by Lynn Williams
maindish@baltimoreguide.com
The vintage-looking sign hanging over the bar at Hamilton Tavern warns patrons “Do Not Discuss Politics or Religion Here.” Hey, it’s an election year! What else is there to discuss?
I can see their point, though. This is already arguably the noisiest bar in town. When we first stopped by to check it out, on a Friday night, the place was packed with a wall-to-wall crowd of twentysomethings, and the din was deafening. When we showed up a few days later for an early weekday dinner it was only half full, and the crowd was more eclectic, but the room was still plenty loud. Add a heated political spat to the mix and patrons’ ears might begin to bleed.
While this girl tends to be a fan of peace and quiet, there was a positive side to the dial-it-to-eleven volume at Hamilton Tavern. The wooden floors and tin ceiling were partly responsible, but the major cause was…conversation. There are no televisions at the bar, and everyone talks to each other. In fact, my husband and I managed to strike up conversations with people at both of our adjoining tables.
Hamilton Tavern, which I’m told was once an old-school blue-collar bar, is part of the restaurant revolution in Baltimore’s “Upper East Side,” a trend that began with Lauraville’s Chameleon Café, and moved up Harford Road to Clementine. The building has been given the kind of “renovation” that actually adds years to its age; with its ancient farm implements and weathered wood, it looks like it might have served Okies during Dust Bowl days. The food, however, is fresh and modern. And the beer is great: The Brewer’s Art’s Tom Creegan is proprietor here, so expect Ozzy and Resurrection ales on tap, as well as wine and single-malt Scotches.
The menu is short and simple—appetizers, salads and sandwiches—but this is hardly standard pub fare. The seasonal produce is purchased at farmers’ markets, and the ground beef in the instantly famous cheeseburger is from Monkton’s Roseda Farms. This is not mere brand-name mongering, but a recognition that when food is locally sourced it simply tastes better. Some imagination has gone into the selections, too; I’d venture that no other restaurant in town offers “fried dill pickle chips with zippy goat cheese sauce” or a “salad of roasted peaches.”
We started with the Boh-battered O’s ($5), onion rings so crisp, tender and tasty that I ate more of them than I’d really planned to. Equally easy on the taste buds (and easier on the digestive tract) were an order of small, sweet steamed clams in a bath of white wine, garlic and, notably, smoked tomatoes,
The aforementioned Roseda burger ($9) was juicy and full-flavored, the cheese a jazzy horseradish-spiked sharp cheddar. My heart was won completely, though, by the soft shell crab sandwich ($13), which featured a generous-sized crustacean tucked into a piece of flatbread with bacon, avocado, and a slice of tomato, additions which only enhanced the main attraction.
Both sandwiches were served with house-made potato chips. While these were better than some, I’m still not a fan of the genre.
The dessert of the day was black-bottom cake ($3.77) – not a true black-bottom, alas, but a perfectly nice chocolate cake. Speaking of which, one of the table-neighbors we met was a young holistic health-care consultant. When asked what her clients would say if they saw her devouring a great big burger and cake, she said with a laugh, “Sometimes you have to feed your soul!”
Hamilton Tavern
5517 Harford Rd.
Open 4:30 p.m. to midnight Mon., Wed., Thurs.,
4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fri.-Sat.
Phone: 410-426-1930
Our dinner for two: $46.66
The Latest Dish…
The Hamilton Tavern is not the only new kid in the neighborhood. Almost ready for its close-up is Parkside Fine Food and Spirits (4709 Harford Rd.), which replaces the divey Cameo Lounge. Parkside will offer a restaurant, deli, bakery and bar, and, like Clementine, will have a play area for kids. Like Hamilton Tavern, there’s a Brewer’s Art connection: One of the owner-partners, Chris Cashell, was the midtown brewpub’s brewer!
