On any given trip down 95 you'll find a bevy of cars that have those oval-shaped, white bumper stickers that read HON. For those in the know, HON refers to Cafe Hon nestled in the hip, young(ish) neighborhood of Hampden, MD. For those out of the loop, no pun intended, those HON stickers must be some Mid-Atlantic salute to Atilla.
But let's get down to business. There are loads of great eateries in and out of B'more but I want to kick things off with the kitschy Cafe Hon. How kitschy? 20 foot tall pink flamingo type kitschy. If that's not enough, there's a life sized Elvis statue to greet you as you walk in the main door. I'm not here to bore you with the details of Hon's history or paint a full picture of the interior, that's for you to do after reading this review. What I will say is the restaurant definitely delivers when the food comes out.
The collage below features three separate breakfast/brunch items that we enjoyed and I sampled while there. The best thing about going w/my family is I get to not only eat my own meal, gratis, I also get to clean the plates for everyone that can't finish their end of the bargain.
From left to right, a plate of B'more's favorite Chipped Beef, a Spinach Florentine Omelette w/hash browns, and my massive platter w/eggs, flapjacks, sausage, hash browns, and something buried under the jacks. As a side note, I also recommend the not-pictured Bawlmer Omelette - so good!
Next time you hit up Charm City, be sure to find your way to Cafe Hon and if you get there around Christmas time, you're in for an extra special treat w/Hampden's Christmas light display.
The Bucs really do stop here, with here being last place. The "once proud franchise that featured the likes of Barry Bonds, blah blah blah." Forget the past and let's focus on present day. There are a couple of things to be excited about in Steel City that don't involve Primanti's. 1. Andrew McCutchen
- stud OF that ranked towards the top in many offensive categories for rookies in 2009. 2. Pedro Alvarez - 2008 1st rounder that can rake. His future position is in question but with offensive ability like Alvarez has, the Pirates will find a position for him to hit from.
Additions: Aki Iwamura (comes over from the Rays to fill a middle IF void, also can hit at the top or bottom of the lineup), Bobby Crosby (who could fill a void off the bench at multiple positions), Octavio Dotel (big improvement over the inconsistent Matt Capps), Brendan Donnelly (bullpen depth?), Neal Cotts (decent lefty out of 'pen), Chris Jakubauskas and D.J. Carrasco. With these moves, the focus was surely on bullpen depth for a pitching staff that needed the help.
Losses: Somehow Jeff Karstens got dumped from a pitching starved organization, not that he was great but letting any arm go seems interesting coming from this crop. It's also interesting to point out how many ex-Yankees' farm hands are in the Majors or AAA for the Pirates even w/Karstens gone.
Outlook: There are two McCutchen's on the roster and Daniel is poised to make some noise in 2010 on the hill for the Buccos. When Alvarez gets the nod, it'll be interesting to see how he adjusts to MLB pitching but everyone agrees he is the real deal. It'll also be interesting to see where that leaves Adam LaRoche (assuming he hits at the MLB level). All that being said, it will be a VERY long season in Pittsburgh as they struggle to win 65 games and surely will finish in the basement.
In 2010, the Nationals should adopt the popular slogan around DC, "Yes We Can" with the can in this instance referring to winning 60 games. The Nats, looking to restore some degree of hope to the Mid-Atlantic region baseball, went out and grabbed a plethora of starting pitching. Good starting pitching? Well, that's another story. I'll preface this by saying there's not much needed to compete in the NL East but we'll go there later.
Additions: SPs Jason Marquis ('09 All-Star and SI Juice Bag), Chien-Ming Wang (2 time 19 game winner that hasn't pitched since the Nixon Administration), Livan Hernandez (former All-Star who hasn't pitched since the Hoover administration). Jokes aside, they're a vast improvement over who was shuttled to the bump in 09. Also added to the staff were Brian Bruney (via trade), Matt Capps (to finish games? 5 blown saves and a 5.80 ERA in '09), and lurking somewhere is the flame-throwing Stephen Strasburg
(if you don't know him, why are you reading this? Last year's #1 overall pick who just so happens to throw 100+ MPH.)
The Nats also added to their lineup and overall depth. They spent considerable funds on Pudge Rodriguez, who once caught the first pitch thrown out by FDR, to try and mold this staff into something.
Subtractions: After a 59 win campaign, I'm not convinced that anyone that has left the Nation's Capital can be viewed as a subtraction.
Positives in 2010: The starting pitching has to be better - and that's without factoring in Wang for more than 10-15 starts and Livan at all. Marquis, while not great is automatically better than anyone DC had last year. Strasburg is infinitely better than Marquis. Any production from Wang and/or Livan is golden. Middle of the lineup features pure power. The combo of Zimmerman, Dunn, and Willingham can rip 100 homers and knock in 300+ runs. Will the table setter Morgan (42 SB) be on base enough to matter? What about Guzman? And Pudge? There are still many holes but it starts with one and that one is Stephen Strasburg. The next one is Bryce Harper
.
The Electoral College Says - Even in the lowly NL East, the Nats will finish last. I'm pegging them for 68 wins which will get them out of the baseball basement.
