We Are Up and Running

The first restaurant review is up on eatcharmcity. No surprise that Geckos is the first featured restaurant. I think all review sites play favorites, and this is mine. Please add this site to your RSS reader, take a look every so often and contact me if you have somewhere you want me to review or have a review you want me to post on the site. I am really excited to get this started. I think it is going to be a really good site. I hope you will join me in eating charm city.

Yum Yum

So this week is Baltimore Restaurant Week, which is super exciting. I am hitting two places. Tonight Ben, Jess and I are headed to La Tasca, a tapas restaurant in the harbor. On Friday, the Baltimore bloggers (many of which are reading this, I hope) and I are headed to Lebanese Taverna.

This will be my first restaurant week and I am really excited for it. Also I am completing work on the template for Eat Charm City, so I should be officially launching that soon (there is a welcome up right now because i needed some text to get my bearings on the look of the page).

I will be taking my camera tonight, so I will have some pictures on both blogs shortly. Here's hoping for good eats.

If you are headed somewhere for restaurant week let me know what you think of each place you visit. I will need some ideas of where to go as I launch the new site.

No Reservations: Ads that I Like

So I took a quick look at my blog today, which is actually something I rarely do, and I noticed that I had an ad for Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel. I must admit, I became gitty like a school girl at the sight of this. You may be asking yourself a number of questions at this point.

1. Why are you excited about an ad?
2. Who the hell is this Anthony Bourdain?
3. What makes him so important that he doesn't need to make Reservations?
4. Gitty like a school girl, really?

Bourdain is an accomplished Chef in NYC who has a penchant for good food, good alcohol and cigarettes. In 2000 he wrote Kitchen Confidential. A close to true telling of what the lives of cooks and restaurateurs, the people who make and serve you food, is really like. The book was a hit and set Bourdain to on a path to becoming one for the preeminent "celebri-chefs" in the US. What i like about him is that he is unapologetic about the fact that he likes some things that most people would shun due to the potential ridicule, from foods you wouldn't eat on a dare, to the exquisiteness of fatty foods and meat and how the best chicken wings are served in strip clubs. He is a real person with a cooking/dining show. How cool is that?

Speaking of the show, No Reservations follows Bourdain around the world (it is on the Travel Channel after all) experiencing the foods that real people eat, traditional cooking, street vendors, the late night grab after getting very wasted. If not for the occasional scene in a fine dining restaurant I wouldn't be surprised if he came up with a rating scale made up of grease stains. I admit it, the show is set a Tivo fave for me.

It is nice to see that there are at least some ads and products that i would openly endorse showing up on my site, and the new advertising layout means that I can get moving ads, like the one for this show which you should watch.

If you are a Foodie, a city guy, have a penchant for leather jackets and can stomach the occasional gross out moment it is highly entertaining.

How to Build a Better Container

Do you know what I hate....

These things



The question you may be asking is "Ryan, as a self proclaimed foodie, how could you hate this staple of modern food transportation convenience?"

Well, let me tell you why I hate these things. THEY LEAK. To illustrate, lets say you have a container filled with your favorite food, something like this



No imagine that you are riding in your car back to your place of residence in order to enjoy such a lovely dish. (FYI, I pulled that pic of off the net, I have no idea what that actually is) Here is my issue... this food is covered in Sauce, which I am sure is delicious. Now imagine said container on the seat of a car.... you see where this is going.

Oh, and they are bad for the environment.

This is my plea, if you are own a restaurant, STOP USING THESE... Invest in your customers and your containers, get the plastic ones with the snapping lids.

End Rant

Recipe #2 and Plans for More

So I was leafing through he cookbook last night and decided I was going o try Rachael Ray's Marinated Flank Steak with BLT Smashed Potatoes. First , let me point out the the "L" in BLT stands for Leek. Now I know what a leek is, but I am not sure I have ever really had them, maybe in a soup once.

Anyway, I came home from the store and started to work. I marinated the flank steak, started to boil the potatoes and then came to the realization that I did not have a grill pan. I though, eh, I can use a fry pan, as long as it is big enough. This turned out to be a little bit of a mistake. So the marinade was a combination of Garlic (Yum), Montreal Seasoning (Yum), Hot Sauce (Very Yum), Worcestershire Sauce, Vinegar, Oil and ... Ground Chipotle... this turned out to be an issue.

