Joe Squared Powerplant

It’s a Mad, Mad March Month at Joe Squared. On March 5th, we’re having a premiere party for our segment on Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives.  The show starts at 10 p.m. so please come on down to our Inner Harbor location and celebrate with us.  If you can’t make it that night,  on Friday we are having a Celebrate Joe Squared Party at Power Plant Live!  We’ll see the show again on the huge screen plus lots of music and some fun give-aways.   The segment, by the way, is called “Out of the Box.” Guess that says it all.

March also brings a new menu to Joe Squared — a menu YOU designed.  We’re adding 13 new items to the menu — soup, wings, potato skins, risottos and wings. We got more than 400 responses to our Write Our Menu Survey. We’re still tabulating who had the highest number of most popular responses and won gift cards.  But we do know what will be added permanently to the menu according to our voters:

1. French Onion Soup
2. Sesame Garlic Wings
3. Spinach Ricotta Potato Skins
4. Sweet Potato and Sage Risotto
5. Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Risotto
6. Crab and Avocado Risotto
7. Crab and Artichoke Risotto
8. Roasted Eggplant Risotto
9. Coalhouse Pizza
10. Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke Pizza
11. Chicken and Balsamic Pizza
12. Chicken and Avocado Pizza
13. Cumin Braised Lamb Pizza

But if you don’t want to wait until March,  come on down and enjoy our specials this week:

• Duck and White Bean Stew with rosemary and thyme
• Cajun Bourbon Chicken Wings
• Chicken, Bacon, Spinach and Roasted Garlic Potato Skins wiith mozzarella and cheddar
• Bacon, Crab and Asparagus Pizza with red sauce, asparagus, bacon, crab, mozzarella, cheddar, basil and oregano
• Coconut and Beef Tendon Risotto

Tags: diners, new men, this week's specials

• Lauren & Justin [Acoustic - Rock - Pop] 10pm listen

Saturday, February 18

• Early Set w-  Middle Sister [Acoustic - Rock - Pop] 7pm listen

You may have heard already but Joe Squared is hosting a special Food=Art dinner on Monday night where the theme is foods known for their aphrodisiac qualities.  Unfortunately, that dinner sold out quicker than a high school guy in the back of a Chevy.  But  Chef Joe wants to share the love with all his patrons  with this week’s specials — just in time for St. Valentine’s Day.

In Greek mythology, apples are used in love magic to make a woman lust after the man who throws them. We suggest eating the Ham and Apple Stew instead.

Lucy from Peanuts so aptly described love and chocolate: All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt! Neither do our Chocolate BBQ Chicken Wings.

Supposedly, fried green tomatoes came about centuries ago when the Vatican decided ripe, red tomatoes were an aphrodisiac. Italians were obligated to abstain from the red ones and started eating their tomatoes green, fried.  Forget that. We bring you Roasted Tomato and Corn Pizza with white sauce, corn, jalapenos, avocado, roasted tomato, mozzarella, cheddar and cilantro.

Squid ink routinely makes the top 10 lists of aphrodisiacs.  We just think you will fall in love with the taste of our Coppa and Squid Ink Risotto finished with romano and parsley.

So for all you lovebirds or love searchers, we wish you romance next week with the most tasty person in the world — Yourself.

Tags: aphrodisiacs, love, st valentine's day

Tuesday, February 7

• DJ Scottie B & Guests [Old School Hip Hop - Soul] 7pm listen

Wednesday, February 8

• Showtime Trivia w- Granma Dave 7pm more info

• Breaking Laces [Indie - Rock] *Brooklyn, NY* 10pm listen

Saturday, February 11

• Early Set w- Jeremy & Kevin [Acoustic - Rock - Pop] 10pm listen
• Late Set w- Driven to Clarity [Acoustic - Pop - Rock] 10pm listen | facebook

Tuesday, January 31

• No Live Music Tonight

Saturday, February 4

• Late Set w- Lushfarm [Alt - Indie - Rock] 10pm listen

This week we are celebrating specials.  You will feel special if you eat one of this week’s specials:

We will award more than $1000 in Joe Squared gift cards to winners of the contest as well as a $5 coupon to anyone who votes.  A $500 gift card will be given to the person who selects the most items that people voted to be added to the menu. Second prize is a $300 gift card; third prize is a $200 gift card; fourth prize is a $100 gift card; and fifth prize is a $50 gift card.

