CULINARY
Cheers to That Good Eats True Chesapeake Oyster House, After finding inspiration in women’s coming to Hampden’s new Whitehall groups formed in the Democratic Mill this fall, brings together two local Republic of Congo, five Baltimore oyster purveyors, True Chesapeake women banded together to form and Local Oyster, along with chef Zack community-driven food cooperative Mills, formerly of Michael Mina’s Wit & Mera Kitchen Collective in 2018. Wisdom. Leading the beverage program The group’s goal? To help empower is Chelsea Gregoire, a Baltimore native refugee and immigrant women through seen behind the bar at many of our culinary events like food pop-ups, favorites, including Topside at Hotel which have taken place at such hot members: Iman Alshehab, a Syrian
Revival, Ida B’s Table and Dooby’s. spots as Faddensonnen, Clavel, R. refugee who was previously executive
Chelsea was honored with Eater’s House and Ida B.’s Table, among chef of the Four Seasons in Damascus.
Young Guns award in 2018, and she others. They also host cooking classes, Proceeds from events support the chefs,
runs her own consulting company, cater meals and are regulars at local their families and Baltimore-based
Drinkable Genius. farmers markets. Among the founding refugee communities.
Iman Alshehab
Pioneering Woman:
HOLLIE
STEPHENSON
Three Female-Owned
Restaurants To Try
1)
A
CHARLESTON
Owner and Chef Cindy Wolf runs the kitchen of this award-
winning restaurant (and many others, as part of her restaurant
group Foreman Wolf, with her business partner Tony Foreman). The eight-
time James Beard Award finalist for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic cooks up
a hybrid of French and Low Country cuisine, featuring dishes like shrimp
and grits and foie gras. And her cooking and restaurant ownership isn’t all
she has going on: She also co-hosts a radio show, “Tony Foreman and Chef
Cindy Wolf on Food & Wine” every Sunday on local station WYPR.
2)
brews are concocted by head
a rarity in her field—in 2014, according
to a Stanford University study of 1,700
breweries, only four percent had a
female head brewer or brewmaster.
She joined Guinness as head brewer
CLAVEL/W.C. HARLAN/FADENSONNEN
when it opened in 2018 after stints
at Stone in San Diego and Highland
in Asheville. Here in Baltimore, she’s
able to experiment with new recipes
and ingredients to create beers that
Guinness drinkers have never seen
before, and many that are only available
THE URBAN OYSTER
What started as a farmer’s market stall turned into a brick-
and-mortar business in April for chef/owner Jasmine Norton,
who launched her modern-creative take on oysters in 2016 as a way
to reintroduce Baltimoreans to great seafood. Her business is the first
oyster bar in Maryland to be owned by a
black woman, and Norton cares
deeply about investing back
in her community through
community service,
food donations
and more.
B A LT I M O R E . O R G
at the brewery’s taproom. Recent
releases dreamed up by Stephenson
include a blonde lager, a coffee stout
made with Baltimore-based Vent Coffee
Roasters coffee, and a Saison Blanc,
which was made using Sauvignon Blanc
grape must (fittingly, it was brewed on
March 8, International Women’s Day).
Read on to learn about why Hollie
30
Brewery and Barrel House,
brewer Hollie Stephenson. Stephenson’s
Lane Harlan is the trailblazing brain behind Remington’s
Mexican hot spot Clavel, nearby speakeasy cocktail bar W.C.
Harlan, and, most recently, Fadensonnen, an open-air beer garden concept
serving up wild ciders, natural wines, unpasteurized sake, and local brews
on draft. A bartender by trade who brought mezcal to Baltimore with
Clavel, Harlan is known for her trendsetting intuition and a serious sense of
individual style. She’s one to watch.
3)
t the Guinness Open Gate
loves Baltimore and what her plans for
Guinness’ future involve.