After I put the steak in the hot pan I thought to myself to turn on the vent above the range. Then the smoke began, It was not to bad to start, but as things went along it became a little worse, and then a little worse... Lets just say if I was still cooking in a residence hall the building probably would have been evacuated. Ben came home just as I was taking the steak out of the pan, as had a bit of a coughing fit. It was a spicy smoke

And now for the good news. The meal actually turned out to be REALLY REALLY GOOD. The steak was well seasoned, and the potatoes, lets just say these are my new favorite potatoes. SOOOOO GOOOOD!!!

As for future plans, well, Mom'sBirthday is coming up and she wants to have appitizers. I think I am going to make Mini Corn dogs (It counts, even though they are small), Crispy Olives stuffed with Sausage, and maybe somethign else. I am well on my way.

This May Have Been the Best Goal Ever

So as I said in my last post I started working on my Cook every recipe in a cookbook goal. Last night I made a Mario Betalli dish, that was basically Cauliflower, Tomato and Pasta. Sounds simple right... well it was, but it was also really really good.

I think this was a good one to start with, as there was no expensive meat, no grilling, really nothing to hard. I am even thinking about how I could expand on this, by maybe putting the mix into a casserole dish and baking, like a much better version of baked ziti.

I think I am going to hold off on making another dish for a week or so, some are pretty involved. I may try to make one of Rachel Ray's dishes, since they seem to be pretty fast. But I am pretty happy so far.

The Items, they are a Fallin'

Sorry folks, I have been a bad blogger. Things have been really busy at work. We got through most of our testing on Friday before the Go/No-Go meeting. When we got back from lunch after the meeting there were balloons and cards from my boss. The project is a go and it was really nice to be recognized, even in a small way by the boss.

Anyway, this post is not about work. It is about life. Actually, it is about getting things done in my life. Today that is what I did. I started a bunch of the items on my list and can cross off one more. First what I started:

#68 - Move to Maryland. So I have been in MD for a while, having gone to school here for seven years and worked here for almost six months, but I have never actually moved here. I still have a PA license, and PA tags. My insurance is through a PA address and all of my mail still heads to Huntingdon Valley PA. I am a PA kid through and through. But it is time to officially move to Mary-land.

So this little item actually has quite a bit involved with it. It takes alot to move to another state. Unfortunately, what it takes to actually move here I don't have here. I need my birth certificate, title to my car, a gazillion different pieces of proof of residence, the full knowledge of what is in Area 51. You know, the normal. So, it is going to take me a little longer to actually make the move. I am hoping to be an official resident by the first week in September. Keep your fingers crossed.

You know what would have helped in moving? Having all of my important papers in an organized fashion in some sort of system, potentially folders and such. Hey look at that #52 on the list is to get organized. With all the work that will go into moving, it only makes sense to have gotten this one crossed off. I went to Target (it is a French Boutique) and got a decent traveling file cabinet and some colored files. I made my folder tabs and did my best to get it all set. Next time I go home I will be able to bring this with me and get the papers I need. It is a good feeling to have this organized. Item crossed off!!

I also got started in a really fun item. I purchased the cookbook that I am going to cook every recipe in. I took a look at Alton Brown's "I Came here for the Food", but it was just to big. I think I would need 2002 days to cook all of them, but I did find something with Alton's flavor.


This book seems really good. It has a wide variety of foods, some chefs I really like, lots of different cooking styles, and there are not a ton of recipes. I think it is going to give me a really good start to improving myself in the kitchen. I am going to try my hand at my first recipe tonight for the roommates. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.

I Crossed off My First Item and Had a Great Time Doing It

One down, one hundred to go.

On Friday I went to a Phillies game with Mom. We try to do something like this every year, and since the opening of Citizens Bank Park, it has been a no brainer. When I was younger, we went to Sixers games, but since I have gotten older, and the Sixers are a putrid excuse of a team, baseball is where it is at. Plus, there is a bonus of going to the game... THE FOOD.

Citizens Bank Park won the Food Network's Best Ballpark eats for 2007. There is a real local focus on what they serve, but we will get to that later, cause there was another reason that this game was special.

There are many sports heroes that have walked the field, but very few of them are heroes for what they did when they were not playing the game. On Friday the Phillies inducted into their Wall of Fame one of those heroes, John Vukovich. Vuk, was a staple of the Phillies Organization, spending 30 of his 41 years in baseball with the team, and was a resounding choice to be inducted this year. On a personal note, John had a couple of Kids, one of which is a nurse who worked with my Mom. It was pretty emotional to see, she cried a little bit.

The ceremony included all of the living Wall of Fame members. I was able to take some pictures. The last two are of the plaque as it was unveiled on the wall and one of Vuk's grand daughters (one of three triplets) as she took the ride around the field, a Philly tradition.

