If you have been following me on Facebook and/or Instagram, which you should if you don’t already, then you may have noticed that my husband and I have made two separate trips up to Baltimore, MD in the past couple of months.
We saw some really cool stuff, like The Ravens stadium, the Under Armour headquarters and factory, some great historical sites, cool museums and of course, the Inner Harbor. We also found some incredibly cool little neighborhoods, where we discovered some absolutely breathtakingly delicious food.
Our favorites: Home Slyce Pizza Bar & Hersh’s Pizza & Drinks. Both of these places are out-of-bounds, crazy good. Like, whoa, go ahead and punch me in the face so I know I’m not dreaming while I’m eating this bite of heaven. That good.
Home Slyce, located in Federal Hill at 1741 Light Street is open daily for dinner at 4pm and lunch on Thursday to Sunday 11am. There’s two other locations in the Canton and Mt. Vernon neighborhoods, but Michael and I visited the Federal Hill location on each of our excursions.
The menu is huge, and spans way past just pizzas. You can get some hummus or Baba Ghanoush, or even some marinated olives, or a big, delicious salad. They have big sandwiches, and delicious calzones, and a huge beer and spirits list too. But when you go to Home Slyce Pizza Bar, you’re going for pizza. C’mon. Don’t be that person who goes to a pizza place for a house salad and Baba Ghanoush. Just don’t.
Anyway, both times Michael and I visited the ultra casual Home Slyce, we decided on their Slyces, which are personal sized pizzas shaped like a boat. Seriously. The first time we went, we weren’t quite sure what we were getting ourselves into, but after our first bite, we were just in bliss-mode. And we remained in bliss-mode until long after we both completely finished our monstrous “personal-sized” pizzas. Holy cow.
The magic is in the crust and the sauce. Just straight up. The crust is chewy, and soft, and yet it has that crunch that is audible as you bite into it. It’s perfect. Just perfect. And the sauce! It’s so simple! I imagine it’s just crushed tomatoes with some salt and basil. I don’t know what else it could be but it’s just perfectly uncomplicated. The cheese is fresh, as are the toppings, and my word, there’s a ton of toppings to choose from.
If you want, you can take any number of their specialty pizzas and turn them into a slyce, or if you’re like me, you can just make your own and add tons of broccoli and garlic to the mix. And jalapenos too. Because yes, I’m still on the garlicky broccoli kick. I want it all the time on everything. And I love jalapenos… Michael went with the Strongman Meat Classic slyce both times we visited. This specialty pizza features tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, Pepperoni, Bacon, Salami & sausage, and both times, he loved it. I mean, how can you NOT?
I mean, is there a way for me to get my hands, or mouth rather, around a broccoli and garlic slyce RIGHT NOW?!? Man. Anyway, the people at Home Slyce are insanely nice, extremely helpful and we had a lot of fun both times we visited, and I can safely say that we will be back. Oh. We will be back.
The other place that you should put on your “Need to Eat Here” list for Baltimore is Hersh’s Pizza & Drinks. Located at 1843-45 Light Street, Baltimore MD 21230, just a couple blocks away from Home Slyce, and though they share pizza as a commonality, that’s pretty much it. Where Home Slyce is a relaxed and more laid back bar/restaurant, Hersh’s is classier, and a bit more upscale. It actually reminded both Michael and me of any number of places here in Austin in terms of décor, and atmosphere. It’s relaxed, and you can wear jeans, but it’s more of a classy-relaxed, if that makes any sense.
Anyway, a brother and sister pair, Josh and Stephanie Hershkovitz , had the idea of feeding the neighborhood with amazing, handcrafted Italian food and drink in their mind, and with this idea, they started Hersh’s Pizza & Drinks.
Inside their small yet charming two-story dining space, they’re serving up Neapolitan-style pizzas and rustic Italian small plates and while pouring craft beers and vintage cocktails with artisanal spirits. They have house-made pastas and sausage and they go so far as to squeeze fresh juice behind the bar and make their own grenadine and sour mix. Very Austin, right?
Well, when Michael and I arrived at 1-ish on Sunday afternoon after church, we were excited to see that we’d made it in time for their brunch! Hurrah!
We were quickly seated, and provided with menus to peruse while we got comfy. I ordered up a fresh-made hot apple cider, and Michael went with a cocktail combining ginger beer and other yummies.
I couldn’t find it on their online menu, but he said it was amazing. So, just take his word for it.
Michael also ordered the wood-fired oysters for a starter, while I wished I could partake. Unfortunately, being pregnant sort of limits my ability to eat the foods that I so ravenously crave, like oysters, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.
The plate was small, and a perfect teaser for the meal to come. The pickled Fresno chili combined beautifully with the Italian sausage, olives, garlic and butter, and made him appropriately excited for more to come. I was excited enough just by looking at the beautiful presentation and seeing his joyful expression after each one.
For our main courses, he decided on Hersh’s Wood-Fired Burger: dry-aged chuck, short rib and brisket, topped with honey crisp apple, gorgonzola & arugula, & served with fries, while I went with something a bit more unusual. This item isn’t on their online menu, so I don’t know the proper name for it, but I’ll call it “The best darn sandwich ever, ever, ever.”
It was a sandwich panino stacked with roasted cauliflower, pickled beets, arugula, and a traditional Spanish-style Romesco sauce, with all of the garlicky goodness that it brings. This sandwich was served on house-made focaccia and a side of lightly dressed arugula salad.
I mean, are you even kidding me with this sandwich? ROASTED CAULIFLOWER AND PICKLED BEETS???! With a GARLIC AND TOMATO SAUCE?!??! Yeah, the only way this could get better is to just throw some broccoli on there, and call it a day.
My friends, I mean my GOODNESS. I felt like they knew I was coming and tailor-made this sandwich just to fit my taste because, who does that? Who makes a cauliflower and beet sandwich, besides the sandwich maker of my dreams!? OK, I’m getting carried away. And now I’m out of breath. I honestly wished that I could go back in time to before I ate the sandwich so that I could re-eat the sandwich. I’m nuts.
Michael’s burger looked spectacular, and was stacked in some of the same, warm, fresh-baked bread that my sandwich, and he loved it. I didn’t ask to take a bite, because as you can probably imagine, I was otherwise occupied with my plate. But I did come up for air long enough to take him up on his offer to try the fries that accompanied his burger.
He was sneaky. He knew this fries were crazy-special, and didn’t let me in on the secret. He said he wanted to see my reaction. And a reaction he got. These fries! They must have been like triple or quadruple fried, rather than just the standard single or double-fried variety. They were the absolute most crispy and crunchy and crazy fries I’ve had. They may actually now be my second favorite fries. My first favorites will probably always belong to Monk’s Café in Philadelphia. Those were just… those were stupid good. Those shut me up for a good long time. Dang.
And I digress.
The point is, Federal Hill is home to two of my new favorite restaurants, Home Slyce Pizza Bar and Hersh’s Pizza & Drinks. Thank you Baltimore for being so welcoming, so humble and so honest in your city and in your cuisine. I really do love Charm City.
