Tuesday, February 03, 2009
The Annabel Lee Tavern
I had heard good things about the Annabel Lee Tavern, notably their appearance on the Sun’s Top Ten list for sweet potato fries. Located near Patterson Park, their space is the typical Baltimore rowhouse restaurant: bar up front and a few tables in the space behind that. I was very impressed by the décor, consisting of many nods and touches to Edgar Allen Poe, including several candle-lit lanterns hanging from the ceiling. My wife and I were trying to remember Annabel Lee’s connection to Poe, and happened to be sat at a table right next to a framed copy of the poem! (We had fun reading it between bites. As we read the first two stanzas my wife commented on what a nice love poem it was. I replied, "Yeah, it's Poe, I 'm sure it's going to end well.")
We ordered almost entirely off the specials list, but I did have to try out those sweet potato fries for my appetizer. While the fries themselves are okay, it is the perfect blend of brown sugar and other spices that makes them delicious and memorable. My wife ordered corn chowder with prawns that was out of this world: pepper, texture and flavor had her running the gamut from “you have to try this” to “give that back.” Based on the appetizers alone, it is apparent their chef is an expert at spicing food.
I ordered a boar bangers and mash for my main. I was uneasy, as boar is quite easy to do wrong, especially as a sausage. My fears were unfounded as they were perfectly tender and succulent. My wife ordered what anyone else would call a peppercorn steak, but they felt it necessary to go with the fancy term (au faivre?). Regardless, it was also cooked perfectly: she risked medium-rare and was pleased at the proper pinkness.
If there was a downside, it was only what I choose to believe is an oversight in regards to their bar. There was a list on the table of beers to choose from, divided up between domestic, imports, and microbrews. I ordered an IPA and my wife got a Guinness. It wasn’t until I overheard another table ordering that I realized they did indeed have draft beers, including what turned out to be a quite tasty house Raven. The only real reason this lends itself to the negative was the price differences we found when we got the check. Price of a Raven: three bucks. Price of the Guinness and that IPA: six-fifty per. Buyer beware and all that, but I think if you have a beer list, it should probably start with the drafts, especially if you have a house brew.
We arrived about 6:30 on a weeknight, and while we had our pick of seats when we walked in, the place completely filled up by the time we left. It’s a popular spot, and there are a lot of reasons why. We’ll definitely be going back.
We ordered almost entirely off the specials list, but I did have to try out those sweet potato fries for my appetizer. While the fries themselves are okay, it is the perfect blend of brown sugar and other spices that makes them delicious and memorable. My wife ordered corn chowder with prawns that was out of this world: pepper, texture and flavor had her running the gamut from “you have to try this” to “give that back.” Based on the appetizers alone, it is apparent their chef is an expert at spicing food.
I ordered a boar bangers and mash for my main. I was uneasy, as boar is quite easy to do wrong, especially as a sausage. My fears were unfounded as they were perfectly tender and succulent. My wife ordered what anyone else would call a peppercorn steak, but they felt it necessary to go with the fancy term (au faivre?). Regardless, it was also cooked perfectly: she risked medium-rare and was pleased at the proper pinkness.
If there was a downside, it was only what I choose to believe is an oversight in regards to their bar. There was a list on the table of beers to choose from, divided up between domestic, imports, and microbrews. I ordered an IPA and my wife got a Guinness. It wasn’t until I overheard another table ordering that I realized they did indeed have draft beers, including what turned out to be a quite tasty house Raven. The only real reason this lends itself to the negative was the price differences we found when we got the check. Price of a Raven: three bucks. Price of the Guinness and that IPA: six-fifty per. Buyer beware and all that, but I think if you have a beer list, it should probably start with the drafts, especially if you have a house brew.
We arrived about 6:30 on a weeknight, and while we had our pick of seats when we walked in, the place completely filled up by the time we left. It’s a popular spot, and there are a lot of reasons why. We’ll definitely be going back.
Labels: restaurant
# posted by Renfield @ 7:12 AM 
