We haven’t even eaten there yet, but I think Shelley and I have a new favorite Baltimore restaurant: Parts & Labor, across from Charmington’s coffee shop and just up from the Ottobar at 26th and Howard, on the border of Charles Village and Remington. Parts & Labor, which opened just in the last few days, is the latest project of Spike Gjerde, long-time competitor with Cindy Wolf and Tony Foreman for the title of Baltimore’s answer to NYC’s celebrity chef Mario Batali or Philadelphia’s José Garces or Stephen Starr. It’s housed in what used to be a tire shop (hence the name). With this new venue, Spike returns to old stomping grounds (“Smalltimore” alert!): he and his brother Charlie were our next-door neighbors here on Abell Avenue back in the late 1980s. We had already planned a dinner of chargrilled burgers on the back porch when I came home from a long Sunday afternoon walk and reported to Shelley that P&L had opened. So we strolled over afterward—took a mere 15 minutes—for postprandial cocktails. And OMG what cocktails! My “Remingtonian” combined Rittenhouse Rye with maple extract, two kinds of bitters, and a “hop rinse”; that last involves swirling a house-made concentrated hop infusion around the glass until it evaporates, leaving only a pungent scent like the Cheshire Cat’s grin. Shelley’s “Parabola” combined dry-hopped whiskey with nectarine syrup, orange bitters, and verjus. I asked where they sourced the verjus, since last summer I had bought a Finger Lakes inliquidation of same and have been trying in vain to make it work in a cocktail ever since—it’s way sour. The bartender said theirs comes from Black Ankle Vineyards out in Frederick County; unfortunately Black Ankle sells it only to P&J—it’s not available to the DIY-cocktailing public. Whatever. The drinks were sublime and sublime. Ah Baltimore, you’ve come a long way these last few years—used to be the only things we sourced locally were crack and meth. Besides specialty cocktails, P&L offers a brewer’s dozen of craft beers by the pony (5 ounces), the pint, or the growler. Except for a few from New England, all the beers are Mid-Atlantic born and brewed. After our cocktails, this being the day after the Kentucky Derby, we each ordered a pony: Shelley had a gose with persimmon syrup from Baltimore’s own Union Brewing, and I knocked back a Yards ESB from Philadelphia. See below for the photo finish, but we agreed the ESB won by a malty nose. We’ll be back for some growlers. We’ll also be back for the food. Just as we were leaving, our barmates’ dinners arrived in the form of two humongous ham hocks. They’re big men, but even so I suspect they’ll be leaving with doggie bags. Lucky dogs.
Posted on: Mon, 05 May 2014 02:56:56 +0000
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