Baltimoreans have long memories, particularly when it comes to food. Just ask anyone over a certain age about Maison Marconi’s or Haussner’s. Both places shuttered long before I even moved to Baltimore but I have heard so much about these restaurants that I have absorbed secondhand nostalgia for Haussner’s strawberry pie.
This week I have intel about a long-shuttered Little Italy restaurant that’s making a comeback in one of the city’s historic public markets. But first, I have some news about a bar coming back from a fire.
This ain’t the end for Barracudas
Heart’s famous song “Barracuda” opens with the lyrics: “So this ain’t the end.”
The same could be said for Barracudas Locust Point Tavern. Nearly a year after shutting down after an electrical fire, the East Fort Avenue restaurant is busy hiring staff and preparing to open its doors.
“It’s been a rough year,” said general manager Sam Stinchcomb. The fire, caused by a cordless leaf blower in the building, “flipped our world upside down,” she said. While firefighters worked quickly to suppress the flames, “Everything had to go. There was not much to be salvaged.” That included signed shoes and jerseys of soccer players collected by the tavern’s chef and owner, Stinchcomb’s boyfriend Billy Hughes.
During the past year, Stinchcomb said she and Hughes did pop-ups around town, at one point working out of the basement kitchen of a local church. “We’ve also taken time to take care of ourselves and our mental health and process what happened.”
After a yearlong renovation, the space is “a little different,” Stinchcomb said. “We do have a lot more storage which we’re very excited about. There will be a bar upstairs. Everything’s going to be new which is nice.” The menu will be a bit shorter than pre-fire, with an assortment of daily specials.
Weeks ahead of the reopening, Stinchcomb said she’s heard from customers who can’t wait to come back. “It’s really comforting. To hear people say they miss us is really nice.”
Cross Street Market at a crossroads
About a mile from Barracudas, Federal Hill’s Cross Street Market is on the cusp of yet another new era.
The market reopened in 2019 following a major renovation courtesy of Caves Valley Partners, which operates the city-owned market through a long-term contract.
In the years leading up to the renovation, some neighbors protested that the market was going upscale as several longtime vendors departed, including Nick’s Inner Harbor Seafood. That watering hole, known for jumbo-sized beers, was replaced by Watershed, a high-end seafood restaurant owned by the Atlas Restaurant Group, which also runs a seafood stall in the new market.
But overall, things seemed to be moving in the right direction by early 2020, according to Arsh Mirmiran of Caves Valley.
Then, the other shoe dropped. “The pandemic hit [Cross Street] at absolutely the worst time in its life,” Mirmiran told me earlier this year. Customers couldn’t even come inside the building for months. Even after the pandemic restrictions were eased, many vendors saw a steep decline in foot traffic.
A few months ago, Mirmiran seemed uncertain about the future of the market, which saw a wave of departures as Caves Valley raised rents to pre-pandemic levels. “It’s really difficult right now,” he told me.
This spring, Caves Valley announced a partnership with Atlas Restaurant Group to take over marketing and events for Cross Street. (Incidentally, Atlas’ founder Alex Smith is the grandson of the late John Paterakis, a business owner and real estate developer who led the city’s market system for years in the 90s.)
I caught up with Mirmiran this week to see how things were going.
“A bunch of things came together in a relatively short period of time. I think we’re solidly back on track. I think right now we have more of the market leased than ever. Certainly by the fall we’ll have more of the market occupied than ever.”
Among the new tenants: DMV Empanadas, an Indian stall called Krishna Auntie and an Italian joint that I’ll tell you about in just a moment.
Mirmiran says he hopes to have the few remaining stalls leased soon. “We’re talking to a pit beef operator. We’re talking to a guy who does a Creole concept about taking over the Royal Farms stall.”
Atlas is also taking over running the market’s beer and cocktail bars, which will be owned by the market. They were formerly occupied by Cans Filling Station and Old Line Cocktail & Wine Bar. Both concepts shut down this year.
Not all the new tenants will sell food or drinks.
Audacy, which owns several radio stations that broadcast in Baltimore, including sports radio station 105.7 The Fan and Today’s 101.9, will be setting up a remote radio booth in the market starting this fall.
“I think it’s going to be kind of a cool draw for the market,” Mirmiran said.
Velleggia’s to reopen at Cross Street Market
One of the newcomers to Cross Street Market has roots in Little Italy.
Velleggia’s, a long-running Little Italy restaurant that closed around 2008, will make a comeback in the space formerly occupied by Rooster + Hen.
The business comes courtesy of local chef Brendon Hudson, whose great-grandparents, Enrico and Maria “Miss Mary” Velleggia, founded Velleggia’s, initially called Enrico’s Tavern, in 1937 after emigrating here from Italy.
Hudson grew up helping out in the restaurant when his grandfather owned it, starting out as a host when he was just 8 years old. “Of course I would seat everyone at the wrong table. No one could get angry because I was the owner’s grandson.” It helped inspire his passion for hospitality and his decision to attend culinary school at the famed Culinary Institute of America.
Along with his partner, David Monteagudo, Hudson also runs Mt. Vernon cafe Allora and Liliahna Luxury Catering. But Hudson said that Velleggia’s was “on our checklist of concepts to open.”
Market representatives first approached him at the end of 2021 with the idea of duplicating Allora at Cross Street. Given that Allora had only opened a few months prior, Hudson didn’t feel the timing was right. But, “They were persistent, they definitely wanted us in there one way or another.” In a meeting with Mirmiran, Hudson pitched the idea of revamping Velleggia’s. His reaction, Hudson recalls: “We have to do it.”
To prepare, Hudson has begun dusting off old Velleggia’s menus from the 1960s as well as the restaurant’s old reservation book. Hudson plans to reach out to old regulars to invite them to the grand opening, hopefully in late summer or early fall. He even plans to keep one pasta dish on the menu that will be set at 1960s prices.
