BALTIMORE (Map, News) - At Belvedere Square on Friday nights, the experience is much like a “choose your own adventure” novel — one’s whims can create unique stories for unique tastes.

You can sit outside in loaner chairs and enjoy the free concert — every Friday 6 to 9 p.m. through the summer.

You can dance and buy cold $4 beers from an outdoor vendor, or you can head straight for the old-fashioned open-air Belvedere Market for dinner.

The market is an overwhelming colorful hodge-podge of fresh breads, ripe produce, steaming soups, slabs of meat — and many people finding their own dining adventure.

I honed in on the chilled gazpacho from Atwater’s Ploughboy Soup, and spent $3 for a carryout cup packed with black beans, onions, cucumbers, green peppers, bright red tomatoes and other fresh produce. It truly was a colorful vegetable garden packed into a bowl. It came with a wedge of thick dark rye bread — the way soup should be eaten.

My date headed to the Neopol Savory Smokery counter — with displayed meats like lures for any hungry male.

He spent about $9 for two plump and pink salmon filets between thick pieces of hearty sunflower bread. Salty smoked bacon complemented the fish and a honey Dijon dressing kept the sandwich moist. Sunflower seeds from the bread added the only crunch.

We headed outside with our cheap yet plentiful bounty, sat curbside and dug in.

After our meals we were both stuffed, but couldn’t pass up a $2 sample plate of barbecue from Neopol’s outdoor booth. A few forkfuls of wet pulled pork in a tangy yet sweet barbecue sauce with a few bites of tart and crunchy coleslaw left us nearly too full to continue our adventure.

Yet we still stopped by Ikan Seafood’s booth and bought a $4 grilled scallop shish kabob.

For under $20, we had each satisfied our own culinary desires at Belvedere Market. Being too full was the only foil to our adventures and we had to opt out of the requisite summer ice cream cone.

IF YOU GO

Belvedere Market/Friday Night Free Concerts

» Where: Belvedere Square, York Road and Northern Parkway, Baltimore

» Who you’ll see: Young families, happy-houring professionals, music lovers

» What you’ll eat: BBQ, deli sandwiches, sushi

» What you’ll spend: $20 for two

aminkowski@baltimoreexaminer.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

12:15 PM MST on Mon., Mar. 17, 2008 re: "New eateries may bud in Haight-Ashbury"

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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7:27 AM MST on Fri., Oct. 5, 2007 re: "Chef Paolino�s dishes pasta with pizazz"

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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8:42 AM MST on Wed., Sep. 12, 2007 re: "Chef Paolino�s dishes pasta with pizazz"

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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12:51 PM MST on Mon., Jun. 25, 2007 re: "Powell brings Jamaican spice to Penn Quarter restaurant"

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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5:39 PM MST on Mon., Jun. 4, 2007 re: "Beer soup brightens meal in Ellicott City"

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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