1. Charleston
City: Harbor East, MD
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (410) 332-7373
Address: 1000 Lancaster St.
Description: Wherever Chef Cindy Wolf goes, so goes half the city, the half that eats out regularly and knows an inspired chef. Charleston is Wolf’s home and she serves Southern food with a French accent or French food with a y’all drawl. Either way, it’s worth the visit. A contemporary American restaurant set in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor East development; this is the place to spoil yourself with rich, decadent food, phenomenal service, and an impeccable wine list. Educated servers guide you through the wine menu, which features more than 600 vintages. Everybody orders three to five courses here. The menu has only three prices, depending on those courses. The portions are large enough to thrill your taste buds and small enough to leave room for dessert. The seasons rule here. Tomatoes will be spotlighted in summer; root vegetables in winter. Cheese courses and desserts are always a knockout.
2. Bin 604
City: Harbor East, MD
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (410) 576-0444
Address: 604 South Exeter St.
Description: When you’re looking for the perfect bottle of wine and you want someone to help you find it but you don’t want to deal with wine snobs who make you feel so unworthy, talk with the wine geeks at Bin 604. They are not married to that old red-wine-with-red-meat and white-wine-with-fish-and-chicken thing. Tony Foreman, the wine guru, makes sure your intelligence isn’t insulted and your wallet isn’t destroyed. They have a bargain bin section that is devoted to “incredible finds” under $12 a bottle. Wine tastings are held regularly and binology classes let you learn about wines and meet people, and you can even have a private tasting session. Bin delivers within city limits for orders over $50 with a fee of $8.50 per address. Join the Bin 604 benefits club to earn your way to free tasting, stemware, and gift certificates to the restaurants. Open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.