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Durston Saylor
Canopy Hotel, Baltimore
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Durston Saylor
Canopy Hotel, Baltimore
by Bob & Tanya Waite
Anticipation. Tanya and I are ready to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary in Baltimore, known as Charm City. Our destination is the Canopy Baltimore Harbor Point. It’s Wednesday afternoon and our check-in to the Canopy is scheduled for Thursday at 4 p.m. Now our plan is to get there early on Thursday to explore and take in some of Baltimore’s many attractions—but anticipation. We are too excited and cannot wait. So, I get on my iMac and immediately reserve a room in Aberdeen, Maryland. We leave Bucks County at 5 p.m., eating on the way.
Our room in Aberdeen is adequate for an overnight and there is a restaurant attached. When morning comes, Tanya, who is even more excited than I am, wants to skip breakfast and just go. “We can eat later,” she says. I say, “Babe, a man has to eat.” Taking me more seriously than I than I intended, she says wistfully, “I know.”
We’re here in Charm City and because I took a wrong turn on the way to our first stop (The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum), I realize I can’t just come into a city I’ve only been to a couple of times and find what I am looking for without listening to my navigator, who says, “I told you to turn left.” I reply, “Just trying to avoid traffic.” To which she says appropriately, “Yeah, right.”
Once inside the museum our lighthearted mood is dampened. The first very well-presented scenes in gruesome detail of man’s inhumanity to man is starkly displayed in wax. There is a slave ship, where you see the unbelievably harsh conditions that my wife’s ancestors had to endure if they didn’t die on the way. Scenes of slaves being mistreated, lynched, raped, mutilated and tortured made the harshness of this horrible institution all too real. Particular incidents and people were written about and sometimes displayed in multi-media format. We were walking through a nightmarish time and neither of us could speak. Glimmers of hope met us with scenes from the Underground Railroad, abolitionists and freedom fighters. Later as we linger, near weeping, we are given hope when other exhibits display to us the amazing accomplishments of this resilient people in the fields of medicine, science, theology, the arts, government and even space travel. I will never forget this experience. We will visit again.
After leaving The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum, we head for the Baltimore Museum of Art. Driving in the area, we see the building and its regal neo-classical columns. We enter and go from gallery to gallery. There are many interesting collections and several compelling murals. We are interested in the European art dating back to the early Renaissance period and American art from the founding period. Besides our quaint tastes, we are amazed at a mural of a room that looks like you can walk into it. That day only a few sections of the Museum are open, and we stay about an hour or so. Tanya is particularly interested in the jewelry, sculpture and dinnerware from various periods, and I love the American Impressionist landscape paintings.
After leaving the Baltimore Museum of Fine Art, we are an hour from check-in time, so we drive through the Fells Point neighborhood to get to our anniversary destination— Canopy Baltimore Harbor Point. Fells Point is a combination of the old and new. Fells Point, is according to the Visit Baltimore website, “One of the oldest neighborhoods in Baltimore. Fell’s Point was once a bustling shipbuilding port … established in 1763, Fell’s Point is a city, state and National Historic District and boasts more than 300 buildings on the National Register…”
The Canopy, however, is a sleek modern hotel that opened in October of 2020. General Manager Beth Brainard, who likes to call herself, “Chief Enthusiast,” says that even though they opened during the pandemic, they have done better than expected. She credits that to her hard working and well-trained staff. A hop, skip and jump from the historic Fell Point neighborhood, The Canopy opened in the new Harbor Point area. Here new sleek buildings rose where there once were warehouses, fisheries and wharfs. The Canopy is in the Will’s Wharf Building and has a waterfront lobby and a restaurant, Cindy Lou’s Fish House, which is located directly on the waterfront promenade. As we park, we can’t wait to enter.
The lobby is breathtaking. Tanya is busy photographing all its nooks and crannies. We see a library, carefully curated local art and plenty of sitting areas. Dominating the space is a large gas-powered fireplace that adds to the already cozy but chic aura. The newly built hotel’s design was created by the savvy hospitality design group, Brayton Hughes. Tanya notices a pool table in one end of the lobby, and she wants to get even for the last time we played and I beat her.
Checking in, I call Tanya, to the desk. She likes to greet everyone, so she puts down her iPhone after taking about 10 photos and starts a conversation with Crystal Demos, the front desk manager. Crystal is great. She gives us a gift package from Visit Baltimore and exemplifies the spirit of Baltimore’s nickname. After asking her lots of questions, she tells us that she is from Bucks County—Warminster. Small world.
We are on the 11th floor, and Tanya’s entrance to the room is usually accompanied by oohs, aahs, and sometimes screams of delight. One time she nearly swooned, but I never would have expected her to be so delighted with the hallway. “Wow,” she says, “Look at this hallway!” There is sophisticated local art placed on the wall by the elevator and at the end of the main hall is an amazing view of the Baltimore Harbor.
After seeing her reaction to the hallway, I am afraid of what Tanya might do when we enter the room. No Worries. She is quiet, almost reverent as she peers out the large floor to ceiling window at the spectacular view of the Baltimore Harbor. The room had a kind of minimalist look, yet it is very comfortable, having a large king size bed, an open closet with drawers at the bottom, a nice sized desk and chair and a comfortable sitting chair next to a barrel shaped table. There are two glass bottles of water and a filtered water station in the hallway to refill the bottles with cold water. There is a Nespresso® machine, a refrigerator, 55” HDTV flat screen, and other amenities.
