Review - The Baltimore House (Hamilton, ON)

The Baltimore House
43 King William Street
Hamilton, ON
Tues - Thurs: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm
Fri - Sat: 8:00 am - 12:00 am
Sun: 8:00 am - 10:00 pm
(Closed Monday)

Continuing my resolution from 2011 of exploring different restaurants in order to diversify my tastebuds I made the trip out to Hamilton with some friends to try out the hot new King William Street establishment The Baltimore House. Having recently opened in December we were among the first months worth of customers to explore the new addition to the Hammer, and I must say from the delicious meal, comfortable atmosphere (featuring Scrabble!) and overall relaxing vibe we will certainly be returning.

Inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, The Baltimore House is establishing itself as each of the following: Lounge, Night Club, Entertainment Venue, Art Space, Wine Bar, and Cafe. Whew, quite the mouthful, but I am certainly intrigued for what 2012 has in store for this welcome addition to the city. Currently the Maryland Room is operating as the cafe portion while providing an array of sandwiches, lattes and other goodies (including cupcakes from Bitten on Locke), as well as a nice space to come chat with peers or to just unwind after a long week. The next step of the plan is the opening of The Parlour on the other half of the property which will help serve as a home for those seeking pretty much everything else on the above list, and from the quick preview one can take through the archway it looks like there is plenty in store for the new year. The owners of the establishment appear dedicated to their vision of providing the city with a welcome home for those seeking live music, entertainment, while continuing to build a community among patrons.

Oh right, my experience. Very positive first impressions and extremely curious for what comes next, but it was time to decide on something to eat.

(Click the image for a larger view)

Quite the creative menu and sticking with the inspiration of Poe each of the items receives a crafty tale. Points for originality here. Unfortunately I wasn't able to physically try each of the sandwiches (but will certainly return to knock another off the list), but did go with The Raven (aka a reuben) which hit the spot. Honourable mention has to go to each the Eleanora (Avocado Dream), Annabel Lee (Tuna) and the Ulalume (Pear Grilled Cheese) for all putting forth a strong case to be eaten.

The meal itself was very satisfying and upon finishing an Americano we found ourselves involved in a pretty intense game of Scrabble at the table. Quite the unique and refreshing experience that I don't recall having typically when I go out on a Saturday evening over here.

Overall, very satisfied with the experience and will certainly be returning and telling others. If you can, try to get a corner spot on one of the benches as it's an extremely comfortable spot while kicking back. As you may have guessed, I am very curious to see what happens when the next room opens up and live entertainment begins; exciting stuff here.

For a more detailed view, I must give a quick mention to Beaux Mondes for helping sell me on the Baltimore House. There's a much more detailed review with plenty of pictures over there too.

Much like my favourite Mississauga spot Mickey's, there is also Coke available out of a glass bottle. Great minds must think alike.

Review - Mickey's Pizza (Mississauga, ON)

One of my previously undocumented resolutions for 2011 was to try as many new restaurants as possible (within reason). Often I find that I will ask around, walk around, or go to the internet to try and locate a restaurant that is a good fit for me. Thanks to the kind folks at Urban Spoon (who listed off the top ten restaurants in Mississauga) I was able to locate and get friends excited about Mickey's Pizza. While returning to town on Saturday afternoon it felt like the perfect opportunity to check it out.

Mickey's Pizza
1900 Lakeshore Road West
Mississauga, ON
Open 4pm - 10pm (closed Monday)

Upon entering it kind of reminded me of Burrito Boyz (for the somewhat small restaurant, the food preparation process, and strong reputation). As far as types of pizza (excluding toppings here), the menu offers skinny, original, and Killer King; so with a name like that and countless good reviews, we were going all in. The Killer King is essentially their Chicago-style deep dish pizza and after exploring the menu, we decided to get that and have their Pappy's BBQ Chicken:

Upon ordering and waiting for the pizza to be completed, the staff chatted with us and introduced some of the background and methodologies of the restaurant (including their unique oven), as well as the menu. Extremely pleasant and welcoming experience, hopefully the pizza is too.

After the quick 15-minute wait, the pizza was ready to be devoured and I am pleased to say that it was absolutely delicious. I have been to Chicago numerous times, been to Hamilton, and I am so happy to know that there is a solid pizza place so close to home (especially one that has solid deep-dish AND traditional offerings). The only drawback of this arrangement I have discovered is that I don't plan on eating deep-dish that frequently, so it's like being in a long-distance relationship with the perfect girl that you only get to see once in awhile. There's always the extremely satisfying traditional ones. We were fortunate to try one of the thinner pizzas upon exiting (thank you very much) and just like the deep-dish, it was amazing. I am clearly blown away.

One of my favourite parts of the experience, in addition to the incredibly friendly staff, was being able to see the preparation of my meal. Much like Burrito Boyz, the toppings are all on display and added to the dough for one to see and placed into the oven. Depending on which type you get, the traditional pizzas are placed on the Hickory VPO Barbecue Oven so that one can see their raw meal enter and reach the finish line all before their eyes, pretty neat.

All in all, excellent experience and I will certainly return. I have mentioned it to friends already and have heard some surprises at the "no slices" offering, but it will make perfect sense upon visiting. This isn't Pizza Pizza; your meal is made from scratch in front of you and obviously they're not going to make one slice or have their pizza sitting around all day. I'm in serious like.

As I pulled into the driveway at home...

Me: (to neighbour) "Hey! Just went to Mickey's Pizza; it's out near Lakeshore and Erin Mills, amazing pizza!"
Him: (eating Pizza Pizza) "Well, I have Pizza Pizza, it's all the same. Pizza's pizza."
Me: "..."

No... all pizza is not alike.

The Food Junkie was actually the first review I saw on the place and if my brief overview didn't sell you, perhaps she will.

Seriously, game changer. Turns out we're returning this weekend with a group of friends. I also didn't mean to pick on Pizza Pizza, it was the first big chain that came to mind.

EDIT: Forgot but I also had a Coke out of a glass bottle during the meal, nice touch!