Monday Restaurant Round-Up!

Be kind, Hawker's not a food writer, and as her current reading is Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires, this is becoming even clearer to her.

1. GRANO
Hawker tried Grano (the new pasta bar at 1030 W. 36th a while back.) They were just getting started, so things still seemed earnest, but in need of some tweaking. The final verdict is good, but not great. The place looks adorable. The simple paint job out front and the spruce-up inside make Grano cozy and welcoming. There's a bar with maybe 10 seats or so, and a few high tables laid out around the edges of the restaurant; the window table, FYI, is the bomb for Hampden peoplewatching. The service was friendly, and the prices are reasonable. (See the menu above.) However, the pasta is dried (not fresh,) and the sauces are good, but not great. The garlic bread was indeed garlicky, but more like my midwestern Mom would make (again, still good,) but not like you might expect from a real Italian. My dining companion did enjoy the meatballs.

Grano seems perfectly poised for takeout though, and for under four dollars, you can get some of their sauce for takeout. Add a couple of extras, go home and boil your own dried pasta, and you've got a quick dinner that's far cheaper than going out (Total: $10-$15) and can fool anyone you're cooking for into thinking you're actually cooking.

2. DOGWOOD
Hawker also hit the Dogwood on Friday night, and once again, the place failed to disappoint. The food there is truly inspired and after two fantastic and fresh meals in a row, I'm convinced this place is one of Baltimore's gems. (My dining companion finds the decor a little 1970's California and prefers the Woodberry Kitchen, but Hawker respectfully disagrees.) Things that sound odd (beet and cabbage risotto) taste new and perfect in Galen Sampson's hands. The honey-graham Sylvan Beach ice cream is also Hawker's new favorite flavor. The service is exemplary and honest, and Sampson was recently featured on CNN because of his commitment to his other venture: Chefs in the Making, a culinary training program that offers jobs and education to people who've been homeless, incarcerated or have struggled with addiction.

3. ROCKET TO VENUS
Then, Hawker dined at Rocket to Venus Saturday night. Hawker loves this place, and a recently received break-down of VISA expenses from 2007 will serve as evidence to prove this, but the food hasn't inspired her the way it has others. Salad was good, Dangerously Delicious Pie was fine, but vegetarian entrees there leave her cold. The Szechuan Noodles felt like they'd been sitting for a while, and the tofu was way overcooked. My dining companion, however, had a shrimp linguine that was so delicious, however, that she was tempted to drink the broth left in her bowl after she'd eaten everything practically edible. I feel like I just don't get R2V's food like everyone else does, but I'll keep trying. What I do like about R2V, however, is when the waitress came back to take my hardly eaten entree away, I did say that I didn't like the dish. I was nice, and I expected nothing. I think I said that it just wasn't to my taste, and not only did she offer to bring me something else, when the bill came, I saw that she hadn't charged me for the dish. So R2V gets a nod for thoughtful service.

4. MCCABE'S
Elizabeth Large likes McCabe's a lot, though she's concerned about prices.

Ok, Hampdenites, discuss!