Looking forward to reading your book. My husband and I are about to move down to Baltimore from Philly and we are a little worried, but excited about a change in food scene. I certainly don't have much info yet, but we have had a couple nice meals with friends at Catonsville Gourmet. Their oysters are fresh and delicious with a nice selection.
I will be sure to check back on the post as we start to explore and I will keep you filled in if we find anything great.

My husband and I are taking a vacation in Santa Barbara at the end of May. We are spending one night in Malibu and then heading to Santa Barbara to stay in a yurt outside of town for 5 nights. I would love the hounds suggestions of places to eat and things to do.
Right now the plan is to eat at Savory on Monday night when we get in and spend the next day on the beach before heading up to our yurt. After that the plan is all pretty loose. The yurt does have a kitchen area so we will probably eat in some meals or prepare picnics.
We will definitely be doing some hiking, some more time at the beach, and definitely a lot of eating and drinking. We have a car and plan on spending at least a day or two hanging out in wine country. I have already reached out to Beckman vineyards, Loring wine company, and Stephen Ross, but would again love your opinions and suggestions.
We also don't fly home until 10:45 on a red-eye so if there is one do not miss place in LA we may be willing to venture in.
Preemptively I give my thanks for ensuring I plan a great vacation and we will be certain to report back after our trip.

My husband and I went about 2 weeks ago now and we were also underwhelmed. I really wanted to like this place because I have great memories of these fun fried food places in Rome where you would sit at a picnic table with white paper tablecloths and pass around baskets of fried cod and fried zuchini blossoms while drinking pitchers of beer. Maybe it was my fault because I had that in mind and Alla Spina was nothing like that.
I love Vetri's other places, but this place seemed a little confused. The sports bar decor somehow reminded me of TGI Fridays. We started with oysters which were good. We liked the sunchokes and even didn't mind the ketchup. We also had the pigs tails which could have really been fried anything. The veal breast hoagie was tasty, but the toppings overwhelmed the meat so it could have been any fried, breaded meat and it would have tasted the same. The bread was great though.
I have to agree with everyone else's sentiments about the beer. Some beers are meant to e in a pint glass and not at those prices.
We would give it another try, but definitely not in a rush.

New to the boards, but been in Philly for years. Personally I love Sarcone's. The first time I ate there I actually had a dream about the ultimate veggie... delish. I also second or third John's Roast Pork and Nick's roast beef.