Harry Kalas, Hall of Fame Announcer

Greg "The Bull" Luzinski. This is the guy who has his name on the BBQ place at the park

Dallas Green, Manager of the '83 Phills

Michael Jack Schmidt, The Greatest Phillie of All Time

Unveiling the Plaque. Long Live Vuk.

Such a cute little kid... and there are three of them.

The tribute was pretty amazing, but then it was time for dinner and baseball. First on the list was the Schmitter Sandwich, the worlds most perfect sandwich. This thing is a beast, but it is delicious. The combination of fried meats, cheese, special sauce... it is great. Here is what goes into a Schmitter

I am not going to lie, the Schmitter is one of the reasons I go to the park. You can bite into it and hear your arteries begin to close. It is so good. Just take a look at how much mom enjoyed it.

Not the greatest picture of Mom, but look at that sandwich... Yum

The game started off really bad, with the braves scoring four runs in the top of the first. This is always disheartening. We really needed to start this series off well, hopefully with a win. My heart was lifted back up when the Phills came back in the bottom of the inning and scored four, two off a shot by Wes Helms. This set off one of the coolest things at the park. The Liberty bell in right field lights up and gongs with each phillies Home Run. Imagine the bell in the picture swingin' and ringin'.

The game remained tied until the seventh... But it was the fourth when the night got exciting again for Mom and I. We decided we were hungry again and headed down to Ashburn Alley. This area of the park, behind right field, is where the bullpens are located, the wall of fame and the best food in the park. The even mark the alley with this cool sign. Notice Ashburn's average and number of hits around his position. This mimics the was Philadelphia street signs are, with the block number on either side of the direction of the street.

In the Alley you can find some Philly Favorites, including Chicke & Pete's Crab Fries, Planet Hoagies, PA Dutch Funnel Cake and two of the Best Cheese Steaks, Rick's and Tony Luke's. We opted for Tony Lukes, because you can get their steaks with Broccoli Rabe, which they call a Steak Italian. We got one of those and a Roast Pork with the Rabe. While this picture is not from the game, it will give you a good idea of the deliciousness.

It was around this time that the crowded erupted in a roar. The Phillies scored on an error and took the lead 5-4. For the final inning mom and I looked for some seats down low, which we were able to find. There is nothing like a packed stadium, a one run lead and a closer that you hope can finish it out. Especially when you can see it from here

Overall it was a pretty magical evening. I am glad that this was the first thing I crossed off my list. I may be double or even triple striking this one out over the next couple of years. So after about 5000 Calories, some tears shed and one heck of a baseball game I am down to 100 things left to do.

Moving: Part 2974

This weekend I once again started to move. On Saturday, Elan and I headed to the City of Brotherly Love, to casa de Bricknhymr. I was looking to move my Desk, which is a really industrial metal/wood corner piece, and my bed, which is the most basic twin you have ever seen. We were meeting my Father and his friend at 8am on Sunday to make the drive down to my new place. I lucked out cause Dad's friend Jimmy had a small pick-up which would come in really handy. I had contacted U-Haul, but they wanted like 150 bucks, and I would have to take the smallest truck, not the cargo van that I wanted. (whining) "Cargo vans don't go one way"... Ummm , Sorry U-Haul Man, but I am pretty sure that if the cargo van can go two ways, it can go one way as well. Just stop a two way trip half way through....

Anyway, I went to pickup Elan at Greenbelt (that is the northern most metro stop for you non Balto-Wash peeps) and we were off... sort of. It was like one and I had not eaten and was starving, as was Elan, which was convenient. We punched up a bagel place in the GPS and were off... except, there was not bagel place. There was nothing. This sucked. I was still hungry and my digits were beginning to look mighty tasty. We happened upon a little flea market. It looked somewhat promising, so we stopped. This was a mistake. First I am sure there was some fantastic food at the market, but I couldn't order any of it. This was entirely due to the fact that I know absolutely no Spanish. If I was adventurous I would have tried to get some tacos or something, but it was just not going to happen. On the plus side, I now know where to get a framed picture of "Jesus", if I ever happen to need such a thing.

We headed out, from the flea market and decided to head to Tawneytown Sandwich Shoppe, and yeah, it is a Shoppe. This place is one of the best kept secrets in Catonsville. Lets just say after a Blues Brothers and a slice of Chocolate pie, I was set. However, it was about this time that I realized that I did not have the keys to my house. That's right, we were about to shove off without any possible way to enter my abode, so we had another detour on the trip. Back to my apartment we went, which wasn't so bad since it was basically on the way.... Except 495 was backed up like something crazy... I am beginning to think that this may be the worst trip home ever, and I still have 175 miles to go. SUCKS!!!!

