Onion Rings

Briana CaBell didn't need a physician to tell her she had to do something about her diet. An admitted carb-fats-salt junkie who's been overweight as long as she can remember, CaBell has known for years that she needed to mend her food ways, to stop thinking of salty, deep-fried onion rings as a vegetable staple and, especially, curb her fast-food intake. The 30-year-old single Laurel resident said the time constraints of working two jobs, plus sharing a small catering business with her mother, squeezing in college courses and maintaining a schedule of church activities keep her on the run from before dawn to late in the evening.

If you thought Tony Soprano had issues, you should talk to fans of The Sopranos. A day after the final episode of the landmark HBO mob drama, reaction to creator David Chase's ambiguous jump-to-black ending ranged from he's-a-genius praise to outright scorn. Some people simply thought the cable had gone out. "I liked it," said long-time fan Zack Chaiken, 28, of Baltimore. "To me, it was pretty clear that Tony gets a bullet." "I just thought it was horrible," said Bitsy Cramer of Timonium.

Burke's Cafe 36 Light St. -- 410-752-4189 Hours --7 a.m.-2 a.m. daily Restaurant's estimate --5 minutes Ready in --13 minutes Eight huge onion rings -- easily three times as wide as ones from other places -- came in this order, $5.94. Though the breading was thick and crumbly and the rings looked nearly perfect, they tasted bland. We were disappointed with the food and the wait time -- considering the place was nearly empty when we were there. Know of a good carryout place? Let us hear about it. Write to sam.sessa@baltsun.

A landmark Catonsville-area carryout, known since the 1950s for its ice cream, steak subs and onion rings, was damaged in a fire early yesterday, and the owner of Mr. G's Fast Lane said he's unsure when the restaurant will reopen. The one-alarm fire began about 6 a.m., said Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokeswoman. The blaze was determined to be an accidental electrical fire, Armacost said, and damage to the restaurant, in the 5600 block of Johnnycake Road, has been estimated at $250,000.

I think I could feel my heart actually shudder for a moment as the cook at Nick's Submarines scooped out a blob of butter and plopped it onto some onions beginning to heat up on the grill. Next to the pile of onions simmered a big pile of thinly sliced beef, which she battered into submission with an 18-inch-long chopper. Before long she layered on the cheese - the bright yellow kind, not the familiar provolone - and, finally, yet another heart-stopping cheese steak had come to life from Nick's grill.

Mama Leah's adheres to dietary laws that are thousands of years old, but it doesn't neglect the modern-day dietary Bible known as Atkins, either. This kosher pizza joint on Reisterstown Road will gladly make your pizzas on low-carb crusts. And if Atkins isn't your particular dietary religion, there are also lactose-free pizzas with no cheese, pizzas with whole-wheat crusts, and white pizzas with lots of cheese but no tomato sauce. Not that Mama Leah's is so concerned with healthful eating.

A certain desultory approach to service at Pacific Seafood in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood did not bode well for dinner on a recent Monday night. Nor did the fact that the soft-shell crab dinner listed on the menu was no longer offered, as the bored cashier informed us. But we forged ahead and ordered an eclectic range of food, from crab cakes and fries to pizza and cheesecake. For the most part, we had a satisfying meal. Pacific is a straightforward place with no seats for waiting.

During the national celebration known as March Madness, I find myself gravitating toward television sets more often than usual. And, boy, were there television sets at Rocky Run Tap & Grill in Columbia during our recent visit -- zillions of them, with two different basketball games going at once. Of course, I was there to pick up carryout, but what better place to sit and wait for food than at a bar with high-stakes games on the tube? Rocky Run is a mini chain, with restaurants in Charles Village and Marley Station Mall as well as in Columbia.

If your fondest culinary desire is to eat a hamburger in the shadow of Madonna's torpedo-shaped bustier, then the Hard Rock Cafe is for you. For the three or four readers out there who might not know, the restaurant combines rock memorabilia with American food. It's part of a chain, founded in 1971, that now has more than 100 restaurants all over the world. The one in Baltimore has dominated the Inner Harbor since it opened in 1997, with its 68-foot neon guitar on the Power Plant smokestack serving as a local landmark.

Soigne, Edward Kim's new restaurant, is scheduled to open today at 554 E. Fort Ave. where Lynn's used to be. Kim's last kitchen was at the funky-stylish Ixia on North Charles Street. His managing partner is Lisa Heckman, who owned a catering company in Philadelphia and earlier this year hoped to buy the Ruby Lounge in Mount Vernon. They renovated the space in what Kim calls SoHo art gallery style, with a cream background for whimsical art, black ceiling fans and bamboo sconces. The cuisine is Kim's forte, Pacific Rim with American and Mediterranean overtones.