We had a brunch date at Rye Street Tavern in Baltimore during my birthday weekend. I hadn't known the restaurant until I read a recent Zagat article that highlighted it as one of must-try restaurants in Baltimore. They serve weekend brunch, and their location (South Baltimore) was actually not so far from our place. Dining-out at a new restaurant became a part of my birthday gifts from J.
J's drink, "Moonshine Mule" - McClintock Clear Whiskey, Q Ginger Beer, and lime. It sounded refreshing. I believe he enjoy it. We both ordered "Holy Trinity Gumbo" with jumbo lump crab as appetizer. Warm, a little bit spicy soup was a nice starter.
For main dish, again we both ordered "Crispy Flounder" sandwich with brioche bun. It came with yuzu-pickled cucumbers, lettuce and tomato. Old bay aioli on the side, as we requested. Also, salad or French fries was served. I chose salad. Fries for J. The flounder was hot and crispy and tasted clean, not fishy at all. I liked yuzu flavored cucumber slices. Brioche bun was fine, too. Overall, the sandwich was pretty good. On the other hand, my green salad had an issue. It was the most salty salad that I have ever had. Apparently the salad dressing, which our waiter described simple balsamic (or red wine? I don't remember) vinaigrette, was extremely salty. I don't know whether my salad got an unfortunate accident or their salad was always salty like mine.
After the brunch, our waiter kindly brought a little cute cupcake with a candle to celebrate my birthday. How sweet! Actually the cake, especially the cream topping was surprisingly tasty. I was a happy birthday girl.
The restaurant had a great grass area with several wooden chairs and table, facing to the bay. The view was peaceful. After brunch, we took a walk along the water a little bit, watching old wooden piers, ships, and water birds. There was a local distillery right next to the restaurant. We quickly checked the distillery's gift shop. Whisky chocolate was interesting but we still had J's wonderful cherry ganache pie at home, so we passed it this time.
Our brunch date was fun! The place was modern and cozy. Food was good. Our waiter was nice. We had a great time. Would we come back the restaurant again? Well, we might only if their serving speed improved. It took ridiculously long time between our seating and ordering; between J's drink and gumbo; between gumbo and sandwich, and even payment. We waited, waited, waited each time. Although we enjoyed our conversation and the beautiful outside view (luckily our table was next to the window.), that level of slow service wasn't welcome to us.
