Takeout

Sofi's is tucked into a prime - but tiny - space on North Charles Street, sandwiched between the Charles and Everyman theaters. The L-shaped eatery has room for only a couple of customers and a modest kitchen. So it was quite sensible for Sofi's owner to limit the menu to one thing - crepes, crepes and more crepes. Ooh, la, la, the Sofi's folks have quickly mastered the crepe thing. And this colorful boutique of a restaurant is a welcome addition to what has become one of the city's hopping nighttime blocks.

The first Bagel Bin & Deli opened more than 20 years ago in Columbia's Wilde Lake area. Today there are eight of the restaurants scattered around Howard, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. The Bagel Bins sell excellent bagels that are crusty and chewy - two fine attributes, in my opinion. You can get any number of sandwiches made with the bagels, or bread or croissants. The restaurants also offer a limited number of breakfast dishes, as well as the usual assortment of espresso and other coffee drinks.

Brothers Angelo and Tommy Pizza are the third generation of an aptly named family to operate a Baltimore restaurant. Their predecessors operated Pizza's Restaurant, first in Little Italy and then on Liberty Heights Avenue. Today, the brothers' modest but thriving restaurant, Angelo's, is a Hampden institution serving terrific pizza and the usual assortment of subs, burgers and pasta. Angelo's is not much to behold. Out front, a few tables sit on a deck overlooking a gas station and a busy stretch of Keswick Road.

Jalapeno poppers, chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks are the currency of American bar food, and that's no exception at Backfinz, a Locust Point bar and restaurant with a platoon of regulars. Backfinz is a worthy destination for anyone who needs a taste of lively city living. On an April evening that felt like summer, the neighborhood was hopping with a Little League game, stoop-sitting and rush-hour traffic. The bar was busy with customers having a beer after work, smoking, playing with their cell phones and a rather risque video game.

The yeti has been sighted - and on York Road, no less. The Nepali version of the abominable snowman is now lending his name to a new, unassuming but promising carryout restaurant just south of Northern Parkway. Yeti has been open a couple of months, replacing a Mediterranean restaurant. Its menu bridges the gap between your basic American carryout fare - pizzas, subs and sandwiches - and Indian cuisine. (The owners of Yeti are Nepali, but they characterize that portion of their menu as Indian.

Every week, Scott Wilson drives to the Outback Steakhouse in Ellicott City, pulls his green truck to the curb and waits to pick up dinner for his family of five. Inside, two takeout waitresses rush to take phone orders while another runs Wilson's food out to his Chevrolet. This steakhouse, one of the chain's busiest outlets in the nation, logs 50 to 60 curbside takeout orders each weekday and 150 orders each weekend day, so workers try to keep traffic moving. "Its very convenient," said Wilson, 47, a Marriottsville contractor.

Poulet is French for protein. Just kidding. It's French for chicken, although you can make your way through the Poulet carryout in Lutherville and avoid carbohydrates. But don't come if you want to count calories. The food at this promising new carryout is, for the most part, unapologetically and delectably not low-fat. Except, perhaps ironically, for the low-fat, homemade gelato. Poulet is designed strictly for carryout with a cafeteria-style setup, and customers can choose from a menu that offers "monster" 5 1/2 -pound rotisserie chickens, which turn by the dozen on a large spit behind the counter, bourbon chicken, chicken potpie, Buffalo chicken, chicken tenders and chicken wings.

When Demetris Nicolaidis began making plans for opening a barbecue restaurant in Baltimore, he did what any sensible person would do: He headed south. According to his mom, who works with him at the newly opened Chewy's Southern Pit on Dundalk Avenue, Nicolaidis made several trips through barbecue country - the Carolinas and into Georgia - checking out restaurants and cadging recipes. The homework paid off; Chewy's is a winner. You can tell it as soon as you walk into the small eatery, which sits across the street from a steelworkers union hall.

During the national celebration known as March Madness, I find myself gravitating toward television sets more often than usual. And, boy, were there television sets at Rocky Run Tap & Grill in Columbia during our recent visit -- zillions of them, with two different basketball games going at once. Of course, I was there to pick up carryout, but what better place to sit and wait for food than at a bar with high-stakes games on the tube? Rocky Run is a mini chain, with restaurants in Charles Village and Marley Station Mall as well as in Columbia.

Every so often, this job delivers an unexpected revelation. Most recently, it was the discovery of some mighty fine french fries coming out of a basement in a Towson bank building. I mean, these were terrific, Rehoboth Beach boardwalk-quality fries being cooked by Cafe Gourmet, and costing just a buck. The Cafe Gourmet - one of two in Towson - sits on the lower level of the Mercantile-Towson Building, a no-nonsense edifice with lots of marble. The cafe holds down a small, noisy space next to the offices of Patuxent Publishing, and it's easier to find by coming off Pennsylvania Avenue.