Petit Louis – 4800 Roland Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210

Travelling for work is such a pain, means I have to leave my wife, stay in hotels and eat plane food. Usually, I go to developing countries, which means the hotels are not always that great and the airlines serve rubbish food.

This latest trip was to France. I was so excited. I got to fly BA, go through terminal 5 and have good food ALL week.

BA serve the best food out of every airline I have ever flown. It actually tastes like proper food and the have great drinks. The best G&T I have ever had was on a BA flight back from Tanzania. I still remember it. Wonderful.

Every time I fly now, I am only going to fly BA and through terminal 5. T5 is the newest terminal in Heathrow and it is bigger than most airports! You wont believe the shops they have there. And the restaurants are something else. Mind you, I only ate at the Gordon Ramsey Plane Food restaurant. The food was awesome. On the way back I took my boss there. He was blown away by the quality of the ingredients. You might think because it was Ramsey’s restaurant that the prices would be sky high. Well, you would be wrong. You’d pay more for a cup of coffee and sandwich at Starbucks.

While in France we were staying at a ‘Retreat’. Very very relaxing. A large open fireplace in the main room, wine and cheese ‘on tap’ during the evening. We wanted for nothing. The food was homemade and seriously good. Which, besides the time sharing with my colleagues, made the week for me.

So, coming back from France, I was very excited to see the Wife had booked us in at Petit Louis for the night before Valentine’s Day. Who can get enough French food?!

This was our first time. My Sister In-Law came to visit from the Cayman Islands and went to Petit. She was very impressed. It wasn’t looking promising. The wife tried to find new reservations, but given the date, everything was fully booked.

Reluctantly, we turned up at the restaurant. We gave our name at reception and got directed to the busy bar area and told to get a cocktail. Given that we had booked, we didn’t expect to hang around too long, and so we held off the cocktails. What we didn’t expect was the entertainment!

The Head Waiter had to strong arm an older lady out of the restaurant! We have no idea why, but it was pretty funny!

We got sat in a pretty nice spot where we could watch the other diners. This is not our usual crowd. You can tell it isn’t downtown because the pearl necklace brigade was out enforce!

I had the sweatbreads, the wife had magret duck breast. Both were excellent. To drink I had a couple of Bass pale ales, and the wife had the cote de Rhone. Again, both were excellent.

We both enjoyed our food and drink, but the restaurant felt like it was trying too hard. This is a tough one to call, the food was great, but it felt like Disturbia.

Our Rating

**** Excellent Food and Drink. Just needs to be more relaxed.

Marie Louise Bistro – 904 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Wow, it has been a long time. December was a nightmare for me.  I went to Cambodia at the beginning of the month, then back to the US for a few days before flying to Kosovo. It didn’t stop there. For Christmas we decided to DRIVE to Toronto. 9 hours of picking our way through snow and some of the worst drivers in the world. Seriously, how do they get their licenses? And how can some of the rust buckets they drive be allowed on the road?

Some of the road signs were very very funny, like “Watch out for Drink Drivers”. Why should I watch out for drink drivers? Why not say “Don’t Drink and Drive”? Have the police given up trying to STOP people from drink driving, instead we all have to watch out for these idiots?

Anyway, I still haven’t got my US license. I need to get off my butt and get that done. I have no idea why I must go for four hours of drink and drug awareness. It needs to be all the drink drivers who should go. Insane.

Thank goodness for Baltimore Restaurant Week for bringing back some sanity. The Wife and I took the opportunity to enjoy Marie Louise Bistro in Mount Vernon.

This place is fantastic. If you have read my other blogs, you will know I do not rave about anywhere! But this place was great.

We ate off the set menu for Restaurant Week. You can’t go wrong with $30 for three courses. And this place went above and beyond. The service was spot on, friendly but not kiss ass. The food was wonderful. Deserts from Patisserie Poupon, and tea from Harney & Sons. Harney and his boys might not be English, but they still do actually know something about tea.

This is a new restaurant I am actually interested in going back to. Thank you Baltimore Restaurant Week for making it fun to go try new places!

Our Rating

***** Looking forward to coming back.

Kalis Meli - 1636 Thames St, Baltimore

So, not being from the US Halloween is a bit lost on me. Adults dressing up in costumes and getting so drunk that they can't see. It doesn't really appeal. Don't get me wrong, us Brits know how to drink. But the whole adults dressing up thing, that really confuses me. In Baltimore, it looked like Fells Point was the place to be if you were dressed up as the joker or a slutty nurse.

The Wife and I were grateful for the refuge that was Kalis Meli. The restaurant was a stones throw from all the 'action', but it seemed like a world away. Entering through the patissere, the restaurant and bar area has a very cool and sexy atmosphere. We were invited downstairs to the lounge area which was much more laid back than upstairs. The other diners, were young, hip and sexy. Some of our friends were there too. We decided we could hang out here. 

The waitress promptly took our drinks order, the Wife chose a glass of red, and because the place was very cool and sexy I chose a martini. If Bond can get away with it, then surely I can too?

Looking through the seasonal menu, we found it hard to decided what to eat. I went with the Duo of Duck and the Wife went with the Lamb Shank. Very difficult to choose though.

Not long after ordering, our drinks arrived. I don't think James would have ordered my martini. He definitely could have pulled it off. I didn't feel so comfortable drinking from the leopard print glass. Not very macho. The Wife's red wine looked much more manly. After getting passed the glass, the drink was nicely mixed, strong enough to know it was alcoholic but not blow my socks off.

The food didn't take too long to arrive, they clearly have the system well organized. The portions are pretty big, they probably could cut the size down by a quarter and keep people happy. We may then also have room to order dessert.

My Duo of Duck was cooked perfectly. It was juicy and slightly pink. It came with a nice side salad, that had orange marmalade running through it and was topped by a quails egg. Being a duo there was a leg and breast with a rich reduction gravy. The flavours were very well balanced, and I can highly recommend this dish.

Dining with the Wife is great, she is so small it is rare that she finishes a meal. Given the large size of the portions here, I was in for a very special treat. The Lamb Shank was very tender. The meat just fell off the bone. I could eat this everyday. Another meal we could highly recommend.

With the great atmosphere and food, there wasn't anything scary about the restaurant. It was the perfect hide out from Halloween.

The Wife's Rating

****

My Rating

****

* Are you Joking?

** A Horror Show

*** Trick or Treat?

**** Candy Apple Sweet

***** Light my Lantern