Brian Lawrence Live

Tuesday, Oct. 30
The November ‘Food & Entertaining Issue’ of Style has been one of the most buzzed-about issues in recent memory. And Chris Corbett‘s Back Page humor essay ‘Eating with Eddie’ has also gotten its own share of buzz. It seems that some readers didn’t quite get the joke. So, to reassure you, Eddie Dopkin has not, in fact, suddenly taken over 20 of the most popular restaurants in Baltimore. Chris Corbett’s essay was a cheeky musing on the idea of ‘what if.’ Rest assured, all restaurants mentioned are just as they always were. 

Friday, Oct. 19
The annual Beaux Arts Auction to benefit the Choral Arts Society was held this year at the Maryland Historical Society, and a lively group braved the rainstorm to mix and mingle amidst the walls of artworks. Choral Arts honcho Tom Hall presided over the evening’s entertainment and live auction. While many chatted over cocktails and finger foods, I wandered through the displays to admire the art, which was hung on every available wall. I caught up with Ed Norris, Aubrey Good, Stan and Edie Brown, and artist Melissa Dickenson. Then I headed downtown to join fellow party-goers Steve Sobelman, Sloane Brown, Ray Mitchener and Brian Comes for a late dinner at The Oceannaire, where manager Nate Beachler took great care of us.

Friday, Oct. 12
Photographer Dean Alexander and his wife, designer Donna Schaefer, hosted a soiree at their Federal Hill studio this evening as a benefit for the Creative Alliance. As might be expected, lots of photographers were in attendance, as were many of the city’s movers and shakers on the arts front. During the course of the evening, I ran into Megan Hamilton, photographer Dan Whipps, designer Betty Walke, painter Karl Connelly, Sascha Wolhandler and Steve Suser, Vince Peranio and Dolores Deluxe, photographer Arther Remanjon, Sean Schwessinger, designer Marcy Sagel, illustrator Kim Battista, DJ and designer Karem Ulken, hair guru Dean Krapf, and Marshall Snively. Illustrator Bonnie Matthews was on hand doing double-duty as caterer (with an incredible Thai menu) and Red Maple DJ Charisse Nichols supplied background beats.

Tuesday, Oct. 9
This evening I attended the annual PNC Tennis Challenge at 1st Mariner Arena. It’s always a treat to watch internationally ranked pros playing up close— this year’s top draw was Andy Roddick, along with John Isner and brothers Bob and Mike Bryan. For a doubles match, Roddick was joined by his brother John in a match with the Bryan brothers. Roddick easily defeated Isner in three sets, and proved to be quite a ham as he did a lot of off-the-cuff banter with the audience throughout the evening, at one point pulling a heckler out of the stands and having him stand in for him on the court for a volley. We started the evening at a crowded VIP pre-party and managed to get in a nibble and a cocktail before heading up to our seats. Pam Shriver should be commended for bringing this event to Baltimore year after year. It’s always a fun evening out.

Sunday/Monday, Oct. 7 & 8
On Sunday evening, a few of us trekked down to Annapolis for the private opening of the new Morton’s Steakhouse located in the brand new Westin hotel in downtown Annapolis. David Nevins & Assoc. had extended the invitation for me to try out the newest location in the uber-successful national chain. I can report that all is up to snuff. The service was friendly, yet polished and professional, and of course, the steaks were awesome, as you would expect. Being an unseasonably warm evening, we took a table on the outdoor dining terrace and were rewarded with a truly pleasant dining experience. Inside, on our way to the bar for a few post-prandial cocktails, I ran into Bean & Carole Sibel, who were also down for the dinner.
Then on Monday evening, I was invited by the owners of Ryleigh’s Oyster bar on Cross Street to be part of their judging panel for best wine to pair with oysters. I joined chef Patrick Morrow, Chris Coker from Corks, Chris Spann from the Wine Market, Rod Trump, chef Chris Paternotte from Vin and Lars Rusins from Baltimore Foodies on the panel, and we set about the task at hand. For the next two and a half hours, we diligently slurped oysters while washing them down with some 30-odd varieties of wines— tough work! We ranked them in flights of fives and gave written commentary on each, then conducted a run-off of the picks from all six flights to determine a champion and runners-up. The ultimate winner was a bit of a shocker. You can see which wines ranked in the final three this weekend at Ryleigh’s first annual Oyster Festival. The judges will be on hand on Saturday afternoon for the unveiling (and to defend their choices!)

Wednesday, Oct. 3
What a great idea! Five restaurants in Harbor East hosted a progressive dinner party this evening, with two seatings, one beginning at 6 and one at 7. Struever Bros.’ Mikey Monaghan was on hand to rally our group of 20 and serve as our leader from stop to stop. First up was an appetizer course and wine at Pazo, then progressive stops at Lebonese Taverna, The Oceanaire Seafood Room, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and finally, dessert at Roy’s. That’s a lot of food (and booze!). Luckily, my friend Ayda Said, who just bought a place in the new Vue building at Harbor East, had signed up for the dinner, so we and a few of her neighborhood pals were my dining companions for the evening. It did get rowdy by the end (mostly due to the DC contingent of ladies), but we had to drop by back at Pazo for a nightcap after the dinner officially wrapped up at Roy’s.

Saturday, Sept. 29
Has there ever been a Shawan Downs steeplechase day that didn’t have absolutely perfect weather? I can’t think of one. This year was no different. There’s nothing like spending a beautiful Saturday afternoon out in horse country with friends, watching the races. We had passes for the Preservation Point tents, and spent the early part of the afternoon mingling in the St. John Company tent and the Classic Catering tent. Chatted with Center Club manager John Warnack and his wife, reporter Heather Harlan, as well as Jim and Anne Burger, Sharon Akers and photographer Sharon Redmond. Then it was up the hillside to our private tailgate, where we spent most of the afternoon. Fellow ‘gaters included architect Patrick Sutton, Rod Trump and Pat Morrow, the new chef at Ryleigh’s Oyster in Federal Hill.

Friday, Sept. 28
I hadn’t attended this event in a couple of years, and wanted to get an up-close look at the Living Classroom Foundation’s new waterfront campus expansion at the foot of Thames and Caroline streets in Fells Point. The warm, breezy evening was perfect for being outside under the stars. Forty Baltimore restaurants and caterers offered samplings of their cuisine while the hundreds of guests lined up for a bite (this is actually one of my pet peeves: forcing people at a party to queue up repeatedly for a tiny sample of food— that’s no way to eat dinner!) My second pet peeve are the caterers who refuse to label what they’re serving— how are you supposed to know what it is? But the crowd was bustling and raucous, and Capital Grille honcho Jimmy Kinney kept our party well-supplied with over-sized cups of their signature cocktail, the Stoli Doli— no puny sample-size glasses for us!. Over the course of the evening I greeted Susan Dunn, Henry Clark, James Piper Bond, Celeste Corsaro, Aubrey Good, Jim Halle, Willis McGill, Joe Wohlman, Sloane Brown, John Hargrave, Jordan Faye Block, Jim Seay, Jerry Maizlish, Tracy Kwiatkowski, Lisa Poland, Lisa Kugle, David Kline, Pat Turner, Diane Macklin and countless others. The band New Orleans Social Club started kicking in around 9:30 and the crowd wasted no time in getting to its feet. By 11 p.m., our crowd headed two blocks east to take over a lounge area at Pazo, and spent the rest of the evening ensconced there.

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