Salad Sandwich

Perring Parkway and Satyr Hill Road. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays to Sundays. Call (410) 661-8210. Travelers who stop at Pete's, where a sign hawks steamed crabs year round, might be surprised to find the carryout offers a variety of options, including subs, hot and cold sandwiches, pizza and spaghetti.While the menu lists fresh crab meat, rawand steamed shrimp, oysters and soft crabs, it's a good idea to call ahead if you want fresh seafood. We arrived too late in the day recently for steamed crabs, although they were available on an earlier occasion at $17 a dozen for medium and $22 for large.

Betty & Jake's Tavern is a slice of old Catonsville. Now owned by Dorothy Day, it's been around for more than 35 years, which should qualify it as an institution. Outside, Betty & Jake's is a featureless free-standing building on a quiet corner (the big sign out front is cool, though), and the interior is basically a U-shaped bar with a few tables smashed into the corner. It reminds me a little of a bowling-alley lounge, without the rented shoes. Based on a weeknight dinnertime visit, people show up at Betty & Jake's more for friendship, inexpensive beer and television than for food.

2330 Smith Ave. (corner of Smith and Old Pimlico Road). Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Wednesdays; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays. (410) 653-5333. Uptown Eats is the perfect neighborhood place for people like me -- a person of the single persuasion who loves the idea that fast food can mean more than a hamburger, fries and cola.Two of my favorites are the chunky white albacore tuna salad sandwich and the homemade all-breast chicken salad sandwich.

Not everybody wants the same thing at suppertime. You may want a salad, your dining partner may want a sandwich. Maybe you want mostly veggies, and he wants meat to star. So here, we strike a compromise. This can be a main-dish salad or it can be a pita. If you leave out the bacon and roast beef, it's vegetarian-friendly, too. Renee Enna writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis. Me Salad, You Pita Makes 2 servings -- Total time: 30 minutes HONEY-MUSTARD SAUCE: 1 tablespoon each: Dijon mustard, extra-virgin olive oil, chopped cilantro 1 teaspoon honey freshly ground pepper SALAD/PITA: 1 teaspoon vegetable oil 2 slices bacon 1 sweet onion, halved, sliced 10 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved 4 slices deli roast beef, cut into strips 1/2 teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper 1 pita half, opened 2 cups baby spinach or assorted baby greens 3 tablespoons shredded Monterey Jack cheese For sauce, whisk the mustard, oil, cilantro, honey and pepper to taste in a small bowl; set aside.

CROSS KEYS DELI Village Food Center in Cross Keys Village. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. (410) 323-8330. Fax: (410) 323-6502. One of the most popular traditions at the Cross Keys Deli is the fried chicken platter. For the past 19 years, the Deli's generous helpings of chicken, Western fries and cole slaw have enlivened my last-minute picnics and Friday night collapses.These days, a chicken platter goes for $3.99 for the chicken breast and $3.89 for the chicken leg. The deli also offers delicious side dishes of macaroni and cheese and escalloped apples, each large serving is $1.89.

Something says seafoodHASSLINGER'S538 Cranbrook Road, Cockeysville. Open Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Monday. Phone: 628-7577.Something about this place makes you think seafood. The huge marlin on the wall? Codfish cakes, oysters, crabmeat, etc., peeking from the counters? The carry-out menu with drawings of ocean waves and smiling fish? The nautical motif of the posted menu? Hmmm, that could explain it. At any rate, this is not the place to sing out: "How's the meatloaf today?"

MT. VERNON CAFE 5716 York Road. Open Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; lunch served after 11 a.m.; limited breakfast menu. Phone (410) 323-1995. FAX (410) 323-2085.Looking for a lunch-time escape? Somewhere quiet and friendly with a nice choice of tasty food?You might want to try the Mt. Vernon Cafe, which is miles from Mount Vernon in the Govans-Belvedere Square strip of York Road. It's sort of an unlikely place for a cafe and carry-out, but worth your time to stop there.The Mt. Vernon Cafe is bright and sparkling with a black-and-white checkered floor and a dozen or so white tables, if you want to eat in. The menu is basic with the usual hot and cold sandwiches -- ham, roast beef, turkey, egg salad, among them -- a few salads and desserts.

Festival at Bel Air, Bel Air. Hours: Open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays. Call (410) 569-0600.This is what I call convenience: a deli and liquor store at the same location. Meats, cheeses and party platters are also available. Some gourmet food items such as flavored coffees and fancy preserves are also sold.Personal-size pizzas are ready for take-out for just $2.79. Frozen Italian specialties from Velleggia's, the well-known Little Italy restaurant, are also sold.

