second day in baltimore

we woke up to rain today.  it was the kinda rain to make noah worry.  so instead of scouring the streets for art, we decided to stay inside today.  we headed to the national aquarium to check out the fishies.  it was absurdly crowded in the fish jail and it was not the best experience.  in fact, i would say that the aquarium in both singapore and in bangkok make the US National Aquarium look like a shitty public pool.

after that shit experience, we made our way to lunch at jack and zach food off of charles st.  now we're talkin'.  they have a simple breakfast and lunch menu supported by only the finest local ingredients and all in-house made items from the sausages to the pickles to the jar of hand-ground mustard on the old-school diner counter.  it was really delicious and really cheap.  about $20 for the 2 of us......including a milkshake for desert.

after lunch we hit up a local bookstore and then wandered around a bit more.  for dinner we splurged.  after searching around for good restaurants that source local foods, we were led to woodberry kitchen.  the chef was nominated for a james beard award last year, and the restaurant features a huge wood-fired oven.  the building is an old foundry that has been repurposed into something amazing.  there are artist studios (where we picked up a few new hand-blown glasses for our kitchen) and just lots and lots of interesting textures.

everything at woodberry is made in house.  all the meat is butchered and cured in-house.  there is row after row of pickled veggies lining the stair case and piles of oak logs for the oven.  what a great dining experience.  despite the fact that our waiter was a bit rushed and messed with our pacing a bit, the food was top-notch outstanding.  the nuanced flavors were in everything they brought out.  the pickled wax beans were a salty tangy and crunchy fried little bits of deliciousness.  the charcuterie plate was incredible in the different flavors that they brought out.  mindy ordered a blackberry teetotaler that had so many layers of flavors that it was nearly impossible to stop drinking it just because it was so interesting.  our entrees (steak and stew) were both good, but i was much more interested in the small plates they offered.  we had mac and cheese from the wood oven that carried this subtle smokey overtone.  oysters are always a favorite, and they came with 4 different sauces, including their 1 year aged snake oil hot sauce.  the usual franks red hot sauce is what?  who cares.  AGED SNAKE OIL HOT SAUCE.  damn damn good.  damn good.  at the end of the night i thought we'd racked up a pretty pricey tab, but it turned out to be quite reasonable for one of the best places in the city, and lets face, the atlantic region.  eat there.  it's worth your time and money.