Shrimp

Last week when I made up a list of the best restaurants I reviewed in 2008, I didn't really get a chance to talk about the food, except to mention how many stars each got. This week I went back to the archives and read through my reviews to come up with 10 memorable dishes. I'm a big red meat eater (and pork), so I was surprised that not one made the list. I guess that was just in the nature of the restaurants I went to this year. Not one great steak house among them. Every time I came upon a dish in the archives I raved about, I copied and pasted it. Then I looked at my list and had to eliminate a few. Finally I tried to put them in order of fabulousness and memorability.

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.

With a name that conjures up white tablecloths, lobster tanks and snooty waiters, Sapore di Mare sounds a lot fancier than it is. It's not fancy at all, and that is its greatest strength. Sapore di Mare is the kind of place you'd come to when nobody feels like cooking, but no one feels like making a big deal out of dinner either. Located on a short commercial strip in Joppa, in what used to be a High's store, it's just a little more done up inside than your average pizzeria or sub shop.

The formalities of the court were over, decorum maintained. Beans killed Shrimp, and the judge sentenced him to four years in prison. Donald Rheubottom, a captain with the Baltimore sheriff's office and the head of Circuit Court security, had successfully kept the two warring families apart - one seeking justice, the other leniency. It was an accident during a wrestling match between the best of friends in a jail cell they shared at the Baltimore City Detention Center, in a dispute over a Monopoly game.

This Top 10 Tuesday, dive bars with good pub grub, is a joint effort of readers of Dining@Large, Sun reviewers and me. Note that these aren't dive bars in the negative sense, but they are all a little funkier than neighborhood taverns. The list is in alphabetical order. 1 Bertha's in Fells Point: In spite of the afternoon tea, the live music and the famous mussels, it still has some of the good dive-bar elements. 2 Daniel's on Route 1 in Elkridge: Bikers' dive extraordinaire; all the food is good.

City dwellers who are used to urban coffeehouses and wine bars, normally found in renovated storefronts and converted townhouses, will have a hard time relating to Bliss, the new coffee and wine bar in Riverside. (It's not in nearby Bel Air, in spite of what the Web site says.) When I say new, I mean really new. Bliss is one of the first tenants in the new Riverside shopping center. Everything about it is shiny new, from the walls of windows to the casual, contemporary furnishings to the industrial chic exposed pipes to the flat-screen TV. (Not something you expect in either a coffeehouse or wine bar.)

Should you decide to forgo the bread in this shrimp-salad sandwich, you'll be just as satisfied with this recipe as a main-course salad. I know this because I've become addicted to the salad since I first happened on the combination of sweet shrimp, spicy sausage and soft bitter greens about two months ago. The sandwich idea came about recently, after my friend began to reminiscence about France's Provence region and our first introduction to the delicious...

As Father's Day approached, I looked for new grilling tricks that a smoky old dad, a fan of live fires, might employ. Leafing through a slew of new grilling books and testing recipes, I found several. In retrospect, I see that most my insights would qualify as "Duh!" - or as Homer Simpson, one of my favorite father figures, might say, "Doh!" - moments. They involved simple changes in procedures and taking liberties with recipes. For instance, one of the tastiest dishes I made was grilled shrimp flavored with a sauce made with Old Bay seasoning.

Every Fourth of July, my folks had a bash at their home in Massachusetts. It was one of the few times of the year that family and friends from all over would come together. I remember Grandma would have on a dress and hose, my hippie Uncle Skip wore a crazy hat he would dig up for the occasion, and Aunt Alice, who could make you laugh with just a glance, sat out on the lawn in one of those brightly colored, aluminum-framed lawn chairs. Dad would organize croquet matches, my brothers would set off drugstore fireworks, and Mom took charge of everything else.

The briny tang of pimento-stuffed green olives in this pasta dish pairs well with shellfish, especially the rich, sweet flavor of shrimp. The garlic, sauteed until golden, offers its own caramelized depth along with incredible aroma. This recipe offers plenty of eye appeal, with the pink shrimp and red-flecked green of the olives standing out on a bed of spaghetti. For a different zing, try green olives stuffed with chile or anchovy. Pass some finely grated parmesan at the table for sprinkling on the pasta.