Baltimore City Winter Restaurant Week 2015

I look forward to restaurant weeks all year long. They happen pretty frequently and are a great way to try new places without spending a ton of money. I find that the lunch deals tend to be the best. Dinner often comes out to around the same amount we probably would've spent had we ordered off the regular menu. Just a tip to look out for if you choose to partake.

My friend Lauren and I visited Ten Ten American Bistro on Monday for lunch, owned by the Bagby restaurant group who also runs Fleet Street Kitchen, Bagby Pizza Co., and Cunningham's. I still need to visit Fleet Street Kitchen and Cunningham's (I've heard awesome things!) but thought Ten Ten would be a great start to trying out the group's spots.

I ordered the Brussels sprouts for my appetizer, lightly fried and served in a seafood-chili vinaigrette. If you know me you know I love Brussels and these were some of the best I've had. I ate the whole bowl myself! I really liked the crunch from the fryer and the seafood taste wasn't too fishy. It was noticeable, almost like a shrimpy taste, and the sweetness from the chili really enhanced it. The chili sauce appeared to be similar if not exactly Thai sweet chili sauce, not spicy at all, which is great because I'm not a big fan of anything that's too hot.

My entree was the salmon BLT, served on multigrain bread with bacon, housemade BBQ sauce, and of course lettuce and tomato. I liked that this place had a lot of healthier options on the menu. While BLTs are fantastic on buttered, toasted bread it was nice to try one on multigrain. My only critiques for this sandwich were that I wish the salmon filet had been bigger (the filet to bread ratio was a little off) and more sauce. If you're not a huge sauce person it was probably enough but I feel like sauce often makes the dish and I like lots of it.

My second stop of the week was The Wine Market Bistro in Locust Point. This place serves as both a bistro and shop and diners get a 10% discount on wines purchased from the store. Since we were eating lunch and I had to work later that day we skipped the wine but did try their house made mint infused lemonade. Yum! Very fresh and reminiscent of spring, which I can't wait for!

We both ordered the wild mushroom soup as the appetizer, served with crispy mushrooms, rosemary-almond gremolata, and crispy pancetta. This was so yummy and hit the spot since it was very cold that day.

At this place I ordered the roasted carved chicken sandwich, served with a sage and rosemary aioli, arugula, and oven roasted tomatoes on ciabatta with a side of housemade Old Bay chips. This was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. I loved how tender the chicken was and the amount of aioli on the sandwich was perfect. The rosemary was also in chunks so the flavor really stood out. I also don't usually like lettuce and tomato on sandwiches and this time I actually ate them both with the sandwich.

Lee tried the fish and chips and loved her dish. I tried a few bites and the fish was very tender with a delicious crunchy batter and the housemade tartar sauce was to die for. Definitely a must order!

I think out of the two The Wine Market Bistro was definitely my favorite and somewhere I would make it a point to go back to. Ten Ten was good but the second place stood out a little bit more. I would be willing to give Ten Ten a chance for dinner though another time.