Hungry in Hampden

Hampden is a part of Baltimore City that has been on my list to explore more but it's been difficult to get back there. I pass by it every day on my way to and from work, but because I work the overnight I'm never able to stop. Fortunately a perfect opportunity presented itself this past Saturday.  One of my friends works at the Baltimore Zoo, so I met her after work to first explore the zoo since they opened a new penguin exhibit this past weekend, then to try out The Food Market, a restaurant that quite a few people had told me to try.

The zoo was awesome. I haven't been there in years and they've done quite a few renovations. My favorites have always been the penguins, polar bears, and elephants and it was fun because most of those animals were extremely active that day. The elephant was in the water playing with a ball, the penguins were clustered around the keeper at feeding time, and the polar bear was diving for fish. Here he is below:

After walking around the zoo for a few hours we headed to Hampden, particularly 36th street, aka The Avenue. This is where you will find most of the major restaurants and shops. We walked in and out of a few places (I already went home with some unique Christmas gifts!), then ducked into The Food Market.

The space is small and you have to be comfortable with sitting very close to your neighbors. The decor is modern industrial and waiters wear blue jeans and black button-downs. The service was great; our waiter was very personable and engaged us in a lot of friendly teasing.

The menu is broken down into "Little," "Small," "Big," "In Between," and "Sides." This was advantageous because neither of us wanted to spend a lot of money but we were still able to order a lot of food and split it right down the middle.

Our choices included the Pan Roasted Popcorn, topped with basil grated cheese and truffle oil, Johntay's Brussel Salad with bacon, red onion, pepper panko, and parmesan cheese, Shrimp and Garlic Sauce, with wild mushrooms, sherry butter, smoked paprika, and torn bread, the Lobster Mac and Cheese, and Hazelnut Asparagus.

Everything was INCREDIBLE. The brussel salad sat on a base of a creamy Caesar-type dressing and was probably my favorite, followed by the shrimp and garlic sauce. The lobster mac and cheese had huge chunks of lobster in it, and the asparagus was also topped with a delicious balsamic drizzle. The popcorn was gone in minutes, and we were also served warm, salty foccaccia bread with olive oil.

This place gets 5 stars in my book and definitely makes me want to go back to Hampden to try out more spots!