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.

Tapas Teatro - 1711 N. Charles Street, Baltimore

I love watching a good movie. I am very excited about the new James Bond film, Quantum Of Solace. The trailers have looked very exciting. Initially, I was concerned about having a blonde guy trying to be the tall dark and handsome Bond that I myself aspired to be. But Daniel Craig's first portrayal of Bond was really engaging. I think this next movie is going to be a cracker.

I know Quantum Of Solace is going to be shown in lots of theatres when it releases, but unfortunately, I do not like the majority of cinemas. The sticky floors, people talking through the movie, and overpriced soda and popcorn. The Wife and I went to watch a movie at AMC Towson Commons once. One girl shouted another down, and asked the B*$%h to step outside. We haven't been back. Thankfully I have been impressed by the growing number of independent and 'boutique' movie theatres that have been arriving in Baltimore.

We really enjoy the old school Senator, it provides a refreashing step back in time. Old school elegance with a hightech (ish) movie experience. The new Landmark Theatre in Harbor East is much more modern, and like the Senator you can take your drinks in to the movie. But I do take objection to drinking out of a plastic cup. So that leaves The Charles Theatre at 1711 N. Charles Street. This is the epitome of cool. They show arty films for film lovers. I don't know what it makes me, I went to see Borat there. But it is a great experience. It is a shame they do not have Quantum Of Solace lined up to play.

I would highly recommend that you visit 1711 N. Charles Street though if just to go to Tapas Teatro.

This trendy restaurant is very popular, and for good reason. The service is always polite and prompt. The drinks are well mixed, with great wine and beer selections. Their tag line, small plates big pleasure, really is true. The quality of ingredients is very difficult to fault. This is a restaurant you can rely on for consistently good food.

The restaurant has just started a new scheme to use local produce. This doesn't only mean the quality of produce can be easily monitored by the restaurant, the menu will be even more seasonal, they will be helping local farmers and their carbon footprint will be reduced significantly. We often forget the thousands of miles our produce often travels and the impact that is having on our environment.

The Wife and I are big fans of restaurants that support local farmers and are environmently friendly.

I chose the Sprouts with Truffle Parmesan sauce, and Lamb Meatballs. The wife chose New Potatoes and Beef Skillet Steak. The wife said the Sprouts were the best she has every had, the new potatoes were fresh and really tasty. 

To be honest, I felt a little let down by the steak and meatballs. Often we have the Lamb Cutlets, but we stepped outside our box, and they were not as tasty as the Lamb. Still excellent, but slightly dissapointing for this fantastic restaurant. I felt there was a little too much cumin in the meatballs, and the steak was a little over cooked for our taste.

Overall we love Tapas Teatro, and we know we will be going back time and time again. Maybe next time we will have a meal and then head to the cinema. 

Our Rating

**** given our usual experience it should be five.