Old haunts and new hangouts

This weekend was quite a full weekend. Troy, my oft-mentioned brother-from-another turned the not-so-big 2-8 over the weekend. He and O, my best girlfriend, hosted a lovely get-together for my 24th at Pazo a couple of months ago. He told us that he wanted to have Sunday brunch with our closest friends to celebrate his birthday and left the rest of the planning to us. While we were brainstorming a few weeks ago for brunch places, I (Ms. Baltimore restaurants that I am) came up at a loss. We couldn't possibly make reservations at Little Havana for a group our size (between 10 and 20 depending on who's in town when we plan outings), Pisces and Della Notte are a little on the pricey end for some (especially with gas prices as they are). O brilliantly suggested XS. I called and made reservations a few days before, and without my asking they even volunteered to put our group of 15 in the loft at the very top of the restaurant.

Saturday night, The Maestro and I had a double date with some friends from his main gig at Pazo. Instead of ordering a la carte, we decided to order both of their group tables for two. The result was a never-ending supply of small plates... some things that I would've ordered and other things that I wouldn't have, but I'm glad I tried. Everything was delicious, and we wound up waddling out of there. Their mojitos are especially delicious, and I had never had one there before.

The new haunt that I tried for the weekend was La Scala. It was quite accidental. The Maestro and I ran into an old college friend in the middle of the street while we were looking for parking. He called us after dinner and invited us to join him in Little Italy. I already posted a page from the beverage menu. It seemed like a classy joint, but at $15 for a McAllan's 12 year post gratuity, it sounds like a place I'll only enjoy for special occasions.



XS on Sunday early afternoon was lovely as well. They put up with a lot: our noise level, people coming and going over the course of 4 hours, five million credit/debit cards... and when I asked them mid-meal if they could decorate a plate of chocolate lasagna and stick a candle in it for Troy's birthday, they took it and ran with it. They were very accommodating. As accommodating as the wait staff from XS can be. It always takes a while to eat a meal at XS, but I've resigned myself to that being part of the ambiance.