Tell us about some interesting / fun happenings during the summer Restaurant Weeks (loved when Erik at Cafe de Paris told me that customers would tell him 'Joe from AIDA says hello' then he would tell them well then tell Eric at the Crab Shanty I said hello when you go there tomorrow night...)
JORDAN NAFTAL (Jordan’s Steakhouse)
One of our guests needed a place to go for a first date, ...enter...., Jordan's for restaurant weeks. I hear things have been fantastic ever since.
CHEF DAN WECKER by Sarah Beth Cassel (Elkridge Furnace Inn)
Everyone deserves to eat well, and what better way to treat yourself than to a delicious dinner. We are definitely "off the beaten path", hidden alongside the banks of the Patapsco river in lower Elkridge. This helps us to get noticed alongside other great local restaurant gems.
DONNA CRIVELLO (Donna’s)
We love to come up with some new dishes for special events. We now do a Saturday night chef's tasting menu, with wine that everyone seems to enjoy. And like restaurant week, it offers a great value and a chance to try someone new. People think that we just do coffee and salads and sandwiches, but I have expanded the menu with a full dinner menu and a complete bar.
Anything extra special you are doing during Howard County’s Winter Restaurant Weeks, this is your chance to brag a bit, contest for your servers, new offerings, wine pairings?
JOE BARBERA (AIDA Bistro & Wine Bar)
We will offer our three course prix fixe menu at dinner for $30.09. Our theme of supporting local will also showcase local libations as we will expand this offer to add a wine/beer flight featuring local/regional wines/beers from Maryland and Virginia for $40.09.
KYLE MUELHAUSER by Erin B. McNaboe (Rams Head Tavern)
Rams Head will also be having a beer release, Queen Anne Beer, on Thursday, March 5th, from 4-6pm. Enjoy limited edition glassware with $1 refills. Join us for Happy Hour prior to enjoying Restaurant Week, from 4-7pm enjoy $2.50 drafts, house wines and rail drinks, and from 5-7pm enjoy free happy hour food... really get a bargain for your evening out! Plus, you can make a day out of it... spend the day shopping at Savage Mill and enjoy Restaurant Week in the evening; you never have to move your car!
DONNA CRIVELLO (Donna’s)
On Mondays Donna’s is doing "Mangia Monday" $10. hearty pastas and specials on wines ($12. botttles) and appetizers and desserts. TAPAS TUESDAYS! $5. small plates and sangria! Wednesday. Donna's Cooking Classes (see website for details donnas.com.) Thursdays, WINE TASTINGS : $18. for a flight of four great wines, with complimentary hors d'oeurves. Saturdays: special chef's tasting menu: $40. four courses with wine. ($30. without wine) and LIVE JAZZ. Saturday and Sunday brunches with $3.00 mimosas.
Tell us something about you / your business, we know that the restaurant owners / chefs are ROCKSTARS of this promotion! How and why are did you enter into this crazy business?
JORDAN NAFTAL (Jordan’s Steakhouse)
After earning 35 cents a day washing dishes when I was eleven, I knew I was blessed with a career destiny.
JOE BARBERA (AIDA Bistro & Wine Bar)
"Everything you ever wanted to know about your local chef/restaurateur, but were afraid to ask" (thanks Woody Allen!) Our Chef, Sean Riggs, is from Canada, eh. His specialty is braising and he does enjoy making changes to the menu to celebrate the colder weather. Sean recently became an American citizen. AIDA Bistro is named after my mother, Aida, who was named by her Italian immigrant father after the Verdi opera.
CHEF DAN WECKER by Sarah Beth Cassel (Elkridge Furnace Inn)
A Lancaster, PA native, Chef Dan Wecker's passion for cooking began in his childhood when he became the designated camp cook at scouting retreats. Dan then started cooking at a concession stand at a local ice rink. At the ripe young age of fourteen, he was in the kitchen kneading dough for pizzas and making chicken and specialty burgers. After high school, he expanded his horizons, literally, by traveling overseas to Australia with a foreign student exchange program. While there, he kindled his passion for cooking by winning the distinction of Best Apple Jelly and Best Mustard Pickles at his school in Towoomba. Upon returning to the states, his formal culinary education began in earnest at a local French restaurant under the auspices of French Chef Michelle Beaupin. There, he trained in all disciplines of French cuisine from pastry to saucier to boucher (butcher) in a four and a half year period. After his marriage to wife Donna, Dan and his new bride began a successful catering company in 1980 and then found his biggest challenge to date in 1988 in Elkridge, MD.
Dan and his brother Steve, who has since moved on, discovered the sorely neglected remains of what is now The Elkridge Furnace Inn in 1988, and persuaded the state of Maryland to allow them to lease the property and begin immediate restoration. In 1991, the buildings that encompass The Elkridge Furnace Inn were Ellicott City's Decorator Showhouse. Shortly thereafter, Dan began on-site catering on the property. In 1994, the restaurant opened during a blizzard, but that didn't stop Wecker from growing the business to its present day 6-day a week schedule featuring brunch, lunch, and dinner.
DONNA CRIVELLO (Donna’s)
I always wanted to cook for people and entertain...so here at Donna’s we can do that!
--Post by Tourism Team
--Images by Losurdo Photography