Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge

Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge

1025 S. Charles St.

Baltimore, MD 21264

Baltimore never ceases to surprise me. From the burgeoning arts district in North Avenue to free book shop near Charles Village, the city continues to express itself in interesting ways.

Lo and behold, a high-end bar and lounge devoted sleight of hand, illusions, and strait-jacket escapes. As an aside, the owner, Ken Horsman, himself can't believe this place is here, let alone in Federal Hill. That's magical.

Ken and Spencer Horsman form the father-and-son team behind Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge. Pere (Ken) Horsman was a former Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus clown and Willard Scott's (former Today Show weatherman) successor as Ronald McDonald, the (former) multinational fast-food corporation's hype man. He passed along the gift of entertainment to Horsman fils (Spencer) at the tender age of four. Apparently, Spencer was a child prodigy and picked up ventriloquism and magic rather easily. He's performed for celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and even "bi-winner" Charlie Sheen.

The magic itself is rather goofy, more of the Penn-and-Teller comedic strain rather than David Copperfield spectacle-and-illusion. Ken serves as the consummate and goofy opener to get the crowd rolling; Spencer dazzles with his stock of card tricks, pseudo-illusions, and strait-jacket escapes.

The strait-jacket escape was more an act of contortionism than illusion, although I certainly was taking mental notes if I ever encountered myself in a similar Jack Bauer "24" situation.

The most impressive magic trick involved causing a $100 bill previously borrowed from a member of the audience to appear inside (!) a random orange in a martini glass. I'm not sure was was more magical: the execution of the trick, getting the dour 40-year old attorney to actually lend him a $100 bill, or somehow getting his Botoxed, breast-enhanced date romantically interested in him after he stepped off stage.

Amor y Amargo

Amor y Amargo
443 E 6th St
(between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
Manhattan, NY 10009

Amor y Amargo's, Ravi de Rossi's new project, used to be Carteles, the Latin sandwich shop underneath the trendy, rum-soaked upstairs bar, Cienfuegos. Now Ravi brings some love and bitters with this new cocktail joint specializing in French, German, Italian, and American liqueurs, spirits infused with various herbs, fruits, roots, and other ingredients.

Most people know bitters as those things that flavor Martinis (dry vermouth), Old Fashioneds/Manhattans (sweet vermouth), and negronis (Campari), but this is one of the few bars that give these liqueurs their rightful prominence on a cocktail menu.

I had a coppa of the house-made sweet vermouth, a cuvee of wine, port, and various spices. Sweet, grapey, and bitter at the same time, this fortified wine had a nice bit of sparkle. Following this was another coppa of amber vermouth, which had the body of a young tawny port, and resonated with notes of citrus, ginger, and honey. I learned that vermouth is fantastic by itself, not just as a sixth man on the cocktail court.

Next were the cocktails. Avery Glassman, one-half of the team that has brought Bitterman's bitters to the East Coast from "Portlandia", is responsible for the most of the cocktail menu. Amaro is a difficult ingredient to mix in cocktails: the melange of various herbs and spices requires one to find an high-proof alcohol that does not overpower it, but at the same time, blend nicely into them.

I appreciated the Francaise Four-Play the most: a plucky blend of bonal quinquina, yellow chartreuse, cognac, Lillet blanc, Bittermen's Hellfire Shrub bitters, topped with a lemon twist and a splash of club soda. Technically, this would be a menage-a-trois, since cognac is not a French liqueur, but a fortified wine spirit, but who am I to argue with this fizzy orgy of herbs, ginger, and citrus. The Mud Season (Rhum Agricole/Zucca Amaro/Mirto/Sweet Vermouth/Bittermen's Hopped Grapefruit Bitters) managed to harmonize all the ingredients in the same drink, a difficult task given the diverse flavors in the Zucca, Mirto, and sweet vermouth.

Additionally, they offer each of their amaros for $4 per 1 oz. shot for customers to sample, which is a notable discount from having to buy a bottle from a liquor store. They plan to get some German bitters in the upcoming week, which are considerably more complex that the Jagermeister that you used to Jager-bomb in college.

Ravi de Rossi continues to expand the bartending discourse after Death & Co., Mayahuel, and Cienfuegos. Although Amor y Amargo might be the least approachable for the cocktail initiate, he is doing a public service by prominently featuring these underrated liqueurs on a more public stage.

Le Bernardin

Le Bernardin
The Equitable Building
155 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

My experience at Le Bernardin was almost everything I could ask for: the meal was, for the most part, precisely executed, the service was dutiful but not doting; the sommelier's knowledge was thorough and concise. But in the realm of 3 Michelin-star restaurants, comparisons unfortunately reside in the realm of superlatives. My experience was outstanding, but not amazing. And Le Bernardin was one of the considerably better meals I've had, but not among the best.

Everyone highlights Eric Ripert as the grand architect of the Le Bernardin experience, but the dessert courses overseen by their pastry chef Michael Laiskonis were by far the highlights of my meal. These dishes were visual and cerebral, philosophically and masterfully executed in the way that I had expected of the Le Bernardin experience

I had the Le Bernardin Tasting menu with Mr. Top Line, a foodie finance friend whose zest for fine dining is only exceeded by his love of a) money and b) women. A true Tom Wolfe "Bonfire of the Vanities" character (and I say this with all due respect, because he is truly a nice guy despite the occasional outbursts of douchebaggery).

We started with a crisp Chablis, because you might as well start a special meal at a fancy French restaurant with an all-star Chardonnay from the northern part of Burgundy. The only minor trifle was the bread selections that started the meal: the Parker roll tasted old and chalky, and the olive mini-baguette had a hard, dense crust that resulted from being in service for too long.

