Local Guides World
Jay Shen
13 reviews on 1 places
Closer to a 4.5 in terms of overall quality, but because the owner was so diligent and considerate, on top of the tasty dishes being extremely delicious, I am giving it 5 stars and I would recommend anyone visiting Baltimore to give it a shot.
The highlights were the WFC Bowl, the Crab Quesadilla, and the French Toast Dippers. The pork belly was cooked to perfection, and the lacinato kale was the most delicious kale I have had anywhere, mainly because it's so difficult to make kale tasty. Having an egg and black beans also made the dish more savory. The French toast dipper was tasty as well with the perfect sauce, making it sweet but not overly sugary. The crab quesadilla was full of crab meat inside, which was a definite plus. I personally wouldn't include rice on the side, but I could see how there could be some that would use the rice to make themselves fuller.
The BBQ shrimp & grits had a good amount of jumbo shrimp, and the sauce didn't taste like anything I have ever had in shrimp & grits, and tasted pretty good. The jalapeño cornbread was very tasty! The salmon belly tacos had spoiled salmon so we didn't get to taste the actual taco. However, the owner was considerate enough to take it off of our bill, which we thought was very nice, because we only sought to let our server know to ensure the salmon didn't get to other customers.
They were out of the jerk duck confit, which I would have loved to try, but what we had was already good enough to provide me with a pleasant dining experience! Very much recommended!
The highlights were the WFC Bowl, the Crab Quesadilla, and the French Toast Dippers. The pork belly was cooked to perfection, and the lacinato kale was the most delicious kale I have had anywhere, mainly because it's so difficult to make kale tasty. Having an egg and black beans also made the dish more savory. The French toast dipper was tasty as well with the perfect sauce, making it sweet but not overly sugary. The crab quesadilla was full of crab meat inside, which was a definite plus. I personally wouldn't include rice on the side, but I could see how there could be some that would use the rice to make themselves fuller.
The BBQ shrimp & grits had a good amount of jumbo shrimp, and the sauce didn't taste like anything I have ever had in shrimp & grits, and tasted pretty good. The jalapeño cornbread was very tasty! The salmon belly tacos had spoiled salmon so we didn't get to taste the actual taco. However, the owner was considerate enough to take it off of our bill, which we thought was very nice, because we only sought to let our server know to ensure the salmon didn't get to other customers.
They were out of the jerk duck confit, which I would have loved to try, but what we had was already good enough to provide me with a pleasant dining experience! Very much recommended!
My friend and I went there for a Saturday brunch and my experience was overall pleasant. Everything was smooth ranging from seating to our server approaching us at a reasonable time to our food served at a good time. The only reason I would give a 4 would be due to food taste. It was good but not spectacular, and some items were better than others, which I will elaborate on very soon.
I recommend the Benedict, first of all. The salad was a standard salad with leaves, but the muffins were very tasty! The ham was soft and succulent. The eggs were well-poached so as soon as I broke it, the yoke was starting to cover the muffin. The hollandaise sauce was a bit sweet but it accompanied the savory very well! I also loved the beet salad, as it contained a mixture of yellow beets and red beets, along with pecans, goat cheese, and even orange slices. It wasn't a common combination but it definitely worked! The brown butter vinaigrette accompanied everything very well, too. I will definitely get the beet salad again when I return here at some point.
The turkish eggs were good as well because they had the right ingredients: dill, garlic yogurt, and roasted tomato. These ingredients represented some of the most common elements seen in Turkish dishes. I just wasn't sure if it would classify the item as "Turkish eggs" but this one could just be me being ignorant! Regardless, the taste was good and I enjoyed it!
However, the Cacio y Pepe was mediocre at best. The parmesan mixture was too soupy and didn't really stick to the pasta, which meant the temperature wasn't hot enough when mixing cheese and water. It also didn't feel like the parmesan was Parmigiano Reggiano as there was some powdered texture, but I could be wrong on that one; adding some Pecorino Romano may help more. I also didn't think rigatoni was the right type of pasta because experiencing a dish like cacio e pepe should be rolling a fork around a stringy type of pasta like linguine or fettuccine.
Overall good experience and I would definitely recommend this establishment to those visiting the area! Enjoying some Sebastian Joe's ice cream afterwards and visiting Wild Rumpus, the bookstore, right after brunch would definitely complete the experience even more.
I recommend the Benedict, first of all. The salad was a standard salad with leaves, but the muffins were very tasty! The ham was soft and succulent. The eggs were well-poached so as soon as I broke it, the yoke was starting to cover the muffin. The hollandaise sauce was a bit sweet but it accompanied the savory very well! I also loved the beet salad, as it contained a mixture of yellow beets and red beets, along with pecans, goat cheese, and even orange slices. It wasn't a common combination but it definitely worked! The brown butter vinaigrette accompanied everything very well, too. I will definitely get the beet salad again when I return here at some point.
