Wednesday, March 14, 7:00 p.m.
Members $85, guests $110

"It's the stuff addictions are made of," Baltimore magazine food critic Cynthia Grover wrote about the grits at Charleston restaurant in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, "especially with the heavenly match of big fat shrimp, little cubes of spicy tasso ham, and fiery bits of andouille. Sweet and creamy, those grits beckon my fork as lamps do moths." Much of Charleston chef Cindy Wolf's cooking, which Wolf describes as "American cuisine with a Southern accent," has that effect on people.
Wolf has been refining her particular culinary sensibility for some time. After graduating from the CIA in 1987, she got her feet wet at a number of restaurants in Charleston and Washington, D.C., before getting her big break as opening chef at Georgia Brown's in DC There, her blend of classical techniques and Low Country cooking won her fans, critical notice, and awards. (She also met her husband-to-be, Tony Foreman, who was general manager.) Wolf carried the same winning formula to Savannah at the Admiral Fell Inn in Baltimore. In 1997, she and her husband opened Charleston-he's in charge of the front of the house and the outstanding wine list. The restaurant "set the standard for dining well in Baltimore a couple of notches higher," Grover wrote in an early review.

Writing in the Baltimore Jewish Times, Lynn Williams delighted in the unlikely culinary juxtapositions at Charleston. "You've got to love a menu that includes both terrine of foie gras and collard greens with pot likker," she wrote. "Here, Deep South soul food and comfort cooking get cozy with classical French techniques and the haute-est of ingredients; often the two meet in the same dish." Think fried green tomato sandwich with lobster and lump crab hash, or roasted veal tenderloin with shiitake-portobello mushrooms and a crispy grits cake.

These days, Charleston is widely considered one of Baltimore's best restaurants, and Wolf one of the city's best-known chefs. Baltimore magazine named the elegant restaurant among its Toasts of the Town; Sky magazine recommended it to travelers; and Zagat selected it as Top Newcomer. In 1999, Wolf herself was named Chef of the Year by the Maryland Academy of Travel and Tourism.

We feel ourselves being drawn toward 12th Street like a moth to a brilliant flame.