The amuse bouche was a gorgeous tureen of slightly over-cooked rock shrimp in a mushroom-truffle foam. The foam was like breathing in the sea salt from the Atlantic Ocean from which the shrimp came, but instead of saline notes were earthy notes of mushrooms and forest floor.

Before starting on the tasting menu, Le Bernardin is my only exception to taking photos of one's food in restaurant. Perhaps it is a point of personal preference, but viewing your food through the narrow lens of a Canon Digital SLR camera seems disruptive and counterproductive to the entire dining experience. The elegance of eating at a fine dining restaurant is not just what's on the table: it's the synchronized harmony of the restaurant setting, front-of-house staff, and cooks in the kitchen working together to create a food experience that exceeds the customer's expectations. The dishes that were served for the tasting menu were so artfully stunning that if someone wanted to have a photographic keepsake of their Le Bernardin meal, I would find it difficult to fault them.

Savory courses:

Yellowfin Tuna Carpaccio on Toasted Baguette and Foie Gras: Almost looking like smoked salmon, the dish looked like a sunburst on the plate. The delicate, fatty flavor of the tuna melded nicely with creamy texture of the Hudson Valley foie gras and herbaceousness of fresh chives and extra virgin olive oil.

Braised and Charred Octopus with Fermented Black Bean, Pear Sauce, Miso Vinaigrette Ink: The genius of this dish was not the preparation of the pliant, mouth-tender octopus but the marraige of slightly charred seafood with fermented black bean paste. The sweetness of the of the paste matched that of the pear sauce, while its earthiness complemented the smokiness of the octopus.

Lobster Carpaccio with Hearts of Palm and Fennel: Lobster and chardonnay seemed like such a cliche pairing, so I opted for a full-bodied Arbois from the Jura to complement the citrus and fennel to the dish. Under the definition of succulent, you would a picture of this lobster dish, with a delicate sweetness exuding from the tender, meaty morsels of crustacean. The hearts of palm and shaved fennel provided a nice contrast in texture, and the light butter sauce that was poured over the plate rounded the components of the dish nicely.

Seared Hiromasa with Truffle Risotto and Emulsion: This is why you pay to go the Le Bernardin: perfectly cooked fish, with a slight, brown sear on the outside. Mr. Top Line and I proceeded to re-enact Detective Bunk and McNulty's famous crime scene from The Wire while savoring this dish.

TL (bites into hiromasa): F**k.

JM: (breathes whiff of truffle emulsion): F**k.

TL (breathes in truffle risotto): F**king A.

JM: (plows truffle risotto in mouth): Motherf***er.

Black Bass with Mini Bean Sprouts and Chinese Sausage and Mini-Steamed Buns: This was the only dish that I didn't like. The crispy skin on the black bass was perfect, but the filet had been cooked for slightly too long. The mini bean sprouts and chinese sausage provided a nice contrast in flavor and texture, but the spongy, little mini seemed extraneous.

Dessert Courses:

Parsnip, Roasted Hazelnut, Browned Milk Solids: After considering the sheer audacity of serving a vegetable as a dessert, TL and I looked at each other reflexively and asked "What the f**k is a parsnip?" As any Chappelle Show fan will tell you, it is a root vegetable, but I have never seen this lowly vegetable as a small, caramelized, tumescent cylinder. Caramel, earthiness, nuttiness all in one dish. Phenomenal.

Milk Chocolate Ganache with "Liquid"Pear and Ginger Tuile: Pear puree was encased in a gelatinous ball over a mound of semi-sweet ganache. Upon exploding in the mouth, a wave of elderflower and sweet pear rushed over the palate. The semisweet chocolate ganache paired perfectly.

New York Vintners

New York Vintners
21 Warren St
(between Broadway & Church St)
New York, NY 10007

The most unpretentious place to learn about wine.

Dylan has been in the business for nearly 20 years, and his enthusiasm and passion for discussing and teaching wine clearly shows.

I have sat in on the Wine 101, Wine 202: Rhone, Spanish Tapas, Italian Pizza, and Sparkling Wine classes, and have enjoyed them thoroughly. The instructors are extremely knowledgeable: most have been trained by the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, the largest organization for wine education in the world. Most importantly, they encourage you to ask questions during class, which makes the classes feel more like an intimate wine seminar rather a droll wine lecture.

My favorite class had to be the Sparkling Wine class. Besides being informative about the intricacies of sparkling wine production, if you want to see a crowd's collective jaw drop, Dylan mentions that he learned a "cool trick" from the representative at Veuve Cliquot. He proceeds to pull out a cheese knife, and sabers not one, but two bottles of Champagne.

The Rum House

The Rum House
The Hotel Edison
228 W 47th St
New York, NY 10036

Is it a cocktail bar? Is it a piano bar? Is it a drinking hole for tourists in Time Square?

These questions swirl themselves around in your mind -- much like the brandied cherry in your Old Fashioned -- to an unresolvable conclusion while drinking at this bar on a busy Thursday night. But after hearing some fierce piano-ballad renditions of Gun and Roses "Paradise City" and Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight," you don't really care: You soak in the campy, bedlam of this Times Square bar much like the boozy cherry in your drink.

The Rum House is a vintage piano bar with decent cocktails. The place definitely has some character with all the old oak paneling and ironwork, akin to the Algonquin and the Oak Room, boozy dens of iniquity during the Mad Men era. I had a drink named after some deposed Latin American general with tequila, bonal gential, and bitters, but much like Reagan's foray into that region's politics in the 1980's, it was ill-advised meddling at best. The Full Sail Session Dark Lager (only $5!) was much better; it's crisp, malty, and caramel notes has made it my new session drink wherever I find it on the bar menu.

Am I'm a sucker for old-fashioneds, time-worn bars, and 80's power-ballads? Perhaps. But Rum House is a surprisingly good bar in this area.