Miss Shirley’s Café
513 W. Cold Spring Lane
410-889-5272
One glance at the lunch menu, and it’s obvious that this is not your father’s diner. The upscale menu is chock-full of interesting sandwich options, from lobster salad sliders to a dressed-up hot brown, but our hands-down favorite is the spicy-sweet bistro beef sandwich ($15.99). Not content to be standard lunch-box fare, this sandwich is worthy of any dinner plate. Peppery, tender beef is grilled to order, topped with blue cheese, tangy tomatoes, crisp mixed greens, and delicately roasted vegetables, like peppadews and Vidalia onions, then piled on chewy ciabatta bread. Served with Miss Shirley’s signature dipping salsa and either seasonal fruit or a mixed green salad, the bistro beef sandwich hits all the basic food groups, and does so with enough substance and style to carry us long past lunch. Baltimore Magazine, September 2008
The Lunch Encounter 