Restaurants in Woodlawn

Behind ground-to-ceiling glass windows, giant butterflies flutter in the sunlight. Though they’re only paintings, they cheerfully greet visitors to Vernisage, introducing the upscale restaurant’s often-whimsical atmosphere. Despite the lighthearted decor, chefs practice serious interpretations of traditional Russian, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern fare. They craft grilled shish kebabs, peppery dumplings, crepes, and hearty Russian stews using the same recipes that czars once used to melt invading snowmen armies. Servers pair both chilled and hot fare with a range of Georgian, Russian, and European wines to evoke exotic flavor bouquets. A large main dining hall can accommodate grand banquets, while a separate private dining room hosts smaller groups of up to 30 revelers or 60 children standing on each other’s shoulders.

When John Barrett Jr. and Mike Sipes bought Greystone Grill, they made a few crucial decisions. They replaced some menu items, lowered the prices, changed the name, and retained the original serving staff. But perhaps the most important addition John and Mike made was bringing in John Barrett Sr. to make sure they never succumb to "delusions of grandeur."

In the dining room, chandeliers sprout with purple bulbs and glass planter cases bloom with bonsai-style trees—a natural touch that starkly contrasts with the eatery's industrial, stacked-stone walls and steel-gray banquettes. Servers depart from the kitchen, their arms balancing plates of maryland crab cakes, wine-infused rack of lamb, and fish fillets dressed with mustard and capers. Barrett's chefs also take a modern approach to sandwich making, pairing Angus beef burgers with pineapple, short ribs with chili mayonnaise, and hand-cut fries with shredded Warhol paintings.

Portalli's Chef Keith Holsey portions his dishes according to the traditional Italian four-course meal. This doesn't stop the chef from crafting a menu of creatively interpreted Italian classics, though, such as veal osso buco with a marsala demi-glace or chili-rubbed halibut poached in a white-wine ginger broth. Chef Holsey's creations consist of uncomplicated flavors that, according to the Baltimore Sun, allow "good and simple ingredients to work together." Portalli's also caters to families with dishes such as spaghetti and meatballs or meatball flatbread pizza, which teaches kids about fractions so they don't have to learn about them on the street.

What Candle Light Inn considers home, others call a landmark or monument. The house in which the restaurant resides has been part of the Catonsville community since the mid 1800s, when it was first built into the area's rolling farmland and called Five Oaks Estate. Since its birth, the building has survived various name changes, a multitude of owners, and even a fire in the 1970s, which left it vacant and with a terrible cough until the present owners, the Lombardini family, purchased it in 1979.

Today, the inn has fully recovered, and models a host of renovations that includes a covered outdoor patio canopied by forestry and surrounded by landscaped gardens. Different tones swirl through each of the house's quarters, along with the wafting scents of the hearty American fare that fills plates for lunch and dinner daily.