Sauce

At Maggie's Farm, on a late December night, the small, square Harford Road dining room was full, with couples and foursomes along the edges, and in the middle, two separate large parties, of 12 and 18, celebrating birthdays. We were concerned about our own good time. Are these people going to get loud? Can I get my order in before they do? There was no need to worry, not at Maggie's Farm, which serves up big flavors with a mellow attitude and makes the hard work of preparing and serving good food feel effortless.

For Baltimoreans of a certain age, the name "Admiral's Cup" conjures up images of boozy Fells Point nights and dirty bathrooms. The legendary dive bar closed in 2007, reopening last fall under the ownership of Kali's Restaurant Group, the company that oversees Fells Point neighbors Mezze and Kali's Court. Old fans looking to relive their youths at the bar might be disappointed; thanks to a face lift, Admiral's Cup has lost its gritty edge. With a focus on local beer and capable takes on bar-friendly food made with local ingredients, the restaurant feels fresh and current.

The move to the city has been good for the former operators of the Milton Inn in Sparks. After the restaurant closed its doors temporarily last September, executive chef Robert Taylor and restaurant manager Lynn Patrick brought most of their staff with them to a new location in the Admiral Fell Inn. They left an establishment that had a national reputation but was a little, well, stuffy. Being a Destination Restaurant is serious business. Their new venture, Hamilton's, is low-key in comparison, a little jazzier and -- what a pleasant surprise -- not so pricey.

Liz Williams from Newton, N.C., wanted help finding a recipe for making baked lasagna that she had lost. She said the recipe came from a box of pasta she was using probably around 20 years ago, and it was the best lasagna ever. Back-of-the-box recipes are always popular and reliably good. I received quite a few of them from readers for baked lasagna from several different pasta brands. I decided to test the one Kay Sauvageot from Joppa shared that she said she came from a box of Mueller's lasagna noodles, circa 1980.

Harold Lauer from Spearfish, S.D., was looking for a recipe for the Coney dog sauce that was served at many A&W drive ins in the 1960s. John Van Meter from Dickeyville sent in a recipe for the sauce that was given to him by his late sister. He said the recipe is attributed to Hank's A&W root beer stand in Wabash, Ind. He sent the recipe to me exactly as it read, but he thought it needed a little tweaking, which I did without much difficulty. I tested his recipe on a day when my house was full of hungry football-watching boys, and it was a resounding success.

Item: Classico It's Pasta Anytime What you get: 1 meal Cost: About $2.80 Nutritional content: Penne -- 540 calories, 8 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 850 milligrams sodium; Spaghetti -- 550 calories, 8 grams fat, 1 gram saturated fat, 890 milligrams sodium Preparation time: 2 to 3 minutes in microwave Review: I love this product. It's not haute cuisine. And it's not sauce just like Mama used to make. But it's pasta with decent sauce in three minutes -- without any sauteing, simmering or even boiling.

For Baltimoreans of a certain age, the name "Admiral's Cup" conjures up images of boozy Fells Point nights and dirty bathrooms. The legendary dive bar closed in 2007, reopening last fall under the ownership of Kali's Restaurant Group, the company that oversees Fells Point neighbors Mezze and Kali's Court. Old fans looking to relive their youths at the bar might be disappointed; thanks to a face lift, Admiral's Cup has lost its gritty edge. With a focus on local beer and capable takes on bar-friendly food made with local ingredients, the restaurant feels fresh and current.

SOMETIMES A good sauce can save supper. Or so I am told. Even though this never happens to me, let's pretend something was cooked much too long. Let's say the something was a fillet of fish and that instead of closely monitoring its progress as it sat on the barbecue grill, you instead played catch with your kid in the alley. Continuing this make-believe scenario, let's say that when you returned to the grill you began grilling a mango instead of removing the fish from the fire. That's right, a mango.

Item: Eckrich KC Masterpiece Authentic Barbecue What you get: 1 1/4 pounds Cost: About $6 Preparation time: Heat and serve Review: When my Aunt Pat makes barbecue pork, the aroma alone makes your mouth water. But she lives in Chicago and is very health-conscious now, so it's rare that her barbecue crosses my lips. Luckily, the people at Eckrich have come to my rescue. Their KC Masterpiece barbecues are first-rate. We tried the Shredded Pork, and everyone came back for seconds. The sauce is thick and rich - not too sweet, but not too tangy.

Add fiesta flavor to your next salad. Buy greens from the local salad bar to save even more time.This recipe is from Pace Picante Sauces.Fast Fiesta Ensalada6 cups packed, assorted torn salad greens1 1/2 cups cherry tomato halves1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1x 1/4 -inch strips1/2 cup frozen, fresh or canned whole kernel corn, thawed and drained if necessary1 2 1/4 -ounce can sliced ripe olives, drained1/3 cup sliced green onions with tops1/3 cup...