Tags: contest, menu changes, this week's specials

Tuesday, January 24

• Early Set w- 3 Dollar Suit [Alt - Folk] *York, PA 7pm listen
• Late Set w- Bronson & The Earthlings [Rock | Pop] 10pm listen

Saturday, January 28

• Early Set w- Benjamin Bor [Singer | Songwriter]  7pm listen
• Early Set w- Interstate Rivals [Ska - Punk] *Silver Spring, MD* 10pm listen

Mashed Potato Pizza or Cajun Pizza? Chocolate and Pork Belly Risotto or Oyster Rockefeller Risotto? Coconut Curry Hot Wings or Blueberry Rum Wings?  Now you can add your favorite items to our menu.  Chef Joe  has taken popular specials from the last several years and created an on-line survey. Voters select their top five choices in five categories: pizzas, risottos, wings, soups and potato skins. The selections that receive the most votes will be put on the menu.

And here’s an even bigger reason to participate. We will award more than $1000 in Joe Squared gift cards to winners of the contest as well as a $5 coupon to anyone who votes.  A $500 gift card will be given to the person who selects the most items that people voted to be added to the menu. Second prize is a $300 gift card; third prize is a $200 gift card; fourth prize is a $100 gift card; and fifth prize is a $50 gift card.

Tags: write our menu contest

It’s the weekend of the big game so we wanted to lend our support to the Ravens and all their fans.  Of course, we could have created a Ravens Pizza and colored our beer purple, but we don’t do things like that at Joe Squared.  Instead, here is how we did our part as you chow down on our specials.

If you eat our Lentil and Vegetable Stew, you will show your support because in Italy eating lentils on New Year’s Eve traditionally symbolizes the hope for a prosperous new year.  We figure anytime in January is the grace period so here’s hoping for a winning game

If you order Chipotle BBQ Wings, you will be saying that our team is hot and the Patriots are not.

If you delight in our Chicken and Pea Potato Skins with mozzarella and cheddar, know that pea pods are a fruit and peas are a vegetable. Find that confusing?  Now let’s hope that our Ravens confuse the heck out of the Patriots.

If you consume our Chicken, Bacon and Onion Pizza with red sauce, bacon, chicken, red onions, fresh mozzarella and asiago, remember that chickens are birds like Ravens and bacon comes from pigs like the Patriots.  Oh, not very nice.

If you taste our Goulash Risotto with braised hanger steak, ed wine, paprika, green peppers and onions, you are clearly telling our team that we are Hungary (origin of goulash) for a VICTORY!!

Tags: ravens

Writing a food blog gets you thinking a lot about, well, food.  Where does it come from? How did it get named? Why people love certain dishes? Take this week’s special — Lamb and Zucchini Stew.

Stews have been around for a really long time.  The ancient Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the Scythians (Iranian tribes from 8th to 4th centuries BC) “put the flesh into an animal’s paunch, mix water with it, and boil it like that over the bone fire. The bones burn very well, and the paunch easily contains all the meat once it has been stripped off. In this way an ox, or any other sacrificial beast, is ingeniously made to boil itself.” Well, that is not Chef Joe’s cooking method, but our stew is still quite tasty. By the way, if you want something to do on a wintry day (besides drinking beer and eating at our restaurant), check out the number of stews listed in Wikipedia. Pretty amazing. What stews do you think Chef Joe should put on the menu?

Next week we might wax poetic about the history of wings, but for now we strongly advise that you just come on in and eat some.  This week we really have something delicious — Oven Baked Bourbon and Jalapeno Glazed Wings. They’re as hot as tickets to a Ravens game!

Other specials this week include Tomato, Crushed Pepper and Chicken Thigh Potato Skins with cheddar and chives; BBQ Shrimp Pizza  with white sauce, arugula, bbq shrimp, bacon, red onions, sliced cabbage, mozzarella, smoked gouda and cilantro; and Mushroom, Green Olives, Broccoli and Sundried Tomato Risotto with boursin.

Tags: chicken wings, history of stew, stew