The two neighborhoods that are regularly pointed to as ‘up and coming’ in Baltimore are Highlandtown and Pigtown. They have some major similarities: they are both anchored by a large city park, they both back up to the interstate, and neither has a majority racial makeup. Pigtown always seems to be right on the verge of becoming the next big neighborhood, and has some things moving in the right direction (including the upcoming Suspended Brewing and the Pigtown Ale House). It probably would capitalize on its proximity to Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor better if it did not have the six lane highway acting as a major barrier.

But Highlandtown does not have any such barrier, and has some pretty huge growth factors around it: Canton, directly to its south, is a thriving staple of this city. Patterson Park, one of the city’s great parks is to its west. And the interstate and Hopkins are just to its east. The signs of growth are starting to show: the 65 unit Highland Haus Apartment building is going in on Eastern Ave, and there are many small developments going in a block south on Fleet St.

Highlandtown has one of Baltimore’s nine main streets on the section of Eastern Ave just east of Patterson Park. But that main street is on the verge of a real revitalization, which we saw as we drove past residential construction project after residential construction project on Fleet Street. While only a block from the Highlandtown ‘main street’, Fleet Street can still be called Brewer’s Hill or Canton, as it is the northern border of those neighborhoods.

The most representative way to see the way Highlandtown is growing was when we drove past a recently reopened Annabel Lee Tavern, followed by a very out of place Royal Farms, and then a new set of market rate apartments.

Highlandtown is in the middle of a transformation. And we visited the edge of the transformation zone.

Gnocco

This week, we went to Gnocco Mediterranean Restaurant, which is the kind of neighborhood restaurant that you have to look for to find. Its one of those hidden corner places that make Baltimore’s neighborhoods so awesome. We had the address in the GPS, and still barely saw it past the Lab Corp building. It opened 16 months ago, but has already found its place in the upper echelon of restaurants I have visited in this city.

In our exploration of this city, we have found some really good restaurants. In week two, we had some great Lebanese at Byblos, and week five was a great experience at Silk Road. We now have Gnocco’s to add to the list of absolutely amazing food.

We first started with drinks, where I had a play on a Manhattan, with rye whiskey, carpano antica, and zucca. The zucca is an apéritif or digestif, which were popular in France and spread to the Mediterranean area in the 19th century. Digestifs are also great pre-dinner drinks, and this particular drink was especially good as it was barrel aged at the end of the bar. It had a light smokiness and sweetness, without being overpowering.

Maureen’s was a light and summery concoction of elderflower, blackberry and limoncello-a great fizzy and tangy beginning to the evening, but (Maureen being Maureen) she quickly switched to a red wine that ended up going very well with our dinner.

Artichoke and goat cheese agnolotti with roasted cipollini and aged balsamic

We then had the artichoke and goat cheese agnolotti with roasted cipollini and aged balsamic. The best way to describe this is to say its pasta with goat cheese oozing out, and then a strong flavor of french onion soup throughout. It was both sweet and savory, and cheesy. And with all of those flavors, they all worked well together and almost took their turns moving to the front. We were getting small plates so we could try a few things, but I could have eaten a lot of this!

Lamb Tartare

The next small plate was lamb tartare with arugula-mint pesto and grilled bread. A few years ago, we met my wife’s brother and father in New York City for a birthday trip, and we went to an amazing French restaurant. It was a very high end place with some amazing food and wine. That was the first time I ever ordered beef tartare, and it has been an experience that I have wanted to replicate ever since. They made it table side, and it was the perfect level of flavor, soft texture, and firmness. I say all of that because I finally found it again. The lamb was perfect (I love raw meat when done right), and the pesto was a firm flavor without overpowering. I didn’t taste the mint that was supposed to be in the pesto, but I don’t doubt it was there. The bread that came with it also was not some filler bread; it really added the right level of texture and complimentary flavor without ruining the tartare. I don’t know if I can talk this up enough. This is one of the best dishes I have ever had. Its also appropriate that it was lamb tartare instead of beef tartare, as Mediterranean food features lamb much more than beef.

