City Café

1001 Cathedral Street

Baltimore, MD

I have driven past City Café more times then I can count, but yet had never stopped in to have a meal. When I drive past, it always looks like an inviting place with people lining the windows sipping latte’s and typing away on their laptops. I had always thought of City Café as… well, a Café. Somewhere to go grab a Chai Latte or perhaps a hot panini, so I was not expecting to find such a large selection of entrees and such an extensive martini list! City Café turned out to be a fabulous choice for a pre-show meal; we were headed to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Cirque De La Symphony on this particular evening. 

We started off with a carafe of sangria which was brought to our table with beautifully garnished glasses: perfectly ripe strawberries, raspberries and blueberries filled the glasses. The sangria was delicious and a great way to begin our meal. When looking over the menu, the Iceberg Wedge salad jumped out at me right away. I think it had to do with the apples and carrots that accompanied the usual suspects – blue cheese, bacon, tomatoes and red onions. Sure enough the wedge was delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed the slight twist on this classic salad. Michelle and I also tried the Hazelnut Crusted Goat Cheese salad: spinach, red onion, bacon and a crisp piece of hazelnut crusted goat cheese were topped with warm cranberry vinaigrette. It was fabulous!

Choosing one entrée from the plethora of choices proved to be a very difficult task. I thought I was set on the Chicken Pesto Pasta which had diced chicken and spinach and basil pesto cream sauce over penne pasta. However, as the tables around us received their food, I was surrounded by the sight and aroma of several types of fish. Rainbow Trout, “Everything” crusted Tuna, Chilean Sea bass and Grilled Atlantic Salmon were surrounding me and I quickly shifted from pasta mode to seafood mode. My decision was now narrowed down to the salmon and the trout. Since I had never tried trout before, I decided to be adventurous and give it a try. The generous portion of fish had a cornmeal crust and was topped with a crab arugula salad, potato hash and butter sauce. The fish was nicely prepared but the strong flavor of the arugula took away from the fish. Our parents (frequent “sponsors” of our dining adventures!) joined us at City Café and they tried the “Everything” Crusted Tuna and Chilean Sea bass. Both enjoyed their meals thoroughly. We also tried the roasted eggplant sandwich which was served on toasted sourdough bread.  The perfect combination of eggplant, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and melted provolone made this a great option for vegetarians.  The sweet potato fries were definitely the side to choose.

As full as we were, we could not pass up the dessert menu. We opted for the Café Threeo – a perfect combination of Chef Chad’s three signature desserts: a warm flourless chocolate cake (which is gluten free!), traditional crème brulee with a vanilla burnt sugar crust and the heath bar crunch bread pudding. The petite portions of all three selections made for the perfect end to a lovely meal.

For more info, check out: www.citycafebaltimore.com