The bathroom gets a big wow from Tanya, whose quiet mood turns to excitement when she slides the metallic dividing door and peeks in. In the main section of the room there is a sink and mirror and then there is another sliding door that leads to the shower and toilet. “Now this is what I’m talking about,” she says. She takes photos for Facebook, and I take a short nap.
For our anniversary dinner we are going to Duck Goose Duck, a fairly new addition to the culinary scene in the historic Fells Point section of Charm City. Highly acclaimed and a haven for foodies, Duck Goose Duck’s almost overnight success is due to Chef/owner Ashish Alfred’s skill, creativity and vision. A young man with a friendly, humble demeanor, Chef Alfred is a graduate of the International Culinary Center in New York and learned his profession at some of the best Manhattan eateries. His plan, offered to us by Rani Singh, the gracious general manager, is that instead of ordering off the menu, the chef would prepare us a variety of small plates. We agree, and so the procession of food begins.
Sitting outside on a patio that adjoins the main dining room, it is obvious that atmosphere is important. And more than likely this is a place to take a special date. We notice that there are many young diners, but all ages are represented. The first plate we are offered is actually large—an appetizing selection of cheeses, meats and condiments. It is made especially for us and has an assortment of delectable cheeses that include Camembert, Ewe’s Blue Cheese, Jersey Girl Colby, Montchevre Goat and Harvest Moon. Meats include Wild Boar Saison Sec, Duck Prosciutto, Duck Liver Pâté, Wild Boar Lonza and Jamon de Bayonne.
Rani also brings a bottle of sparkling wine to our table. We are already wowed when the plates begin to come. First is the Beef Tartan, a delightful combination of prime beef, Dijon, capers, minced garlic, sea salt and egg yolk. After that we are treated to a beet salad with whipped labneh, toasted almonds and pickled mustard seeds. Then there is Rockfish with slowly roasted heirloom tomatoes, and wine butter. We are given Ratatouille, Parisian Gnocchi and other small plates, including their specialty, Herb Roasted Duck Breast, which is too good to even talk about.
Sated, we are not sure we can get up from our seats when we are offered dessert. Now, I always contend that there is a special place for dessert that isn’t affected by what we eat before, but honestly, I am full as full can be. Tanya says, “I am not sure I eat anything else.” They twist our arms, and we relent. I choose the Apple Tart Tatin and Tanya has the Croissant Bread Pudding. Both very good choices. We get back to our room about 10 p.m. and play a game of pool. Tanya cleans my clock.
We oversleep the next day and miss breakfast. We both realize that our anniversary is over, but we also rejoice that we are still in Charm City for another day. We have a lunch reservation at Cindy Lou’s Fish House. This restaurant, connected seamlessly to the hotel lobby begins with a bar that sits to the right of the front desk when entering the hotel. Turning left past the bar is Cindy Lou’s.
Cindy Lou’s Fish House like the hotel lobby is breathtaking, not only in its interior design, large gas fireplace and designer furnishings, but also in its waterfront view. Its wall facing the waterfront is made of large wall-sized floor to ceiling windows, giving guests the feeling of eating right on the water. Outdoor dining is on the waterfront promenade.
The restaurant is co-owned by Tony Foreman (CEO of Foreman Wolf) and Chef Cindy Wolf. Cindy Wolf is a nine-time James Beard Foundation Award finalist for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic. She is graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and has received notice in Food Arts, Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, and The New York Times. This combination of creativity in restaurant development created Cindy Lou’s Fish House is inspired by Cindy Wolf’s love for Southern food, flawless service, and joyful wine and cocktails.
Tanya is thrilled by the design, especially the large sofas back-to-back with tables and single chairs. I remark, “It’s the way we eat when we watch tv.”
A friendly waitress hands us each a menu. The menu is divided into the categories of Smaller, Bigger, Shared Snack Plate, Sandwiches and Also. Still full from the night before, I order Seafood Chowder from the Small Plates section, and Tanya, a seafood lover, orders Seafood Perlau from the Large Plates.
Seafood Chowder is a delectable combination of crab, shrimp, lobster, clams, mussels, Yukon gold potatoes, white corn, cranberry beans, tomato broth and herb oil. Amazingly, the distinct flavors of all the ingredients are intact in this superb soup.
Tanya has very expressive eyes. She would lose everything if she ever played poker. And her eyes expressed pure delight when she began to eat her Seafood Perlau, a tantalizing mixture on a bed of Carolina gold rice of shrimp, clams, mussels and Andouille sausage. Tanya, to my surprise, orders dessert, the Peanut Butter & Chocolate Bar that shows her expressive eyes are bigger than her full-of-seafood stomach. Nonetheless, she ate most of this delicious combination of a very rich chocolate brownie sandwich with peanut butter inside and topped with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.
Leaving Cindy Lou’s we walk on the promenade by the water, taking photos and enjoying the harbor. We decide to cancel our trip to the National Aquarium, saving that for another visit. Instead, we drive around Fell’s Point, the Inner Harbor and then take a drive to other sections of Charm City to explore and get the feeling of this great American city. Worn out in a good way, we retire to our room, wishing we could stay a few more days. Morning comes and we begin the two-hour drive back to Bucks County talking about our wonderful anniversary in Charm City.
Bob Waite is the editor of Bucks County Magazine and Tanya is his wife, travel companion and the co-writer of this department.