Bars: Brewers Art on Charles – you gotta go there for the home brews and the cool people and the place itself. Try the resurrection, although you won’t thank me in the morning. Jay’s on Read street – nice little piano/martini/wine bar – good to have a higher end place without the attitude. Try Red Maple if you want really cosmopolitan with the NYC/DC attitude. And Midtown Yacht Club – on Center near St. Paul – gotta go there for the peanut shells on the floor neighborhood bar type place. Mick O’Shea’s is good – good food too, but I’ve got to admit I like Maggie’s by the Hippodrome too as an alternate Irish pub place. Best thing about Baltimore is there are ton’s of neighborhood places that you’ll love – you just have to find them – and that’s part of the fun – check out every hole in the wall place, you never know what you’ll find when you get inside. BTW – did you know that Baltimore has the highest ratio of bars per capita in the country after New Orleans?

Food: Samos – best Greek I’ve ever had – and not the high end fancy food, great gyros & pizza – actually everything’s great and coming from me that’s a high compliment – damn cheap and a byo liquor license – one of the few I’d say are worth the trip for me. Akbars – Indian, yum! And yeah, you can’t go wrong with the Helmand – go on a weekday when it isn’t packed. Dukem at Cathedral & Chase – same as the one in DC but less expensive – damn good food! Minato’s is a decent choice for sushi & other Asian fare. Oh yeah, City Café – another hip type place – usually excellent, if not 100% consistent – the good far outweighs the occasional less than perfect episodes. Finally the stables – always a fall back for – “where do you want to eat” American food? Also try Sascha’s on Charles – they’re great too for a more upscale meal. Jimmy’s and Sip ‘n Bite are great old fashioned diner places. Oh Yeah – Thai Raish (sp) on Charles – incredibly good pad thai and spring rolls for such a tiny little place

Entertainment: Charles Theater for the artsy movies. Any of the local theatre companies are great – try Spotlighters – where else can you see a great live play for like ten bucks. Although they aren’t promoted as well as they should be, Baltimore is a major town for festivals. Pretty much every weekend during the summer there’s some ethnic festival Polish, African, Latino, Irish, Gay Pride, whatever – often around Patterson Park. Or a neighborhood festival – Fell’s Point Festival, Little Italy, Charles Village, Butcher’s Hill (where else can you see pigs running in the city!)

A lot of times though, people in Baltimore don’t seem rely on entertainment venues as much as in other cities. I’d say you’re more likely to be invited over for a party or just hanging out than to “go out”. When pretty much everyone can actually afford to live in a decent sized place, why go out when you can have people over. (Yeah, the “hot spots are getting pricy, but there are plenty of great places that are still affordable.) Also, in a place as eclectic as this, it’s wild to find out that you’re having a conversation somewhere with say, a waiter, a professor, a multi-millionaire blue blood, a VP of something of other, a doctor, a musician, a sculptor and an unemployed bum. Baltimore really is a small town/little city – its almost impossible to say “where” to go because, well, so much of it really defies explanation. If you want “normal” go live in the Midwest. If you want the unexpected, live in Baltimore! — gee’s i didn’t mean to go on so long . ..

Bars: Brewers Art on Charles – you gotta go there for the home brews and the cool people and the place itself. Try the resurrection, although you won’t thank me in the morning. Jay’s on Read street – nice little piano/martini/wine bar – good to have a higher end place without the attitude. Try Red Maple if you want really cosmopolitan with the NYC/DC attitude. And Midtown Yacht Club – on Center near St. Paul – gotta go there for the peanut shells on the floor neighborhood bar type place. Mick O’Shea’s is good – good food too, but I’ve got to admit I like Maggie’s by the Hippodrome too as an alternate Irish pub place. Best thing about Baltimore is there are ton’s of neighborhood places that you’ll love – you just have to find them – and that’s part of the fun – check out every hole in the wall place, you never know what you’ll find when you get inside. BTW – did you know that Baltimore has the highest ratio of bars per capita in the country after New Orleans?