We made it to my apartment after heading through the back roads of Owings Mills. At this point we were about 2 hours into our journey. We checked the traffic, which was clear, grabbed some water, which was cold, and we were off. It is at this point that I decide to pull Super Huge Bonehead move of the day. That is right, I locked the keys in my apartment.... Seriously. We had to head over to the leasing office and get them to come open the door. Hours = 3. Distance equals basically zero. I was back where I started. SUCKS!!!!!

We did finally got on the road and had a pretty smooth trip up to Philly. The skyline of my home town has always been something I have really liked.

It is pretty nice overall, it has character, grace and you can still see Billy Pen on the top of city hall from most parts of the city. But now the Comcast building is being put up, making the city look something like this:

(Artist's rendition)

The thing is a giant blue monstrosity. I am not sure it really works, I guess I will have to wait and see for it to be complete and lit up.

So we finally made it home and I set off to start to break down furniture, but was distracted by the new Verizon FIOS service that Mom got. It is pretty sweet, at least for TV. I will give you all an internet update at a later date. The big distraction was that we stumbled upon Smokey and the Bandit... Yup, Burt Reynolds, Sally Fields and that great song. Sooooo Goood. Seriously, just look at this poster, how could you go wrong.

After seeing the Bandit get the best of that Sheriff, we finally got to taking care of the furniture, of course, this is also the same time that my sister came home and we decided it would be a good time to head to dinner. We went to Maggio's, a really good Italian place. They have the best Pizza and pasta. This place recently moved from its famous strip mall facility to an old supermarket around the corner. During the move, something amazing happened. They hired the best looking wait staff I had ever seen. It was like some sort of Mecca. Tons of good looking girls. The type you would... well you know. Oh and this is our waitress...

Yeah, we got the one non-18, non-hottie... seriously.

Well , the food was pretty good and we headed back to the house to take care of that furniture, and then we got the call. My friend Andy called and said we should come over to see his new place. We, of course, obliged and headed down the street. I must admit that Andy's new place is really nice. The furniture he and Jerri got from the Room Store was really nice, though they jumped through some crazy hoops to get it. After a Mock Draft (to be discussed in a later post) and a beer, we once again headed back to the house to move that furniture downstairs. It was midnight when we started, but things went pretty quick and we were done by one, and I fell asleep at around two.

This would have been no big deal if my dad come to the house when we agreed too, 8am... yeah, he called at 6:21... SERIOUSLY. He and his friend Jimmy, with his pickup truck were headed to the house, and they would be there no later than 7am.... SUCKS!!!!

We did get everything into the truck, made the trip down to Baltimore, and my new room in Bengi's place. but man, it was a weekend. I am sure there is more to add, but my fingers hurt.

OC Recap; No not that OC

So I have returned from my venture down the shore with our version of the Rat Pack (I am Dean Martin) and I must say, it was a good time and well needed.

Here is the recap. Friday I grabbed Elan at the MARC and started down. We of course stop at one of the best places on the trip, SONIC. We just got Cherry-Limeades, but they were supper good. We chilled out on the patio on the bay with Dam and Bailey the rest of the night and headed to bed for an early morning.

Actually the morning started much earlier than I would have expected, as Dom woke me as he left to get groceries, it was 6:30am. WTF??? But I cannot complain, cause he proceeded to come back and make breakfast for all of us. Pancakes and bacon... not to bad. From there we headed to the beach.

As a small interlude I would like you all to know that I am a little bit pale and have already had pieces of skin removed from my body, just in case. It was a beautiful day and I had both an iPod and a good book. Off we went to the beach and clearly my SPF 45,000 did not do the job, cause from the neck to the waist I am burned to a crisp. Later that night we grilled out at the house. Again, Dom worked his culinary magic.

Next was Putt Putt, which is one of my favorite tins to do down the shore. When I was a kid I loved Putt Putt, but mom and the rest of the fam kinda hated it, so I was not the Putt Putt King that I knew I could be. Well, we ended up playing two different courses on Saturday night, through some nefarious methods, and amazingly i won both games. Under par and feeling proud. Watch our Tiger, I am on my way. Check us out at the Old Pro Course

We finished up the night with some Ice Cream from the place that Dom used to work and watch "This Film has Not Been Rated". The flick is really, really good and I would recommend it highly.
Sunday was pretty slow, we grabbed an amazing breakfast at the Bayside Grill and then headed back to the area. I once again knocked off quite a few podcast off the old iPod, but it was actually a really nice drive.

