John was introduced to The Artful Gourmet by his friend Mimi (a real “foodie” <Wink>!). With the location out in Owings Mills’ New Town (a mile-plus from the mall), it took some doing to talk Marty and some friends into making the trek there for dinner. Tucked way at the rear of a new, attractive strip mall, it is designed to look like a row of stylish two-story brick townhouses with a large patio in front for al fresco dining in warmer weather. Inside, there is a contemporary casual look with bold colors and a mix of booths and tables that sport black linens for dinner, while a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in front provides an airy feel. There’s also an adjacent bar/lounge with another dining room tucked behind it. An energetic, outgoing young woman greeted us (a majority of the staff are women) and provided us with a basket of very good sour dough and dark breads and butter to munch on while we waited for our drinks.

The menu follows the lead of the restaurant’s name providing name of artists or major periods of art to the menu items (although it’s not always easy to figure out the relationship between the name and the menu item! <Wink>). You’ll find 10 appetizers ($8-$12), one or two special soups of the day (usually $6+ for a bowl), half a dozen sandwiches ($8-$12 and many more options at lunchtime), several side salads ($4-$8) and entrée salads ($9-$14), 12 entrée specialties ($18-$30) and six signature pastas ($18-$24). With the specialties or pastas, you can add a small side salad for just $2 or a Caesar salad for $3. Reaching a decision wasn’t easy with a lot of choices that caught our attention! Marty decided on the “Botticelli” ($22 – penne pasta with shrimp, mushrooms, pesto and topped with feta), John opted for “Tahiri” ($18 – Spicy Moroccan chicken w/sautéed onions, eggplant, & raisins over saffron rice named after a Moroccan artist), our friend JT went for the “El Greco” ($21 – Whole wheat linguine topped w/ blackened shrimp, chopped tomato, peas and Romano), and our other friend and b-day guy, TP, decided on the “Maryland Masterpiece” ($22.50 – a five ounce crabcake with sweet potato fries). All of us took advantage of the option to add a salad as a starter.   John went for house salad while the others voted for Caesar salad.

Our bonus discount salads were on the small side, but hit the mark as a       starter especially considering how we were chowing down on the delicious bread! Our entrees arrived and proved a success all around. Marty’s Botticelli had lots of shrimp and the creamy pesto sauce was interesting, yet not overwhelming It was so “rich” that he ended up taking some home with him. John’s Tahiri woke up his mouth with a spicy tomato sauce bringing together the chicken and veggies.  He loved every bite and wiped the plate clean with some bread! JT’s judged his El Greco shrimp to be delicious. TP’s crab cake, as good as it proved to be, was outshined by a tall, cylindrical wire container filled to the brim with some of the best sweet potato fries we’ve had (Yup, TP was generous enough to let us sample his cornucopia of fries! Mmmmm!) Our waitress exceeded our expectations when we mentioned that it was TP’s birthday. He ordered a cheesecake which came to the table crowned with a candle on a large plate enscribed with “Happy Birthday” in chocolate!

Even more surprising, we discovered later that Artful Gourmet provided his b-day dessert as complements of the house. Nice touch! On the way out, Marty thanked John for finally convincing him to try Artful Gourmet Bistro after several failed attempts (<Wink!>). Somehow the winning combination of really tasty and interesting dishes, friendly attentive service, and the pleasant, warm space had somehow left him feeling that making another trek out to the Artful Gourmet was something that he would be looking forward to. The restaurant’s web site boasts that they provide “a dining experience that quickly converts new customers into loyal  regulars”. Based on our experience, that’s exactly what they do!

BASICS? Artful Gourmet (Owings Mills),9433 Common Brook Rd; 410-356-2606; www.artfulgourmet.com; Open daily 11 am – 9 pm Mon-Thurs; 11 am – 10 pm on Fri – Sat; 4 pm – 9 pm on Sun. Full bar; vegetarian options; 3/4 mile from Owings Mills mall; This is a popular place - be sure to get reservations on Fri and Sat evenings!

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GLBT FACTOR: Five percent GLBT customers

SURROUNDINGS: Pleasant airy contemporary space with lots of windows and richly colored walls with tables done up in black linens in the evening make for pleasant casual dining.

FOOD: Ignore the fancy names on the menu and you’ll find very good food with some sophisticated touches that you wouldn’t expect in most strip mall, casual restaurants

SERVICE: Excellent, friendly and engaging attentive servers

VALUE: Moderate to Expensive with entrees in the $18-$30 range that left us feeling that Artful Gourmet provided good value for the money. We like the bargain side salads with entrees and were impressed that they provided a complementary, really handsome dessert for our friend with a birthday.

OVERALL: A surprisingly pleasant, casual bistro with a contemporary feel that offers some very good food and service.