Barrett’s Grill at the Hunt Valley Mall. We were at the Mall for a Friday Night Concert (FREE – Fridays from 7:30-9pm) and stopped by Barrett’s because a friend from work recommended it. We sat in the Bar because that’s where we like to sit and we weren’t sure we were staying for dinner. Basically we wanted to check it out and also get a nibble of something.
First thought – these tables are stupid. Yes – it means the top isn’t cluttered by the condiments, etc. (because the tables are incredibly small and would be ridiculous for four people if you had drinks and appetizers) so I get it but I will have bruises around both knees from whacking the edges of this lower “table”. Boo!
On to the beverages – there is a fairly good list of beers, a few on draft and lots of choices for bottled beer and Angry Orchard!!.. so I was happy. There is also a list of specialty drinks and martinis which, from the crowd around us, seemed to be well received. And an extensive selection of wines! Happy Hour (M-F until 7pm) includes $2 off beer (and cider) so that made our drink choice very reasonable!
On to foods (my favorite part) – Barrett’s is Pricey but everything we saw pass by looked delicious and the food was what my friend really talked about. They do have a bar menu (which is not on their website) but any of the Dinner menu foods can be ordered in the bar as well (not that the table would hold much – I’m just sayin’). For some reason I wasn’t necessarily expecting much where the food was concerned – I was definitely judging by the prices and location but I was very wrong.
We ordered the Crab Crostini – toasted baguette slices topped with a remoulade sauce and what looked like mini crab cakes with a sprinkling of green onions. The toasts were crisp and the remoulade was tasty but not overpowering – the crab was truly the star, as it should be. These were basically little scoops of lump crab meat with enough “filler” to just hold them together – it was all lovely fresh crabby goodness on toasts. If these are any indication, I’ll bet their other crab dishes (especially their crab cakes) are wonderful.
Next Up – The BBQ Rib App (I think that is actually what it is called). You can’t see the THIRD one (behind that pile of crispy, yummy onion straws) but there were three tri-rib bundles of smokey, sweet deliciousness. The pile of onion straws was a nice surprise – I would never order a full order because it is generally just too much grease and “badness” for two people but this was a perfect little serving of crunch. The ribs were fork tender and luscious and the sauce was sweet and sticky with just a touch of heat but didn’t overpower the rich flavor of the pork at all. My Heart, who is a rib lover, commented that these were much better than the ones we recently had at a Very Very popular rib joint here locally – which tasted more like they had boiled or pressure cooked the ribs and then ladled on the sauce right before serving. I am not entirely sure why there were peanuts sprinkled on the ribs, unless it was supposed to be a Thai type sauce (which I didn’t taste), but we definitely would order the ribs (and Crab!) again.
So – Again.. the menu is pricey but the quantity and quality (both from what we ate and from what we saw) is pretty worth it. Make sure to read the tips on Foursquare and Yelp because some people commented on dishes that they did not feel were worth the price but also other Favorites. One special advertised is Live Jazz and 1/2 price bottles of wine on Wednesdays so we might be back for that and, if we are out at Hunt Valley, I think we’ll stop by again – especially in the bar during Happy Hour!