Steven Raichlen's Project Fire

Charm City 'Que

Baltimore may lack the barbecue bona fides of Houston or Kansas City. But the town where I grew up boasts plenty of awesome foods for grilling. Pit beef was born here, and this jaw-stretching sandwich of grilled top round sliced tissue-thin and piled high on a kaiser roll with fiery tiger sauce, remains some of the best barbecue on a bun. In the seafood department you find a sweet white-fleshed fish the rest of the world calls striped bass and we Baltimoreans still know, love, and grill by the name of rockfish. And speaking of Charm City specialties, no meal would be complete without local chocolate top cookies-today reimagined as s'mores. Because sometimes, the food you grew up with remains the food nearest and dearest to your heart. GRILLED ROCKFISH WITH SHALLOT, FIG AND POMEGRANATE SAUCE; PIT BEEF TRIPLE DECKER WITH TIGER SAUCE; CHARM CITY S'MORES.