Parker's11 Allegheny Ave. Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Call: (410) 823-2030; fax, 823-FOOD.Parker's grocery store, tucked into Towson's quirky business crossroads, where old and new cluster on winding blocks, touts itself as "A Towson Tradition for Over 50 Years." With its wood floors, dependable meat counter and decidedly unslick ambience, Parker's is true to its claim.Much the same can be said of its lunch offerings. They are fresh, filling, dependable and unsensational: the stuff staid tradition is made of.Maryland crab soup ($1.99)

As cosmopolitan as I am, I had never heard of gelato until one hot afternoon 15 years ago when I sampled some of the most divine ice cream imaginable in front of a little shop on the Corso in Rome. Needless to say, it made an impression. So, I was delighted to run across MooCho Gelato Cafe -- in the heart of Perry Hall, of all places. Not only is the homemade gelato delicious, the soups, sandwiches and salads offered there were also solid. Thanks to its competent service and reasonable prices, I can fully recommend MooCho.

Lots of coffee shops nowadays are more about being groovy than grabbing a cup of caffeine. They've got cool music bopping through the air, overstuffed couches artfully angled in every corner and, it seems, a posse of graphic designers on staff, making sure the zillions of flavors of coffee listed on the inevitable chalkboards behind the inevitable wood counters are written in just the right font. Not that this is bad. But sometimes it's tiring. Sometimes you don't want to remember that a small is a tall and a large is a venti, and you don't want everyone around you tapping away on WiFi-connected laptops.

Overheard at Spoons, a charming little coffee shop in Federal Hill: Customer: Could I buy a single slice of whole-grain bread? Server: Sorry, we don't have bread. Just toast. Customer: Well, can I get a slice of toast, but untoasted? Server: OK, but I'll have to charge you for toast. This conversation, certainly one for the "who's-on-first" hall of fame, made me giggle. But it also confirmed what I already knew: The server lacked a certain, shall we say, focus. Earlier, she had jotted down our coffee requests and simply failed to return to our table.

As cosmopolitan as I am, I had never heard of gelato until one hot afternoon 15 years ago when I sampled some of the most divine ice cream imaginable in front of a little shop on the Corso in Rome. Needless to say, it made an impression. So, I was delighted to run across MooCho Gelato Cafe -- in the heart of Perry Hall, of all places. Not only is the homemade gelato delicious, the soups, sandwiches and salads offered there were also solid. Thanks to its competent service and reasonable prices, I can fully recommend MooCho.

This week's menus Each day of the week offers a menu aimed at a different aspect of meal planning. There's a family meal, a kids' menu aimed at younger tastes, a heat-and-eat meal that recycles leftovers, a budget meal that employs a cost- cutting strategy, a meatless or "less meat" dish for people who may not be strict vegetarians but are trying to cut down on meat, an express meal that requires little or no preparation, and an entertaining menu that's...

If the hip furnishings store Pottery Barn were a restaurant, it probably would look something like Sean Donlon Irish Pub and Restaurant in Annapolis. With Sean Donlon's chic yet functional black chairs and its new but fashionably worn-looking Irish bar mirror, the cozy place on West Street feels like a showroom for the store but better. It has beer and food. Now, if only the food were as consistently pleasing as the decor at the restaurant, which opened in December. On a recent weekday, I showed up at Sean Donlon with two companions just before noon.

They've been called the nation's nutrition nags for taking on Chinese food and movie popcorn, the diet terrorists for ruining a dinner of fettuccine Alfredo.Now that they've shattered illusions about the all-American sandwich, just what do the fat cops themselves eat for lunch?A peek in the fridge at the Center for Science in the Public Interest reveals: Chinese take-out boxes. Plates of leftover spaghetti. Full-fat Russian dressing. Black bean tamales. A pre-wrapped slice of American cheese.

If the hip furnishings store Pottery Barn were a restaurant, it probably would look something like Sean Donlon Irish Pub and Restaurant in Annapolis. With Sean Donlon's chic yet functional black chairs and its new but fashionably worn-looking Irish bar mirror, the cozy place on West Street feels like a showroom for the store but better. It has beer and food. Now, if only the food were as consistently pleasing as the decor at the restaurant, which opened in December. On a recent weekday, I showed up at Sean Donlon with two companions just before noon.

Parker's11 Allegheny Ave. Hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Call: (410) 823-2030; fax, 823-FOOD.Parker's grocery store, tucked into Towson's quirky business crossroads, where old and new cluster on winding blocks, touts itself as "A Towson Tradition for Over 50 Years." With its wood floors, dependable meat counter and decidedly unslick ambience, Parker's is true to its claim.Much the same can be said of its lunch offerings. They are fresh, filling, dependable and unsensational: the stuff staid tradition is made of.Maryland crab soup ($1.99)

Java Joe's Gourmet Corner is one of a new breed of sandwich shops opening around the city. Once Baltimoreans were content with corned beef on rye and a Coke for lunch; then they discovered cappuccino. But just because they've become addicted to a fancy Italian coffee drink doesn't necessarily mean they want to spend big bicks on an elaborate pasta dish for lunch.What Baltimore needs are more places that are as at home serving chicken salad sandwiches as cafe latte and biscotti. That's where Java Joe's fits in.How trendy is it?