Brian Lawrence Live
May 19-22
Lots going on this past week: First, on Wed., I joined some fellow media peeps at the B&O American Brasserie to sample some of master mixologist Brendan Dorr‘s new springtime elixirs. Our group of 10 or so included notorious bon vivant Jim Burger, Jess Blumberg from Baltimore magazine and Cindy Plackmeyer, who blogs on Baltimore bars for Examiner.com. We had nine libations to get through, not counting the sparkling rose we had as we waited for the group to assemble. Of the nine, two stood out for me: the Chamomile Fizz and the Remedy (also, look for the Queen Bee, Boxcar Beer #2, Platform, Santa Fe Railway, Modena Market cocktail, A-Train and Coconut Milk Punch). After that group disbanded, a few more friends came by and we took over a table in the restaurant and ordered dinner and a few more rounds, staying long into the spring evening.
The following day a 3 o’clock, a group of a dozen or so media foodies met up in Fells Point for the inaugural Charm City Food Tour, led by Celeste Corsaro. For the next three and a half hours, we walked from stop to stop, taking in lots of local history, fun food facts and tasty food and beverage samplings along the way. Bill Irwin greeted us at Kooper’s Tavern, where we sampled slider burgers, we had half a pint of pale ale at the Wharf Rat, Grand Marnier shots at One-Eyed Mike’s, and were greeted by the venerable Marc Dettori at The Black Olive. Other stops included the Broadway Market, Stuggy’s and Meli. What a fun (and filling!) afternoon.
On Friday, I was at the benefit happy hour outside on the patio at the Capital Grille for a benefit called Bowties & Bourbon, sponsored by Quinntessential Gentleman. QG owner Craig Martin greeted me warmly and pointed out the five different types of bourbons being poured and the large selection of cigars there for party guests. Now this is a Friday evening happy hour pattern I could get used to.
And on Saturday, I was one of the 1,800 ticketholders for the ‘Evening with Anthony Bourdain & Eric Ripert’ at the HIppodrome. Introduced by MIX 106’s Reagan Warfield, the two TV chefs entertained the audience with witty (and sometimes hilariously profane) tales and musings on their experiences in the restaurant business. That was followed by a Q&A with the audience. In the crowd: Lisa Schatz, Tom Brinkley, Kevin Miller, Stacy Murray, Jamie & Meg Kelley, Richard Gorelick and Dara Bunjon. After that, we headed down to the main lobby for the Baltimore Foodie Experience, where 20 local chefs and restaurants were doing tastings and samplings while Mambo Combo played. Unfortunately it was jammed, and the sampling lines were so long that we decided to have dinner out instead.
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