Salad Sandwich

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.

Sunshine Cafe, 11 W. Preston St., (410) 783-0230. Open for lunch Mondays through Fridays, dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays. No credit cards. No-smoking area: yes. Wheelchair accessible: no.The Sunshine Cafe -- in concept -- is the kind of restaurant Baltimore needs. A menu that relies on fresh ingredients. Dishes that have style, like black pepper fettuccine served with a spicy tomato, basil and walnut pesto. Prices that are reasonable, with the most expensive dish costing $8.50. Several vegetarian sandwiches and entrees, but also chicken and fish.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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?

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.