Food: Samos – best Greek I’ve ever had – and not the high end fancy food, great gyros & pizza – actually everything’s great and coming from me that’s a high compliment – damn cheap and a byo liquor license – one of the few I’d say are worth the trip for me. Akbars – Indian, yum! And yeah, you can’t go wrong with the Helmand – go on a weekday when it isn’t packed. Dukem at Cathedral & Chase – same as the one in DC but less expensive – damn good food! Minato’s is a decent choice for sushi & other Asian fare. Oh yeah, City Café – another hip type place – usually excellent, if not 100% consistent – the good far outweighs the occasional less than perfect episodes. Finally the stables – always a fall back for – “where do you want to eat” American food? Also try Sascha’s on Charles – they’re great too for a more upscale meal. Jimmy’s and Sip ‘n Bite are great old fashioned diner places. Oh Yeah – Thai Raish (sp) on Charles – incredibly good pad thai and spring rolls for such a tiny little place

Entertainment: Charles Theater for the artsy movies. Any of the local theatre companies are great – try Spotlighters – where else can you see a great live play for like ten bucks. Although they aren’t promoted as well as they should be, Baltimore is a major town for festivals. Pretty much every weekend during the summer there’s some ethnic festival Polish, African, Latino, Irish, Gay Pride, whatever – often around Patterson Park. Or a neighborhood festival – Fell’s Point Festival, Little Italy, Charles Village, Butcher’s Hill (where else can you see pigs running in the city!)

A lot of times though, people in Baltimore don’t seem rely on entertainment venues as much as in other cities. I’d say you’re more likely to be invited over for a party or just hanging out than to “go out”. When pretty much everyone can actually afford to live in a decent sized place, why go out when you can have people over. (Yeah, the “hot spots are getting pricy, but there are plenty of great places that are still affordable.) Also, in a place as eclectic as this, it’s wild to find out that you’re having a conversation somewhere with say, a waiter, a professor, a multi-millionaire blue blood, a VP of something of other, a doctor, a musician, a sculptor and an unemployed bum. Baltimore really is a small town/little city – its almost impossible to say “where” to go because, well, so much of it really defies explanation. If you want “normal” go live in the Midwest. If you want the unexpected, live in Baltimore! — gee’s i didn’t mean to go on so long . ..

Okay, bars… Porters, Thirsty Dog, James Joyce (owned by the same person as Four Courts), a Cap City, Brewers Art, Max’s on Broadway, (Baltimore’s Brickskeller), both Warf Rats, and a number of others… it’s drinking town for chrissakes, they have longshoremen!

You can find all manner of eats there, from Little Italy to the Inner Harbor, lots of little eateries all over the place.

You have Federal Hill, Canton, Fells Point.. pleny of enclaves.

Unfortunately, it’s very easy to stride on the wrong side of a community boundary. But overall, it’s still more affordable that D.C. and a bit more charm for “Charm City”.

Check out the Mount Vernon area: The Helmand is an amazing Afghan restaurant, and there’s Sascha’s, Sotto Sopra and Brass Elephant. My fave hideaway in Mount Vernon is O’Shea’s, the best Irish bar in the city.

Charles Village: Home to Nifty Fifties (no, they don’t have chocolate milkshakes, their specialty is Indian cuisine), Donna’s (cute coffee bar), and Charles Village Pub, the ultimate in dive bars.

Other Baltimore musts: Vacarro’s (Italian pastries…seriously, you have to go), Nacho Mama’s (an Elvis-themed Mexican restaurant),Paper Moon (quirky 24-hour diner near JHU campus), Power Plant Live (a classier Adams Morgan, if you will), The Hippodrome (great theater featuring Broadway musicals and other, more offbeat events) and Sonar (live music venue). And in the springtime, definitely go to an O’s game.

I think Baltimore has more overt culture than DC in terms of outlets. In Hamden is Atomic Books and their sister store Atomic Pop. There is the aforementioned Visionary Museum (which I could visit every week and not get tired of it). There’s the entirety of Fells Point–which always feels like a mini-vacation at some small port town to me. There’s an excellent coffeehouse there called Latte-Da. The place is small and has a homey feel, and not a corporate logo to be found affixed anywhere. They also have free internet, which one would be hard pressed to find anywhere else.

Just this past weekend, I found Harbor Newsstand, which carries a better selection of magazines than I’ve ever seen in this area.

As far as food, there are three places (of varying aesthetic) that I really like. The first is a tapas place called Pazo, between the Harborfront and Fells Point. The second is a place in Hamden called Art Grill. It’s a cafe with light dishes. I had the gypsy soup there last week, and it was perhaps the best soup I’ve ever had. What was in it? Cinnamon? Clove? Whatever it was, it was excellent. The third place are any of the greasy spoons located in the market at Fells Point. It’s gross, but it’s a guilty pleasure.

And speaking of gross guilty pleasures, Baltimore also has the Lexington Market, an indoor farmer’s market. It seems to be mostly prepared food stalls, but there are good buys on meat and fish, and a number of excellent pastry stands.

Being part of an actual state, they have representation in congress.

They aren’t denied their 2nd Amendment rights.