Oyster Bar

For a quickie lesson in what's wrong with congressional budget earmarks, consider the $4 million-a-year Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration program that benefited most everyone involved except the oysters. As reported by The Sun's Rona Kobell and Greg Garland, a program launched by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski outside the normal regulatory process has operated for more than half a dozen years with no real federal oversight, functioning mostly as a make-work subsidy plan for watermen that failed to halt the decline of the oyster population.

Southwestern-themed bar Dark Horse Saloon and Irish Pub Finnegan's Wake, the improbably conjoined bars at the former Canton Arts & Entertainment complex, have switched owners. The pub is poised to close afterSt. Patrick's Day, says Marc McFaul, who after nine months at the helm sold the business to Kenny Der, a regular DJ at Dark Horse. Finnegan's is likely to be turned into an extension of the Southwestern theme at Dark Horse next door. The switch gives McFaul's tenure the sprawling complex's second-longest run. It lasted a little over five months as Canton Arts and Entertainment , which at one point included a bar, an oyster bar and a restaurant.  CAE opened in September 2009 and closed the next March.

Community leaders in Selby Bay say hundreds of their neighbors are ready to fight a state Department of Natural Resources attempt to change a natural oyster bar's mapped boundaries.They say the state's proposal to shrink the 194-acre oyster bar by 61 acres on its western side is aimed at accommodating a marina that is seeking to expand.A challenge to county regulations on marinas is pending before the Court of Special Appeals."It is our contention that DNR is doing this to accommodate an owner of a marina and circumvent the legal process that is already in the works," said Brenda M. DeLalla, president of the Turkey Point Property Owners Association.

Christopher "Guido" Whitesel, a bartender who worked at esatablishments in Annapolis and Baltimore, died March 27 of cancer at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. He was 55. Mr. Whitesel was born in Washington and raised in Silver Spring, where he graduated in 1973 from John F. Kennedy High School. He attended Montgomery Community College before becoming a bartender in the 1970s. Mr. Whitesel was working at a gangster-themed bar in Rockville when a customer christened him with a nickname that stuck for the rest of his life.

In less than 20 feet of water, just north of where tankers and cruise ships make their slow turns from the Chesapeake Bay into the Patapsco River, lies the third rail of Maryland fishing. An oyster bar made up of millions of bushels of fossil shell sits on the bay bottom - the largest single deposit left in Maryland's portion of the bay. The state wants to restart its languishing oyster restoration program by digging up as much as 30 percent of the bar - known as Man-O-War Shoal - to serve as a foundation for a $30 million program.

John E. Larkin Jr., a seafood dealer whose raw oyster bar became a popular downtown gathering place, died of cardiac arrest Sunday at St. Agnes Hospital. The Catonsville resident was 71. Born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville, he attended Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy and was a 1955 Mount St. Joseph High School graduate. Family members said that he remained close to his teachers, members of the Xaverian Brothers, throughout his life. He entered the seafood business as a young man. Multiple generations of Larkins had worked in the Baltimore seafood industry and owned stalls at Lexington, Hollins and Belair markets.

Southwestern-themed bar Dark Horse Saloon and Irish Pub Finnegan's Wake, the improbably conjoined bars at the former Canton Arts & Entertainment complex, have switched owners. The pub is poised to close afterSt. Patrick's Day, says Marc McFaul, who after nine months at the helm sold the business to Kenny Der, a regular DJ at Dark Horse. Finnegan's is likely to be turned into an extension of the Southwestern theme at Dark Horse next door. The switch gives McFaul's tenure the sprawling complex's second-longest run. It lasted a little over five months as Canton Arts and Entertainment , which at one point included a bar, an oyster bar and a restaurant.  CAE opened in September 2009 and closed the next March.

Maryland's second-highest court has blocked an attempt by a Mayo marina to nearly double its size, the second setback for the marina's owners in two weeks.A three-judge panel of the Court of Special Appeals upheld this week Anne Arundel County's law forbidding marinas from building slips within a half-mile of an oyster bar.Two weeks ago, the Department of Natural Resources turned down a request by the owners of the Holiday Point Marina to redraw the map of a 194-acre natural oyster bar in Selby Bay so that it would not be shown as too close to the marina's planned expansion.

Christopher "Guido" Whitesel, a bartender who worked at esatablishments in Annapolis and Baltimore, died March 27 of cancer at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. He was 55. Mr. Whitesel was born in Washington and raised in Silver Spring, where he graduated in 1973 from John F. Kennedy High School. He attended Montgomery Community College before becoming a bartender in the 1970s. Mr. Whitesel was working at a gangster-themed bar in Rockville when a customer christened him with a nickname that stuck for the rest of his life.

Remember Something Fishy -- a couple of blocks up from the harbor, and west of Broadway Market in Fells Point? When it closed, Something Fishy's building stood dark for nine months. Then Foster's Oyster Bar, Restaurant and Market turned the lights and the heat back on, and put a fire in the fireplace and pans back on the stoves. The oyster bar and restaurant have been in business since November. Foster's fish market opened last February.Both the bar and restaurant are pleasant, clean, attractive and imbued with the spirit of Fells Point.

