New Restaurant

Hardly anything at Pabu grabs you by the lapels. The last and latest restaurant to open at the new Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore, Pabu calls itself an "izakaya," the Japanese name for a drinking establishment that serves food. The izakaya craze has landed big-time in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, along with the inevitable squabbling about what defines a true izakaya. Essentially, an izakaya offers diners a menu of small plates from which they can order over a long, merry evening, and there's traditionally an emphasis on savory grilled and marinated items.

After sitting dormant for over a year, a new restaurant opening next week at the old Sanders Corner will aim to bring a bit of buzz to the Loch Raven reservoir area. McFaul's Ironhorse Tavern at Sanders Corner will open Friday, June 29. "It's been a great few months getting this together," said co-owner Glenn McFaul, of Towson, to a crowd of county officials and local leaders who gathered for a "soft opening" on Tuesday, June 19. "It's been a lot of work," he said, "but we were able to put together a really good vision here to keep the tradition with Sanders alive.

Virginia Beach continues to grow, adding restaurants, retail, meeting space and other improvements. The Laskin Road Gateway's $100 million development continues with the goal of transforming the surrounding 31st Street and oceanfront area into a pedestrian-friendly corridor with high-end dining, retail and entertainment. Virginia Beach What's new Todd Jurich's 21st Century BurgerBar, 530 Winston Salem Ave., 757-351-0488, toddsburgerbar.com. For one of the best views of Virginia Beach's Rudee Inlet, head to newly opened BurgerBar, which features 100 percent grass-fed beef, nitrogen shakes and parmesan truffle fries.

The Corned Beef Factory in Highlandtown is just over two years old, a mere infant compared to the revered decades old corned beef establishments that have made Lombard Street in downtown Baltimore a destination for generations of corned beef and pastrami lovers. But the Corned Beef Factory is proof that you don't need almost a century of experience to deliver a great sandwich. The formula for constructing this iconic and delicious sandwich is so simple that it is amazing to see how many restaurants get it wrong.

A new restaurant named Delmarva's Southern Cafe will open this spring in Canton's Harbor Enterprise Center, also known as the Broom Factory. Delmarva's is scheduled to open sometime this summer, according to David Levitt, a partner in the new business. Levitt, a food-indusry veteran, is also a partner in a Leesburg, Va. restaurant named Tenderjacks. Delmarva's will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, Levitt said, and will operate as a fast-casual restaurant, the kind where you order at a counter but the food is brought to your table.

Brian Boston, executive chef and owner of the Milton Inn, is opening a new restaurant in Highland, an unincorporated community in western Howard County near Clarksville. A ground-breaking for the "modern-traditional" restaurant, to be called Highland Inn, is scheduled for April 30. The price points at the Highland Inn, according to Boston, will be lower than those at the Milton Inn, which has established itself as a regional destination restaurant. Located in Sparks, in north Baltimore County, the Milton Inn was recently recognized by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences with its Star Diamond Award.  "I'll still be at the Milton Inn doing my thing," Boston said.

Denise Whiting will be watching Friday night's "Kitchen Nightmares" episode featuring her restaurant in the cozy confines of Cafe Hon - in the attached Hon Bar, to be specific. Cafe Hon is bringing in a big-screen TV for the viewing, which is open to the public but booked solid, Whiting says. Whiting said she hasn't seen the show yet but has seen the promos for the episode that have been running on the local Fox affiliate. "I'm really grateful to Gordon Ramsay and his team for dealing with everyone here so graciously.

Myles Julian Feldman, a founder of a restaurant equipment business, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Dec. 15 at Pinecrest Delray Hospice in Florida. The Boca Raton, Fla., resident had previously lived in Stevenson. Mr. Feldman was 82. Born in Atlantic City, N.J., he was the son of Samuel Feldman, a restaurant supplies salesman, and Frieda Feldman, his office manager. The family moved to Baltimore, where Mr. Feldman was a 1946 graduate of Forest Park High School.

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.

Townhouse Kitchen & Bar is coming to Harbor East. "Proudly serv(ing) great gastro-pub food in an elegant yet casual setting," Townhouse is in the portfolio of the Chicago-area Restaurants America group, a multi-concept restaurant operator with about 20 locations, mostly in Florida and Illinois, encompassing uscale dining brands, including the Grillroom Chophouse & Winebar, Bluepoint, One North and Primebar. Townhouse Kitchen & Bar, the first foray into Maryland for Restaurants America, is projected for a late March or early April opening in the Eden Building, next to Ra Sushi Bar Restaurant.