The Dogwood, Hampden

 CARROT CAKE!!!!!!!!

For one of my birthday dinners (yes, I have already had multiple celebrations and my birthday isn't until tomorrow!!!!), my in-laws took me to The Dogwood in Hampden.  I couldn't WAIT to finally get to try this place (plus I used my Groupon!).  I love their commitment to local and seasonal ingredients! 

We started with their complimentary brown bread with mango butter.  The brown bread almost had a cake consistency that I really enjoyed.  The mango butter was good, though I was expecting more of a mango taste, but it's basically butter with chunks of mango in it.  Overall - loved the freebie :)

I ordered the Grilled Teres Major Beef Tenders ($24) - celery root-sweet potato gratin, grilled mushrooms and shallots, cabernet demi glace.  The meat was sooo tender (no pun intended!), and I loved the creamy gratin.  Don't be nervous by the celery root - the real taste in the gratin is the sweet potato.  So basically, if you usually go for steak and love potato gratin - this is for you. 

Dan ordered the Ancho Braised Grass-Fed Beef Short Ribs ($24) - green chile cornbread with sage, spicy braising BBQ juice, garlic sauteed greens and squash.  First of all, cornbread is such a great side, isn't it?  I need to make it more.  This cornbread was nothing short of fantastic in my mind.  Short ribs are a menu item that my eyes always seem to be drawn to - and these were DELICIOUS.  I looooved the sweetness of the braising liquid.  I'm so glad Dan allowed me to have a significant portion of his meal hahaha.


For dessert I ordered the Carrot Cake ($7 pictured above) that had a wonderful orange cream cheese frosting.  This WAS SO SUPERB.  I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Carrot Cake so much and I just couldn't get enough of this one.  It was extremely rich and chock-full of raisins and I really loved the orange flavor of the icing.  YUM.  And because I was celebrating my birthday dinner - they didn't charge us for it! How lovely is that!!!! :)

Dan ordered the Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Salted Caramel ice cream ($7) from Taharka brothers (aka the best ice cream place EVER).  The pound cake was good, but nothing spectacular.  Though I have to say, it was the biggest slice I've ever seen!.  The ice cream was insanely good, just as we figured it would be.  MMMM soooo creamy and sweet and a little salty. MMMMMM.




Looking back, I had a spectacular meal and the restaurant itself was an absolute gem!  This is one of those restaurants that make you love Baltimore a little more.  It has the right amount of fun, chic-appeal, comfort, and local-ness to make it a wonderful Baltimore destination.

Oh yea, and I have to add that the service was spectacular.  Our server's name was Jackie and she was fabulous!  Also, they have their own parking lot behind the restaurant - so don't bother with street parking!