Alewife: Local Food and Good Times in Baltimore

Sister blog Just Saying tells the story of our visit to Alewife in Baltimore, MD quite well.  We, excited gardeners and avid local food eaters, were thrilled to visit this wonderful place and enjoyed the company of owner Bryan Palombo and Executive Chef Chad Wells as we talked sustainable eating and local food. Here you can see Chef Chad discussing his menu and ideas with us.

I can't help but to gush a bit more over the fantastic meal and the use of produce from the Public Health Garden in the dishes served to our table.

Here are the details of our meal:

First we started with a spicy green bean dish that Chef Chad prepared with the purple beans (reminder/surprise: they turn green when cooked) from the Public Health Garden. They were steamed to perfection and then tossed in a Thai paste and peanut sauce, served with shredded carrots. 

As you can tell, we loved this starter and were temped to lick the plate clean (we refrained, since we were out in public with new friends).

Next, we had shrimp with baby tomatoes (also from the PHG) in a delicious vinaigrette and salsa with onion, jalapeno, tomatoes, and capers.

Followed was a smoked tomato and goat cheese flan, with smoked heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese (you know how we feel about goats), crostini, and topped with a pea greens salad. 

We then ordered wild mushroom risotto cakes, the smoke burger, and blue catfish tacos (see menu here). 

Wow!  They were all delicious.  And, for those who know about my obsession with all things risotto, Alewife definitely beat my risotto cakes so I will have to go back to the drawing board to improve my recipe. Congrats!   

The meal couldn't have been better, until out came dessert:

Yes, that is a chocolate-chipotle-goat-cheese-cupcake. Again, we have a profound love of goats, so this was a even bigger delight.

Thank you Alewife for a fabulous meal.  We also enjoyed the warm atmosphere, decor, and beer list. We are looking forward to coming back to taste and learn even more about the infamous invasive snakehead fish, and perhaps sample all 150 beers so we too can have our own mug and time to shine singing a cappella on the bar.