Bits & Bites: Baltimore restaurant openings we’re looking forward to in 2024

I’m always a little wary of making New Year’s resolutions. What starts out as an earnest attempt to get more sleep, or save more money, or read a book a week, can quickly feel like a failure when life gets in the way and derails those plans. I prefer to focus on smaller, incremental changes instead. But in 2024, one resolution I’m excited to keep is a pledge to visit even more small, local restaurants. While my job keeps me busy covering the latest openings, it’s easy for longer-standing spots to slip through the cracks. I’d love to hear about your go-to weeknight carryouts, reliable neighborhood taverns and favorite lunch counters. Food reporters love dining recommendations, too!

That’s not the topic of today’s column, though. This week, we’re taking a look at the newest restaurants joining Baltimore’s dining scene in 2024. There’s plenty to look forward to: We’ll see the return of favorites like The Urban Oyster and Rye Street Tavern; expansions from the iconic Attman’s Deli and the prolific Atlas Restaurant Group; a vegan celebrity chef’s homecoming; and long-awaited projects from chef Carlos Raba and the Foreman Wolf restaurant group coming — most likely — to fruition. Read on for a look at what to expect and when.

The Urban Oyster returns

One of the first restaurants to open this year might just be The Urban Oyster. Chef Jasmine Norton has been plotting a comeback ever since she closed her first brick-and-mortar in Locust Point in 2020, citing the pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is by far not the end of The Urban Oyster but a chance for us to reset, regroup and return better than ever,” she promised at the time.

Norton has reset and regrouped, and now her return appears to be right around the corner, this time with a dining room on The Avenue in Hampden. A spokesperson for the restaurant would not provide an official opening date, but you can book a table at the new spot starting in early February using the online reservation platform Resy.

In Hampden, Norton will expand upon her Urban Oyster concept — the first Black woman-owned oyster bar in the country — with new dishes like lobster cavatelli and oxtail lasagna. Fans of her Locust Point restaurant and early pop-ups at Baltimore farmers markets will be glad to find favorites like chargrilled oysters and tacos still on the menu, too.

A historic deli expands

In Harbor Point, Attman’s Delicatessen is also slated for an early 2024 debut.

The iconic family-owned Jewish deli got its start on “Corned Beef Row” in 1915 and is about to add a second location in Baltimore, nearly 110 years later, with a new store on the waterfront. (Attman’s also has a deli in Potomac, near Washington, D.C.)

The deli’s social media accounts have been posting pictures of staff training and decor at the new spot, and Chris Seiler, a spokesperson for Harbor Point developer Beatty Development Group, tells me an opening is “imminent.” Attman’s Harbor Point will continue serving time-honored staples like overstuffed hot pastrami sandwiches, “Bawlmer” coddies and housemade pickle plates, while adding outdoor seating, a full bar and table service.

Attman’s isn’t the only restaurant slated to land in Harbor Point this year. The fast-growing, formerly industrial neighborhood next to Harbor East will also welcome Sartori, a new Italian restaurant from Verde owner Ed Bosco, and The Chicken Lab, a South Korean deep-fried chicken concept that got its start at Cross Street Market. Seiler said both restaurants are on track to open this summer in the Constellation building across from the neighborhood’s Central Plaza.

A dining boom at the Village of Cross Keys

Another community that will see a major boost in dining options in 2024 is the Village of Cross Keys. The North Baltimore development, in the midst of a revitalization helmed by Caves Valley Partners, will add a scoop shop from Always Ice Cream Co. and an “upscale, Mediterranean-inspired” restaurant called Cece’s Roland Park, a new concept from Power Plant developer The Cordish Cos., this spring. ZaVino Italian Marketplace, a combination delicatessen, grocery and liquor store from Amber owner Gino Kozera, is slated to open in the summer, followed by a new, yet-to-be-named Chinese restaurant from Atlas Restaurant Group planned for the winter.

A spokesperson for Atlas tells me the hospitality company recently hired Timur Fazilov as its concept chef of Asian cuisine as the new restaurant gets closer to opening. Fazilov, who has 18 years of experience including recent stints at Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s Sa’Moto by Morimoto in Miami and Morimoto restaurant in Doha, Qatar, will oversee the new Cross Keys restaurant as well as Japanese restaurant Azumi in Harbor East and a second Azumi opening in Houston, Texas.

