Last night was a very enjoyable excursion to a restaurant in the Columbia/Ellicott City area with a good friend of mine who happened to be in town for work. I couldn’t let an opportunity to see him slip away since he finally made it to the Bmore area, so we met at his hotel and walked across the parking lot to check out the Greystone Grill. Besides, being the foodie that I am, I welcomed the excuse to try out a new restaurant!
We started with a blue crab & artichoke fondue described in the menu as ‘a melting pot of cheeses with crisp crostini.’ People, that’s fancy talk for dip. It didn’t come out in a fondue pot, and no dipping skewers were provided. I was a little let down at the sight, but their crostinis more than made up for it! I’m not usually one to love bread by itself, but this was a definite exception to my rule. I’m not actually sure if it was scratch-made in the restaurant or if they jazzed up some store-bought goods, but the light sprinkling of Old Bay really made them shine. Dipped in the “fondue”, it was a flavorful way to start the meal. It definitely could have stood more artichokes in my opinion, but I’m not gonna knock cheesy-crabby goodness with really snazzy bread!
For the main event, my friend completely stole my idea after I told him what I was vibing on just prior to ordering. He was all set to order the shrimp & champagne pasta [which sounded divine!], but at the last minute went with the pan-seared ahi tuna, Greystone salad & side of the day, which happened to be green beans sautéed with garlic.
Even though there were plenty of yummy-sounding entrees to choose from, I chose to order an hors d’oeuvre and a side instead. I went with the ahi tuna appetizer --- “pan seared rare and sesame crusted, served with a wasabi vinaigrette.” It was, surprisingly, the first time I’ve ever ordered tuna in a restaurant. My side of choice? Sautéed mushrooms seasoned with garlic and thyme. Very glad I chose to go with a smaller portion; it was actually just the right amount. The tuna was very smooth, with a nice mellow flavor. I usually love sesame anything, but it seemed to get lost once I dipped the tuna in the wasabi vinaigrette; eh, the vinaigrette was really good as well, so I can’t complain.
Overall, I’d rate the experience as a 4 out of 5. The company was wonderful, the food was tasty, and the 3 hours flew by! Hopefully Buppy and I will be able to visit this restaurant, too. I think I saw on their website that they offer discounted gift certificates. Now who doesn’t love that?
My how time flies. Christmas '09 is now a thing of the past, if only by a day. Buppy and I seriously enjoyed our trip up to NYC Christmas Eve. We left our house around 4pm and arrived in The City around 8:30pm. The hotel was easy enough to find and we were lucky enough to find a parking garage almost directly across the street. After our quick check-in, we headed out to find Asian Fusion, our dinner pick from restaurant.com. We were surprised at how packed the restaurant was, but that doesn't say much considering how tiny the place was. The sushi was affordable (especially with our gift certificate!), beautiful and very delish. My salmon was my favorite (from my order) and had such fantastic texture. My favorite from Buppy's order? Both! His were really, really tasty! 
After dinner, we decided to find the Rockefeller Tree. We knew we weren't staying very far from it, so it was just a matter of locating the appropriate block. We found some cute decorations along the way, as well as some crazily decorated vehicles. I didn't know that Radio City Music Hall has their own tree (which turns colors), but we ran across that on our trek too. One of the most holiday-ish sites we found was directly across from Rockefeller; the Saks Fifth Ave. building had giant snowflakes all across the side that lit up along with Carol of the Bells.
And then there it was, the main reason I wanted to venture to The City for Christmas --- Rockefeller Tree! I can't even describe to you the feeling of seeing that tree in person. Most people, my family included, don't understand the big deal, but it's just something I've always wanted to see up close and in person. It didn't disappoint. We didn't get in line to skate on the rink below the tree; I'm sure it would have taken us 2+ hours to get through the line! I'm ok with that though, since I saw what I came there for.
We wandered around looking at different buildings and sites for awhile after that, then ended up at one of the few places open to warm up: Applebee's. We had a cocktail or 2 there (At the staggering price of $62 for 4 drinks total, no food. Can you say OUCH?) and then headed back to the hotel.
Christmas day consisted of lunch at Carnegie Deli (can you say "wow" to their Reuben?!?!), walking the fashion district (the Juicy store had tigers on their model's heads!), roaming Bryant Park and just taking in The City. We found a fabulous little shop in Bryant Park where we got Buppy some hot choco. He said it was $5 and well worth it --- he called it "liquid gold" in his mouth!
While I would have enjoyed being with my family for the holidays, especially since they were all home together in Wisco and I didn't get to see them last year for the holidays, this was a close 2nd to "most enjoyable holiday." And with my discount from working at a hotel, a quite affordable holiday as well! Happy holidays '09!
The Nest is a restaurant located very near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. It's mainly a sports bar but does serve food as well, both lunch and dinner. They were advertising for a bartending job recently and Buppy and I decided to make a trip there, have some lunch, I'd apply for the job and we'd enjoy each other's company and the beauty of the Inner Harbor for a few hours. What a horrible idea.
They participate in Restaurant.com, so we thought it'd be a good idea to grab a certificate and give it a try. Their menu on the Restaurant.com website sounded like it had a few yummy items to try, like their crab dip, Parmesan onion rings and their half-lb.-of-bacon BLT. It sounded like normal bar food, so we knew what we were getting into when we bought the certificate; we had no unreal expectations.
When we arrived, we decided to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather; while not sunny, it was still a decent temp. outside. We started off with beverages --- I ordered a glass of water with no ice, no lemon. Buppy ordered a Coke. I got a glass of water with no ice and lemon on it and he ended up with a diet Coke; our server fixed the Coke issue after Buppy brought it to her attention. We decided on their "Big Daddy" appetizer as it had a good variety of things we both wanted to try. It came with their Parmesan onion rings, mozzarella logs, crab dip and chicken tenders.
The crab dip had no crab in it. I kid you not. It was orange-ish yellow cream cheese with nothing else in it. I've never had crab dip this blah, and I've tried a lot. The mozzarella logs were ok, although the marinara sauce was lacking. That, however, we'll chalk up to personal taste. The chicken tenders were ok, pretty generic and what I'd expected. The onion rings? No Parmesan cheese on them whatsoever. They were supposed to be, according to the menu, tossed in the cheese as soon as they came out of the fryer so it formed a coating on them (so it'd stick to them while they were hot). Nope, they were your run-of-the-mill onion rings that you get at any bar. We asked our server if they had more than 1 kind of onion ring and explained to her why we were curious; she said that it was only her 2nd day and offered to bring us some Parmesan to sprinkle on top. I'm sorry, but that was such the wrong answer. The correct answer? Offer to bring us an order made how the menu says it will be! Oh yeah, and the tortilla chips that came with the crab dip? Stale.
Our sandwich (we split one due to the large appetizer) came out (turkey club on ciabatta) with cold fries. And not like oh-it's-cold-outside-and-they-just-cooled-off-really-fast. No, it was more like they'd been made at least 10 min. prior to being brought to our table. The bacon on the sandwich? Probably cooked that morning or the day before, so it was cold and only about 3/4 cooked it seemed. They also only gave us about 3 min. with our appetizer before bringing out the sandwich and fries. Did you really think we'd have eaten much of it by then? Couldn't have waited another 5-10 min. before the sandwich came out?
The prices would have been reasonable had the food been even close to decent. I no longer want a job there, no matter how much I love bartending, because I can't serve people food I refuse to eat myself! Buppy and I agreed that this was one of the worst dining experiences we've ever had. We will not be visiting The Nest again, ever. Be warned if you plan to visit the Inner Harbor --- avoid The Nest!
