Restaurant

Even if you're not yet ready to retire, San Miguel de Allende is perfect for a vacation or long weekend getaway. Getting there United and American airlines offer connecting flights (via Texas) to San Miguel's two closest airports, Leon/Guanajuato (BJX), 90 minutes away, and Queretaro (QRO), one hour away. Round-trip airfares start around $600. Multiple airlines offer flights to Mexico City, which is three hours from San Miguel. When to go January may be the sole inclement month to travel, and even then it's nothing compared to a typical Baltimore winter.

The best thing about O'Leary's Seafood Restaurant is how tricky it is to describe. Not so many years back, I'd have called O'Leary's eclectic, which became a byword for both a type of menu and the kind of place that served it. Offering a relaxed version of fine dining, the eclectic restaurant flourished in the 1990s, when serving staffs started wearing black T-shirts and sheets of paper were placed over the tablecloth. Eclectic lives on at O'Leary's, which is housed in a bright blue cottage-like building, a stone's throw from Spa Creek in Annapolis.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

David Waldemar Gjerde, a retired Procter & Gamble executive who became a restaurant investor and consultant to his sons, Spike and Charlie, died of a heart attack May 2 at his Cockeysville home. He was 75. Born in Mankato, Minn., he was the son of Waldemar Gjerde, an engineer, and the former Ferne Sorenson, a church organist. Raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, he earned an engineering degree from the University of Iowa. He served in the Army National Guard. He joined Procter & Gamble in Iowa and moved to Maryland in 1968 with his wife, the former Alice Silletto, and their two sons.

On paper, McFaul's IronHorse Tavern has everything going for it: A charming location, an appealing menu with a focus on local flavors, friendly staff. That's a good start. But in practice, the restaurant needs some fine-tuning. Start with the name. Officially, it's called McFaul's IronHorse Tavern at Sanders Corner. Descriptive, but a mouthful. The name McFaul's represents the current ownership: Glen and Kristin McFaul are two of the restaurant's five owners. "IronHorse" is a nod to the old Northern Central Railroad tracks — the NCR Trail runs behind the building.

Company's coming to Pimlico Race Course . For the throngs expected at Saturday's Preakness, the hospitality team at Pimlico Race Course is bringing in 7,000 pounds of crab meat and 3,000 pounds of aged tenderloin. Did someone remember to get ice? Yes: 30,000 bags of frozen water are already in place. Those were just a few of the items on the Preakness list of Tommy Inzer, director of hospitality for the Maryland Jockey Club, which has been hosting the Preakness since 1873.

Crab Shanty, a family-owned Ellicott City landmark since 1978, is changing its menu, its look, even its name. "The changes had to happen," said William C. King III, who founded the restaurant with his father, William King Jr. "We have to attract a different clientele to stay in business. " Work began earlier this month and is expected to continue through early November. Outdoor seating will be added, the bar area will be made larger, and new colors, chairs and lighting will brighten the inside.

Patrick "Scunny" McCusker, the 49-year-old owner of Nacho Mama's and a force in the revitalization of Canton, was remembered Saturday by friends, employees, patrons and local leaders for his outsize personality, philanthropy and pioneering contributions to the community. "The neighborhood is what it is because of him," said Gianene Musotto, 43, who gathered with other customers at Nacho Mama's, one of the neighborhood's first popular destinations. Police said McCusker died Friday after being hit by a bus as he rode his bicycle along Coastal Highway in Ocean City . The Cockeysville resident was treated at the scene by emergency personnel.

Pietro "Pete" Rugolo, the popular owner of Jerry's Belvedere Tavern on York Road in Govans, died May 8 at Gilchrist Hospice Care of pancreatic cancer. The Lutherville resident was 75. Mr. Rugolo grew up in Enna, Sicily, where he stopped attending school after the fifth grade. In 1965 he fell in love with Beatrice Varelli, a woman he had known since childhood; she had returned to Sicily after living a while in America. The two married in 1966 and moved to Baltimore the next year. She worked as a seamstress at Lebow Brothers and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. He worked as a heavy equipment mechanic at Marocco Construction in Towson.

Baltimore has a shortage of good, small restaurants, the kind with 20 or 30 seats, where diners can have some intimacy. Restaurants, at least the ones I've been reviewing, have been getting bigger, brassier, louder. I'm not complaining. I've been having some great dinners in big and medium-size, crowded restaurants. A sweet, small new restaurant named Liv2Eat has opened in South Baltimore. I'll confess to hating the name on sight. I got over it, and I hope others do and give it a chance.

