New Restaurant

Cyrus Keefer is leaving Birroteca to take over the kitchen at Fork & Wrench. He will replace Sajin Renae, who will be moving to New York City. Everyone involved with the two hot restaurants sounded happy. Fork & Wrench's co-owner Andy Gruver was happy. "We're excited for both things. We had 50 or 60 guys apply for the job, including a guy from Belgium, Gruver said. "Cyrus wanted to be in a spot where he can be creative. And Sajin is moving to New York. We're really excited for her. " Keefer was happy.

Corks, Jerry Pellegrino's long-running Federal Hill restaurant at 1026 S. Charles St., has closed. The closing appears to have been unexpected -- a promotion for New Years Eve was still posted on the restaurant's website on Wednesday evening. Corks employees caught unprepared for the closing were allowed back into the restaurant on Wednesday to collect their personal belongings, including chefs' knives. The closing was confirmed by the property's owner, Wayne Brokke. Jerry Pellegrino opened Corks at 1026 S. Charles St. in 1997.

Sometimes I think I could show up once a year at the spot where the South Harbor Tavern has just opened and find a new restaurant there every time.I can't figure out why. This location has everything going for it. It's a beautiful space right on the water, an intimate restaurant as opposed to some of the food factories around the harbor. Sure, it's a bit out of the mainstream; but to balance that there's plenty of free parking. The food is always pretty decent, the staff pleasant. But then one day, poof!

Restaurateurs Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf hope to open a new restaurant in the Roland Park Shopping Center in the space once occupied by a beloved deli. The pair, who are known for local restaurants such as Charleston , Pazo and Cinghiale , are negotiating to open the eatery later this year. The new venture will also occupy space in a former Long & Foster office adjacent to the deli. The shopping center is also home to Foreman and Wolf's Petit Louis restaurant , which recently marked its 10 t h anniversary.

Comparing the new Victor's Cafe to the old one doesn't make much sense. Though they have the same name and similar menus, the two restaurants are two totally different animals. The old Victor's Cafe, overlooking the Inner Harbor on Lancaster Street, was widely considered to have one of the best waterside dining views in the city. The new restaurant is suburban and quick-casual, located in a strip shopping center in Timonium. Poor:]

Call it Langermann's Junior. The same team behind Langermann's in Canton - chef Neal Langermann and partners David McGill and Mark Lasker - have opened a new restaurant in South Baltimore. The location, 1542 Light St., was recently the home to 1542 Gastropub and before that, the Reserve. Langermann's on Light, as it's known, was open on Monday for bar service. Dining service was to begin on Tuesday. What's on the menu at Langermann's on Light? Pretty much the same fare, we've been told, as at the original Langermann's: Southern-inspired cuisines like Charleston shrimp and grits, maple smokehouse-rubbed Duroc pork chops, Cape Fear scallops and Miss Ellie's fried green tomatoes.

The Sunday review is of S & J Crabranch in Towson. It's a new restaurant on Pennylvania Avenue, just off the circle, specializing in steamed crabs and barbecue. Good concept, well executed. Here's the review of S & J Crabranch .

Grillfire, the new restaurant at Arundel Preserve, itself a new mixed-use development near Arundel Mills, was the subject of the Sunday review. The review is not very positive. I received a courteous and genuinely concerned response about it from George Korten, the owner of Grillfire, and I let a representative of his know that Mr. Korten was welcome to post a response to the review in the comments below, as are all of the Baltimore Sun's readers.

Cuban Revolution Restaurant and Jazz Bar (1903 Ashland Ave., 443-708-5184, thecubanrevolution.com) has opened in a neighborhood not famous for its restaurants. Known officially as Middle East, the area, which includes the Science & Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, is being developed as a mixed-use life-science campus by the Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership. Cuban Revolution, which opened on Feb. 13, is the first new restaurant for the still emerging district. “We're used to that,” said Ed Morabito, who opened the original Cuban Revolution in Providence, R.I. with his wife, Mary.

A new restaurant will open in the Living Classroom's Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Museum in late October. Waterfront Kitchen will feature a menu of "spirited American cuisine" designed by Jerry Pellegrino of Corks and will "emphasize seasonal ingredients," some of which will be grown by students in Living Classroom 's BUGS (Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students) program in a greenhouse located on the school's nearby Caroline Street campus.  The new restaurant, which will seat 75 inside and 100 outside on a waterside promenade, is owned by Charles Nabit and Michael Klein.