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The Granite Bar and Grille’s Granite Salad contains mixed greens, slivered almonds, onion, crumbled blue cheese and seasonal fresh fruit tossed in a sesame seed vinaigrette.
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Feast with your eyes first at the coolly furnished Granite Bar and Grille in Baltimore.
Decorated in cool blues and grays, this Canton restaurant is a fresh reprieve from the wooded interiors of nearby pubs. But the service on a slow Tuesday night was also slow. While waiting for water, we entertained ourselves with some unabashed people-watching through large open windows onto the Square.
Granite’s menu is large, covered front and back with salads, seafood, sandwiches and entrees.
The breeze drifting through the restaurant put me in a summertime mood, so I opted for the blackened chicken salad. My date went the salad route as well, and we worried that we had under-ordered.
After tearing through a plate of tender steamed shrimp drenched in an onion and Old Bay broth (despite how hot they were to touch), and nearly 45 minutes of small talk, our friendly waitress presented our entrees.
My blackened chicken salad was hardly a subpar order. Fluffy mixed greens filled a huge deep white square dish, peppered with bright red cubes of tomatoes, a spattering of onions and large strips of herb-crusted chicken.
My date’s steak-topped Granite Salad was equally full of greens and meat, enhanced by colorful spears of pineapple, honeydew melon and red grapes, sprinkled with crumbled blue cheese.
The chicken was cooked to perfection, with a crisp flavorful edge of garden herbs. The steak was a true medium rare and was delicious when combined with blue cheese and a bite of fruit. Portion sizes were just right, and we were feeling sated and energized.
So many diners are counting calories, points, grams or zones these days. The Granite entree salad will be a decadent alternative to an otherwise tired salad routine for them. But Granite will also please others who may just want a good thick cheeseburger.
IF YOU GO
Granite Bar and Grille
2903 O’Donnell St., Baltimore
410-675-1880
» Who you’ll see: Cantonites, downtown couples, families
» What you’ll eat: Grilled calamari, salads topped with steak or chicken
» What you’ll spent (for two): $50 to $60
» Where you’ll park: Around Canton Square
aminkowski@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
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Gaza George said:
Let them eat and drink. Too many hemp products can be harmful to the multinational restaurant bottom line. Go liquor holes.
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Examiner Reader said:
I was very surprised by the comment. When we go to eat at Chef Paolino, I always take the kids to a table first and either my husband or I order for all of us. Our first time there, we all took a menu to a table and then my husband went up and ordered for the family. I think the writer just misunderstood.
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Examiner Reader said:
On the evening of 09/07/07 my family and I went to eat at this restaurant for dinner at 5:30 pm. Being our first time there I questioned if they would seat us or should we seat ourselves. The employee advised me we had to go order our food then we could seat ourselves. I ask him if I could please sit first. In my arms was my handicapped 5 year old daughter who from Spinal Bifida can not walk, my husband was carrying our 3 month old son and I had 3 other children with me ranging from 7 to 9. I explained to him I could not continue to hold her and go order my food due to her wait. It would be impossible to hold her and order, pay, ect. Even after explaining why I needed to be seated first he refused to do so. My family and I had to leave that establishment and to say the least was very dissatisfied with our first experience at the Chef Paolino Cafe.I believe this restaurant needs to change there process of ordering and seating customers. This process is very difficult for the handicapped
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Anon said:
Chef Alex Powell's enthusiasm for his work and his creations comes across well in this article. As a food connoisseur and a lover of island flavors, it will be my priority to visit the 701 Restaurant. The chef takes me back to my own roots where the belief is that you can never go wrong with simple, natural ingredients. Way to go chef and welcome to DC!
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Examiner Reader said:
Sounds like a typical visit to most restaruants these days. Steak are always "iffy" I try to avoind them because a chef will tell you fat on a steak helps retain juices, but I don't like fat. Also, if I see a sauce on anything I avoid it. especailly at a place where I have never eaten. I had a friend that was a professional chef. I was grilling steaks at my house one day and asked him to show me how he made his steak taste so good. He rubbed both sides with salt.
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