- New restaurants in Baltimore include the Elmwood Social Club (850 W. 36th St.), a members-only cigar and martini bar in Hampden from Bernard Dehaene, who also owns Corner Charcuterie Bar nearby. The bar opens up on Feb. 14 for a preview (a membership to the Elmwood Social Club for the year is $25). Urban Deli, a Federal Hill lunch spot that opened in 2016, is expanding to a larger location at 1025 Light St. Meanwhile, the Broadway Market (1640 Aliceanna St.) is set to get a new facade. Restaurants that are up for sale: Canton’s Fork & Wrench (2322 Boston St.), Federal Hill’s Regi’s American Bistro (1002 Light St.), and Pigtown’s Cockeyed Cow Saloon (900 S. Carey St.).
- Among the restaurants that have closed recently: Butcher Hill’s The Life Of Reilly (2031 E. Fairmount Ave.) and Mount Vernon’s beloved Tavern On The Hill (900 Cathedral St.), which had its last day on Feb. 4. Mount Vernon is becoming something very different rather quickly and as rent skyrockets in the area, places like Tavern On The Hill go away.
- Vegan Restaurant Week begins Feb. 9 and continues on to Feb. 18. Among the participating restaurants: Golden West Cafe, The Land Of Kush, Red Emma’s, Flight American Fusion, R. House’s Stall 11, The GruB Factory, and more (including one outside the city: Sprout Natural Choice in Catonsville). On Feb. 10, food, environmental, and social justice activists Thrive Baltimore host the World Vegan Mac N’ Cheese Championship at noon and Wicked Sisters has a vegan drinks event on Feb. 13.
- Federal Hill’s Idle Hour (201 E. Fort Ave.) began a First Saturday DJ event this past week featuring music selections from duo David Koslowski & Niko Kwiatkowski. For a sense of what they’ll play, the flyer features an image of Brian Eno and David Byrne. Koslowski is the co-owner of record shop and cafe Baby’s On Fire, which is named after an Eno song, so probably some Eno. But more broadly, rhythmic art rock and plenty of other vinyl freak favorites.
- Last week, we mentioned the nationwide Pizza Across America (PAA) campaign, a large-scale pizza donation initiative, and here in Baltimore, Ribaldi’s of Hampden is involved. Well, the PAA campaign also offers $5 off your first order through the Slice app on a minimum order of $10. The code is “PIZZADAY” and the idea here is not so much to save some money on pizza as it is to buy an extra pizza to donate. Go to sliceouthunger.org for more information.