Wednesday, October 04, 2006
PAZO
My wife and I have been to Pazo before, and are always looking for an excuse to go back, so when one of the people who joined us there for my last birthday dinner mentioned that he really wanted to try the place again, we enthusiastically set a date. He wanted to bring two friends of his, and then it turned out that they wanted to bring a friend of theirs. We knew Pazo had a prix fixe dinner for six as part of their standard menu, so we invited another friend of ours. Then it turns out that our friend's friends' friend wanted to invite her bridesmaid, so we debated on whether to invite three more friends to get the prix fixe for ten, or one more and get the prix fixes for six and two. That solved itself when our other friend had to cancel, bringing us back to six. However, on the day of the reservation our friend's friends got called in to work, canceling that entire group, leaving us with just our original three. We decided to go anyway.
Pazo is a nice restaurant located between Fell's Point and Little Italy (okay, Harbor East). It's a Mediterranean tapas place, with a fantastic atmosphere and wine list. It was opened by Cindy Wolf, Baltimore's answer to a celebrity chef until Duff Goldman stole her thunder by actually appearing on the Food Network, and her husband Tony Foreman. They own some other restaurants in the city, Charleston and that French bistro with the obnoxious commercials, as well as the wine shop down the street. That last part sounds really down home Baltimore, but the wine shop in question is Bin 604, one of the premiere cornerstones of Harbor East, a distinction it got by the dubious honor of being one of the first major players to move in when the area finally started getting refurbished (if making the area intensely gloomy by cramming as many skyscrapers together into as small a space as possible counts as “refurbished”.)
We arrived right on time, valet parking as all the construction does not make for a pleasant walk no matter where you find a spot and were shown to the bar to wait. I suppose you know it's a pricey place when the bartender doesn't bother to charge you for your sodas, but the wait was just long enough that I wound up ordering a glass of the house red. I'm sure if I searched, I could find blogs filled with the debate about their wineglasses alone. They are stylized glasses, rounded at the bottom; essentially a wineglass without the stem and stand. They've caught a lot of flak from wine lovers who feel that wine should only be served in a glass with a stem. I'm fairly indifferent, really, and I do appreciate the design. I'm sure it also cuts down on spills, which is appreciated at any restaurant. The purists believe that holding the glass by the sides will warm the wine. The owners countered that it can only ever warm it by three degrees, not enough to notice. They also say that they brought the idea over from Europe, where many restaurants serve wine that way. I believe them, but I can't help but wonder: good restaurants?
One of the reasons I like Pazo is for the large open area it has inside. There's a wide dining area below with tables, couches and the bar, and dining areas upstairs that look down on it all. I wish I could remember what we ordered, but I never do. On the watress' recommendation, we ordered the Sicilian prix fixe for two, and a steak to round it out for three. We did hold onto a menu so we could identify the items when they were brought. They were all delicious, and we were amazed that we had a few leftovers. Our friend felt badly about the reservation confusion, so he surprised us by springing for dinner. It made em feel bad later when I accidentally bogarted the doggie bag. Well, maybe not that bad. Like I said, the food was great.
Pazo is a nice restaurant located between Fell's Point and Little Italy (okay, Harbor East). It's a Mediterranean tapas place, with a fantastic atmosphere and wine list. It was opened by Cindy Wolf, Baltimore's answer to a celebrity chef until Duff Goldman stole her thunder by actually appearing on the Food Network, and her husband Tony Foreman. They own some other restaurants in the city, Charleston and that French bistro with the obnoxious commercials, as well as the wine shop down the street. That last part sounds really down home Baltimore, but the wine shop in question is Bin 604, one of the premiere cornerstones of Harbor East, a distinction it got by the dubious honor of being one of the first major players to move in when the area finally started getting refurbished (if making the area intensely gloomy by cramming as many skyscrapers together into as small a space as possible counts as “refurbished”.)
We arrived right on time, valet parking as all the construction does not make for a pleasant walk no matter where you find a spot and were shown to the bar to wait. I suppose you know it's a pricey place when the bartender doesn't bother to charge you for your sodas, but the wait was just long enough that I wound up ordering a glass of the house red. I'm sure if I searched, I could find blogs filled with the debate about their wineglasses alone. They are stylized glasses, rounded at the bottom; essentially a wineglass without the stem and stand. They've caught a lot of flak from wine lovers who feel that wine should only be served in a glass with a stem. I'm fairly indifferent, really, and I do appreciate the design. I'm sure it also cuts down on spills, which is appreciated at any restaurant. The purists believe that holding the glass by the sides will warm the wine. The owners countered that it can only ever warm it by three degrees, not enough to notice. They also say that they brought the idea over from Europe, where many restaurants serve wine that way. I believe them, but I can't help but wonder: good restaurants?
One of the reasons I like Pazo is for the large open area it has inside. There's a wide dining area below with tables, couches and the bar, and dining areas upstairs that look down on it all. I wish I could remember what we ordered, but I never do. On the watress' recommendation, we ordered the Sicilian prix fixe for two, and a steak to round it out for three. We did hold onto a menu so we could identify the items when they were brought. They were all delicious, and we were amazed that we had a few leftovers. Our friend felt badly about the reservation confusion, so he surprised us by springing for dinner. It made em feel bad later when I accidentally bogarted the doggie bag. Well, maybe not that bad. Like I said, the food was great.
# posted by Renfield @ 6:45 PM 
