this recipe, and you can substitute small clams if mussels are not your thing. Purge them quickly by immersing in cold water to expel any sand. Then, quickly scrub each mussel clean with a brush and cut off any beard (hairlike filaments attached to the shell)

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.

CLEVELAND, Va. - Snorkeling in the cool Clinch River, biologist Fred Huber pointed to an unusual creature resting on the bottom, a wavy-rayed lampmussel. The silver-dollar-size mollusk flaunted a thin, fleshy flap that extended from inside its shell. The flap resembled a minnow in its color, shape and fluttering motion. Huber pointed just inside the flap where baby mussels clung, ready to leave their mother. Hitching a ride Popping his head above water, Huber explained that baby mussels live part of their lives on the gills of fish.

For lovers of Asian flavors, organic and local food and, of course, noodles, the new Republic Noodle in Federal Hill hits a sweet spot. Owners David Lynch and Christopher Boylan — who live nearby — opened the Asian restaurant in September, hoping to make it a new neighborhood favorite. With Lynch and chef de cuisine Henry Hong, formerly of Suzie's Soba, working the wok, and a menu gathering flavors and cooking methods from across the continent (the name "Republic Noodle" is a nod to the pan-Asian approach)

This fall is turning out to be the deadliest yet for loons, ducks and other birds that encounter a natural outbreak of a rare form of the nerve toxin botulism in Lake Erie. Ward Stone, director of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation Pathology Laboratory in Delmar, N.Y., which studies the dead birds, said that over the last two weeks his staff had picked up more than 5,500 birds along the shores of Lake Erie in western New York, between Buffalo and Dunkirk, including 126 loons, 4,500 long-tailed ducks, geese, grebes, mergansers, scaups and many types of gulls.

Driving around looking for a place to park can cut into a lunch hour, and Mama's on the Half Shell , at 2901 O'Donnell St. in Canton, happens to be in a neighborhood where parking is at a premium. Our recent visit required a five-block hike, and we felt lucky to get as close as we do without having to cruise the neighborhood watching lunch minutes tick by. It really helps that Mama's, a tavern for seafood lovers, is worth enduring that inevitable city-life hassle. 12:45 We enter a packed Mama's, jammed upstairs and down, and learn we're looking at a 20-minute wait for a table for two. We note a handful of tables up front and a long bar, every chair filled, and a few people standing along the wall behind the bar. We're later told that this is an exceptionally busy time of year for the tavern.

The words "beer food" bring to mind items like pretzels, peanuts and pizza. But at Red Brick Station in White Marsh the term means mussels steamed in ale, fish dipped in a beery batter and meat marinated in stout. Here, the beer is often in the food. It works, in part because the beer is fresh. There is a brewery on the premises, between the bar and the dining room. It also works because the kitchen has a nice touch with spices. The concept here is to serve English-style ales and English pub fare.

Over the centuries, mariners have wondered how mussels manage to stick so tightly to the sides of ships. Researchers at Purdue University say they might have figured out the mussels' secret: They extract iron from seawater to create their glue. The results could help scientists create new superglues and develop nontoxic paints to rid ship bottoms of barnacles and other pests. Their four-year study analyzed the adhesive created by 800 blue mussels collected off the Maine coast - the kind that grow about four inches long and are staples at many East Coast seafood restaurants.

Fish on a First-Name Basis By Rob DeBorde Simply Shellfish By Leslie Glover Pendleton William Morrow / 2006 / $24.95 This book features 125 easy shellfish recipes, most of which take less than 30 minutes to prepare. Oysters, shrimp, crab, clams, mussels, lobster and squid are the main ingredients of dishes with Latin, Asian and Italian accents. You'll also find advice on purchasing, cleaning, storing and serving sizes for various types of shellfish. liz.atwood@baltsun.com Iron-skillet mussels with coconut-carrot sauce Serves 4 COCONUT-CARROT SAUCE: 2 cups chicken stock 2 tablespoons peanut oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger 1 cup canned coconut milk 1 cup carrot juice 10 fresh basil leaves 5 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves 1 tablespoon palm sugar (available at Asian markets)

Dottie Crow and her husband of Pismo Beach, Calif., enjoyed a pasta dish with shrimp, mussels and chopped tomatoes that was served to them while they were visiting the Carmel Mission Inn. She was hoping someone would have a similar recipe that she could prepare at home. Carl Covington from Boonville, Mo., apparently did some Internet research and sent in several versions of shrimp and mussels over pasta. The recipe he submitted for Fettuccine Provencal With Mussels and Shrimp seemed to most closely resemble what the Crows are looking for. This seafood dish is grand enough to serve to company yet simple enough to prepare anytime, particularly in winter when fresh mussels from the Atlantic Ocean are at their peak of quality.

