I just gave the most painful tour of my career. This includes 3 years of tour-guiding prospective students and crazy parents at Loyola, and about 14 months of food tours in Federal Hill and Little Italy. I felt like I was carrying on a conversation with myself- these people were ROUGH. I didn’t think it could get any more awkward than my tour with 21 gynecologists (yes, this really happened), but I was wrong.

Tours started back up again fairly recently because the weather is finally getting nice, so I thought I would do another post celebrating some of the wonderful food Baltimore has to offer. Not all of these are technically “between bread”, but they’re all somewhat of the sandwich variety, and I would highly recommend if you live in or plan to visit Charm City.

Towson Hot Bagel- the original is in Towson, and I’ve had many a baconegg&cheese (yup, that’s one word) after a night on the town as a Loyola student. There’s another location in Canton, and I’ve gotten into a habit of skipping the Raisin Bran Crunch on Sundays and treating myself to a bagel. Even my Long Island friends who are self-proclaimed bagel connoisseurs love THB. My go-to is the whole-wheat everything bagel with the veggie cream cheese.

The Reuben from Lenny’s delicatessen. This is an old Jewish deli in Jonestown- the best Reuben I’ve ever had. And there have been many. They mix together the corned beef and the sauerkraut on the flat top and then steam the cheese over it. Gahhh I need one now.

Shrimp salad wrap from Ryleigh’s Oyster in Federal Hill. They do seafood specials and drink specials on Tuesday nights (Shore Night), but I ordered this when we went to lunch with my parents a few weekends ago. Also, it’s worth going there just for the chips.

The Real Italian from DiPasquale’s Marketplace. Authentic Italian market that happens to make delicious sandwiches. You can also get all different kinds of pasta salads and sides. I’m in the mood for this place almost 100% of the time.

Blackened chicken tacos from Looney’s Pub in Canton. I think it’s telling that I dove into them before remembering to snap a picture. Also, these were the inspiration for my own blackened chicken tacos. Don’t skimp on the Old Bay.

Chicken pastel from the Darua food truck. There was a food truck rally on Friday night at McHenry Row, so we walked up for dinner. Everyone had already ordered their food and started eating before I even made up my mind about which truck to go to. I finally settled on Darua because I’ve never really had Brazilian food and thought I would try something different. This was similar to an empanada, filled with pulled chicken in a slightly spicy tomato sauce with scallions in a crispy crust.

PS, after watching other people eat extravagantly for four hours on the food tour, I came home and ate some granola and a bowl of peas. I could use a bagel.