— For watermen who require safe passage to Chesapeake Bay oyster bars and fishing grounds each winter, the appearance of one of the state's four ice-breaking ships means money in the bank. Like giant plows on an asphalt road, icebreakers have been carving channels from piers to open waters, clearing away dangerous sheets of ice that can idle the commercial fleet, or worse, punch through the hull of a fishing boat. "Any ice at all is a real hazard for them," Capt. Shawn Orr said Tuesday morning as he guided the 80-foot M/V Sandusky through a row of watermen's boats tied up at Kent Narrows.

In less than 20 feet of water, just north of where tankers and cruise ships make their slow turns from the Chesapeake Bay into the Patapsco River, lies the third rail of Maryland fishing. An oyster bar made up of millions of bushels of fossil shell sits on the bay bottom - the largest single deposit left in Maryland's portion of the bay. The state wants to restart its languishing oyster restoration program by digging up as much as 30 percent of the bar - known as Man-O-War Shoal - to serve as a foundation for a $30 million program.

John E. Larkin Jr., a seafood dealer whose raw oyster bar became a popular downtown gathering place, died of cardiac arrest Sunday at St. Agnes Hospital. The Catonsville resident was 71. Born in Baltimore and raised in Catonsville, he attended Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy and was a 1955 Mount St. Joseph High School graduate. Family members said that he remained close to his teachers, members of the Xaverian Brothers, throughout his life. He entered the seafood business as a young man. Multiple generations of Larkins had worked in the Baltimore seafood industry and owned stalls at Lexington, Hollins and Belair markets.

Tearing out the beer-making equipment and adding a slate-topped raw bar has been the second-best change at Ryleigh's. The best change was installing Patrick Morrow as executive chef. In December 2006, Ryleigh's Brew Pub became Ryleigh's Oyster Bar. What an improvement. The indifferent food has been replaced with an inventive menu that changes every week but might include a salad with duck confit and goat cheese ($10) or coriander-crusted tuna ($16) served with tomatillo salsa and mashed purple potatoes.

For a quickie lesson in what's wrong with congressional budget earmarks, consider the $4 million-a-year Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration program that benefited most everyone involved except the oysters. As reported by The Sun's Rona Kobell and Greg Garland, a program launched by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski outside the normal regulatory process has operated for more than half a dozen years with no real federal oversight, functioning mostly as a make-work subsidy plan for watermen that failed to halt the decline of the oyster population.

Ralph Curtis Hammer, a noted shellfish biologist who led the old Maryland Tidewater Fisheries Commission's efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay's dwindling oyster population, died of Alzheimer's disease Sunday at Genesis ElderCare-The Pines in Easton. The Centreville resident was 92. Mr. Hammer was born in Franklin, W.Va., and raised in Cumberland, where he graduated from Allegany High School in 1933. He earned a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1940 and a master's in 1942 from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Seems Canton Square regulars have one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. As of this week, they should have one more restaurant there to choose from. At long last, Nacho Mama's owner Patrick "Scunny" McCusker is opening Mama's on the Half Shell. Actually, this eatery - just a couple of doors down from Nacho Mama's - is owned by McCusker's wife, Jackie, and another partner, Sean Fisher. Patrick McCusker was very involved in putting the whole thing together, however. He says the concept is to re-create the feeling of the old Baltimore seafood house, Connelly's, which existed in the Pratt Street spot where the Columbus Center now stands.

Foster's, 606 S. Broadway, (410) 558-3600. Open Tuesdays to Sundays for dinner; Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for lunch. Major credit cards. No-smoking area: yes. Prices: appetizers, $5.50-$12; entrees, $15-$21.***What a difference a new chef makes. Foster's has always been one of Fells Point's prettiest little restaurants, but the food never quite lived up to the surroundings. Things are looking up, though, with Gwen Kvavli Gulliksen in the kitchen. Ms. Gulliksen, formerly executive sous-chef under Jean-Louis Palladin in Washington, has introduced fresh, imaginative and well-prepared dishes to the menu.

Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer held off strong challenges from a Republican city alderman and an independent candidate last night to win election to a second four-year term. With all 16 precincts reporting, Moyer had 46 percent, independent candidate Gilbert T. Renaut had 36 percent and Republican George O. Kelley Sr. had 18 percent. The city's first female mayor, Moyer is known from more than two decades in city politics. But opponents made an issue of her handling of a historic market lease and what they said was her sometimes abrasive style.

From Colonial-era taverns to white-tablecloth elegance, Anne Arundel County offers a multitude of restaurants for everyone's palate. The county boasts waterfront dining, intimate dinners for two, picnics, American favorites, open-air crab houses, international cuisine and cosmopolitan fare. Annapolis is the heart of the county's culinary offerings, where visitors can find a multitude of menus on the historic streets of the state capital: Buddy's Crabs and Ribs (100 Main St., 410-626-1100)