Restaurants in Lochearn

Soretti's specializes in serving a robust menu of authentic, home-style Ethiopian fare, which is traditionally eaten with injera, a light, spongy flatbread that serves as an edible utensil. For dinner, embark on a culinary odyssey with the gomen be-ayib, (collard greens with homemade cheese, herbed butter, and toast, $6.95) before tongue-hopping to the veggie combo #1 ($11.50), which features red lentils, cabbage, potatoes, split peas, string beans, carrots, and tomato salad. Meatier dishes including the beef tibs ($11.50) sautéed with jalapeño, onions, and herbs, cater to carnivorous cravings. Soretti’s also features a lunch menu and traditional weekend coffee service with eggs, toast, and omelettes. With its butter-hued walls and cozy tables, Soretti’s interior is as warm and inviting as diving off a springboard into a tub of margarine. Reservations are recommended for parties larger than six.

In order to replicate Low country-inspired cuisine, a chef should first stock up on fresh locally-sourced ingredients. The Low country, a geographical area along the coastal plain of South Carolina, stretching from Charleston to Savannah, Georgia, is known for its comforting and alluring tastes. Luckily for Neal Langermann, he's good pals with Hoppin' John, a supplier of heirloom grits from the Georgia mountains who only distributes his naturally pollinated, stone-ground kernels to chefs whom he trusts to do them justice. Neal has yet to disappoint his friend, preparing Hoppin’ John’s grits with a velvety clam broth, andouille sausage, and shrimp for a signature dish that won Baltimore magazine's award for Best Shrimp and Grits in 2012.

Langermann’s Charleston shrimp 'n' grits is one of the many reinvented Low Country classics on the restaurant’s menu. Basking in the sunlit dining room or perched at the upstairs loft bar, diners can savor fried green tomatoes, carolina gumbo, and bog country roasted chicken in a spicy Cajun sauce, before ending meals on a sweet note with a slice of housemade sweet-potato pie and a hug from the resident teddy bear. Langermann’s Low country-inspired fixings "surpass their humble origins," according to Baltimore magazine's 2011 list of its Best Restaurants. The article also notes the restaurant staff’s charming Southern hospitality, assuring visitors will “feel nurtured and at home" when presented with a helping of honey-glazed cornbread.

When 18-year old Casey Jenkins enrolled in the US Marine Corp, his only intention was to serve his country. After spending time as a line cook, however, he began a love affair with the culinary arts. When service ended, he took his skills to the next level by enrolling in the Culinary Institute of America. Over time, he honed his skills and eventually opened Darker Than Blue Cafe, known throughout Baltimore for its pairing of live jazz performances with low-country southern cuisine made from fresh, local ingredients.

The restaurant has garnered praise, voted Baltimore’s Best Soul Food by Voice Places. Diners sip peach-mango tea during all-you-can-eat Sunday jazz brunch, when live music fills the restaurant for a more melodious backdrop than a recording of Harvey Fierstein reading The Grapes of Wrath. They can also bring their own libations to enjoy with dinner, which features classics such as chicken and waffles topped with whipped cream, Cajun shrimp served over salmon cakes, and baby-back ribs.

Lisa Markiewicz lends more than her zen-like surname to the wine bar and lounge she recently opened in Mount Vernon. Her extensive knowledge of pan-Mediterranean cuisine—including grecian tapas and grecian lamb chops—informs the menu at Waterstone Bar & Grille, and her love of the region’s signature libation shines through in a drink menu that features more than 100 wines sold at retail price.

The restaurant’s chic lounge space strikes a balance between Old-World elegance and the hipness of the Mount Vernon neighborhood that surrounds it. Exposed-brick walls give way to plum pastels—a contrast mediated by the gauzy black curtains draped over windows and doorways. The restaurant's prime location puts theaters such as the Hippodrome, Lyric, and Centerstage within close walking distance, making it easy to lovingly pelt actors with Mediterranean-spiced tomatoes during their curtain calls.

When the first Eggspectation eatery opened in Montreal in 1993, the concept was simple: upscale brunch with a focus on decadent egg and crepe dishes. The founding concept has been tweaked only slightly since then, with a menu that today includes more than 160 breakfast, lunch, and dinner items. Breakfast remains the menu’s biggest draw, with a dozen egg benedicts and savory crepes, 16 omelets and fruity pancakes, plus french toast and waffles. At lunch and dinner, chefs stack plates with fine-dining-style entrees, such as half-pound USDA-choice beef burgers and steak and seafood entrees, such as maple-glazed rib eye or lump crab cakes. Whether at a location in Canada, the US, or India, patrons can slide behind a table amid rustic stone and brick walls flanked by jubilant circus-theme decor, such as colorful murals and paparazzi snapshots of Humpty Dumpty.

Cuba de Ayer Restaurant owners Jessica and William Rodriguez ensure their dishes demonstrate what the Washingtonian dubbed "the mandate of the Cuban restaurant: The food should never be too fine or too fussy." Their menu lets the traditional food speak for itself, from the marinated pork that arrives draped in sautéed onions to the hearty black beans and rice that accompany thinly-sliced steaks.

Steaming plates load tables inside the cozy dining room, which sports rich oxblood walls decorated with colorful artwork. Guests relax in snug booths with cups of café con leche and sweet tres leches cakes, a decadent alternative to glasses of milk.