Sorrento

JP Foodservice Inc. said yesterday that it has purchased Buffalo, N.Y.-based Sorrento Food Service. JP did not disclose a purchase price.The Columbia-based food distributor became the second largest restaurant supply company in the nation after its merger with Rykoff-Sexton Inc. in December. Since then, JP's operating divisions have been conducting business as U.S. Foodservice.Sorrento Food Service mainly serves western New York and western Pennsylvania markets, and had sales of about $100 million for the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31."

SEATTLE -- Scott Erickson got his usual complement of ground balls yesterday, some sneaking into vacant areas, most settling into the waiting gloves of his infielders. And it was all the Orioles needed to take firm control of the Division Series.Erickson surrendered two runs in the first, then held down the Seattle Mariners with force until an Orioles comeback that materialized midway through the game. He squeezed in five shutout innings between two trouble points, turned the game over to the bullpen and was rewarded with a 9-3 victory that gave his club a 2-0 lead heading to Camden Yards.

BALTIMOREANS ARE fickle about restaurants. Survivors are few; among them: Marconi's, (since 1928), House of Welsh (1900), Haussner's (1926), Velleggia's (1934). But history is rich with the memory of restaurants that in their time were a part of who we were and the way we lived.Miller Brothers was on the south side of Fayette Street between Charles and Liberty Street. It seated 450 on one floor, and was famous for green turtle soup and for elk, buffalo and whale steaks. Most people ordered without looking at the menu; it never changed.

On the field: Cleveland center fielder Kenny Lofton is one of the fastest players in baseball, but he grounded into two double plays, one in the third inning and another in the fifth -- the first double plays Lofton has hit into this year.In the dugout: In the top of the third inning, Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove had right fielder Manny Ramirez break for second on a 3-2 count to Paul Sorrento with nobody out, a risky play; Sorrento struck out 13 times in his first 45 at-bats. But when Sorrento grounded to third, Ramirez advanced to second, then scored when Indians catcher Tony Pena hit a broken-bat single into short center field.

The new ballpark got a little smaller last night. Oriole Park at Camden Yards may have played large on Opening Day, but it was not big enough to save Bob Milacki from himself in the first night game played there.Milacki gave up two home runs and the Orioles felt the sting of defeat for the first time in their new home, losing, 4-0, to the Cleveland Indians before 42,870.The warehouse was safe for another night, but the left-field fence proved to be closer than it looked in Friday's exhibition, when a towering drive off the bat of Leo Gomez failed to reach the not-so-cheap seats in the left-field corner.

A local investor known only as Mount Vernon Properties Inc. bought most of the property that was auctioned off last week at Sorrento Run, a 69-unit cluster housing development off Falls Road just south of Old Court Road in Brooklandville.According to auctioneer Jack Billig of A. J. Billig & Co., Mount Vernon bid $1.6 million to buy about 70 acres of undeveloped land within the community, where five houses previously had been sold and occupied.Mount Vernon also bid $155,000 to buy one of three partially built homes within the community.

The history books will forever record that Cleveland Indians first baseman Paul Sorrento was the first player to homer in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.Is he impressed with his feat?"Not really," said Sorrento, who hit a two-out, one-strike pitch to left field in the first inning for three runs to help guide the Indians to a 4-0 victory against the Orioles last night."It's a good thing. Maybe after I retire and sit down with the grandkids, I'll think about it, but it's not really a big deal now."

The history books forever will record that Cleveland Indians first baseman Paul Sorrento was the first player to homer in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.Is he impressed with his feat?"Not really," said Sorrento, who hit a two-out, one-strike pitch to leftfield in the first inning for three runs to help guide the Indians to a 4-0 victory over the Orioles last night."It's a good thing. Maybe after I retire and sit down with the grandkids, I'll think about it, but it's not really a big deal now."

An article in Sunday's Business section about an auction involving the Sorrento Run houses in Baltimore County incorrectly identified members of the development group involved in the foreclosure proceedings.Janice Strauss, who worked on the project as a consultant, is not a subject of the foreclosure proceedings and has no ownership interest in the project.+ The Sun regrets the errors.Sorrento Run, an 69-unit upscale "cluster housing" development in Brooklandville, is the latest Baltimore County housing project to go on the auction block.

Michael Harry Kostinsky of Ellicott City, a small-business advocate in Annapolis and Washington, died Thursday, after suffering an apparent heart attack at his Arbutus restaurant. He was 56. Mr. Kostinsky transformed his father's pizza and sub shop, Sorrento of Arbutus, into a full-service restaurant and catering business; it has become a community fixture that employs more than 25 people. "I grew up with Sorrento," said former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who said he has eaten hundreds of meals there and liked the thin-crust pizza with extra sauce and mushrooms.

