Baltimore Artscape - What's the Food Like?

[Denise]

I'm hoping to go to Artscape this weekend in Baltimore, July 18-20. What has been your experience with eating there? Will local restaurants be selling food?

[onocoffee]

Had some ribs from The Tender Rib today that were really tasty and worth seeking out. Slow smoked, nice! They're located in the food court at Charles Street and Mt. Royal Avenue.

[onocoffee]

Had the Taharka Brothers Cookies and Cream ice cream yesterday. Delicious and with large chunks of Oreo cookies. Rich and creamy. I might have to go for another round today.

[startsev]

I am looking for a list of Artscape food vendors online and can't find it. if anyone knows where one is posted, let me know. but I don't see it on the website.

[bobovespa]

Had cookies and cream at Artscape today and wasn't blown away by it. Just OK. The cone was really stale.

[KAZ]

Haven't heard much about Artscape this year. I went last night and it seems like there are many of the same vendors as last year. I'll stand by my original recommendations of Jay's Shave Ice and Taharka Bros ice cream.

One difference this year is what Taharka Bros is doing. If you use twitter, follow them: http://twitter.com/TaharkaBros. They are periodically posting secret passcodes on twitter. First person to get to the booth and say the passcode gets free ice cream. Kinda a cool use of the new social networking aspects of the web.

[bmorecupcake]

Jay's Shaved Ice was really good. Get there early, they run out of flavors fast.

I found the food court that has Yabba Pot to be the most reasonable (pricewise). Drinks (lemonade, sweet tea, etc.) there were just $2 instead of the regular $5 everywhere else. That food court is on the other side of the art car exhibits. Right where the art cars begin, on the side of the bridge is a lady that sells water and soda for a buck.

[OneSonTwoCats]

My son highly recommends London Court's frozen mocha coffee drink. We bought one last year on the way to the light rail and even though we were steps away from the track, he had no problem finishing it before we boarded. I didn't even get a sip!

[maddogg280]

Another important question- can one drink beer (or other alcohol-containing beverage) on the street at ArtScape?

[4X4]

I'm pretty sure there are beer vendors at Artscape, but I haven't been there in about two years.

My band is playing there Sunday.

[xpatticakesx]

yes, there's def beer vendors near the stages, especially the ones that aren't main stage.

[charmedgirl]

So glad someone posted this question! I'm a Baltimore native who has never been to Artscape, but I was thinking about going this year. I just checked out the link KAZ provided, and I recognized a few of the vendors as "regulars" at Baltimore festivals and easily skippable (ie. Constantine Greek, Asian Grill), but most of the names I didn't recognize at all. Other than Jay's Shave Ice and Taharka Bros ice cream, are any of the other vendors particularly noteworthy?

[KAZ]

You mean FoodScape? There have been complaints in the past that there is more food than art at Artscape. Of course those complaints are somewhere else, Arthound?

Alot of the food is from carney folk and not that much different than other festivals. Two places that are worth checking out are Jay's Shave Ice and Sylvan Beach. Sylvan Beach will be selling their ice cream under their new brand the Taharka Brothers. Definitely try the key lime pie ice cream! Unbelievable!

This year Artscape is having multiple, smaller food courts as opposed to the last couple of years where they jammed most of the food into a large parking lot. That should be an improvement.

The full list of food vendors is here:
http://www.artscape.org/index.cfm?pag...

[mukalu]

Thanks for the list, Kaz.

The Yabba Pot http://www.theyabbapotcafe.com/ on St Paul St serves amazing vegan food (and I'm an unreformable carnivore). If they have the Kale salad - I recommend a taste.

[mukalu]

Dangerously Delicious Pies is also at the Green Food Court on Charles St (across from the Charles Theater). Their Lemon Chess pie had bits of lemon peel (in a good way) but was very sugary - I had to save the rest of my piece for later. I had a taste of the apple pie - not too sweet, great apples, amazing crust.

[amethiste]

I concur on the Key Lime Pie ice cream. The mince sandwich from South Carolina BBQ was great. Although it was missing the coleslaw. :-(

[ronandaim]

Arthound! Hah!

Thanks for recommending the key lime pie ice cream! It was really good and they scoop a generous portion for $4.

[Turkeybone]

Where can I find said taharka bros ice cream? also -- is it ever around besides these kinds of street fairs?

[KAZ]

This year they are on Mt. Royal, just west of Maryland Ave.

They also have a retail shop in Mt Washington by the Whole Foods.

[HowChowBlog]

So it wasn't just me? Like many other years, I loved the crowd and had a nice afternoon. But I literally think there were more food vendors than art vendors.

Jay's Shave Ice was absolutely spectacular. I like the local snowballs, but Jay's had the feel of snow that I loved when I had a shave ice in Hawaii. If anything, I would have asked for *less* flavor.

Any idea where else Jay's sells? Other fairs? They said that they closed their store in Timonium.