Paolo Romeo believes that food is art. The chef-owner of Artful Gourmet, which has been an Owings Mills mainstay for just over a decade, isn't wildly avant-garde in the kitchen. He doesn't take chances on creative dishes. But Romeo does take an artist's care with his capable interpretations of Italian food and global favorites. And the restaurant's adoption of the food-is-art theme adds charm to a menu stocked with familiar fare. His conservative approach, which focuses on well-worn classics like lamb chops and simple pastas, appears to be a hit with locals, who keep the restaurant busy.

River Watch Restaurant is a rare find: a waterfront restaurant where the food is as good as the view. The Essex restaurant and its 110-slip marina sit at the spot where Middle River meets Hopkins Creek. During the summer, revelers crowd River Watch's deck for legendary "Sunday Funday" parties overlooking the water. But River Watch is more than a fun boaters' bar. With a kitchen that turns out careful seafood-oriented dishes and service that is attentive, though sometimes slow, the restaurant is a solid destination any time of year.

In Baltimore, everybody knows Costas Inn. The Dundalk institution has been around since 1971, when Costas Triantafilos - still the owner, now working with his son, Pete - opened the restaurant. Since the '70s, Costas has grown into a nationally recognized crab powerhouse, serving steamed crabs year-round and shipping crab cakes and crab seasoning all over the country. But back in Baltimore, the restaurant is more than just a place to pick crabs. We visited Costas during the "off" season to see what else the Baltimore landmark has to offer.

The Olive Tree is not the Olive Garden. But you would be forgiven for mixing them up. Both outside and in, the two restaurants look quite similar; they share a "rustic Italian" vibe and their logos are nearly identical. Both are reasonably priced, with menus offering a broad selection of popular Italian-American meals. The similarities between the two restaurants are obvious. But the Olive Tree, locally owned with locations in Glen Burnie and Aberdeen, differentiates itself from the mega-chain Olive Garden with an emphasis on what Maryland restaurants do best: seafood.

Ann Montgomery of Millersville was looking for the recipe for a dessert her mother used to make in the 1950s for what she called cottage pudding. She described it as basically a single-layer yellow cake that was served warm with a slightly sweet vanilla sauce poured over it. Cheryl Robbins of Joppa thought she had the very recipe Montgomery was looking for. It comes from the first cookbook she acquired, "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook," which she received as a wedding gift in 1966.

Harold Lauer from Spearfish, S.D., was looking for a recipe for the Coney dog sauce that was served at many A&W drive ins in the 1960s. John Van Meter from Dickeyville sent in a recipe for the sauce that was given to him by his late sister. He said the recipe is attributed to Hank's A&W root beer stand in Wabash, Ind. He sent the recipe to me exactly as it read, but he thought it needed a little tweaking, which I did without much difficulty. I tested his recipe on a day when my house was full of hungry football-watching boys, and it was a resounding success.

Item: Create a Meal! Oven Roasted chicken flavorsWhat you get: 4 servingsCost: About $3Preparation time: 20 to 25 minutesReview: Barbecue Chicken and Chicken and Stuffing are among the latest additions to Green Giant's Create a Meal! line of meal starters. While nobody would mistake these casseroles as made from scratch, the frozen bags of vegetables and sauce (you add 1 pound of uncooked chicken strips) are convenient. The Barbecue flavor offers chicken, potatoes, lots of carrots, green beans and corn in a mild sauce.

Thick, creamy pasta sauces don't have to be laden with calories, and they don't have to take forever to make. Sometimes it is just a matter of stirring in the right ingredient. In this case, ricotta cheese. To borrow a tip from chef and cookbook author Mario Batali, hot pasta water is blended with the ricotta to "melt" it into a creamier texture. For this recipe, we broiled cherry tomatoes to get optimal flavor, and used their juice to help create the sauce when we mixed in the cheese.

At Maggie's Farm, on a late December night, the small, square Harford Road dining room was full, with couples and foursomes along the edges, and in the middle, two separate large parties, of 12 and 18, celebrating birthdays. We were concerned about our own good time. Are these people going to get loud? Can I get my order in before they do? There was no need to worry, not at Maggie's Farm, which serves up big flavors with a mellow attitude and makes the hard work of preparing and serving good food feel effortless.

December is a month-long fete with friends in my world. It makes sense: The schmaltzy, sentimental bug bites and I cram in visits with all of my favorite people, reminiscing about the year past and spreading good cheer before we all return to our respective family homes for the holiday. All of that nostalgia is usually accompanied by rounds of celebratory drinks and toasts and, as a result, I end up drinking more champagne now than at any other point in the year. But truth be told?