Alonso's in Roland Park is an unpretentious restaurant in a pretentious part of the city. Since 1931, it's been serving modest food and good beer to much acclaim and many satisfied customers. It hasn't changed one bit over the years. Well over three-quarters full and bustling is how we found Alonso's on a Wednesday night. A relaxed crowd of older patrons, families and couples filled the seats and booths. The missing tiles in the ceiling suggested that Alonso's is renovating (it's not)

Dining adventures at Gateway Overlook begin in the parking lot. In true Columbia fashion, one doesn't so much drive through as wend around. With a big-box centerpiece, this mall also has satellite buildings, many filled with restaurants. Lots of cars, no grid. Pack your GPS. Mamma Lucia resides in the same section as the more easily spotted Trader Joe's. Like its neighbors, Mama Lucia is a chain, a regional one started in Rockville. Its owners advertise "down home Italian cooking" and hefty portions.

The words "beer food" bring to mind items like pretzels, peanuts and pizza. But at Red Brick Station in White Marsh the term means mussels steamed in ale, fish dipped in a beery batter and meat marinated in stout. Here, the beer is often in the food. It works, in part because the beer is fresh. There is a brewery on the premises, between the bar and the dining room. It also works because the kitchen has a nice touch with spices. The concept here is to serve English-style ales and English pub fare.

Driving around looking for a place to park can cut into a lunch hour, and Mama's on the Half Shell , at 2901 O'Donnell St. in Canton, happens to be in a neighborhood where parking is at a premium. Our recent visit required a five-block hike, and we felt lucky to get as close as we do without having to cruise the neighborhood watching lunch minutes tick by. It really helps that Mama's, a tavern for seafood lovers, is worth enduring that inevitable city-life hassle. 12:45 We enter a packed Mama's, jammed upstairs and down, and learn we're looking at a 20-minute wait for a table for two. We note a handful of tables up front and a long bar, every chair filled, and a few people standing along the wall behind the bar. We're later told that this is an exceptionally busy time of year for the tavern.

I would like to address a snarky letter from Mr. Robert L. Dunker Jr., of Catonsville. A Republican (and former Democrat), my dear Mr. Dunker expressed skepticism about the worthiness of a $4 million, taxpayer-funded project described in this space in late October, and he questioned my regard for facts. Instead of challenging him to a duel, I thought I'd just write a column in response. "I realize that as a columnist you have no obligation to check the facts," one of the many sentences in Mr. Dunker's letter began.

If Democrats and Republicans could work as well together as Anguilla rostrata and Elliptio complanata do, we'd probably have a better country. They don't have to like each other much — Anguilla and Elliptio aren't especially fond of each other, either — but if the leaders of the two major parties could at least strive toward the kind of symbiosis found in nature, we might see some progress on all sorts of issues confronting the nation....

Inspiration for today's menu comes from George Goins, the spa chef at the Doral Spa in Miami. The recipes are light in fat and calories yet delicious enough to serve for company.The salad features slices of fresh tomatoes and oranges fanned over a bed of romaine lettuce. For a dressing, you need only combine some raspberry vinegar with a drop of olive oil and drizzle over all.The dessert can be easily concocted by mixing 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice and 2/3 cup powdered sugar with 8 ounces of softened reduced-fat cream cheese.

The seafood risotto at Pasta Blitz is almost too pretty to eat. The mound of creamy rice in the middle is topped with chopped tomatoes, parsley, calamari rings and slivers of garlic. It's served on an oval plate, bordered by mussels in their shiny black shells, clams in their gray ones, and several plump pink shrimp, positioned with military precision. Poor:

One of my long-standing life questions is, What makes an Irish Pub an Irish Pub? Is it dark, moody shadows peopled by whispering conspirators nursing black pints amid the rhythmic phthwacking of darts hitting corkboard? Or is it any old joint that serves shepherd pie, taps Guinness, and cranks out a Van Morrison number every half hour or so? Probably Irish pubness is like art: a whole lot easier to recognize than define. 12:30 p.m. We enter James Joyce after a 25-minute walk.

Alarm bells have been sounded before about invasive species that might devastate the Chesapeake Bay - the northern snakehead, the scary, land-crossing "Frankenfish" that's now a naturalized resident of the Potomac River comes most immediately to mind. But few have gotten the advance billing for pure destructiveness that the zebra mussel has received. Last fall, six dead zebra mussels were found in the lower Susquehanna River, two of them in Maryland waters - including one at the Conowingo Dam. If history follows its usual course, it's not a matter of "if" but only a question of "when" the freshwater mussels become established in the less saline portions of the Chesapeake Bay. What might result from this?