Hamilton's Great Eats!

After moving to Hamilton, we quickly scoped out the local hotspots for great eats. We've stumbled upon two gems of the Harford Main Street Revitalization project:

Hamilton Tavern

5517 Harford Rd

Baltimore, MD 21214
http://www.hamiltontavern.com/

and

Clementine

5402 Harford Rd
Baltimore, MD 21214
http://www.bmoreclementine.com/

1. Hamilton Tavern:

This local tavern is tied to the famous Brewer's Art and maintains a lot of the charm of the esthablishment. While they may not carry some of the expensive dinner specialities, they do have an regular menu with tasty offerings. My personal favorite is the CrossTown Burger ($10)- Roseda Farms beef, shredded iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, & horseradish cheddar. It's always cooked perfectly, and arrives with a side of The Tavern's famous homemade potato chips. The Tavern also carries a variety of beer, with a rotating tap that always includes Brewer's Art's famous, Resurrection. I've never been disappointed in my 5+ visits to the location, and I anticipate many more happy times at this great local esthablishment.

2. Clementine:

A tiny little hole in the wall restaurant, recently featured on NPR's "Radio Kitchen"- this spot is a show-stopper. When you walk into the restaurant, you feel like you're sitting down in your grandmother's country kitchen- but the meals are far from downhome cooking. The menu features an array of intricate, delicate gourmet dishes, with a daily special dish that often includes smoked/grilled/or charred meats created in Clementine's own in-house Charcuterie. My personal favorite dish is the- "Smoked Then Grilled Pork Tenderloin" w/ Roasted Apple Maple Cream, Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes & Asparagus ($20). It's deliciously smoky, without being overwhelming, and the creamy mashed potatoes were perfect. While this restaurant is significantly pricier than many of the restaurants on the Harford Road Corridor, it's worth every penny.

Next Stop:

Big Bad Wolf's House of Barbeque

5713 Harford Rd

Baltimore, MD 21214

http://www.bigbadwolfbarbeque.com/

Guess who's coming to Dinner?

We are now the number one search hit for 'Pickled Yam' on Google! That's right, we're in the big leagues, everybody! If you go to Google.com, search for 'Pickled Yam', the very first link you'll get will be our website! All right!

Seriously though, I feel a little guilty about this. While it took some work, some posts, some spreading around of the link to our website, we've now surpassed an actual recipe for Pickled Yam. And really, that's just not fair.

How frustrating is it, when someone is trying to make a dinner, does a search for something delicious and comes across a website that doesn't even pertain to what you're looking for?! We were just trying to be funny with the name- The Pickled Yam- since Josh is Jewish (Pickles) and I'm African (Yams)...but now the joke has gone too far. ;) In order to redeem ourselves, I've decided to post an actual recipe for Pickled Yam, here, on our website- so that no search is in vain (I also wanted to write a post with the words 'Pickled Yam' in it, several times, to secure our top seat.) - ;)

Hope all is well with everyone, and enjoy the Yam.

Pickled Yam

Ingredients

Suran / Yam – a small piece
Red Chillies – 5
Tamarind – a small ball
Coconut – 3 tsps (if desired)
Salt – to taste

Method:

1. Take a small piece of suren & cut it into thin strips, about 1/2" long. Apply salt & let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Then squeeze these & deep fry them till nice & crispy.

2. In the same oil deep fry the chillies till they turn slightly brown.

3. Now put the chillies & tamarind in a mixer & grind to a fine paste. Add water as required. Use as less water as possible.

4. At this stage you can add the coconut & grind in too or leave it. It does not matter. Adding coconut means you have to finish of this pickle in a weeks time. Minus the coconut it stays longer. Coconut just brings in a thickness to the pickle. I added some to the one I made.

5. Now transfer the ground paste to a bowl, add required salt & fried suran.If u want u can season with oil & mustard seeds.
Let it stay for a day before u can eat it, as all the chillies & salt will blend well & the suran wil get to soak well in this spicy mixture.

You can have this with idlis & dosas.. Yes, its spicy, add a drop of coconut oil on top & its heavenly!! Or just simply enjoy it with curd rice.. its delicious!!!!!!!!

gross.