Baltimore Eats 3 + Hampden Doc

Before a couple of entries in our Baltimore Eats series, we wanted to share a little doc from our first exploration of Hampden, a neighborhood north of the inner harbor. Per Ilya's feedback... no password! Enjoy!

Hampden Vibes from Robert Rixman on Vimeo.

Now onto some restaurant reviews:

Loch Bar

Our weekend of indulgence started at Loch Bar where we grabbed a cocktail before our reservation at Fleet Street Kitchen. We made two new friends and watched the Preakness Stakes at what is quickly becoming our favorite bar in Baltimore! 

Crabicusious Rating: 5 crabs out of 5 (we've been here before) 

Fleet Street Kitchen

Fleet Street Kitchen is your classic farm-to-table kind-of-expensive hipster-eatery. We ate a lot of food. And the chef sent out a few "extra bites" so probably best to do this one bullet style: 

• Bourbon mules with house made ginger beer (!) 
• An insane cheese board with strawberries and candied pecans 
• Beat soup 
• Lamb Rago 
• Some kind of carrot dish 
• Smoked Salmon
• The most tender chicken medallions in history
• Some dough balls compliments of the chef (oops I forgot what this was called)
• Praline Kit Kat Dessert (had to take this to go for obvious reasons)

So yeah, Bryson would have had trouble finding something to eat... 

We found ourselves in somewhat of a food coma afterwards. I can't imagine why!

Crabicurious Rating: 5 crabs out of 5

Woodberry Kitchen

Trade your hipster beard and skinny tie in for dread locks and a flannel button up that could pass for a female blouse. We're not talking "touristy Harbor East", we're talking an abandoned foundry, doubling as an art studio, with a brunch restaurant nestled right there; and of course, a mere mile from one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America, because everywhere else would have been too corporate. 

Obviously. this place was HIP! Also its the #11 ranked restaurant on TripAdvisor. 

While the spot was packed, we were lucky enough to score a couple of seats at the bar. I ordered a breakfast flatbread made right and Leslie went with the French toast. As you could guess of a place with this kind of hipster quotient.... the food was fire! 

I'm writing this sentence at 8:18pm and I'm still uncomfortably full. Maybe we should join a gym... 

Crabicurious Rating: 4.5 crabs out of 5

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Back in the Ville

by Leslie

I cannot start the with our joyous trip to The Ville without briefly mentioning the chaos that was the morning of the flight and Draper inviting giardia into his body. Because of Drapey's issue, we needed to take him to the vet. The earliest they could see him was noon... 1 hour before we were supposed to leave for the airport. Also his vet is nearly 20 minutes away. Somehow, we got back in time, however the vet told us he could no longer stay at his fancy pet resort. Something out not wanting to get every dog in the Hanover area contaminated with giardia. Luckily! Our dear friend saved the day and offered to watch and care for our sick Drapey all weekend! Thanks Jordan!! 

Moving on! We made it to our gate in the knick of time! Good ole Southwest took us directly to the Ville (a bit of a bouncy landing...but we made it.) There, the beautiful Sandy Hanlin picked us up and took us to a Hanlin happy hour with shrimp cocktail, crackers and hummus, and who could forget the delicious pimento cheese spread! To keep the night flowing the Philster let us borrow the mini cooper for old time sake! with the mini cooper we motored right on down to our staple spot, Highlands Taproom. 

[Editor's note: unfortunately the pace here was a little unsustainable and we never got around to cleverly detailing our trip back to Louisville. So instead... a lazy photo racap... Enjoy!]

Right after we arrived, pit stop at Casa Hanlin for some apps and cocktails! Off to a pretty good start 

Hannah and Leslie back together again! 

Me and Yaboyseph at the Taproom

Pretty spectacular lyrical duet prowess displayed by Bryson and Sarah Walker! 

Zack killed. I have this performance on my iPhone on repeat

Standing in front of Bryson's favorite Bardstown Road establishment

As you can see, Sandy outdid herself with the "continental breakfast." I'd highly recommend this B&B

Meg and Ben have a new dog! Don't tell them I'm thinking about stealing it

Dad still hasn't replaced my straight line grass cutting ability as you can see. But its hard to replace a legend...

Dad's new truck

Headed to Ruth's Chris to celebrate Emily's (Crabicurious.com's toughest critic) running of the marathon! What an accomplishment!! Oh it was just a mini marathon? That's still impressive! Oh she just walked it? That's still something! 

Oh what a happy coincidence, an opportunity to snap some photos on the balcony of the restaurant

Long exposure practice

Philip being class clown! 

The next day we met out at Casa Rixman which meant ball. But the best shots may have come from Bryson... on the camera!.... see what I did there?

Yaboy you better not hit that.

I wonder if this went in. 

Epic H.O.R.S.E. comeback by me, right Ben? (Ben was mad at the house rules and didn't speak to me really the rest of the day but I didn't make the rules I just took advantage of them to cement the greatest comeback of all time). 

Nice shot by Leslie here!

Ben and Meg!

I got a picture of Meg Smiling! 

Is this a) a fresh healthy green power smoothie or b) a blended Mojito? 

Looking for something with a little more effort from Crabicurious? Check out some of our recent posts: 

And be sure to check out the latest from The Louisville Beat:

Crabicurious' NYC Derby Documentary

Trust us, the original cut with all the copyright infringement was way more lit!

Password: crabicurious

New York Derby from Robert Rixman on Vimeo.

More from Crabicurious...

My Brother Taught Me Everything I Know

Today is my big bro's 28th birthday. I thought there was no better way to honor him than let the world know I wouldn't be who I am without him. He tells me all the time "I taught you everything you know." He's right. Here are some life lessons the person I looked up to the most (figuratively and literally) taught me:

How to be Mature

They say life's too short to take things too seriously. Studying under the tutelage of Philip (one L) Rixman instilled that in me. 

