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Belated Baltimore restaurant week post
Feb. 8th, 2008 10:06 amFor Baltimore’s Restaurant Week, I only ended up trying one place: Cork’s. I meant to try out a French place up on 30th St., but didn't get there.
Located in Federal Hill, I lived on the same block as the restaurant for years without ever going in. When I first moved into the neighborhood, I wasn’t sure what was going on there – the kitchen is in the front and the seating is in the back, so all passersby can see are pastry trays and the profile of the kitchen. One of my colleagues at my old job was a foodie; he and his wife loved Cork’s for its food and the wine pairings. I went with them once to wine tasting function there, but still hadn’t eaten there until RW. This perhaps skewed my expectations.
Here’s the menu for RW.
Wine: Lange Twins white. I'm not sure what variety of grape, but the wine was light and a little fruity/acidy without being sweet.
The Pan Seared Scallops listed on in the menu was a bit of a misnomer. There actually was just one huge scallop. It was seared and then placed on a bed of hummus, with a bit of beurre blanc drizzled on the place and a single popcorn shoot planted in the middle like a flag. Lovely design. Texture was good, taste a bit bland. Pairing the scallop (which can be bland on its own unless carefully seasoned) with hummus was the problem, I think, because the hummus too was bland – there was no single flavor that popped out in the dish or that defined it.
The RW menu also included a fish of the day for slightly more. On Wednesday the fish of the day was broiled salmon with sticky rice (made with orange and grapefruit juice) and brussels sprouts. First, let me say that as a child, I despised brussels sprouts. These were fabulous; when I asked, our waiter told me that they were baked (who knew?). However they were cooked, they had a light coating of either lemon butter or lemon-olive oil, and it suited them very well. The salmon was perfectly done, with a lovely crispy layer covering the tender flesh. I was quite impressed with the sticky rice – the citrus worked very well with the fish and greens, and was more flavorful than I find most white rice to be.
The pumpkin crumb crisp was, sadly, a disappointment. All of the elements were there, but the most important thing – the temperature of the dish – was wrong. The crust was both light and buttery. The whipped cream was lovely. The crumble was sweet but not too much so. The pumpkin filling had good flavor. But it was all cold. The concept of a fruit crisp dessert (to me) is that it is a warm sweet. And also for me, pumpkin needs to be heated; when cold, the texture gets mealy. The best part of dessert was actually the glass of Ficklin reserve port that accompanied it.
The service was very good – attentive without being pushy or interrupting. Comfortable suggesting wine to match the entrée, and familiar with the menu.
Overall, I'm glad I went, if only to say that at last I've been. Would I recommend Cork’s? I don’t know, it would really depend on who was asking. Would I go back? Um, probably not. The meal was lovely and different, but not enough so that I would be willing to pay full fare for it. For example – the RW dinner for 2, two glasses of wine, 1 glass of port, 1 coffee plus tip ended up being around $120; the full fare price would have been upwards of $160, I think, which is a more than I'd usually be willing to pay for anything other than a very special occasion. While the food was carefully prepared and the wine thoughtfully paired with it, it wasn’t *that* good.
Located in Federal Hill, I lived on the same block as the restaurant for years without ever going in. When I first moved into the neighborhood, I wasn’t sure what was going on there – the kitchen is in the front and the seating is in the back, so all passersby can see are pastry trays and the profile of the kitchen. One of my colleagues at my old job was a foodie; he and his wife loved Cork’s for its food and the wine pairings. I went with them once to wine tasting function there, but still hadn’t eaten there until RW. This perhaps skewed my expectations.
Here’s the menu for RW.
Wine: Lange Twins white. I'm not sure what variety of grape, but the wine was light and a little fruity/acidy without being sweet.
The Pan Seared Scallops listed on in the menu was a bit of a misnomer. There actually was just one huge scallop. It was seared and then placed on a bed of hummus, with a bit of beurre blanc drizzled on the place and a single popcorn shoot planted in the middle like a flag. Lovely design. Texture was good, taste a bit bland. Pairing the scallop (which can be bland on its own unless carefully seasoned) with hummus was the problem, I think, because the hummus too was bland – there was no single flavor that popped out in the dish or that defined it.
The RW menu also included a fish of the day for slightly more. On Wednesday the fish of the day was broiled salmon with sticky rice (made with orange and grapefruit juice) and brussels sprouts. First, let me say that as a child, I despised brussels sprouts. These were fabulous; when I asked, our waiter told me that they were baked (who knew?). However they were cooked, they had a light coating of either lemon butter or lemon-olive oil, and it suited them very well. The salmon was perfectly done, with a lovely crispy layer covering the tender flesh. I was quite impressed with the sticky rice – the citrus worked very well with the fish and greens, and was more flavorful than I find most white rice to be.
The pumpkin crumb crisp was, sadly, a disappointment. All of the elements were there, but the most important thing – the temperature of the dish – was wrong. The crust was both light and buttery. The whipped cream was lovely. The crumble was sweet but not too much so. The pumpkin filling had good flavor. But it was all cold. The concept of a fruit crisp dessert (to me) is that it is a warm sweet. And also for me, pumpkin needs to be heated; when cold, the texture gets mealy. The best part of dessert was actually the glass of Ficklin reserve port that accompanied it.
The service was very good – attentive without being pushy or interrupting. Comfortable suggesting wine to match the entrée, and familiar with the menu.
Overall, I'm glad I went, if only to say that at last I've been. Would I recommend Cork’s? I don’t know, it would really depend on who was asking. Would I go back? Um, probably not. The meal was lovely and different, but not enough so that I would be willing to pay full fare for it. For example – the RW dinner for 2, two glasses of wine, 1 glass of port, 1 coffee plus tip ended up being around $120; the full fare price would have been upwards of $160, I think, which is a more than I'd usually be willing to pay for anything other than a very special occasion. While the food was carefully prepared and the wine thoughtfully paired with it, it wasn’t *that* good.
