Pub

Here's the part where you tell me how wrong (or how right!) I was on a review. This week's bar review is about Parkside Sports Bar and Pub in Canton , which finally gets a proper print review. Jeremy Trucker reviewed it for the blog back in the Fall. There's a unverified rumor that the owner Eric Matthias is trying to sell the bar, so it seemed like a good idea to review the bar before or if it was taken over by someone else. As it is, "Parkside is an animated corner bar, and with some real investment it could become a genuinely great sports bar. It already has the real estate to draw groups of sports fans.

Pinkies up! St. Stephen's Traditional Episcopal Church in Timonium is hosting its 12th annual British Garden Party and Fete on Saturday, May 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, even though it costs St. Stephen's nearly  $4,000 each year to present this "bit of Jolly Olde England," as the church bills it. "It's really a gift to the community," the Rev. Guy Hawtin said. "It's not really a money-making venture - the goal is to break even. One year we cleared $50 profit.

Here's a round-up of our week at Midnight Sun: Erik and I wanted to aid in your romantic endeavors so we handcrafted Valentine's Day Spotify playlists. He went with Maxwell, Janelle Monae and Robyn. I chose The-Dream, Jeff Buckley and Ghostface Killah. Just because it's no longer V-Day doesn't mean these won't help set the mood. Erik's is here . Click here for mine. We also ran down the Best Baltimore bars for the "holiday," including Vino Rosina and Pazo. In need of a good date spot or a place to spend an anniversary dinner?

You don't need to be a scratch golfer to enjoy Mountain Branch Grille & Pub. Though the restaurant is located on the grounds of Mountain Branch Golf Club in Joppa, it is open to golfers and non-golfers alike (the course is open to the public, too, and golf memberships are also available). It's no surprise that Mountain Branch is a popular spot for weddings: The space - with exposed rafters, stone accents and enormous windows overlooking the course - is jaw-dropping. Fortunately, the food and service are just as impressive.

Pinkies up! St. Stephen's Traditional Episcopal Church in Timonium is hosting its 12th annual British Garden Party and Fete on Saturday, May 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, even though it costs St. Stephen's nearly  $4,000 each year to present this "bit of Jolly Olde England," as the church bills it. "It's really a gift to the community," the Rev. Guy Hawtin said. "It's not really a money-making venture - the goal is to break even. One year we cleared $50 profit.

READ the words "pub food" and the images that typically come to mind are of hamburgers, fish and chips and potato skins. Those were the things we expected to find at Lagers Pub in Canton. What we got instead was better-than-average food that would be at home on the tables of fancier restaurants. The nicest surprise was chef Charlie Daniel's stylish desserts: a butterscotch pudding flavored with 12-year-old Glenlivet and served in a martini glass; a puffy, perfect-looking apple strudel that we felt guilty about cutting into until we tasted the fruity, walnut-laden filling; and a flourless chocolate walnut torte also was a looker, drizzled with a bittersweet chocolate glaze.

LIKE MANY FAMILIES on vacation, mine spent much of our recent two weeks in London debating how we would spend our holiday. My wife, the culture vulture, was fond of touring museums. My younger son, 18, preferred visiting castles and checking out nightspots with his older brother, 22, who has been studying in London this summer. Meanwhile, I kept slipping away to the pubs, learning the beer-drinking habits of Londoners. Of the half-dozen London pubs I visited, my favorite was the Nags Head at 53 Kinnerton St. in the Knightsbridge area just south of Hyde Park.

MOST PEOPLE don't go to pubs for dessert. In fact, most pubs (and a disappointing number of restaurants) don't even bother to make the desserts they serve. Somehow, somebody decided that it's more efficient or better to contract the sweets to an outside vendor. At G. L. Shacks, a pub in Catonsville, Dave Martin tries to be the exception. The chef makes some of the desserts himself. If the brownie cheesecake is a true indication of his ability, then Shacks no longer needs to consider using anyone else.

KEEP THE LOCAL BEER flowing! That is the essence of a compromise plan worked out by Maryland Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein so micro-brewers can double their production while retaining their pub-restaurants. This should fortify the state's eight affected micro-breweries, though it hardly turns Maryland into a mecca for such operations.The problem is that Maryland's post-Prohibition law sets up a three-tier system of suppliers, wholesalers and retailers that doesn't work so well in an era when small beer manufacturers want to promote and test-market their ales and lagers at their own pub-restaurant.

The county liquor board renewed the Londontowne Pub's license Tuesday despite neighbors' complaints of excessive noise, parking lot brawls and patrons urinating in their yards.The license renewal came with a stern warning and a number of restrictions."If you can't clean that place up and if you can't control the crowd, this board will do it for you," said Thomas Riggin, chairman of the Board of Liquor License Commissioners. If problems continue, "you're not going to be around."Thirty to 40 neighbors protested the license renewal, citing a litany of complaints dating back before thecurrent licensees, Michael and Susan Paddy, bought the tavern four years ago."