Class clown? Maybe. Life of the party? Absolutely. Sometimes takes things way to far? Who am I to judge? In all seriousness, anyone who knows Philip knows he would do anything for a laugh, but that's because deep down he loves making others happy! 

How to be Lucky

Okay, so he's not the luckiest guy in the world. But sometimes bad luck is character building. From Phil, I learned to find the humor in misery, the strength to bounce back, and the courage to take the shot in the first place. Here are a few of my favorite courses:

• Anatomy 101: This story is probably a little too blue for the blog, but none who were there will ever forget that one time at band camp and the HUGE infection that was in fact not cured by Gatorade...
• Introduction to Statistics: Most people probably wouldn't think its a good idea to bet $600 on a few games of "3 cups and a ball." More people probably wouldn't bet a few random strangers on the street. Not my bro! Courage won out on this occasion... well courage and the strangers who won his $600... 
• Intermediate Neuroscience: The Cardinals make their first Orange Bowl. Leave it to Philip to drop his phone in the ocean and then get a devastating migraine for the duration of the game he was attending as a member of the band.
• Advanced Mechanics: Knock on wood, I've not had a lot of serious car troubles. I like to think its because my brother took all the troubles for me. Whether its getting his car totaled but a guy who ran a red light, tearing his ACL pushing a car out of snow, getting his windows smashed and his radio stolen, or that one thing that Drew Elliott did that we don't speak about, it feels like the luck is against him at times. He deserves a break; I won't even mention that time he got a ticket in my car and didn't tell me... 

How to be a Good Sport

Its a passionate rivalry U of L has with UK, but at the end of the day, its just a game and when UK's season ends, I learned from Philip how to take the high road and be a good sport:

Never Do Anything Halfway

The guy doesn't dabble. He doesn't dip his toe in the water. When Philip finds a new hobby, love interest, or weird collection opportunity, you better believe its a giant cannonball into the deep end. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Collecting 80 bobble heads 
• 32 DAYS of in-game Call of Duty Modern Warefare 2 time played
• Probably triple that in Call of Duty gameplay streaming 
• A very impressive Kentucky Derby shrine of pins, cups, and tickets
• 21 Skyline Chili Coneys eaten in one sitting (Side Note: this record is contested as he may have thrown up halfway through. Side Note 2: I brought a girl here on a first date. Side Note 3: Oddly there was no second date)

Watching the master taking on the great eating challenge of our day! "Do not flash the camera in my approach!" 

Friendship Above Everything

Two titans of the Love/Hate friendship model battling it out for the world to see. I was honored to have witnessed!

When Leslie and I started dating, she once confessed that she honestly thought me and my friends all hated each other. That's because we went to U of PAR (Philip Andrew Rixman) and learned a particular brand of friendship. There's no chance for the weak of soul here. It can get pretty brutal! Grounded in humor and tinged with unforgivableness, at the end of the day we all know there's nothing but love there.

How to be a Groomsmen

Is there any more tangible metric that proves how much one is loved than how many weddings he or she has been a part of? I've lost count of the number of times someone has asked Philip to be up on that alter on the biggest day of their life. Here are a few of my favorite images of Philip at weddings:

But maybe my favorite wedding picture of them all is this one. An immaculate shot taken by one of the nation's premier wedding photographers, capturing the moment, the mood, and the love of my first dance with my new bride. And the picture would mean half as much as it does to me now without Philip awkwardly snapping a picture with his giant phone right behind us. 

Ball is Life

Urban dictionary defines "Ball is Life" as follows:

"A term used by fake ballers, whom think of themselves as the next Lebron, wear elite socks, and generally play basketball often. However it is overused often and taken out of context.
James : Yo, we balling today. 
Jim : Yeah bro, ball is life."

But for Philip and I, Ball Actually is Life. Our childhood was spent in the driveway, playing 1 on 1, where he would absolutely beat me down (until one day the apprentice became the master). Its on that driveway that I developed a [sometimes unflattering] competitive edge that still exists today.

Its after those games that we'd go inside and play NBA Jam until Philip got too wired and did something like break my glasses that would get the controllers taken away from us.

"Ball" is the number one thing we have in common with our Dad, who would take us to Legendary Freedom Hall to root on the greatest and most morally pure college basketball program of all time.

It was together on court 1 of the SAC that the U of L football team absolutely DESTROYED us in a game of 5 on 5 (Kevin is still out there jacking threes!).

It's "Ball" that brought us the most satisfying victory and crowning atheltic achievement of our lives. Beating The Black Team at Crawford Gym. 

I look fondly on those memories now and realize they shaped who I am today. 

Philip taught me how to Ball, and he taught me everything else I know.

Happy Birthday Bro!

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Draper Gets Giardia

Atta Boy! 

Our Draper stocks are crashing harder than Twitter these days (nice topical joke Rob!). By that I mean he has found a new way to be a lovable financial drain on our estate. This time it was by inviting Giardia into his system. Giardia is a protozoan parasite contracted by ingesting infectious offspring found in contaminated food, water, or other dog's poo... (some of Draper's favorite things). 

It all started when we had some awesome weather and thought it would be great to get to know our local state park by hitting the ole hiking trails. Patapsco Valley State Park. Of the 170 miles of trails we maybe reached 5 miles. However, those 5 miles were gorgeous...plenty of photo opportunities from waterfalls to tall magnificent trees. Not to mention dogs for Draper to bark at and parasites for Draper to ingest. He loves a good parasite though for real! 

By the end of our 3 hours of nature, we were dying of starvation and thirst and our dog was sick. Yes I am an Eagle Scout.