local spotlight: The Dogwood (Baltimore)

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Tonight, I once again had the pleasure of dining at The Dogwood in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood.  The Dogwood's menu is in a state of constant evolution, as they utilize local, seasonal ingredients where possible, which is part of the excitement of dropping in about once a month or two-- you never know what you'll find on the menu (and thus far it seems like you cannot go wrong).  A few mouthwatering constants do remain, however, like bookends on your meal: fresh baked Irish soda bread with mango butter to commence dining (baked during the day, so not available for the lunchtime crowd- yes, we found that out the sad way) and the best carrot cake I've ever had, chock full of nuts and raisins and finished with a rich orange cream cheese icing, to wrap things up.  Formerly closed Mondays, The Dogwood has recently opened for business with a Monday (Funday?) prix fixe dinner option with or without wine pairings.  Though wine pairings are always tempting, it wasn't a dinner for lingering, and so I remained a Sober Sally.  I did, however, take advantage of the prix fixe, opting for a beet salad with Cherry Glen Farm's chevre, rainbow trout over a four grain pilaf with red grapes, cranberries, almonds, and sauteed mushrooms, and to top it all off-- you guessed it-- the to-die-for carrot cake.  BB went for salad and soup-- a sweet and spicy chana masala lentil-- and helped pick at my meal.  Guess who gets yummy trout and carrot cake leftovers tomorrow night?!  We should have probably known better than to inhale the bread and butter, but fresh after our 90 minute sweat sesh all reason had been abandoned.  It is too freakin' good to handle with any sort of restraint.

Dining for a cause:

In addition to their commitment to using a variety of local and seasonal ingredients, The Dogwood is commendable for their mission:

"The Dogwood’s social mission is to transform lives one plate at a time by providing training opportunity and paid employment to individuals who are transitioning from addiction, incarceration, homelessness, and/or underemployment.

Our restaurant is a social business that pursues the double bottom line: financial return on investment and social return through transformed lives. The Dogwood provides intensive, professional paid training to a small class of individuals who are working to better their lives. Their training is supported through business revenues. Our servers, food runners, and chefs are all learners and instructors, working to become exemplary professionals in the culinary and hospitality arts. They are eager to talk to you about our training program."

Good food, good cause-- that's something I can always get behind.

(check it out: http://www.dogwoodbaltimore.com/)