The turkish eggs were good as well because they had the right ingredients: dill, garlic yogurt, and roasted tomato. These ingredients represented some of the most common elements seen in Turkish dishes. I just wasn't sure if it would classify the item as "Turkish eggs" but this one could just be me being ignorant! Regardless, the taste was good and I enjoyed it!
However, the Cacio y Pepe was mediocre at best. The parmesan mixture was too soupy and didn't really stick to the pasta, which meant the temperature wasn't hot enough when mixing cheese and water. It also didn't feel like the parmesan was Parmigiano Reggiano as there was some powdered texture, but I could be wrong on that one; adding some Pecorino Romano may help more. I also didn't think rigatoni was the right type of pasta because experiencing a dish like cacio e pepe should be rolling a fork around a stringy type of pasta like linguine or fettuccine.
Overall good experience and I would definitely recommend this establishment to those visiting the area! Enjoying some Sebastian Joe's ice cream afterwards and visiting Wild Rumpus, the bookstore, right after brunch would definitely complete the experience even more.
I have been visiting this establishment since 2016 due to living within the area and have not really been back since moving away from the area in 2018. I made an effort in returning after all the COVID riffraff and I am happy to say that Highland Grill continues to have it together! When my partner and I used to visit back in 2016 and 2017, Kim, who was the manager during that time, was very courteous to us and would even take one plate off the bill everytime we visited! Unfortunately we do not see Kim around anymore this time returning, but it didn't stop us from having a wonderful experience.
The food continues to be good. I have had all the entrées from years ago like Steak & Pierogies, Lemongrass Thai Chicken, Beef Stroganoff, Seared Salmon, and more. They also used to have meatloaf which I loved. However, I do not recall them having Tuna Poke Bowl from back in the days, so I tried it this time. It was definitely a healthy version and not authentic, so I would advise whoever is looking for authenticity to avoid ordering it. However, I liked the combination of all the healthy stuff so I enjoyed it regardless, as a salad bowl rather than as a poke bowl.
Appetizers have always just been hitting different. The cheesecurds, the loaded tots, the pierogies, the brussels sprouts, everything tasted just like how they were 5-6 years ago and they were simply savory in the most positive way. I wouldn't change anything about any of those dishes.
I tried their beet salad this time as well, and I absolutely loved the combination of beets, goat cheese, carrots, and candied walnuts. I could see that they were trying to use alternative flavors to replace the earthy flavors from the beets and as much as I love beets personally, I appreciated the move. I thought they had an overall generous amount of beets included, which was a plus as well.
I love seeing Highland Grill thriving and I hope it continues to be like such. As I move from place to place, I love making an intentional effort to return to the Highland area just for the food here.
The food continues to be good. I have had all the entrées from years ago like Steak & Pierogies, Lemongrass Thai Chicken, Beef Stroganoff, Seared Salmon, and more. They also used to have meatloaf which I loved. However, I do not recall them having Tuna Poke Bowl from back in the days, so I tried it this time. It was definitely a healthy version and not authentic, so I would advise whoever is looking for authenticity to avoid ordering it. However, I liked the combination of all the healthy stuff so I enjoyed it regardless, as a salad bowl rather than as a poke bowl.
Appetizers have always just been hitting different. The cheesecurds, the loaded tots, the pierogies, the brussels sprouts, everything tasted just like how they were 5-6 years ago and they were simply savory in the most positive way. I wouldn't change anything about any of those dishes.
I tried their beet salad this time as well, and I absolutely loved the combination of beets, goat cheese, carrots, and candied walnuts. I could see that they were trying to use alternative flavors to replace the earthy flavors from the beets and as much as I love beets personally, I appreciated the move. I thought they had an overall generous amount of beets included, which was a plus as well.
I love seeing Highland Grill thriving and I hope it continues to be like such. As I move from place to place, I love making an intentional effort to return to the Highland area just for the food here.
If any Minneapolis restaurants engage in the Michelin star system, I think this establishment would be one of the first, if not the first, to earn at least one star. Not saying I like that system, but I am just tryinh to magnify the fact that Spoon and Stable is a comprehensively amazing establishment. I have spent two birthdays within the past 3 years here and I have to conclude that they were both worth it in terms of my dinner experience. Amazing.
Some of the photos I have chosen to include contain items that no longer exist, but I did re-order some of the dishes that were still there, namely the Spaghetti Nero, the Bison Tartare, and the Honey & Cream Cake. For appetizers, the kanpachi crudo perfectly allowed me to take one bite with everything included (fish, ponzu, peach, and lemon balm) to have a completely new flavor profile experience. I have not had the same experience with crudo in general yet in other places, so yeah, this was amazing. The bison tartare was amazing as well because the aïoli and radish really created a contrast from the raw beef flavor that just happened to work.
