Hodge Podge

Today's post is a quick catch up on a few small places I've been over the last few weeks. Two weekends ago my mom, dad, and I took a trip over the Bay Bridge to visit some wineries including one for which I had purchased a Groupon. Our first stop was Crimson Pizza and Wine Bar in Chestertown, MD, owned by Salisa Winery. Salisa does not have a tasting room but you can taste and purchase their wines at their restaurant. This seemed like the perfect place to go for lunch and to check off another Maryland winery. Salisa is a husband and wife pair and the husband is 100% Italian, so I was hoping that the food would be fantastic,

When on the Eastern Shore it's a must to order seafood so my mom and I split a white pizza with scallops and bacon. Oh my Lord this was amazing. My mom had never had pizza like this and couldn't stop raving about it. My dad chose the pulled pork sandwich and said it was very good. As for the wine, you can purchase a tasting flight for $5, a glass, or a bottle. Salisa is a boutique winery with mostly reds, which I can be iffy on, so my mom and I thought that we would each take home a bottle of rose. What we didn't realize was that they have both a light and dark rose, and the owner was kind enough to let us taste a little of both without purchasing the tasting flight. What we both discovered was that we actually like the dark better. It's sweeter and had a slight fizz to it as well. This is a winery I would like to go back to to get more of that wine! Our other stops for that day included Crow Farm and Vineyards, Tilmon Island Winery, and Cassinelli Vineyards. All were great!

This is a picture from Cassinelli. The Groupon I had included a tasting with chocolate crabs. Yum!

The other place I'd like to talk about is Cunningham's Bakery and Cafe in Towson, MD. Cunningham's is also a restaurant by the same name located just above the bakery. We haven't been there yet but a few people we know have and have said it's great. I discovered the bakery while I was looking at the main restaurant's page one night at work. I'm always looking for somewhere to get a good breakfast and was excited when I realized this place existed. I stopped in one Friday after work and ordered the quiche of the day, mushroom and swiss, along with a carrot cake cupcake. Cupcakes at breakfast? Yes please!

I really loved the quiche. It was like cutting into butter and creamy. They also didn't skimp on the mushrooms. It's served with a small side salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. I thought this was a little weird for breakfast but hey, it still worked. I ate the cupcake later in the day and it had a great spice flavor and was moist. The frosting was authentic cream cheese but it was dense and there was a lot of it. I think a little less would have made it perfect. This is somewhere I want to go back to to try their omelets, breakfast burritos, and habanero hot chocolate!