Brancato Lauren - Baltimore chefs table: extraordinary recipes from charm city and the surrounding counties

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All photography by Kevin Maher, Seven Set Studios, except those on pages i, ii-iii, xi, xv, xvi, 168, 179, and 208, licensed by Shutterstock.com

Editor: Tracee Williams
Project Editors: Lynn Zelem and Lauren Brancato
Text Design: Libby Kingsbury
Layout Artist: Nancy Freeborn

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN 978-0-7627-9224-5

Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Restaurants and chefs often come and go, and menus are ever changing. We recommend you call ahead to obtain current information before visiting any of the establishments in this book.

To Milo and Julie

Butternut Squash Soup with Butter Poached Lobster & Tahitian Vanilla

Cheddar Jalapeo Biscuits with Honey Butter

Crab Toast

Maryland Crab Chowder

Maryland Crab Soup

Milton Inn Oyster Stew

Rhode Island Quahog Chowder

Roasted Red Pepper & Spicy Mango Gazpacho

Tomato & Red Pepper Bisque

Waterfront Kitchen Summer Corn Chowder

Ahi Tuna Napoleon

Brussels Sprout Salad

Caponata

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Liver Pt

Chicory Salad with a Poached Egg

Chilled Lobster Salad with Lemon Thyme Madeleine

Crab Dip Two Ways

Cucumber & Tomato Caesar Salad with Feta Croutons

Eggplant & Artichoke Appetizer

Escargot Buns

Feral Hog Banh Mi Sliders

Fried Green Tomatoes with Green Tomato Chowchow & Lemon Herb Mayo

Grilled Avocado with Lump Crab & Roasted Poblano Salad

Hriby Dip

Lump Crab & Roasted Corn Bruschetta

Maryland Tots

Sicilian Cauliflower Salad 36 Slow Cooked Calamari Birroteca Style

Tomato Aspic

Barolo Braised Lamb Shanks with Spiced Fregola

BBQ Atlantic Salmon with Corn Saut & Corn Coulis

Bigos

Braised Pork Cheeks with Ramp Puree, Fava Beans, Marble Potatoes & Pickled Ramps

Broccoli Ravioli with Short Rib, Capers & Anchovy

Cajun Crab Linguine

Carne con Papas

Chicken Pot Pie

Crispy Pork Belly with Poached Egg & Smoked Maple Glaze

Crispy Rockfish Tacos with Lime Jicama Slaw & Avocado Cream

Fettuccine Lucia

Frankenfish Tacos with Blistered Corn Salsa, Chipotle Slaw, & Crispy Sweet Potato Strings

Fried Chicken

Grilled Octopus with Bean Salad & Baby Arugula

Grilled Rockfish with Mango Pineapple Salsa

Grilled Shrimp with Mango Chutney

Grilled Whole Striped Bass with Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Golden Raisins, Pine Nuts & Pomegranate

Gruyre Crusted Salmon with Fingerling Potatoes, Haricots Verts & Soy Citrus Glaze

Gypsy Queen's Soft-Shell Crab BLT

Hangover Hash

Hearts of Palm Crab Cakes with Caper Remoulade

Lobster Mac & Cheese

Maryland Crab Cakes

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe & Mild Italian Sausage

Pork Medallions with Black Pepper Gravy

Roast Tenderloin of Beef au Poivre with Potato Gratin

Roasted Duck Breast with Date Puree, Roasted Parsnips & Pears & Walnut Vinaigrette

Sambuca Mussels with Roasted Garlic Toast

Seared Scallops with Charred Eastern Shore Sweet Corn, Avocado Puree & Potato Croutons

Seared Sea Scallops with Cauliflower Steak, Beer Battered Asparagus Fries & Four Citrus Reduction

Shrimp & Grits

Spicy Pistachio Chicken

Thai Fried Rice with Chicken

Veal Meatballs

Veggie Wellington

Wagon Wheel Ranch Goat Goulash with Short Grain Rice & Cherry Glen Crottin

Black Pepper Garlic Soy

Chipotle Aioli

Fried Squash Blossoms with White Corn Coulis & Black Truffle

Goma-ae

Bacon Caramel Popcorn

Bourbon Bread Pudding

Brown Sugar Spiced Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Icing & Butterscotch Sauce

Charlotte Russe

Chocolate Orange Marnier Cupcakes

Chocolate Peanut ButterCups

Donna's Dark Chocolate Sorbetto

Heath Bar Bread Pudding

Peach Crisp with Marshmallow Ice Cream

Pecan Tart

Raw White Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Sweet Potato Cheesecake

Not so long ago, it seemed that dining out in Baltimore involved one of three things: crabs, Continental cuisine, and fast food. There weren't many other choices, except for the rare jaunt to Chinatown (when Baltimore still had a Chinatown) for moo goo gai pan or some other gloppy Americanized dish, or to Little Italy for a plate of ravioli or a hefty portion of lasagna.

With the city perched on top of the Chesapeake Bay, blue crabs reigned supreme in Baltimore and were best devoured at brown-paper- or newspaper-covered tables in local crab joints like Connolly's, Bud's, or Obrycki's. The crabs were served piping hot and covered in mounds of spice and salt. Heaven forbid you cut your fingers on the shells, or your hands would burn for the rest of the night. And the spice created a tingle on the lips that made you grab for an ice-cold beer, preferably the then-locally-produced National Bohemian, affectionately known to one and all as Natty Boh. Connolly's, a crab shack along Pratt Street on Pier 5 in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, was one of the favorite dining spots of Baltimore's beloved mayor William Donald Schaefer. In fact, he ate there every week with his mother until she passed away. Connolly's met its own demise in 1991, with the building razed to make way for the Columbus Center.

During Bud's heyday, people waited in line for hours to eat the steamed crabs at Highlandtown native and World War II veteran Bud Paolino's eponymous restaurant, which faded away in the 90s. And Obrycki's, long synonymous with steamed crabs to generations of Baltimore visitors, closed its original seasonally-open Pratt Street location in 2011 and now offers crab cakes and crab balls at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, of all places.

Then there was Continental cuisine, a general term given to an amalgamation of the cuisines of Western Europe served at most of Baltimore's finer dining establishments during the twentieth century. The menu at Miller Brothers, which opened in 1913, offered such delights as chicken a la king, vichyssoise, and sauerbraten with red cabbage and boiled noodles. Known as the place to eat, the restaurant also served exotic meats like squab, black bear, and pheasant. After fifty years, Miller Brothers closed in 1963.