Dizzy Issie's

Well I did manage to get out tonight for Dining Out Baltimore after all. It was either that (consume calories for a good cause) or work out (get into better shape, but miss out on donating to a good cause). I chose the food.

Several posters have mentioned Dizzy Issie's in the past, specifically as the way to find Chef Duff's Charm City Cakes (which I did find; I think I saw Mary Alice parking in a hurry). And had I not brought my GPS I would never have found it in this somewhat unfamiliar part of town, due to all the detours. When I finally came upon it, I found more or less what I expected to find: a bar with a restaurant area. It was a pretty small place, too, and quite packed (is it usually this full at 7:30 on a Thursday night?). So no seating except at the bar.

It hit me like the smoke: I am not used to eating in a smoky environment. But hey, it's a bar, so I expected it, even if I wasn't ready for it. Of course, that's changing soon enough.

Well they were pretty busy as I said, so it took a little while to tell the bartender what I wanted; and then she gave me the menu. Lots of items caught my eye, many quickly written in cursive: this is real pub food, ain't it? I was especially surprised, in a good way, to see the burgers only got up to about $5.95. So I got one of those, medium rare, with some gravy fries. Maybe I should have ordered a piece of cake - they had enough of them in the back, in a case not far from the bathrooms. This was probably the cleanest bathroom I have ever seen in a bar.

About half an hour later, still sipping on my Guinness (how could I not order it), I'm chatting with a nice couple about Bill Clinton helping kids lose weight on the Rachael Ray show, and the presidential prospects of John Edwards (I'm not endorsing anyone or saying whom I would endorse; he just came up is all. Ain't his hair purty, though?).

Then my food came out. The burger was more on the rare side of medium rare - very pink and soft, but not red. It fell apart a little, but I've had far more fragile, soggy burgers for more money (to wit: City Café? Zodiac?). It was a filling burger. It was supposed to have had some kind of Caribbean rub on it. This burger was technically a Cancún Bacon Cheddar Burger, but it did not taste very Cancún-y. I'm not complaining; it was still good, just didn't really match the name. The fries with beef gravy were standard fries, but it was nice to not have to deal with dried-out, gummy fries. They were all pretty soft, which is how I like them. And there were too many to finish. Mind you, though, I fill up pretty easily, but there were still a lot.

Might I also mention that the fries were technically not needed? Okay, it's mentioned. That's because there was a ton of potato chips on my plate, and a spear of pickle. Didn't get into the chips on account of the fries, but the pickle was tasty.

The best part was the price. At about $13 this had to be one of the cheapest dinners out I have had in a while. And I really can't afford to spend so much, which is why I don't eat out a whole lot (it just seems like it). I left a $2 tip and headed back outside to breathe. And get one last photo of Charm City Cakes on my camera phone.

I didn't say it was a good photo. Man, those people work late!