You don't have to love the brew to love the Brewer's Art. This elegantly renovated Mount Vernon town house oozes youthful, urban charm and has some pretty good dishes to boot.
The seasonally-influenced menu of rustic European-style fare features a wide selection of meats, fish, seafood, pasta and vegetarian offerings, so that there's literally something for everyone. Most of the appetizers can be overlooked, and I suggest you go straight to the entrees, which waste no time on boring basics.
Some of the dishes that stand out are the grilled fillet of escolar (a "white tuna" from South America) with poultry mousseline cake, aromatic vegetables, and veal jus, and the pan-seared venison medallions, with a savoy cabbage vegetable bundle, roasted cardomom pear and a juniper berry sauce.
More interesting finds are the pan-roasted turbot served with a grilled sweet potato spring roll, candied brussel sprouts and a crystallized ginger-lobster sauce, or the roasted acorn squash and pumpkin lasagna with sage brown butter sauce. A chai-spiced cake that tastes of chocolate and gingerbread is a sublime way to end.
The overall atmosphere of The Brewer's Art is remarkably, yet remarkably disjointed. For a brewery, this Mount Vernon townhouse is small, intimate and cozy with a vivacious atmosphere extending well beyond the bar. The service is incredibly funky -- I even heard that employees are required to have at least one tattoo.The chef even made rounds during dinner to ask us if we had any questions about the menu and playfully joke around with his patrons. The clientele is decidedly the coolest in Baltimore, which is appropriate for a joint located in Baltimore's most chic neighborhood. It's safe to say that this opulent dining room houses pure hilarity and risk-taking cuisine. In short, this is a fun place to eat.
I only got a small taste of the true Brewer's Art, seeing as I'm under twenty-one. I spent all of my time upstairs, which consists of a bar area with large windows overlooking Charles Street, a dimly-lit waiting area complete with couches and a fireplace, and the classy dining room.
Downstairs is apparently a whole different ballgame. The walls are brick and windowless, the lights are dim, the air is smoky, the music is loud, and the crowd is decidedly more youthful hip, and urban than upstairs. Running into an artsy, deadlocked local of Peabody is not unlikely either. This bar even has a separate entrance from the street, and you'd never even know it was there from the upstairs. It's also good for a less expensive menu.
An impressive list of beer offerings is divided into "house" and "guest." The most impressive is the potent Resurrection ale, a rich and malty amber brew made from five different types of barley malt served in a goblet. If you don't like beer, no worries, the wine list is equally as extensive -- and expensive.
