Baltimore House: Part, the First

289.396.4830  43 King William St. Hamilton, On  www.facebook.com/thebaltimorehouse


I continue my foray down King William at Baltimore House.


Okay. I'm just going to say it. I love Baltimore House. It might be my favourite place to go in all of Hamilton.


The end.


Okay, just kidding.


There is nothing to dislike about it. The building is amazing. The décor is amazing. The vibe is amazing. The coffee is amazing. The food is amazing.


As a business, Baltimore House is a cafe, wine bar, and performance space. Wednesdays are open mic, Thursdays are Seance Thursdays, and I heard on the twitters that Saturday is going to have a house party vibe? Everything they do is gold, guys. So, I've decided that I'm going to have to write more than one post on the lovely, and amazing Baltimore House because there's just too much to the place to limit it to just one. This post will deal with the Balmer as a restaurant. The fooooood.

Veggie Melt

Pear and Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese

They have a wide menu of sandwiches. I have eaten all of them. They're all very good! My favourite is the Veggie Melt. Grilled peppers, and onions, and cheese, lots and lots of avocado! All on fresh sourdough bread! They also have a Pear and Caramelized Onion Grilled Cheese that is pretty much amazing. Now, normally, I don't go in for fruit on my main courses, but I had to make an exception in this case. The caramelized onions set off the sweetness of the pear perfectly. And the Three Cheese Grilled Cheese! And the H'Amazing Ham made with Ukranian village ham! And the Reuben, with it's crunchy coleslaw! And the vegetarian-friendly Avocado Dream, full of avocado and sprouts and goat cheese!

H'Amazing Ham

And all of their sandwiches can be made into a salad, or so I'm told. I have a friend with severe Crohn's and she wasn't sure if she could eat at the Balmer, but with the salad option, she could.


Their desserts are amazing too. The brownies are the best I've ever had. No contest, hands down, done. Aaaand it is at this point that I'm going to start wandering into how great they are as a cafe, because they're desserts go SO perfectly with their lattes, so I'm going to end it here. And then get started on the cafe post!

Jack and Lois

289.389.5647  301 James St. N. Hamilton, ON L8L 1H3  www.jackandlois.com

So I know I said my next post would be on Baltimore House, and I am working on it, but I have to drop this short post really quickly. I went to a new place today and I wanted to tell you about it.


Jack and Lois. It's on James N. down near Barton St. The interior is stylish, but still cute. Very formal wallpaper paired with modern paint colours and simple furnishings. And a picture of William Shatner up on the wall. I couldn't stop looking at everything!


And oh my god, you guys. The food. THE FOOD, YOU GUYS. I had the classic cheeseburger with soup and slaw. The cheeseburger was fairly basic, just burger and lots and lots of cheese. But the beef was perfectly spiced and grilled to be tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. The soup was tomato and was obviously freshly made, with actual ingredients (not processed from a can). The slaw wasn't typical coleslaw, it was more of an Asian inspired slaw with a vinegar-based dressing and bean sprouts, with crunchy bits on top. It was very good, I just couldn't eat very much because of the vinegar. But it got scooped by one of my dining partners, so it didn't go to waste!


And speaking of scooping leftovers, I was granted another friend's leftovers in the form of half of the Chancellor, which is essentially a chicken parm sandwich. But with mushrooms and caramelized onions and asiago! I'm pretty sure that my thank-you-for-your-leftovers text involved a few expletives over how good it was for dinner.


My other two dining partners had breakfast. Because they do all day breakfast. Because they weren't awesome enough. I would have had breakfast for lunch, but they didn't have their Eggs Benny today. And Eggs Benedict is my favourite breakfast food. So anyway. The Cobra is their big breakfast, eggs/double meat/hash browns, and I have no idea how he got through all that food. The Hummingbird was a similar meal, but smaller. And instead of toast, you get GRILLED CHEESE FINGERS. They make a grilled cheese and cut it up into fingers. With your breakfast. Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'll stop talking about it. I...I just like it a lot, guys. 


My only sad about my meal today is how long it took to come out. Don't misunderstand, I'm not complaining. The food was incredible and definitely worth the wait! I was just late getting back to work and that makes me sad. So maybe it won't be a regular lunch place for me and my work colleagues, but I can see it becoming a regular for other meals.  I especially want to get back for breakfast and that Eggs Benny!