Its almost not fair to talk about anything that came after that tartare, because its only going to be a step down. We got the squid ink tagliatelle, with green onion and shrimp-saffron stock. I am not sure if the squid ink added a special flavor to the pasta, as I couldn’t taste anything in particular. I am pretty sure there was a bit of crab in it as well, even though the description didn’t mention it. It did have a nice briny flavor that went well with the pasta though. This probably would have been a great dish on any other night, but this paled in comparison to the other two dishes we had. They were just that good.

I then finished with a Negroni Sbagliato. Sbagliato means mistake in Italian, because its a Negroni with sparkling wine in it. I didn’t get the fizz from the wine, but I did get an amazing smoky flavor. It’s best described as a drink and a cigar together with orange and sweetness in the background. I love both Negronis and cigars, so I loved it. However, my wife felt exact same way about the drink as me but not in a good way (I know… who doesn’t like a nice smokey flavor?). To each their own.

She instead had an after dinner coffee, which was a heavy creme based after dinner coffee.

The most mind blowing part was with four drinks, three small plates of food and coffee, we walked out paying just a hair over $100 with tip. This is the kind of meal you could expect at a very high end restaurant for probably double that. I will definitely be returning!

Creative Alliance

If you leave the city to the east, there is a good chance that you have driven past the Creative Alliance. As you pass Patterson Park on Eastern Ave, there is a section of Highlandtown with colored milk jugs over the street, and a big, beautiful Patterson sign. This is the 107 year old Patterson Theater, which has held various tenants over the years, until 2003 when the Creative Alliance debuted their renovations in the previously vacant theater.

Such an intimate setting!

While at First Thursday in Canton a few months ago, someone handed me a flier for the comedy series at the Creative Alliance that is running at the end of August. Comedy is what got my attention, but they do so much more than that. Their calendar is packed with events as high profile as Daily Show contributer Wyatt Cenac to Wet Hot American Summer (interactive) to pinata making and film and improv and dance and burlesque and music etc etc etc. Seriously, check out their calendar. Its packed with things for everyone.

Jordan Carlos

We went to see Jordan Carlos, with the Baltimore improv group Casually Dope opening. I love watching improv because its imperfect, and you watch the actors dealing with the imperfect situations they are handed. It’s the ‘yes and..’ mentality. Never say no in improv. Maybe we will head up to the Single Carrot Theater in a future blog post and try some improv. Casually Dope made it look like so much fun, and they were hilarious. They kept the topics moving, and did a few throwbacks as well that made for some great sketches.

Then Jordan Carlos came on. I have never seen him before, but I have enjoyed the Nightly Show and Colbert Report, and he was involved in those shows. It was a lot of fun because we were in the Patterson Theater’s smaller theater, which made for an intimate experience. We also were able to get front row seats, which always makes for a fun experience if you are ok with the comic making jokes about you. He was whitty, and very entertaining. If this is anything like the other programs the Alliance has, then I need to make sure to make it back here.

Bmore Licks

We got out with enough time to enjoy the cool summer evening and get some dessert before watching Game of Thrones (yes, we waited and didn’t watch the leak… GOT is worth waiting for!). A new ice cream shop opened across the street from the park last month, and is already a neighborhood staple. We have only been there twice, but its been absolutely packed both times.

They have a side window where people with strollers or dogs can come and order one of the peanut butter covered dog ice cream cones. The first time we went, we brought the dogs, but this time it was just us.

They have 100 flavors of soft serve ice cream, and even have an ice cream taco, which is ice cream inside a taco shaped waffle shell. They also have a ton of toppings and all sorts of other options. If Game of Thrones wasn’t starting shortly, then we would have taken our ice cream across the street to eat it in the park. But of course, we need to find out more about the song of ice and fire.

Next Week

It will be tough following up a great week from Highlandtown, but next week we are going to try by going to the B & O American Brasserie for drinks, followed by Turkish food at Cazbar, and an outdoor movie with Pics in the Park. Baltimore has lots of outdoor movies, but they wrap up around Labor Day, so we are getting this one off our list under the wire.

Feel free to drop any questions, comments or suggestions below! Always looking for more Baltimore hidden gems.