Pietro "Pete" Rugolo, the popular owner of Jerry's Belvedere Tavern on York Road in Govans, died May 8 at Gilchrist Hospice Care of pancreatic cancer. The Lutherville resident was 75. Mr. Rugolo grew up in Enna, Sicily, where he stopped attending school after the fifth grade. In 1965 he fell in love with Beatrice Varelli, a woman he had known since childhood; she had returned to Sicily after living a while in America. The two married in 1966 and moved to Baltimore the next year. She worked as a seamstress at Lebow Brothers and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. He worked as a heavy equipment mechanic at Marocco Construction in Towson.

Some dozen Baltimore restaurants will be adding special soft-shell crab specials to their menus for Baltimore's fifth annual Soft-Shell Crab Celebration. The restaurant promotion , sponsored by the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, will run May 24 through June 2. The participating restaurants include Alexander's Tavern, The Black Olive, Diamond Tavern, Grille 700, J. Paul's, Kona Grill , Miss Shirley's, Pabu, The Oceanaire, Phillips Seafood, Regi's American Bistro, Roy's, Ryleigh's Oyster, Ten Ten, Townhouse Kitchen & Bar and Vino Rosina.

A good deed can be as simple as giving a few coins or donating used clothing. But Gaithersburg resident Brett Meyers has taken the role of good Samaritan one step further, feeding families by turning waste into nourishment. Meyers, who has spent most of his career in the food industry, founded the organization Nourish Now in May 2011, feeding the hungry with unused fresh food from restaurants and caterers. "I worked at Panera Bread and other delis where a lot of food would get wasted at the end of each night," Meyers said.

Some restaurants just feel comfortable. E.W. Beck's Pub is one of those places. From the food to the service, dinner at the restaurant is easy, fun and enjoyable. Scene A Sykesville staple since 1992, E.W. Beck's occupies a large building right on the town's charming Main Street. The restaurant includes a bar and tons of dining space - most of which was filled during our Thursday night visit. E.W. Beck's is popular, and rightfully so. Between the friendly, prompt service and well-prepared takes on classic American food, it's no surprise that locals keep the restaurant busy.

Ocean City Restaurant Week starts Sunday. Participating restaurants in the 7th annual spring dining promotion, which runs through May 19, will offer menus fixed at $10, $20, $30 or $40. Dining options range from simple to fine dining. Organized by the non-profit Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association, the event is billed as celebration of Ocean City's local cuisine  "Having fixed prices allows diners to budget a day or evening out," said Restaurant Week event manager Amy Tingle.

Two people were beaten outside a Baltimore County restaurant Friday night, police said, an attack that was captured on a cell phone video and shared on Facebook. Jesse Agusto, 30, and Denise Thompson, 24, both of the Baltimore area, were assaulted by a crowd outside the Windsor Inn in the Windsor Mill area of western Baltimore County, police spokesman Lt. Robert McCullough said. They sought treatment at Northwest Hospital and were released, he said. A third person was also assaulted but did not seek medical treatment, McCullough said.

Two men were killed early Sunday morning outside a restaurant on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, police said, hours before a triple stabbing in Dundalk. At 1:32 a.m., police received a report of a double shooting outside an Italian restaurant on the 1300 block of Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. At least one of the men died at the scene, police said, and they have no suspects in the case. The restaurant is located at a busy shopping strip called The Alley Shops, where the stores cater to the area's large Orthodox Jewish community and sell jewelry, liquor, used goods and Russian books, as well as hair styling and tax consulting services.

Joe's Crab Shack will open its fourth Maryland restaurant at Hunt Valley Towne Center, the mall's developer, Greenberg Gibbons, said Thursday. The seafood restaurant will open this fall, adding to locations in Abingdon, Greenbelt and Gaithersburg. The 325-seat restaurant will feature a playground under an enclosed patio and a menu of crab and other seafood dishes. Earlier this week, Hunt Valley's developer had announced that women's apparel boutique Eilieen Fisher will open its first Baltimore-area store at the mall in September.

Watch Four Seasons Baltimore executive pastrychef Chris Ford in the final and concluding episode of the Chicago Restaurant Pastry Competition, a web-based video series. Ford competed against three other chefs in the competition, a single-day event where finalists are asked to make eight servings of an original, creative, plated dessert. The chefs also competed in a mystery challenge where they were asked to create an inventive, molded gelato. This was the second year for the competition and web series, which focused on Chicago-based chefs the first year.

It's National VegWeek. Organized by the Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group Compassion Over Killing, and now in its fifth year, National VegWeek encourages participants to explore vegetarian dining for one week. A few Baltimore restaurants are participating in National VegWeek, which continues through Sunday. Charmington's in Remington is offering a special Carolina Style BBQ Seitan Sandwich, served with vegan coleslaw and a Curried Chick'un Salad Wrap with walnuts, golden raisins, apples and celery.