It is back to the workweek until the next big weekend. Yay Workweek.

Ocean City part Deux and Turkey

Well, we are trying this again. Lets hope it goes better. Elan, Dom Brian and I will be making the trek "down the shore"

In other news, the other day was July 4th (I am sure none of you noticed). After spending the day in DC, I headed home to Baltimore. Knowing that I had no food in my apartment I began to ponder the culinary possibilities that I could partake in. I did not want to hit one of the numerous fast food experiences that are oh so close to my apartment. I was looking for something a little bit healthier and alot better tasting. I decided to head to Safeway and see what I could find. I was walking in the meat section, where I don't venture all that often, and happened upon some turkey cutlets that were pretty well priced and looked good so I grabbed them and some other odds and ends. I get to the register and the woman who is checking people out has, by far, the strangest makeup I have ever seen. Here I lids have stripes of Blue, Yellow and Green. I assume that the makeup matched the fingernails, and not the other way around. Anyway, turns out the turkey cutlets were placed in the wrong spot and were like five times as much, so i said forget that and just got a whole turkey breast.

Now, I am not sure if you caught this, but I just said I had bought a whole turkey breast. I spiced it up, threw some carrots and celery around it (cause that is what you are supposed to do right?) and put it in the oven. Hours later the little button had popped and I must say that I am quite impressed with myself. so I have had sandwiches for the past couple of days. Turkey, Pear and Brie... delicious.

So I have begun to watch Heros, and I must say, I am impressed so far. There are some times when the effects are a little cheesy, but there is something about the series that has really drawn me in. I like the Hiro character alot, but could do with out the Ali Lauder story arch. I do like that her husband is "Big Brother Iron Man" from Drumline... my own guilty pleasure.

Well, A good weeked to come. Have a good one everybody :)

And Now for Something Different

Ok, I am taking a small break from lamenting. I have good reason to lament, but it is time to get some humor back.

I am a big ol' manly man. I like sports, played basketball for years, need to shave on a regular basis and no one can really argue with the Big ol' part. Today I may have swayed from my manliness.

I had Soy milk. Yeah, Soy Milk. Worst part - I may have liked it.

Now lets get one thing perfectly clear. The idea that what I had was milk, well that is just crazy. It was Juice. That is right Juice. What do I say this... well I went to pre-school, and learned important things, like milk comes from cows. As Lewis Black would say "moo-moo F*ck cows". Soy milk comes from... not cows.

So I sat here with my Cereal and Soy Juice. Took a deep breath, poured, spooned, chewed, tasted and went huh??? It tasted good. I may be a Soy Juice convert.

Who knows what this my bring? I don't really drink that much milk anyway, so probably nothing, but you never know.

Viva La Soy Revolution!!!

Dollar Dogs a Plenty!!

I am a born and breed Philadelphia Sports fan, sorry to those of you who are not. This means that I have some interesting, sports related, traits. In order to explain I would like to let you know about the following facts:

1. Our teams have not won a championship since 1983... I was 2, couldn't enjoy it.
2. Our Baseball team was the losing-est franchise of the twenty first century.
   
3. Our Football team has never, ever won the Super Bowl.
4. We did Boo Santa, but we had good reason.
5. We Love Our Sports, Our Teams and Our Players

I honestly believe that Philadelphia is one of the greatest sports town in the world. Our fans are knowledgeable, passionate and just want to win something. With all that passion comes a great deal of tradition. For example, the Eagles have a fight song, played on approriately on mummer style banjos. The baseball mascot is some sort of big green thing, but we love him anyway. We host the Army-Navy Game for crying out loud. But there is one, somewhat unsung, tradition that continues to create great memories for Philadelphians and visitors alike: Dollar Dog Night

Now I know other sports teams run promotions where they sell hot dogs for a dollar, but they are not the same. First for a buck at Camden Yards in Baltimore you get a little flimsy, slightly discolored, semblance of a thing. In Philly we are talking All Beef, Hatfield's Finest franks. These things are big. Not to mention the way the fans take to the dogs. In some parks you will see the number of strikeouts kept track of, or home runs, but how many places do you see competitions on how many dogs can be put down in nine innings.

My friend Matt and his wife Alyssa are headed to Dollar Dog Night on the 28th of May, and let me tell you, those Dogs don't stand a chance.