Michael Harry Kostinsky of Ellicott City, a small-business advocate in Annapolis and Washington, died Thursday, after suffering an apparent heart attack at his Arbutus restaurant. He was 56. Mr. Kostinsky transformed his father's pizza and sub shop, Sorrento of Arbutus, into a full-service restaurant and catering business; it has become a community fixture that employs more than 25 people. "I grew up with Sorrento," said former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who said he has eaten hundreds of meals there and liked the thin-crust pizza with extra sauce and mushrooms.

Sorrento's West isn't much to look at. The food is extremely basic, and the service, while efficient, is on the brusque end of the scale. But the Catonsville eatery has been serving inexpensive burgers and pizzas for years and seems to be doing good business. Sorrento's sits at the busy intersection of Baltimore National Pike and Rolling Road just outside the Baltimore Beltway, a distinctive, bright blue awning beckoning. The interior is rather less distinctive - cold tile floors, fluorescent lights, dark-red Formica tables and nothing much on the walls (except for a weird sermon linking Jesus, Isis and Harriet Tubman on the men's room wall)

A MEMORABLE PLACE An unexpected common language By Dee Lyon SPECIAL TO THE SUN I'm shy. I'm not comfortable meeting new people. When travel writers talk of becoming immersed in the culture of a new country or getting to know the people, I politely ignore the advice. So an amazing thing happened to my husband and me in Russia. On our free day of an eight-day tour, we sampled the remarkable Moscow metro system. Not only is it stunningly beautiful with sculptures, lavish marble, mosaic works and architectural design, but it's also efficient and dirt-cheap.

JP Foodservice Inc. said yesterday that it has purchased Buffalo, N.Y.-based Sorrento Food Service. JP did not disclose a purchase price.The Columbia-based food distributor became the second largest restaurant supply company in the nation after its merger with Rykoff-Sexton Inc. in December. Since then, JP's operating divisions have been conducting business as U.S. Foodservice.Sorrento Food Service mainly serves western New York and western Pennsylvania markets, and had sales of about $100 million for the fiscal year that ended Dec. 31."

SEATTLE -- Scott Erickson got his usual complement of ground balls yesterday, some sneaking into vacant areas, most settling into the waiting gloves of his infielders. And it was all the Orioles needed to take firm control of the Division Series.Erickson surrendered two runs in the first, then held down the Seattle Mariners with force until an Orioles comeback that materialized midway through the game. He squeezed in five shutout innings between two trouble points, turned the game over to the bullpen and was rewarded with a 9-3 victory that gave his club a 2-0 lead heading to Camden Yards.

BALTIMOREANS ARE fickle about restaurants. Survivors are few; among them: Marconi's, (since 1928), House of Welsh (1900), Haussner's (1926), Velleggia's (1934). But history is rich with the memory of restaurants that in their time were a part of who we were and the way we lived.Miller Brothers was on the south side of Fayette Street between Charles and Liberty Street. It seated 450 on one floor, and was famous for green turtle soup and for elk, buffalo and whale steaks. Most people ordered without looking at the menu; it never changed.

On the field: Cleveland center fielder Kenny Lofton is one of the fastest players in baseball, but he grounded into two double plays, one in the third inning and another in the fifth -- the first double plays Lofton has hit into this year.In the dugout: In the top of the third inning, Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove had right fielder Manny Ramirez break for second on a 3-2 count to Paul Sorrento with nobody out, a risky play; Sorrento struck out 13 times in his first 45 at-bats. But when Sorrento grounded to third, Ramirez advanced to second, then scored when Indians catcher Tony Pena hit a broken-bat single into short center field.

The new ballpark got a little smaller last night. Oriole Park at Camden Yards may have played large on Opening Day, but it was not big enough to save Bob Milacki from himself in the first night game played there.Milacki gave up two home runs and the Orioles felt the sting of defeat for the first time in their new home, losing, 4-0, to the Cleveland Indians before 42,870.The warehouse was safe for another night, but the left-field fence proved to be closer than it looked in Friday's exhibition, when a towering drive off the bat of Leo Gomez failed to reach the not-so-cheap seats in the left-field corner.

The history books will forever record that Cleveland Indians first baseman Paul Sorrento was the first player to homer in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.Is he impressed with his feat?"Not really," said Sorrento, who hit a two-out, one-strike pitch to left field in the first inning for three runs to help guide the Indians to a 4-0 victory against the Orioles last night."It's a good thing. Maybe after I retire and sit down with the grandkids, I'll think about it, but it's not really a big deal now."

The history books forever will record that Cleveland Indians first baseman Paul Sorrento was the first player to homer in Oriole Park at Camden Yards.Is he impressed with his feat?"Not really," said Sorrento, who hit a two-out, one-strike pitch to leftfield in the first inning for three runs to help guide the Indians to a 4-0 victory over the Orioles last night."It's a good thing. Maybe after I retire and sit down with the grandkids, I'll think about it, but it's not really a big deal now."