Are you a beer lover? I am a beer LOVER and boy am I excited for this weeks happy hour. Not only do they have an extensive beer and wine list but Birroteca also features farm to table food. For those of you crew members who enjoy a good brew as much as me AND love, love, love, love, love good food this happy is one you wont want to miss. Other online reviews show this restaurant as one great new place that should not be missed in Baltimore City
When: THURSDAY, March 7, 2013
Where: Birroteca
1520 Clipper Road Baltimore, MD 21211
443-708-1934
What: HAPPY HOUR!!!
Located in the Hampden/Woodberry area of Baltimore and housed in an 1883 stone building, Birroteca has 24 taps featuring all craft beers, and over 25 craft beers offered in bottles, they also have a very unique wine list and handcrafted cocktails.
The kitchen prepares farm to table artisan pizzas,… modern Italian small plates, pastas and unique salads using organic ingredients along with local indigenous and imported products.
Monday - Friday 5-7 p.m. Specials:
$3.5 Evolution drafts$5 House wines.
Featured Reviews (From Open Table)
fit for foodies (259), neighborhood gem (231), vibrant bar scene (206)
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"It's a hidden gem. The intimate and inviting interior is a complete surprise based on the outside appearance and location. The service was friendly and attentive, our selections were unusual with..."OpenTable Diner since 2013 - dined on 02/10/2013
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"Our reservation was for 5:15pm, so we did not experience the noise that others have written about. Overall a great experience!"OpenTable Diner since 2011 - dined on 02/09/2013
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"This was our second time there and loved it once again! The calamari and the brussel sprouts are a must as an appetizer or side dish. The duck duck goose pizza is out of this world! We ordered..."VIP OpenTable Diner since 2007 - dined on 02/09/2013
Baltimore Sun Review: 
When we first heard about Birroteca, it was described as an artisanal pizza
joint. Birroteca does have pizzas — good, wood-fired pizzas with chewy crusts and fancy ingredients, but there's more to it than that.
Some of your friends joint. Birroteca does have pizzas — good, wood-fired pizzas with chewy crusts and fancy ingredients, but there's more to it than that. and neighbors have already started staking claims to Birroteca, so don't wait too long. For one thing, there's an appetizer of grilled calamari that you need to have before the next fortnight passes. There are also promising pizzas, terrific salads and hearty autumn pastas. The menu is that of a whip-smart Italian trattoria — think crispy polenta with eggplant ragout and celery leaves, bruschetta topped with prosciutto and arugula, or warm burrata and cherry tomatoes.
The setting, one of the seemingly numberless mill properties that line the winding roads along the Jones Falls, is somewhat obscure. But it's just a short hop from the expressway — and the address shows up on GPS.
The old mill property, when you find it, turns out to be not all that picturesque. The building sits awkwardly on its lot, so you never get a good look at it. But inside, it's a different story. The new owners have supervised an effective renovation, repainting where it was needed, pulling down the TVs that cluttered the bar and bringing in church pews to create a more intimate seating arrangement in the dining room. The building's solid bones, made of stone and wood, have been left intact. Already forgotten are the previous tenants, most of them knucklehead joints.
The executive chef at Birroteca is Cyrus Keefer, who appears to have finally found a home. At a succession of restaurants, Keefer's talents have not always been supported, much less nurtured. But at Birroteca, Keefer told me, he has found a mentor in Birroteca's owner, Robbin Haas.
Haas, a onetime Food & Wine magazine "Best New Chef," is the mind behind the design of Birroteca's opening menu, which is remarkably simple. The big bullet-points are appetizers, bruschettas, salads, pastas and wood-fired pizzas. But there is an exemplary charcuterie program, built around American-produced meats and cheeses.
I liked what I saw, and tasted, of the pizzas. The basic model, topped with Parmesan, fresh
herbs and olive oil, had an impressively chewy crust. A specialty pizza, with duck confit, fig-onion jam, Trugole cheese and a sunny duck egg, was beautiful to see and a pleasure to eat.
The emphasis is less on showing off than on using prime ingredients and careful cooking. Take that calamari: Before it's grilled, quickly, on the plancha, a cast-iron griddle, the squid is treated to a confit flavored with lemon, garlic, capers and a touch of rosemary. When it gets to you, it's all impossibly buttery, lavishly tender and bracingly piquant.
Salads are fully considered and served in broad white bowls, as if they mean something. Order one of them to share. Go delicate with salad of arugula and shaved fennel, hand-dressed with olive vinaigrette and tossed with grapes, pine nuts and feta. Or go bold with chopped kale and rapini, their bitterness tamed by a raisin vinaigrette and crisp chopped apples.
A waste of everyone's time elsewhere, polenta is essential eating at Birroteca, where it's been formed, seasoned and grilled to create a thin layer of salty crispiness over molten creaminess. An order of brussels sprouts get the crispy treatment, too. Each sprout is just slightly singed. They are served with a black garlic-lemon aioli and topped with a very thin slice of Coppa ham. You'll never want them served any other way.
