Restaurant Association

Baltimore's proposed smoking ban, which all but died late last year, will be back on the City Council agenda Monday, temporarily reviving the issue in the city as lawmakers in Annapolis consider a statewide ban. Council Vice President Robert W. Curran, the lead sponsor of the city legislation, has vowed to put the smoking ban up for a second-reader vote - a largely procedural effort that, if successful, will place the ban on the calendar for a final vote...

ROCKVILLE -- The Montgomery County Council approved yesterday the toughest anti-smoking law in the state, but gave businesses almost three years to comply.The legislation to prohibit all smoking in restaurants and bars goes beyond Howard County's law, which allows smoking in sections that are closed off from nonsmoking areas and ventilated by a separate system.The 5-4 vote followed weeks of intense lobbying and a verbal sparring match Friday between Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who favored the ban, and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who supported a watered-down version.

No waiter or waitress will appear at your table, but don't sweat it. In the restaurant of the future, diners can take their own orders on table-side monitors. They might also get a front-row seat to chefs working from customized cooking islands. And they'll likely be ordering more "heart smart" items, such as Tuscan Tomato soup or Mahogany Ginger Hen.Eating out has never been quite like this.For now, some of the ideas exist only in the minds of members of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, bringing state-of-the-art restaurant features to life this week at Cafe 2000, a model of a 21st-century restaurant.

Con artists have been trying to take Maryland restaurants to the cleaners.More than 50 restaurants statewide have fallen victim to schemes seeking money for purportedly damaged clothing within the past three weeks, according to the Restaurant Association of Maryland.Mass mailings with postmarks from Bronx, N.Y., and Tucker, Ga., were delivered to restaurants claiming damage to clothing from spilled wine or salad dressing. Each request for compensation was accompanied by a dry-cleaning bill for up to $35.Business owners including Seymour Attman, owner of Attman's Delicatessen on Lombard Street, gave copies of the fraudulent claim to the restaurant trade group -- which has collected 36 of them to give to the postal inspector's office yesterday.

IN THE SUMMER of his 89th year, John Pente is a hero right out of the movies. In fact, without him, there are no movies. Not in Little Italy, not on Friday nights that have become one of the city's great, unanticipated, accidental charms of the year.Who knew that such delight could come out of a zoning dispute? From a spat over a billboard mural, Little Italy winds up instead with a makeshift movie screen on the cleared-out parking lot of Da Mimmo's restaurant. From disagreement between restaurateurs and residents, they wind up with hundreds of people gathered after dark to watch free movies under the stars.

It used to take a noble death, at least, to have something named after you. But in the 1990s, when any Joe Schmoe.com can pay to stick his logo on a stadium, the currency of immortality is, well, currency.Now the practice of selling naming rights has reached a new level. Local steak mogul Steve F. de Castro has "secured the naming rights" to a new headquarters for the Restaurant Association of Maryland, the association said.The 10,000-square-foot Steve F. de Castro Building is being built on Hillside Court in Columbia to replace the Woodlawn office the association has occupied for 13 years.

WASHINGTON -- The alcohol and restaurant industries have mounted a furious lobbying assault on Congress that could kill a tough drunken driving proposal tonight -- before it ever reaches the House floor for a vote.The showdown could be decided when a powerful House committee votes on whether to allow the drunken driving measure to be an amendment to a sweeping transportation bill that is expected to pass this week.Arguing that the provision would save lives, safety activists have crafted a proposal to lower the level at which drivers are considered drunk, from a 0.10 blood-alcohol content to 0.08.

With the opening of more than a half-dozen restaurants in the Inner Harbor, bringing hundreds of jobs, at least some managers say they are scrambling to find employees to meet the demand."

Baltimore restaurants and city food vendors cited for health code violations soon might have their names published and broadcast under a proposed ordinance unveiled yesterday by the city Health Department.In the past, city laws prevented the Health Department from releasing the names of violators to the news media, saying that city fines and temporary shutdowns were punishment enough.But high-profile violations last year at a large grocer and one of the city's top-rated downtown restaurants caused city leaders to reconsider the policy.

Buoyed by support on the federal level, a group of safety activists plans to push this winter for state legislation that would lower the limit at which a driver in Maryland is considered drunk.The effort has advantages that were lacking last winter, when a similar measure failed.In October, the Clinton administration endorsed a federal proposal to penalize states that don't lower their drunken-driving threshold to a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent, the limit being sought in Maryland.The state effort also has the support of the Maryland State Police.