No slowing down for Atlas Restaurant Group

The ever-expanding restaurant group will open several new dining spots in the Baltimore region this year. Outside of Cross Keys, Atlas also has plans to fill the former Bar Vasquez space in Harbor East with a 120-seat, “moderately priced” restaurant adjacent to its new corporate headquarters by late 2024. Much closer on the horizon are The Ruxton, a classic steakhouse in the old Fleming’s building in Harbor East, and Order of the Ace, an Art Deco-style cocktail bar next door. A spokesperson for the restaurant group says both are expected to open in February.

Slutty Vegan comes home to Baltimore

This will also be the year that a plant-based culinary celebrity makes her long-awaited homecoming. Aisha “Pinky” Cole’s Slutty Vegan chain has been making waves in the Atlanta region for half a decade, serving burgers to the likes of Missy Elliott and Kelly Clarkson, and next, the Baltimore native will bring her burger business to the Baltimore Peninsula, too. Cole is set to be an anchor tenant in the Rye Street Market, one of the first buildings to rise in the planned 235-acre South Baltimore development formerly known as Port Covington. Accompanying the burger spot will be Bar Vegan, a cocktail bar and restaurant serving vegan tacos, pasta and sandwiches. Both are expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2024, a Baltimore Peninsula spokesperson said.

A short walk away, the Rye Street Tavern is preparing for a rebirth under new management. The New American restaurant launched by chef Andrew Carmellini will now be operated by Washington, D.C.-based Clyde’s Restaurant Group, which is aiming to have the doors back open by spring. The new Rye Street will continue to serve Maryland-centric cuisine, a Clyde’s executive said last year, amid significant physical improvements to the building, including an oyster bar and outdoor seating area with a 75-seat bar as the centerpiece.

Also coming to the Peninsula, per my contact: a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop by summer, and, later this year, a Jersey Mike’s sub shop as well as another location for BK Lobster, a specialty lobster roll eatery with roots in Brooklyn, New York, and a storefront on Eastern Avenue.

An update on Nana

North of the city, chef Carlos Raba’s long-awaited Mexican restaurant, Nana, is inching closer to an opening. Raba, a chef and partner at Clavel in Remington, drew inspiration from the taquerias of his childhood in the Mexican state of Sinaloa for this latest project, a 15-seat, open-air restaurant serving a streamlined menu of tacos, quesadillas, tortas and whole rotisserie chickens, slow-roasted on a spit and accompanied by fingerling potatoes, slow-cooked cauliflower and beans.

Raba, who had hoped to open Nana last year, said he’s now aiming for an early 2024 launch. By text message, he told me he’s going through the inspections process now.

More on the horizon: Candela, Costiera, Cafe Dear Leon’s new project

Timelines for a few other anticipated restaurant openings are a little less clear. Candela, the forthcoming arepa bar from Alma Cocina Latina chef Irena Stein, was supposed to open in Station North last fall but is still in the works. Costiera, a coastal Mediterranean concept from former Gnocco owners Brian Lavin and Sam White, was also aiming for a late-2023 opening, taking over the former Clark Burger space in Fells Point. And a new restaurant from Cafe Dear Leon’s owners is on its way, but there’s no opening date just yet. The sit-down spot, which will fill the vacant Shiso Tavern on Canton Square, may serve pasta or it may serve some other fare. I’ve reached out about each of these projects but hadn’t heard anything by press time. I’ll be sure to share updates as I get them.

What about Foreman Wolf’s Hampden restaurant?

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited restaurant with an equally mysterious timeline is Foreman Wolf’s planned restaurant in Hampden. The project, first announced in early 2022, will take over the space long occupied by Cafe Hon and was originally slated to open in 2023.

Restaurateur Tony Foreman has a vision for the restaurant, but so far he isn’t sharing it. A few weeks ago, he told me the project has been on hold due to “unforeseen items” and that he plans to share a “much more complete” update soon. In a New Year’s letter to Foreman Wolf customers, he said the new restaurant will be unveiled — “finally!?!” — later this year. “We are very pleased to become a part of that neighborhood,” he wrote.

What 2024 restaurant openings are you most looking forward to? What did I miss? Send me an email at ayeager@baltsun.com.