“Pleased?” Not So Much

I know it’s just an advertising supplement, and it’s probably a bear to deal with editorially, but EAT was such a disappointment this year (March 2).

You included every schlocky tourist trap restaurant, but completely ignored quality places—at least a few of which you’ve praised throughout the years—such as Tortilleria Sinaloa in Fells Point, Byblos in Federal Hill, Chef Mac’s and All That Blues in Hamilton, Chicken Rico in Highlandtown, and the list goes on. I don’t get it.

Danielle Sweeney
Baltimore

City Paper’s EAT dining guide is definitely a great resource, but I was still a bit disappointed. First of all, there are no restaurants featured at all in Northwest, West, or Southwest Baltimore: This is a good one-third of the city! As a resident of Pigtown/Washington Village (or whatever you want to call it), I would have liked to see my neighborhood and surrounding others represented a little better, or perhaps at all. On Washington Boulevard alone we have Perfecto Coffee House, Steel Drum Café, Elfegne Ethiopian Café, Carroll Station, and Italiano’s Restaurant. In the Hollins Market neighborhood, we were sad to see Baltimore Pho go, but Amour Baltimore has taken its place and Zella’s Pizzeria—which bought an ad—is as good as ever!

I understand that Baltimore’s west side is not as glamorous as the highly gentrified north and central areas. I hate to suggest that this may be a result of internalized racism on the part of City Paper, but I also could not help but notice that in all 27 of the photos [Editor’s note: We count 29.] accompanying the featured restaurants, there were only two with black people. There is a black man on page 34 accompanied by a white man, and a black woman on page 59 with a white woman. I’m fairly certain this does not adequately reflect the demographics of Baltimore.

Theron Gilliland Jr.
Baltimore

It’s the Dogma that Does It

I agree with the sentiments of Alan Barysh’s letter to the editor (“A Round of Abortions on the House,” Mail and E-Mail and Comments, March 2) regarding those that oppose abortion rights: Their goal clearly is to impose a Christian version of Sharia law on the populace, and those that claim that they are defending a fetus’ right to life are mistaken, because while a fetus is physiologically connected to another human being, it can have no rights. It is only upon individuation that rights are conferred.

Barbara Steel’s letter on same-sex marriages and the need to extend equality before the law to other types of arrangements (polygamy, etc.) (“Equal Marriage for Everybody,” Mail and E-Mail and Comments, March 2) makes an important point: Marriage is simply a contractual agreement between individuals, and the government’s only role should be restricted to enforcing the terms of the contract, irrespective of who the consenting parties are. It is only by imbuing marriage with religious dogma that issues such as same-sex marriage become controversial.

Amesh A. Adalja
Butler, Pa.

Correction: The web site URL of the Greene Turtle Sports Bar and Grille, greeneturtle.com, was misspelled in our EAT dining guide (March 2). City Paper regrets the error.