The old mill property, when you find it, turns out to be not all that picturesque. The building sits awkwardly on its lot, so you never get a good look at it. But inside, it's a different story. The new owners have supervised an effective renovation, repainting where it was needed, pulling down the TVs that cluttered the bar and bringing in church pews to create a more intimate seating arrangement in the dining room. The building's solid bones, made of stone and wood, have been left intact. Already forgotten are the previous tenants, most of them knucklehead joints.
The executive chef at Birroteca is Cyrus Keefer, who appears to have finally found a home. At a succession of restaurants, Keefer's talents have not always been supported, much less nurtured. But at Birroteca, Keefer told me, he has found a mentor in Birroteca's owner, Robbin Haas.
Haas, a onetime Food & Wine
magazine "Best New Chef," is the mind behind the design of Birroteca's opening menu, which is remarkably simple. The big bullet-points are appetizers, bruschettas, salads, pastas and wood-fired pizzas. But there is an exemplary charcuterie program, built around American-produced meats and cheeses.I liked what I saw, and tasted, of the pizzas. The basic model, topped with Parmesan, fresh
herbs and olive oil, had an impressively chewy crust. A specialty pizza, with duck confit, fig-onion jam, Trugole cheese and a sunny duck egg, was beautiful to see and a pleasure to eat.The emphasis is less on showing off than on using prime ingredients and careful cooking. Take that calamari: Before it's grilled, quickly, on the plancha, a cast-iron griddle, the squid is treated to a confit flavored with lemon, garlic, capers and a touch of rosemary. When it gets to you, it's all impossibly buttery, lavishly tender and bracingly piquant.
Salads are fully considered and served in broad white bowls, as if they mean something. Order one of them to share. Go delicate with salad of arugula and shaved fennel, hand-dressed with olive vinaigrette and tossed with grapes, pine nuts and feta. Or go bold
with chopped kale and rapini, their bitterness tamed by a raisin vinaigrette and crisp chopped apples.A waste of everyone's time elsewhere, polenta is essential eating at Birroteca, where it's been formed, seasoned and grilled to create a thin layer of salty crispiness over molten creaminess. An order of brussels sprouts get the crispy treatment, too. Each sprout is just slightly singed. They are served with a black garlic-lemon aioli and topped with a very thin slice of Coppa ham. You'll never want them served any other way.
Only by comparison do some things hit you as being too simple. A meatball appetizer comes across like a big meatball. The pastas are intended to be a second course, and portioned that way. But their price felt out of line with menu. So did the Family Style special we tried — there's a different one for every night of the week — a plate of four sausages and peppers for $24.
Birroteca is the season's nicest surprise. The name is a beer-ful play on the Italian enoteca, which loosely means "a nice place to get some wine." There is a compelling beer program, focused on regional craft breweries, but the name still comes off a little weirdly, especially for a place that otherwise speaks so clearly for itself with good, embracing atmosphere and focused service.
richard.gorelick@baltsun.com
Birroteca
Rating: ***
Where: 1520 Clipper Road
Contact: 443-708-1934, bmorebirroteca.com
Open: Daily for dinner and weekends for lunch and dinner
Prices: Appetizers, $4-$11; entrees, $12-$17
Food: Wood-fired pizzas and Italian trattoria fare like bruschetta, pastas and salads
Service: Friendly, pitched toward a pub level
Best dishes: Calamari alla plancha, pizza with duck confit, arugula and shaved fennel salad
Children: No children's menu
Parking: Parking lot
Noise level: Will be uncomfortable for diners sensitive to noisy environments
Outdoor seating: Patio under construction
[Key: Superlative: *****; Excellent: ****; Very Good: ***; Good: **; Promising: *]
Birroteca is the season's nicest surprise. The name is a beer-ful play on the Italian enoteca, which loosely means "a nice place to get some wine." There is a compelling beer program, focused on regional craft breweries, but the name still comes off a little weirdly, especially for a place that otherwise speaks so clearly for itself with good, embracing atmosphere and focused service.
richard.gorelick@baltsun.com
Birroteca
Rating: ***
Where: 1520 Clipper Road
Contact: 443-708-1934, bmorebirroteca.com
Open: Daily for dinner and weekends for lunch and dinner
Prices: Appetizers, $4-$11; entrees, $12-$17
Food: Wood-fired pizzas and Italian trattoria fare like bruschetta, pastas and salads
Service: Friendly, pitched toward a pub level
Best dishes: Calamari alla plancha, pizza with duck confit, arugula and shaved fennel salad
Children: No children's menu
Parking: Parking lot
Noise level: Will be uncomfortable for diners sensitive to noisy environments
Outdoor seating: Patio under construction
[Key: Superlative: *****; Excellent: ****; Very Good: ***; Good: **; Promising: *]