Baltimore County police say two men have been charged in connection with a stabbing that occurred at the Charles Village Pub in Towson on Saturday. Police said Nicholas Jarrad Jones, 22, of the 700 block of Richwood Avenue, Baltimore, was charged with attempted first-degree murder and first degree assault. On Sunday he was being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center. Robert Lee Blackshire II, 21, of the 6800 block of Barnett Road, in the Glendale area, was charged with second-degree assault and is currently being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $7,500 bail.

A man was stabbed and two other people were injured in an early-morning fight in the second floor of Charles Village Pub in Towson, Baltimore County Police said Saturday.   According to police, a man was stabbed, a second man received minor cuts to his hand, and a woman was injured when she fell.   All three were taken to area hospitals, and police said their injuries were not life threatening. Charles Village Pub Owner Melony Wagner said the bar manager, Jason Jankiewicz, reported that the fight took “less than 45 seconds.”   According to Wagner, a large man shoved a smaller man, and the smaller man allegedly pulled a knife and cut the large man in his shoulder.

In mid-January, Jim Burger took a routine stroll around his neighborhood, Remington. The freelance photographer walked along the same streets and passed the same buildings he normally does. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Burger watched someone walk into a building he had long considered vacant. He knew of the corner rowhouse for its previous failures as bars: Joe's Tavern, Molly's Public House and, most recently, the Kitty Kat Bar. Curious, he followed. Without a sign outside, Burger had no idea he had entered WC Harlan, a wonderfully quaint, dimly lit bar that seemed plucked from the Prohibition era. From the black-and-white photos on the wall to the crank-to-open cash register, every well-placed detail helped transport him to a forgotten time.

Pickles Pub, located across the street from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, has long been synonymous with opening day. Thousands of orange-drenched fans make it their first stop (usually of many) on one of Baltimore's most lively days. But at 10 a.m. on April 5, hours before the Orioles host the Minnesota Twins for the first home series of the season, the Deck at Camden Yards - a new, outdoor beer garden at the Hampton Inn -  will open next to Pickles. Deck partner Fritz Brogan says the latest addition to Washington Boulevard will open for Orioles home games, Ravens home games and special events such as the Grand Prix.

When they opened Eldersburg's County Cork Wine Pub in 2010, business partners Arlene Stecher and Chris McManus were thinking of their neighbors. McManus and Stecher, both Eldersburg residents, wanted to build a spot where adults could gather with their friends, enjoying good food and drinks. They succeeded - and those neighbors have noticed. On a recent Thursday night, County Cork Wine Pub was packed with couples and chatty groups of friends. We lucked into the last available spot, a high-top table in an alcove toward the back of the restaurant.

Occasionally this column takes a look at what happened to a person or thing that was a memorable part of Laurel's past. This month it looks at two Laurel icons from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Laurel High coach set the standard Laurel High School was never known for fielding excellent football teams. Ron Ladue changed that. Ladue inherited a football program that was not expected to win. But Ladue's teams did win and changed the expectations for Laurel High.

Joel Penenburgh has traded ledger sheets and a suit for bar tabs and a polo shirt inscribed with "The Pub," the nickname of the landmark Wilde Lake village tavern the accountant bought earlier this month.Mr. Penenburgh, 42, said owning the tavern known as J. K.'s Pub -- the closest thing to a neighborhood pub in Columbia -- suits him better than accounting work, which he did previously."This type of business fits me. I have the personality and energy to do it," said Mr. Penenburgh, an 11-year Columbia resident and co-owner of the tavern with his wife, Abby.

When most bars first open for business, it takes a little while to get their bearings. Sometimes the owners are still installing taps and furnishing the place. Or maybe they haven't hired everyone they need, and the bar is short-staffed. This goes on for weeks, and sometimes even months, at pubs around town. In the past few weeks, I revisited three places I reviewed shortly after they opened to have another look at how they've grown. Joe Squared Pizza and Bar 133 W. North Ave. Call 410-545-0444 or go to joesquared.

With country music blaring, honky-tonk decor, and a menu stacked with smokehouse favorites, Cowboys & Rednecks (also known as CNR) is hardly shy about its theme. We half expected the hostess to greet us with a "Yeehaw!" CNR's owner, Federal Hill resident and big-time country music fan Guy Naylor, opened the bar in late 2011, imagining that it would be a fun addition to his neighborhood. Local bar-hoppers agreed; CNR is often packed to overflowing on weekend nights. CNR's success as a bar is uncontested, but its status as a go-to restaurant is less confirmed.

UPDATE (Jan. 18): Not so fast. Although the Baltimore Business Journal reported soon-to-be new owner (paperwork still needs to be completed to make it official, he said) Steve O'Donnell would "likely 'keep everything the same'" at J. Patrick's, O'Donnell says that's not the case. During a phone conversation this morning, he said he will likely leave it as an Irish bar, but that "it can't stay open and operate how it is right now. " "Is it going to stay J. Patrick's?