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Andrew Zimmern of the TV show Bizarre Foods spent the last couple of days eating his way through Baltimore. He documented his nonstop food journey on Twitter, complete with great photos.
He hit up Woodberry Kitchen, Chap's Pit Beef, Five Seeds Urban Farm, Lexington Market (he really likes Angie's Soul Food), and several Korean places to name some of his stops. He even hung out with a third-generation Arabber as she toted produce on her horse-drawn cart through the city streets. "Those things are authentically Baltimore," he said.
I caught up with Andrew at the Korean restaurant Nam Kang on Maryland Avenue before he chowed down on octopus bibibibibimbap and fish roe jjigae for a future episode on Baltimore for Bizarre Foods America, a spin-off of Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods.
In the episode, he wants to let people know that Baltimore is "not just the commercial chain restaurants [at the Inner Harbor] and crabhouses. It is the least interesting part of the city to me."
Andrew was likable, chatty, and seems really impressed with our town. "It's a city of amazing neighborhoods," he said. "They form a whole. I can wrap my arms around that idea. I get really excited."
Maybe he says positive things like that when he visits every city, but I took away from our conversation his sincerity. He's certain that "Baltimore is trending. ... What's going on here is fantastic."
Well, thanks, Andrew. Come back anytime.
Though no date is set for the Baltimore episode, a new season of Bizarre Foods America kicks off at 9 p.m. on July 9, focusing on Las Vegas. It's preceded at 8 p.m. with Bizarre Foods Celebrates 100 as Andrew marks the 100th episode of the show with a look back at highlights (and bloopers) from the past six years.
Photo by me: Andrew Zimmern, left, with Baltimore magazine intern Joshua Lazarus at Nam Kang.
