Restaurant

Shin Chon Garden is popular to the point of overflowing. Even on a drizzly weeknight, the tables at this Ellicott City restaurant are full of diners. A friend, arriving a few minutes before I did, texted: "place smells AMAZING. " When Andrew Zimmern, the host of the long-running Travel Channel show "Bizarre Foods," came to Shin Chon Garden last summer, he told the world, via Twitter, that Shin Chon "is one of top ten Korean BBQ experiences in America. A must for anyone who loves food.

Restaurants in Baltimore are sprucing up for spring. Homeslyce Pizza Bar , with locations downtown and in Riverside, has just added an extensive list of vegan options to its menu, including pizza, calzones, sandwiches and nachos. Homeslyce wants vegans to know they're taking vegan cuisine seriously. They're using Daiya brand mozzarella-style shreds and they've brought in a full line of vegan pepperoni, sausage, steak and chicken, all in addition to the vegan-friendly toppings they've always had, like Kalamata olives, mushrooms and grilled vegetables.

The Dogwood Restaurant in Hampden has closed, according to owner Galen Sampson, who co-owned the restaurant with his wife, Bridget. Its last day of service was Saturday. "This weekend we were forced to make the decision to close The Dogwood Restaurant," Sampson wrote Sunday evening in a statement released to Baltimore Diner. "We had hoped we could keep it going, but after three very poor weeks of revenue there is no option but to close the restaurant. " He wrote that the restaurant would be able to pay employees the wages they are due. "We did our best to try and restructure our business model in order to keep our employees employed," Sampson continued.

Aberdeen Aberdeen police report: People were being disorderly and arguing Tuesday in the 100 block of Hamilton Place. A customer ran a curb and struck the Golden Corral restaurant, in the 700 block of South Philadelphia Boulevard, on Tuesday. A customer reported minor cuts to the wrist. Someone pulled a woman's hair, broke her phone and banged her head on the ground at Economy Inn, in the 600 block of South Philadelphia Boulevard, on Tuesday. Three men were harassing customers about buying perfume Tuesday at Panera Bread, in the 1000 block of Beards Hill Road.

You can say this about Hyatt: It keeps its properties fresh. I was looking back at the different concepts that have populated the Hyatt Regency Baltimore on Light Street since 1981. Who remembers Berry & Elliott's, the upper-story predecessor to now-bygone Pisces? You'd have to be a real old-timer to remember the Trellis Garden, the original name for the third-floor dining facility that eventually became Bistro 300. The name remains the same - and, really, who could improve on Bistro 300?

Baltimore-area restaurants took to social media on Wednesday to announce weather-related specials, closings and promotions: Food trucks mostly kept off the road. They Gypsy Queen, Miss Shirley's, South Carolina BBQ, Iced Gems, Kommie Pigs and Wheyrich all Tweeted out notices that they would not be operating on Wednesday. The Manor Tavern in Monkton was closing for lunch on Wednesday. In Ellicott City, Tersiguel's was closing for lunch and dinner on Wednesday. Establishments in Federal Hill and Fells Point Tweeted out messages on Wednesday afternoon assuring patrons that they were remaining open.

On Monday morning a truck smashed into the front of Mari Luna Latin Grille on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. No one was in the restaurant at the time, which Mari Luna general manager Salvador Khadra said was around 9 a.m. But the accident caused considerable damage, Khadra said, ramming into a supporting wall. Khadra said that the restaurant's management is working toward a temporary reopening, as soon as this weekend, but that complete renovations will take considerably longer.

The Lebanese Taverna in Harbor East has been around long enough to feel like one of the old-timers in the development. When it opened, back in 2007, the restaurant was a block or two off the beaten path. You'd have had to know to look for it. But now, Lebanese Taverna is in the middle of everything. To its back, there's the new Four Seasons Baltimore Hotel, and right across the street the first Under Armour "brand store" opened last month. And speaking of brands, the Lebanese Taverna is a successful one across two beltways.

Frederick Restaurant Week runs March 4-10. The some two dozen restaurants participating in the seven-day promotion are offering two- or three-course dinners for $20.13 and $30.13, respectively. Most are also offering two- and three-course lunches for $15.13 and $20.13, respectively. At these prices you wouldn't expect Volt to be among the participants, and you'd be right. However, Bryan Voltaggio and Hilda Staples' two other Frederick restaurants, Lunchbox and Family Meal , are joining in. Other participating restaurants include Alexander's, Brewer's Alley, Firestone Culinary Tavern, Isabella's Taverna and Tapas Bar, The Orchard, Quinn's Attic and the Tasting Room.

The man who avoids paying his restaurant tab by faking a seizure is back in prison, according to the office of Baltimore City State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein. Andrew Palmer, 46, has been convicted more than four dozen times, Bernstein's office said, mostly for a unique spin on the classic dine-and-dash: Palmer would eat at a restaurant, then fake a seizure, be taken to a nearby hospital, only to be released when medical personnel found nothing wrong with him. Meanwhile, the restaurant would be stuck with an unpaid bill.