Brian Lawrence Live

Wednesday, August 15
Another national, high-end steakhouse comes to Baltimore with the opening of Fogo de Chao. I was invited to a private VIP dinner at the Brazil-based steakhouse downtown on Pratt Street to celebrate the restaurant’s opening. It was a big crowd that showed up for dinner, and the experience was great. The design is sleek and modern, with dark wood accents and streamlined furnishings and lighting. A huge, 30+ item gourmet salad bar starts off the evening, and then, by flipping over one’s individual green/red card, the freshly roasted meats begin arriving at the table. Steaks— filets, top-round, bottom-round, you name it— as well as lamb chops, chicken, sausages— are brought to the table and carved at your plate. Side dishes arrive automatically— mashed potatoes, polenta, baked bananas… They’ll bring as much as you want, and they’ll keep bringing it until you signal them to stop. My tablemates— buddies Michael Fishman, Courtney Wood and Ken Karlic were duly impressed, as was I. We were greeted by PR maven Amy Elias, and in the crowd, I caught up with Baltimore Magazine‘s Max Weiss, Travis Wright, VIN’s Mary Moran and Sarah Moran.

Monday, August 13
I’m basically a purist. I like watching baseball in the sweltering Baltimore heat, and I prefer to watch football in the crisp fall air. But I nevertheless get excited at the approach of football season, even as we’re still spending time at the pool and visiting Camden Yards for games. So with the first Ravens pre-season game upon us, I planned to meet a few buddies at Mother’s Purple Patio before the game, and then watch the game itself from the air-conditioned comfort of a Federal Hill bar. However, at the patio, my pal Tom Brinkley bestowed free tickets upon me and Denis Nash, so we trouped over to M&T Stadium to catch the game against the Eagles. The Ravens scored a TD early in the first quarter, just as we were getting to our seats. The Ravens played well, and all Philadelphia could muster during the course of the game was single field goal, ending with a whipping of the out-of-towners, Baltimore 29, Philly 3. Then it was back to the Patio, which remained crowded after the game, and then on to Ropewalk, also filled with game fans. We stayed out late for a school night, but it was worth it— football’s back!

July 30-August 3
Those slow, muggy mid-summer days are upon us. With so many people out of town, the pace of things in Baltimore slows to a crawl. For people who were in town this week, Baltimore’s 2nd annual Restaurant Week provided a diversion and a reason to get out of the house. A group of seven of us had reserved a table for Tuesday night at Fleming’s steak house, and the joint was jumping. Though the place was packed when we arrived, alas, we were the last table to leave at the end of the night, finishing up our meal with a nice bottle of 20-year-old port. On Wednesday night, I was invited to the City Paper‘s 30th anniversary party, held at Club Charles and Zodiac. The crowd of 300+ filled both establishments on Charles Street, and spilled out onto the sidewalk, where a street vendor cart was offering mini-burgers as part of the party. I ran into way too many people to list, but here’s a sampling: Chris Hartlove, Kristen Keener, Marianne Amoss, Jim Burger, Hope Murphy, Jenn Marsh, Don Farley, Katie Speca, Robyn Katz, John Marsh, Mike Anft and Van Smith. Fun party, but the heat was stifling. Thursday, I joined my buddies Sam Polakoff and Courtney Wood for a night out at the ballpark— the Aberdeen ballpark, that is, as we took in the Ironbirds game and ran into our friend J.M. Shapiro in the stands. Then Friday night capped off the week at Federal Hill’s First Fridays party, where they closed off Cross Street to traffic and created a street fair with a live band and outdoor bars— a great way to spend a mid-summer Friday night.

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