Jack's Bistro

If husband and wife Ted Stelzenmuller and Christie Smertycha were just nice, I wouldn't tell anyone to bother with Jack's Bistro, but chef Stelzenmuller unleashed a Thai mussels dish this year that made me feel very smart for having loved him from the beginning. He also makes a burger wholly from ground bacon and a grand Guinness-braised filet mignon. But they are nice. Damn nice, and we'd all feel better if we knew you were in their good hands.

• 3123 Elliott Street, +1 410 878 6542, jacksbistro.net. Mains $15.75-$27.75. Open Wed-Sat 5pm-1am, Sun 5pm-11pm (dinner)

Peter's Inn

The doors open an hour before the kitchen gets started, and by dinner time all the tables and all the bar stools are taken at Karin and Bud Tiffany's smallish stalwart in the Fells Point neighbourhood, a favourite of John Waters. The tiny chalkboard menu changes every week, but the buttery, best-in-town steaks are always on it. There remain at Peter's vestiges of the old biker bar that preceded it. But they hate it when you say that. They also hate it when you don't. If you're very lucky, Karin Tiffany will come out of the kitchen and set you straight.

• 504 South Ann Street, +1 410 675 7313, petersinn.com. Mains $8.50-$29.50. Open Tue-Thurs 6:30pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 6:30 pm-11pm

Woman's Industrial Kitchen

In its dotage, say 20 years ago, this old downtown ladies' lunchroom, an adjunct to a benevolent organisation, existed only so people could write about how quaint and old it was. Then it got plain sad, and then it just closed. But back in 2011, a big-thinking former lawyer named Irene Smith reopened it, and brought back credible versions of a beloved chicken salad sandwich and a dear old tomato aspic. Shellacked into the tables are photographs of strong women who have passed through Baltimore, such as Oprah.

• 333 North Charles Street, +1 410 244 6450, womansindustrialkitchen.com. Mains $9-$11. Open Mon-Fri 11am-3pm, Sun 11am-3pm for brunch

Brewer's Art

If a restaurant housed in buildings this ornate and well-kept were anywhere else on the Eastern Seaboard, you couldn't afford to walk though the door. Even better, this one functions as a neighbourhood bar. Chef Ray Kumm, newish in the kitchen, has taken the food in surprising and satisfying Austrian directions. Think schnitzel and spätzle. Upstairs is more posh than the louche level below, but not aggressively so. And among the Belgian-style beers brewed on the premises is a potent brown beauty named Resurrection, which ends up as a prop in most narratives about lost weekends in Baltimore.

• 1106 North Charles Street, +1 410 547 6925, thebrewersart.com. Mains $17-$33. Open Mon-Sat 4pm-1:45am, Sun 5pm-1:45am

Thames Street Oyster House

You wouldn't believe it, but before Thames Street came along, in 2011, there was no place to send someone for decent seafood near the waterfront in Fells Point, which was a crying shame because everyone comes there expecting to see crabs and lobsters dancing on the cobblestone streets. So Thames Street, to its everlasting credit, filled that niche. Its best dishes traffic in fish such as hake and fluke, that are better known in New England than here in Maryland.

• 1728 Thames Street (in the Melrose Building), +1 443 449 7726, thamesstreetoysterhouse.com. Mains $17.50-$27. Open Wed-Sun 11:30am-2:30pm (lunch), Sun-Thur 5pm-9:30pm, Sat-Sun 5pm-10:30pm (dinner)

The Helmand

Baltimore is not one of your more cosmopolitan cities, so we like to point out that the Helmand is owned by the brother of the president of Afghanistan. Everyone comes to this Mount Vernon storefront restaurant for its sautéed baby pumpkin starter, kaddo borawni, that could get itself elected mayor, but there are any number of succulent lamb-based entrees. I took a look at the prices recently – they've barely budged in 25 years. And then I ordered up some takeaway.

• 806 North Charles Street, +1 410 752 0311, helmand.com, Mains $12.95-$15.95. Open Sun-Thur 5pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-11pm (dinner)

Faidley Seafood

You have to have a crab cake before you leave Baltimore. You should go to the counter at Faidley for it. Depending on who's next to you in line, you'll either be told to pay for the premium lump version or for the cheaper version made with claw meat. Of course get the cheaper one, because it's more like what everyone ate here for generations until someone decided that lump was better. It's not; it's prettier, maybe. But the flavour is in the claw. Know that your crab cake will be served on a paper plate with packaged crackers. And know that we know that Lexington Market is an eyesore.

• 203 North Paca Street (in Lexington Market), +1 410 727 4898, faidleyscrabcakes.com. Open Mon-Sat 9am-5pm

Of Love and Regret

Known as the gypsy brewer for his worldwide collaborations, Stillwater Artisanal Ales founder Brian Strumke still doesn't have a home brewery. But his beers, along with a line-up of limited-edition beers from all over, have a home at this handsome corner bar on the fringes of the Canton neighbourhood. In the way that it supports the beer menu, the food – solid seafood preparations and rich cheesy things – is gallant.

• 1028 South Conkling Street, +1 410-327-0760, ofloveandregret.com. Mains $16-$24. Open Sun-Thur 4-10pm, Fri-Sat 4-11pm, Sat-Sun 11am-3pm (brunch)

Fork & Wrench

The developers of this Canton knockout, a renovation of adjoining commercial properties, said they were striving for a contemporary "dive bar" for the "modern working class". It sounds horrible, doesn't it? But it's ravishing and accessible. The kitchen was recently turned over to Cyrus Keefer, a chef who can keep a duck's skin crispy and make roasted bone marrow seem like a new idea.

• 2322 Boston Street, +1 443 759 9360, theforkandwrench.com. Mains $16-$30. Open Mon-Thur 5pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 5pm-11pm (dinner), Sun 10am-10pm (brunch/supper)

Birroteca

I've had screaming matches about what this neighbourhood is called, but as god is my witness it's not Hampden. It's not really anything, this lonesome stretch along the Jones Falls River. In about 10 years, there will be a dozen or so restaurants within a block of Birroteca, but none will open as confidently, or as intelligently, as Birroteca, which seemed to know exactly what everyone was looking for: a good-stiff-drink and duck-on-the-pizzas kind of place, with a griddled calamari starter worth getting lost for.

• 1520 Clipper Road, +1 443 708 1934, bmorebirroteca.com. Pizzas and pastas from $14. Open Mon-Fri 5pm-10pm, Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 12am-10pm (lunch and dinner)

Richard Gorelick is restaurant critic for the Baltimore Sun.

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