Oriole Park at Camden Yards is spicing up its food offerings with a new restaurant, Dempsey’s Brew Pub and Restaurant, named after former Orioles Hall of Fame catcher Rick Dempsey, and adding items from Stuggy’s in Fells Point and franchise Gino’s, originally founded by Colts Gino Marchetti and Alan Ameche.

Dempsey’s, which will be located in the bottom of the Warehouse on Eutaw Street, will be open on a limited basis, starting Friday for Opening Day. A full opening is planned in late April. After that, the restaurant will be open year-round on game days and non-game days.

The menu will be “Baltimore centric,” said chef Josh Distenfeld, pictured, the ballpark’s facility chef, promising local products like seafood, produce, and Roma sausage.

“We’re trying to go upscale in the quality of the food, but keep it down to earth,” he said. “It’s going to be cool.”

Beer will also be brewed on the premises, the chef said.

The restaurant’s namesake will also be “very visible with some of the other Orioles greats making appearances, too,” he added. “It will have a baseball feel and a local flare.’

Gino’s will be adding its imprint at Camden Yards with a Camden Giant, a crab cake on top of a burger, in addition to chicken tenders, fries, and milkshakes.

Stuggy’s will offer an assortment of hot dogs, including its poplar crab mac ‘n’ cheese dog and Chicago-style dog.

No matter what the O’s do this year, it promises to be a winning food season at the ballpark.

Don’t worry if you’ve left your reading glasses at home. Local restaurants are pairing up with a local eye-care practice to provide diners with glasses in various strengths so they can read the menu.

Cafe Troia, The Capital Grille, Rusty Scupper, and The Prime Rib are currently participating in MenuMates, a program sponsored by the Katzen Eye Group.

Of course, if you have an iPhone and forgotten your glasses, there’s an app for aging eyes called, appropriately, Over 40 Magnifier and Flashlight, for 99 cents in the iTunes store.

It’s a handy tool for my job. There’s also a mirror mode so I can wipe the chocolate off my chin, too.

iPhone screenshot from iTunes website

It took awhile—almost two years—but Plug Ugly's Publick House officially opened last Saturday. Most people will remember the space as Helen’s Garden.

I talked to co-owner Mark Bogosh this afternoon, who said the delay was due to a slow contractor and a lot of detail work. It doesn’t look like Helen’s, he said. “I’m happy with my theme and design,” he said. “It looks exactly like I wanted.”

The O’Donnell Square restaurant is named after an eponymous 1850s Baltimore political gang, and Mark—with partners Thomas Welsch and Brittany Branamer—has capitalized on the time frame in the décor, which includes two antique bars, antique lighting, and the menu.

“It’s eclectic with an historic feel,” he said of the food, with items like an English-style five-cheese ale fondue and crab-and-corn fritters. It also includes a number of fish options, raw-bar selections, burgers, salads, and entrées like pan-seared rockfish, crab-cake platter, and salmon.

The chef is Roger Shugars, formerly of Tark’s Grill. The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m-2 a.m.

“It was a good opportunity,” Mark said of Plug Ugly's. “We wanted to bring something upscale to Canton.”

Photo of the downstairs bar courtesy of Plug Ugly's website.

Canton’s newest bar/restaurant, The Fork & Wrench, is sort of open—at least, the bar is ready for your business. The restaurant part will officially be serving fare, starting on March 29 for the grand opening.

Sajin Renae, who recently left Vino Rosina, is the executive chef, and she has some exciting menu items, like the biscuit burger—a made-in-house meat blend of dry-aged short rib and brisket chuck topped with Cherry Glen goat cheese, caramelized onions, mixed greens, and bacon jam on a buttermilk thyme biscuit. 

Sajin describes the food as “rustic, upscale pub fare.” She’s also posted some other menu ideas on the restaurant’s Facebook page. For example, U-10 scallops with pea panna cotta, watermelon radish chips, Meyer lemon caviar, browned butter, and pea tendrils.

And a hanger steak, blackened and grilled, with Gouda princess potatoes, rainbow Swiss chard, and chipotle hollandaise.

Hungry yet?

She also plans to visit the Baltimore Farmers’ Market on Sundays when it’s open and serve a market dinner that evening at the restaurant.

The Fork & Wrench has been two years in the making. Co-owner Andy Gruver with partner Jason Sanchez has fashioned the space once occupied by Pur Lounge into an eclectic three floors of interesting artifacts.

They’ve used salvaged materials from Second Chance, an old bank building on Charles Street, a Baltimore factory, and even a former mental institution to create a visually captivating bar and dining areas. There’s an outdoor courtyard, too.

“It had been a goal of mine for a while,” Andy said of owning a restaurant. He’s happy with his new chef, too. “She’s been a breath of fresh air.”

What a team.

Photo of Andy Gruver and Sajin Renae and restaurant exterior by me.

As soon as the Irish move out of the way, Baltimore will be celebrating all things Greek during the second annual Baltimore Greek Week from March 18-25.

Here are some of the Greek food events going on around town:

—Zorba’s Restaurant is offering a Greek special platter from 4 p.m.-12 a.m. March 19-23. The $21.95 price includes grilled pork, grilled lamb chops, grilled octopus, Greek salad, and Zorba's salad.

—Jimmy’s Famous Seafood with Dimitri's Olive Oil is hosting an olive-oil tasting from 4-9 p.m. March 19. Receive a 20 percent discount on extra virgin olive oil from Dimitri’s farm in southern Greece.

—The Olive Room at the Inn at the Black Olive and Agora Greek Gourmet Market are hosting a Greek wine tasting: $50 includes eight courses plus wine pairings at 6:30 p.m. March 21.

—Captain James Landing is hosting a lecture series night on the health benefits of a Mediterranean diet and Greek wine at 7 p.m. March 22.

—Acropolis Restaurant with Stellar Importing Co. is hosting a Greek wine tasting with mezze (appetizers) at 6 p.m. March 23.

There’s a lot more going on, too. For a complete list, visit the Baltimore-Piraeus Sister City Committee website.

We may take Spike Gjerde’s commitment to locally sourced cooking at Woodberry Kitchen in stride. But The Washington Post seems in awe of our local chef/owner’s, pictured, ability to carry out his mission.

In his piece, “In Spike Gjerde’s World,” Post writer David Hagedorn goes behind the scenes to find out what makes Spike—and Woodberry Kitchen—tick.

Bottom line, Hagedorn writes, “Gjerde comes across as a guy you want to know.”

Photo of Spike Gjerde, courtesy of starchefs.com

Baltimore's food trucks will rally at the Maryland SPCA on Friday, March 23, from 5-8 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the SPCA’s animals.

Food and beer will be available. In addition, there will be a parade of adoptable dogs. Admission is free. More info on Facebook.