Marchionda’s is the new place in town

If you’ve been around this town for a while you probably remember Angelina’s on Harford Road.  For years it was a highly successful restaurant. People traveled for miles, primarily for the crab cakes.

Unfortunately it closed in 2008. That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news: there’s a new restaurant at that location and it’s definitely worth your time.

It’s called Marchionda’s, and its address is 7135 Harford Road.

Tonney Crews is the owner and Marchionda is his mother’s name.  It recently opened and is certainly a plus for the Parkville area .Why?  Three reasons – the food, service and the comfort you’ll feel when dining there.

Open seven days for lunch and dinner, there’s seating for about 90, valet parking daily ($8.00) and a dining room upstairs that is ideal for private functions. There is a bar on the lower level that is perfect for watching sports, simply hanging out for a while and eating.

This is a restaurant that has the neighborhood feel, but it shouldn’t be missed by those living out of the Parkville area.

Lunch offers a deli board with a vast array of choices: tuna, chicken, ham, turkey, shrimp and cheeses.  You can build your own burger or choose from an assortment of sandwiches that include the club, crab cake, meatball sub and The Godfather. Also available are soups, salads and paninis.

For dinner we get a bit fancier.  You can begin by selecting from a number of small plates.  Some examples would be the calamari fritti, crab dip gratin, clams casino and scampi.  Some of the house specialties include the grilled ribeye steak, grilled salmon, pesto eggplant, chicken milanaise, baby rack of lamb and the grilled filet of beef. Pasta dishes are also on the menu.

And then there’s the desserts.  I dare you not to order one.  Your selections include the tiramisu, cannoli, pistachio cheesecake and the chocolate fondant cake. And yes, they do a have a wine list.

While there I had the pleasure of meeting many of the staff.  It was fun chatting with the Executive Chef, Frank White, the sous chef Jamie Buschman and the Sales Manager Jennifer Lesko Quinton.  All are working together to make Marchionda’s a top-flight restaurant.

My dinner companion tole me to be sure to mention the items brought to the table before we even ordered.  First of all, there was the polenta, excellent and made in house, as are most of the menu items.  Also brought to the table were olives with roasted garlic and  the sour dough rolls that were served with dinner were hot and delicious.

And one other positive thing to note: during my visit Sinatra was playing on the sound system.  Hard to beat a good meal with Frank doing the singing.

You can reach Marchionda’s by calling 410-444-5545 or by going to marchiondas.com.

Eddie Applefeld

Eddie Applefeld is a Baltimore native and a graduate of Towson University. He has been in the broadcasting profession for over 30 years. Currently he is the Promotions Director of WCBM radio. Before that, he was part of the Rouse & Company show on WQSR, host of a cable TV show called Dining Out and adjunct instructor at Towson.
His past accomplishments include being named a finalist in Baltimore Tourism’s Employee of the Year Program and winner of Toastmaster’s Speaker of the Year contest. He was also twice a heartthrob for the American Heart Association’s gala fund raiser.