Every pasta was a hit! I have had the spaghetti nero twice and I thought both times the dish was perfect because nothing was overpowering! It was very easy to make the sauce very sour or dominate the flavor but it wasn't the case. Including octopus, prawn, and mussels worked very well, too, because some of the small bits were just enough to provide the squid ink pasta with a flavor and texture balance. For the pansotti, I really enjoyed the black garlic soubise on the outside and the juxtaposition its flavor created with what was inside the pasta: ossau-iraty cheese. Two completely different flavors that worked beautifully. The raviolo was great as well, with all flavors that managed to mesh together. The mushroom was very pronounced once taking a bite into those bits. It was slightly too oily, maybe due to the abundance of butter, but great regardless.
I also ordered the rainbow trout which was a new experience but I ended up concluding that it was a dish that I could personally try to replicate. The coriander flavor was very strong and that wasn't something that everyone could get used to. I enjoyed it overall, especially with the crust perfectly cooked to crisp and flavorful, but I did have to dip the fish into the cucumber broth for even more flavor beyond the coriander-infused crust. The creamy spinach having cheese curds on top was a pleasant surprise and wow it worked very well! Eating some spinach with the cheese curds really just created this new flavor that worked like charm.
Dessert was simply out of this world. Honey & cream cake is a must and it looks like they are using red currants now instead of blackberries, which is cool! But man, those tiny pieces of cookies they included... I don't know what they were made out of, but they were the best I have ever had in my life. Even though I had only one piece of it, that piece really astonished me. The pistachio pudding waa aesthetically very pleasing and tasted like nothing else I have ever tasted. The raspberry granita and yogurt dip n' dots both provided taste and texture, making the whole dessert an entity that one has to enjoy by including a little bit of everything on a spoon. The peaches and cream was just so interesting in terms of flavor, which I deduced it was due to the anise hyssop, but it was very evident. The thinly sliced peaches contained that flavor as well, so the contrast between that heavily emphasized taste and the cream taste was so huge that I ended up treating this peaches and cream dessert as its own unique entity among all desserts of similar types I have had. Uniqueness is the key.
Other than food, the atmosphere was lovely. We could visibly see the room with a ladder and lots of types of alcohol. The chairs and couches were clean and comfortable, and my partner and I could visibly see the chefs giving their best shots. Perfect place for a date. I would recommend reserving their dinner service a long time in advance, so if you intend to come h
Some of the photos I have chosen to include contain items that no longer exist, but I did re-order some of the dishes that were still there, namely the Spaghetti Nero, the Bison Tartare, and the Honey & Cream Cake. For appetizers, the kanpachi crudo perfectly allowed me to take one bite with everything included (fish, ponzu, peach, and lemon balm) to have a completely new flavor profile experience. I have not had the same experience with crudo in general yet in other places, so yeah, this was amazing. The bison tartare was amazing as well because the aïoli and radish really created a contrast from the raw beef flavor that just happened to work.
Every pasta was a hit! I have had the spaghetti nero twice and I thought both times the dish was perfect because nothing was overpowering! It was very easy to make the sauce very sour or dominate the flavor but it wasn't the case. Including octopus, prawn, and mussels worked very well, too, because some of the small bits were just enough to provide the squid ink pasta with a flavor and texture balance. For the pansotti, I really enjoyed the black garlic soubise on the outside and the juxtaposition its flavor created with what was inside the pasta: ossau-iraty cheese. Two completely different flavors that worked beautifully. The raviolo was great as well, with all flavors that managed to mesh together. The mushroom was very pronounced once taking a bite into those bits. It was slightly too oily, maybe due to the abundance of butter, but great regardless.
I also ordered the rainbow trout which was a new experience but I ended up concluding that it was a dish that I could personally try to replicate. The coriander flavor was very strong and that wasn't something that everyone could get used to. I enjoyed it overall, especially with the crust perfectly cooked to crisp and flavorful, but I did have to dip the fish into the cucumber broth for even more flavor beyond the coriander-infused crust. The creamy spinach having cheese curds on top was a pleasant surprise and wow it worked very well! Eating some spinach with the cheese curds really just created this new flavor that worked like charm.
