The Black Olive

If you're ever looking for definitive proof that good ingredients are the secret to flavor, go to The Black Olive in Fells Point. This charming little Greek place has rocketed to very near the top of our favorite area restaurants, and is worth the trek to Baltimore.

It is the closest thing I've experienced here to the times in Greece when I saw the fish being unloaded from the boats late in the day and carried up to the seaside restaurant for a simple grilling and some divine eating. The Black Olive is all about fish, but everything -- from the homemade bread, to the grilled asparagus accompaniment to the strawberry-ouzo sorbet at the end -- was superb. The fish itself was not only fresh, it was grilled or sautéed to perfection. The wine was a crisp, chilled Puligny-Montrachet with a wonderful mineral undertone that paired nicely with the fish dishes.

None of this comes cheap, even with the Baltimore discount, but it is money well spent. They claim to be one of the few places in the U.S. that serves genuine, fresh Dover sole, and certainly the people in our party who ordered that were thrilled. I personally was in seventh heaven with my royal dorade, a Mediterranean fish that has the firm texture of monkfish but a subtler flavor. It was grilled and filleted at table side in two wonderful mounds that made you think the Mediterranean was right outside the door. The waitress dribbled an olive-oil lemon sauce over it that was all the extra ingredient this fish needed.

The real secret of the good Greek restaurants is their olive oil -- and here it was a matchless, light oil that never tasted of olive but enhanced the flavors of everything it came into contact with, which is to say everything. This was especially the case with my starter -- an octopus salad that featured the most tender, subtly flavored octopus I've ever eaten. The little tentacles are marinated in a red wine mix, grilled, chopped and tossed with tiny slivers of onion and this delicious olive oil for an exquisite little salad that eaten with the hard-crust country bread and white Burgundy is alone worth the trip.

The restaurant is fun. Whether it's the charming Mediterranean decor behind the federal brick facade, or the cheerful French maitre-d' late of Petit Louis, or, best of all, the icy display cabinet of whole fish that you view before making your choice. There were the gleaming dorade, red snapper, black sea bass, dover sole, sardines and other fish cavorting in the crushed ice. A separate display case showed off the fillets of halibut, grouper, and salmon as well as the scallops, soft-shell crabs, crab cakes (no filler, olive oil is the only binder), and the rack of lamb thoughtfully provided for those not in the mood for fish.

Good food puts you in a good mood and the high quality of the food here turned this effort to bring together old friends on a summer evening into a real party. The serendipity of unexpected connections gave the whole meal a special air of Greek karma.

Restaurant Martin

Santa Fe is always a fun place to eat and Restaurant Martin is a great addition to the scene. Martin Rios was born in Mexico and raised in Santa Fe, where he has pursued his cooking career at the Eldorado Hotel and the Inn at Anasazi. His dishes are not particularly Southwestern, except for the occasional chile accent, but they are very good and dinner on the large outdoor terrace, sheltered from the wind and the sun, was a very pleasant experience.

The Snake River pork belly I had as a starter was exquisite -- a word you would never think to combine with pork belly. This was melt-in-your-mouth tender, no doubt from a good brine, and full of real pork flavor. It was served, interestingly, with chile-glazed tiger prawns -- a real variation on surf and turf -- and a creamy cauliflower mousseline. The grilled Berkshire pork chop that I had as a main course was almost anticlimactic, though it also was tasty and moist (brine again?), though whiter than I might have expected from a heritage breed. The chop had a nice guajillo chile glaze and was served with a delightful combination of sweet potato pave, broccolini and lemon garlic shoots, reflecting the limited seasonal choices from the local farmers' market.

What I sampled from companions' dishes was equally delicious -- a signature ahi tuna tartar and a superb wild mushroom and truffle risotto with bay scallops. We had a very nice Willamette Valley pinot noir with the meal.

This trip to Santa Fe had a greater focus on art than food. We did get to our standbys of Coyote Cafe and Tesuque Village Market; had some other nice outdoor dining experiences at The Shed (carnitas) and Harry's Roadhouse (green chile cheeseburger -- good but no match to Bobcat Bite); and a nice farewell dinner at Plaza Cafe, where the food was so-so but the view is great.

Our other recent trip was to Rehoboth Beach, where we re-visited the Back Porch Cafe and had a very pleasant dinner on the back porch. I had a very tender half-rack of lamb, perfectly grilled to medium rare, combined with an unusual beetroot and poppyseed whole wheat linguini smothered in a lamb ragu that was simply delicious. The other main course similarly combined two versions of the same meat -- a meaty leg of rabbit confit with a rabbit ragu lasagna. Very satisfying.