The Not So Local Tap – Peter’s Inn, Fell’s Point, Baltimore

The door of Peter’s Inn from baltimore.cbslocal.com

President’s Day weekend marked another Belgian Beer Fest at Max’s Taphouse and another trip down to Fell’s Point on what’s become an annual long weekend for us.

We followed our usual game plan of driving down the day before so we could spend a nice evening in Fell’s Point the night before the event, or as I’ve come to refer to it “the calm before the storm” (really, Max’s is funny to walk into the night before the Fest when they only have about 20 beers on tap).  We always try to have a nice dinner somewhere new every year and this year Tracey found a place called Peter’s Inn, an interesting little place on South Ann Street with a reputation of serving excellent food.

Karin and Bud Tiffany took over the establishment (whose original structure was a farmhouse built in 1799) in 1995 and have been running it ever since. The liquor license dates back to just after the repeal of prohibition.

We walked into the place and were immediately struck by how small it was inside with  approximately 14 tables plus bar seating (10 of which line the wall opposite the bar in the thin, front dinning room) although from pictures I’ve seen Peter’s does offer outside seating when the weather is nice.  Since Peter’s Inn does not take reservations the only way to get a table is show up when the doors open and “claim” one.  We were lucky enough to find a table for two in the back, next to the kitchen door with the overhead, unplugged electrical sign that reads “Kitchen Open”.

The front dinning room, Peter’s Inn.

Peter’s opens it’s doors at 5:30, but its award winning kitchen doesn’t open until 6:30.  The in-between is a nice time to order a bottle of wine, get to know your waitress and look over the Xerox copied hand written menu that’s placed on your table (the menu changes every week).  It just so happened that this Thursday night was Valentine’s Day, and the special for the evening was “Prime Rib w/ Good Things”.  Tracey asked our waitress what “Good Things” were and we found out that they were the standard, beans, carrots and potatoes.  But that’s when our waitress gave us a key piece of information, the prime rib cut was 2 pounds.  Yeah.

The kitchen is open!

Our waitress then suggested (more like encouraged) the concept of sharing and since you don’t get the fun of ordering a 2lb cut of prime rib everyday, we decided to take her advice.

Soon 6:30 arrived and a waitress stepped from inside the kitchen in order to reach up and plug in the “Kitchen Open” sign and soon after, plates of meat were flowing from the kitchen.  Hedonistic is the only way I can describe the hunk of animal that was placed on the table between us.  Well, that and insane.  The cut was beautiful and cooked to perfection, and the sides definitely could be described as “good things”.  The whole meal was excellent from top to bottom.  We ended up putting a real hurting on our prime rib, aided by a second bottle of wine to help wash it down.

Left: The Humbolt Fog cheese plate to start because, you know,  a 2lb Prime Rib just isn’t enough. Right: The cow.

I would highly recommend Peter’s Inn.  It’s an interesting establishment with a diverse clientele and a quirky decor.  And if our meal was any indication, the kitchen truly does deserve to be continually recognized as one of the best in Baltimore.  Just make sure you’re there when the doors open so you can claim your table.

COMING TOMORROW : A quick run down on why were in Fell’s Point to begin with, Max’s 2013 Belgian Beer Fest.