Tracy Hall and her husband, Josh, used to love a decadent dinner out - cocktails and appetizers, wine with dinner and dessert. But for their five-year anniversary in June, what would have typically been a culinary blowout, the Canton couple ended up at a neighborhood tavern, trying to keep their bill under $70. With only one salary to support the family of three and layoffs happening everywhere, the Halls are holding tight to their wallets. "We really wanted to splurge," she says. "But we are gun-shy about spending the money on things we don't need to spend it on."

Young professionals club announces Oct. schedule The Young Anne Arundel Professionals, a social club primarily for single professionals to make new friends and share camaraderie, has announced its programs for October. Activities include networking events at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday at Red Hot & Blue, 200 Old Mill Bottom Road, Annapolis; 8:15 a.m., Saturday at Garry's Grill, 7704 Quarterfield Road, Glen Burnie; 6:30 p.m., Oct. 28 at Chevys Fresh Mex, Arundel Mills Mall, to walk the Mall; 6:30 p.m., Oct. 30 at China Buffett, 554-A Ritchie Highway, Severna Park.

Hartgen heads restaurant association Paul Hartgen has joined the Restaurant Association of Maryland as president and chief executive officer. He held the same posts with the Nevada Restaurant Association and the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association, and he held a variety of managerial positions with Ashworth by the Sea Hotel in Hampton, N.H. He is past president of the International Society of Restaurant Association Executives and an...

There have been whispers that the very popular Miss Shirley's Cafe in Roland Park was planning to have a second location downtown, and now they're confirmed. Sometime late this summer, the new Miss Shirley's will open adjacent to the lobby of the 750 E. Pratt St. office building. The target date is mid- to late August. There will be seating for 90 and a carryout window. At first, Miss Shirley's will stick to what made the first location such a success, offering elaborate breakfast and lunch items (from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays)

Awards *The Greater Baltimore Committee announced the presentation its Walter Sondheim Public Service Award to Eddie and Sylvia Brown for their contributions of more than $17 million over 14 years, mostly in support of education and the arts in Baltimore. The GBC also named Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown as recipient of its Regional Visionary Award for his work with the base realignment and closure agenda for the Baltimore region. Contracts *OPTIMUS Corp., based in Rockville, received a five-year blanket purchase contract to provide up to $100 million in information technology services to the National Information Technology Center and the National Information Systems Center of the National Park Service.

Restaurant group names new chief Paul P. Hartgen of Las Vagas has been named president and chief executive officer of the Columbia-based Restaurant Association of Maryland. He has been president and CEO of the Nevada Restaurant Association and has held the same positions with the New Hampshire Lodging & Restaurant Association. He is also president of the International Society of Restaurant Association Executives and an industry representative to the board of directors of the National Restaurant Association.

Restaurant group chooses Kreuzburg Paula Kreuzburg has been named interim president by the executive committee of the Restaurant Association of Maryland's board of directors. An adviser to former President and Chief Executive Officer Marcia S. Harris, who died recently, Kreuzburg has been a member of the association's staff since 1997. She served as chairman of its board of directors in 1993 and 1994 while managing her family's restaurant, Mrs. K's Toll House, in Silver Spring. A search committee has been formed, and a national search firm will assist the committee in evaluating candidates to fill the position.

Marcia S. Harris, president and chief executive officer of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, died Friday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of complications related to pneumonia. The Columbia resident was 67. Marcia Silk was born and raised in Memphis, Tenn., where she graduated from St. Agnes Academy for Girls in 1958. She married Edward A. Harris, her high school sweetheart, that year. While her husband attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, she worked as administrative assistant of the psycho-biology laboratories at George Peabody College, also in Nashville.

LOS ANGELES -- When chef Christopher Blobaum was opening Wilshire restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif., he wanted to do the right thing, both culinarily and environmentally. He buys much of the restaurant's produce at local farmers' markets and sources meat and fish carefully. He uses solar-heated water for dishwashing and low-output fluorescent lighting. The deck out back is made from recycled lumber. Tables are set with woven vinyl Chilewich place mats that can be rinsed and reused instead of white linen tablecloths that need to be washed and bleached.

SHE MAY LOOK AND SOUND LIKE Paula Deen and she is really into food ("The only thing I don't like is boiled okra."), but Marcia S. Harris, president of the Restaurant Association of Maryland, doesn't have a TV show. However, she does like watching television -- including MTV -- and she admires Deen. "I love her exuberance for food, her lack of fear for food. Growing up in the south [Memphis, Tenn.] as I did, her kind of cooking is very appealing to me. There's nothing that butter hasn't made better."