Restaurant Review (Crush)

Crush
510 E Belvedere Ave
Baltimore, MD 21212
(443) 278-9001
www.crush-restaurant.com

Last night I enjoyed dinner at Crush, a restaurant located in Belvedere Square. This trendy split level restaurant is great for both friends and family. We were seated within moments of walking in at an upper level table. The downstairs dining room includes a glass window for great kitchen views. After sitting down one thing I noticed over the course of dinner was that besides me all of the women were facing towards the center of the dining room and the men facing the walls. Maybe this keeps the men out of trouble, I don't know.

The meal was quite good, however the server did not recommend the hot mushroom soup simply because of summer and the heat. However the mushroom soup was ordered and very good, not a drop was left in the cup. The mozzarella and tomato salad was light and refreshing using heirloom cherry tomatoes. The recommended cold soup was a puree of roasted beets and tomato with small balls of mozzarella and basil, another flavorful treat.

The entrees we had were enjoyable. The chicken penne with fresh vegetables was tasty but the cooks had a heavy hand with their seasonings and it was a little strong on the black pepper. The tenderloin salad cooked to medium well was dresses with a nice demi glaze and a honey mustard vinegarette. The dish also included roasted potatoes that melted in your mouth. Another had a salmon BLT, and the dish was perfectly topped with two large slices of bacon. The salmon was cooked well and the aioli was light and refreshing. The French dip sandwich was served on ciabatta bread and topped with provolone cheese and caramelized onions.

The dessert we ordered was a sponge cake, with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream and a blueberry syrup topping. This dessert was very tasty but lacked in presentation.