Dessert was simply out of this world. Honey & cream cake is a must and it looks like they are using red currants now instead of blackberries, which is cool! But man, those tiny pieces of cookies they included... I don't know what they were made out of, but they were the best I have ever had in my life. Even though I had only one piece of it, that piece really astonished me. The pistachio pudding waa aesthetically very pleasing and tasted like nothing else I have ever tasted. The raspberry granita and yogurt dip n' dots both provided taste and texture, making the whole dessert an entity that one has to enjoy by including a little bit of everything on a spoon. The peaches and cream was just so interesting in terms of flavor, which I deduced it was due to the anise hyssop, but it was very evident. The thinly sliced peaches contained that flavor as well, so the contrast between that heavily emphasized taste and the cream taste was so huge that I ended up treating this peaches and cream dessert as its own unique entity among all desserts of similar types I have had. Uniqueness is the key.
Other than food, the atmosphere was lovely. We could visibly see the room with a ladder and lots of types of alcohol. The chairs and couches were clean and comfortable, and my partner and I could visibly see the chefs giving their best shots. Perfect place for a date. I would recommend reserving their dinner service a long time in advance, so if you intend to come h
This time in Chicago I have decided to try a new place for dim sum after a friend's recommendation to Triple Crown and overall was not disappointed. My friends and I had a reduced menu for some reason so it had fewer items than the one shown online. All of the congee and the vegetables were missing. I do not know if it is because we were there for dinner, but that was okay because what the menu contained was more than enough. We ordered what we could and it satisfied my friends' cravings as most of them fulfilled their very first dim sum experience.
My favorite was the liquid custard bun (流沙包), the triple crown shrimp dumpling (大三元虾饺), the shrimp & chive dumpling (鲜虾韭菜饺), and the pan fried turnip cake (香煎萝卜糕). One thing I say about dim sum is that when one has it, there's not really a place where dim sum is going to be spectacularly good, because one would expect it to taste like what it is supposed to taste like. Only when it is bad that one would be able to tell right away. So the items I mentioned, they tasted like what they were supposed to taste like, and that was definitely a good thing. Not saying the rest didn't, though, as many other items were good as well, such as the scallop dumpling (带子饺), the fried sesame ball (黄金煎堆仔), the stuffed sticky rice (珍珠糯米鸡), and so on. A few items did not taste as good as I had expected, but were still good enough and would not ruin my experience at all. We ordered twelve different kinds of dim sum and were overall satisfied. My friends who were not Chinese had a wonderful time with their first dim sum experience.
It would have been nice if some items like the pineapple top BBQ pork bun (叉烧菠萝包), the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (蚝油芥蓝), the puffy egg custard tart (酥皮蛋挞), etc. were on the menu that we were given. But if the reduced menu was a dinner thing, then so be it. I still thought whatever they had would be able to give people a pleasant experience.
They also had other menus with non-dim sum items. I took a look but didn't pay much attention. The photos looked appealing, though. I just don't know if I would return to this place to order items that were not dim sim simply because a lot of the dishes I have had while at home in China and grew up eating them (but not necessarily dim sum). But I still encourage others to give them a shot.
In conclusion, great food! A lot of other factors ranging from courtesy to sanitation (bathrooms) can be better, but I understand how Chinese restaurants here in the United States typically run their businesses and I am not picky about it. It just means the food is reliably good as it has the heaviest emphasis.
My favorite was the liquid custard bun (流沙包), the triple crown shrimp dumpling (大三元虾饺), the shrimp & chive dumpling (鲜虾韭菜饺), and the pan fried turnip cake (香煎萝卜糕). One thing I say about dim sum is that when one has it, there's not really a place where dim sum is going to be spectacularly good, because one would expect it to taste like what it is supposed to taste like. Only when it is bad that one would be able to tell right away. So the items I mentioned, they tasted like what they were supposed to taste like, and that was definitely a good thing. Not saying the rest didn't, though, as many other items were good as well, such as the scallop dumpling (带子饺), the fried sesame ball (黄金煎堆仔), the stuffed sticky rice (珍珠糯米鸡), and so on. A few items did not taste as good as I had expected, but were still good enough and would not ruin my experience at all. We ordered twelve different kinds of dim sum and were overall satisfied. My friends who were not Chinese had a wonderful time with their first dim sum experience.
It would have been nice if some items like the pineapple top BBQ pork bun (叉烧菠萝包), the Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (蚝油芥蓝), the puffy egg custard tart (酥皮蛋挞), etc. were on the menu that we were given. But if the reduced menu was a dinner thing, then so be it. I still thought whatever they had would be able to give people a pleasant experience.
They also had other menus with non-dim sum items. I took a look but didn't pay much attention. The photos looked appealing, though. I just don't know if I would return to this place to order items that were not dim sim simply because a lot of the dishes I have had while at home in China and grew up eating them (but not necessarily dim sum). But I still encourage others to give them a shot.
In conclusion, great food! A lot of other factors ranging from courtesy to sanitation (bathrooms) can be better, but I understand how Chinese restaurants here in the United States typically run their businesses and I am not picky about it. It just means the food is reliably good as it has the heaviest emphasis.