On Wednesday, June 3, 2009, I was in Baltimore, Maryland to attend a conference for work. In the late afternoon/early evening after the meetings for that day had ended, the conference organizers sponsored a cash bar in the ground floor café of the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel. This got out around 6:30 pm. I noticed some of my coworkers leaving and they had earlier suggested I should have dinner with them. The four of us were joined by colleagues from other companies: four from Indiana, two from Tennessee, and one from North Dakota making our total eleven. I followed them outside not knowing where we were going. We walked east on Pratt Street into the Little Italy section of Baltimore and then turned right (south) down a narrow street. Ciao Bella was on the right side of this street. It was across from another Italian restaurant, Chippareli’s, that I believe was mentioned in the Fodor’s guidebook of Maryland that I had borrowed from the Covina library.
Inside the restaurant it was dark and seemed small but there were actually several rooms branching off from the first room with the bar. While in this first room one of my colleagues noticed my glow-in-the-dark cellphone charm that another coworker had given to me as a gift a few weeks before. The hostess seated us at a long table or possibly several tables pushed together in one of the rooms with a view of the street. There were other tables in the room but they were never used while we were there. The staff directed other patrons to other rooms including some other colleagues from the North Dakota company. The room in which we sat wasn’t as dark as the first room but still dim. The tablecloths were white and on the walls they had these pictures of kids wearing old-fashion clothes. The kids’ outfits and the backgrounds of the pictures looked like paintings but their faces looked like photographs making them seem somewhat creepy.
The waiter brought us menus that were several pages long and included separate sections for appetizers, soups and salads, meat, chicken, seafood, and pasta entrees. The waiter also mentioned some specials including a chicken breast stuffed with crab. Everything was rather expensive with most entrees ranging between $20 and $30. Many of us had a tough time deciding what to order. The meat section had several veal options including Veal Chesapeake. I wanted to have crab since that’s what’s good in Baltimore. They had some crab options such as a crab appetizer, special, and crab-stuffed shrimp entrée in the seafood section. I ordered the latter: Shrimp di Stephano and requested that it be altered to be non-diary. Some of the others ordered appetizers such as brushetta that I was surprised to see had cheese on it. There was also bread and plates of olive oil with balsamic vinegar, all very good. Later a different waiter (or possibly a chef) came by and said they could make my entrée without dairy but the crab would still have egg in it. I said that was fine and he said they would replace the cream sauce on the fettuccine with a white wine sauce and capers, all fine with me.
All of the entrees came at once except one colleague from Tennessee whose red snapper special was late. She went around trying everyone else’s food at our table. One colleague from Indiana ordered some meatballs in marinara sauce (or “gravy” as his coworker called it, I guess they call sauce “gravy” in Indiana). He shared the meatballs and I tried half of one. It was very good, meaty and juicy with very little added flavor because it wasn’t needed. My Shrimp di Stephano was also very good. I could taste the crab flavor and, again, no added flavor was in it or needed. The shrimp were large and thick, though they kept the tail shells on. The pasta with a white wine sauce had a sweet taste that was a little strong but still good. The others’ entrees also looked impressive. My coworker’s eggplant puttanesca was very large. He called it a burrito. One of the others from Indiana had the same entrée as I only with the cream sauce. He said it was “solid”. Many people shared each others’ entrees.
We were there for several hours. They offered dessert but only had cannoli, tiramisu and a third item I don’t remember. No one ordered dessert but several ordered coffee. Outside it would pour down rain, stop, and then rain some more at different intervals. By the time we left it was raining again and we heard loud thunder. One of our group impressively whistled for a cab that picked up four of us. We waved down another cab that picked up another four. I was part of the last group and we had to wait a while as cabs picked up people from Chippareli’s across the street. Finally, one came for us and we rode the short distance back to the hotel. Ciao Bella was good but expensive. It seems that Baltimore either had either cheap food that’s just adequate or expensive food that’s very good. There isn’t much in between. I’m glad I had the Maryland crab but I was ready to get back to the “in-between” restaurants at home.
I later learned that there’s a restaurant called “Ciao Bella” in Riverside.
Inside the restaurant it was dark and seemed small but there were actually several rooms branching off from the first room with the bar. While in this first room one of my colleagues noticed my glow-in-the-dark cellphone charm that another coworker had given to me as a gift a few weeks before. The hostess seated us at a long table or possibly several tables pushed together in one of the rooms with a view of the street. There were other tables in the room but they were never used while we were there. The staff directed other patrons to other rooms including some other colleagues from the North Dakota company. The room in which we sat wasn’t as dark as the first room but still dim. The tablecloths were white and on the walls they had these pictures of kids wearing old-fashion clothes. The kids’ outfits and the backgrounds of the pictures looked like paintings but their faces looked like photographs making them seem somewhat creepy.
The waiter brought us menus that were several pages long and included separate sections for appetizers, soups and salads, meat, chicken, seafood, and pasta entrees. The waiter also mentioned some specials including a chicken breast stuffed with crab. Everything was rather expensive with most entrees ranging between $20 and $30. Many of us had a tough time deciding what to order. The meat section had several veal options including Veal Chesapeake. I wanted to have crab since that’s what’s good in Baltimore. They had some crab options such as a crab appetizer, special, and crab-stuffed shrimp entrée in the seafood section. I ordered the latter: Shrimp di Stephano and requested that it be altered to be non-diary. Some of the others ordered appetizers such as brushetta that I was surprised to see had cheese on it. There was also bread and plates of olive oil with balsamic vinegar, all very good. Later a different waiter (or possibly a chef) came by and said they could make my entrée without dairy but the crab would still have egg in it. I said that was fine and he said they would replace the cream sauce on the fettuccine with a white wine sauce and capers, all fine with me.
All of the entrees came at once except one colleague from Tennessee whose red snapper special was late. She went around trying everyone else’s food at our table. One colleague from Indiana ordered some meatballs in marinara sauce (or “gravy” as his coworker called it, I guess they call sauce “gravy” in Indiana). He shared the meatballs and I tried half of one. It was very good, meaty and juicy with very little added flavor because it wasn’t needed. My Shrimp di Stephano was also very good. I could taste the crab flavor and, again, no added flavor was in it or needed. The shrimp were large and thick, though they kept the tail shells on. The pasta with a white wine sauce had a sweet taste that was a little strong but still good. The others’ entrees also looked impressive. My coworker’s eggplant puttanesca was very large. He called it a burrito. One of the others from Indiana had the same entrée as I only with the cream sauce. He said it was “solid”. Many people shared each others’ entrees.
We were there for several hours. They offered dessert but only had cannoli, tiramisu and a third item I don’t remember. No one ordered dessert but several ordered coffee. Outside it would pour down rain, stop, and then rain some more at different intervals. By the time we left it was raining again and we heard loud thunder. One of our group impressively whistled for a cab that picked up four of us. We waved down another cab that picked up another four. I was part of the last group and we had to wait a while as cabs picked up people from Chippareli’s across the street. Finally, one came for us and we rode the short distance back to the hotel. Ciao Bella was good but expensive. It seems that Baltimore either had either cheap food that’s just adequate or expensive food that’s very good. There isn’t much in between. I’m glad I had the Maryland crab but I was ready to get back to the “in-between” restaurants at home.
I later learned that there’s a restaurant called “Ciao Bella” in Riverside.
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