Yuppability: XS

For many, Baltimore is the home of crabcakes, crime, STDs and kitsch. However, those who must live in it might, sometime during their tenure, desire yuppie food.

Most restaurants in B-moreare not yuppie. They are cheap, they are excellent, they are unpretentious. But not yuppie. However, recently the yuppie haven of Baltimore was discovered. 5 minutes from Penn Station (so you can go there without actually entering the city), spitting distance from the 13th Floor, the Ottobar, and Red Maple, and a five-minute taxi ride from Inner Harbor sits XS.

Done out in exposed brick, brushed steel tables and menus, and corrugated steel floors, XS is Asian fusion and yuppyness in one. The waitresses and waiters skip around in black looking impossibly cool, and about half of everyone you know will be there. It is truly the place to see and be seen, at least if you are a yuppie or affiliated with Hopkins in some way.

Having tried things on the menu to various degrees of satisfaction, I would suggest simply skipping everything else and heading directly toward the sushi which they make quickly, deliciously, and delicately. Specific favorites include spicy tuna, spicy salmon, and the dragon roll. Also, don't order mixed drinks, especially those involving chocolate; Simply order wine, even the cheapest of which is actualy pretty good.

As for desserts, absolutely everything is delicious but the banana tempura is of special interest. They deep-fry a banana, cut it up, and cover it with seasonal fruit, honey, and whipped cream. The carrot cake is also quite good, as is the chocolate lasagna which is simply layers of different types of chocolate.

XS is the kind of place you can lounge for a couple hours, trying to talk over the Persian trance music blaring in the background and leave feeling full, but not so much so that you cannot go out and boogie for another couple hours.

XS
1307 N Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: (410) 468-0002
open until 2 AM