{"id":47211,"date":"2026-10-08T20:08:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/47211\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T20:08:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:08:33","slug":"open-dahlia-cocinita-pressed-guinness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/47211\/","title":{"rendered":"Open & Shut: Qaffee House; Dahlia Cocinita; Pressed; Guinness"},"content":{"rendered":"

OPEN<\/p>\n

Qaffee House: Brand new to Highlandtown, this cafe is the first brick-and-mortar location for Qaffee House\u2014which started as a coffee truck in Columbia. Owners Nabeel Razzak, Rehma Khan, and Shehab Hady feature a Middle Eastern-inspired menu of pastries, coffee, and tea. Qaffee\u2019s signatures include an espresso with\u00a0 housemade cardamom syrup, as well as two chai options: Karak, the popular black tea with cardamom and ginger, and Kashmiri, a pink green tea with milk garnished with pistachios. If you\u2019re hungry, try the house \u201cqroffles,\u201d aka waffle-shaped croissants.<\/p>\n

COMING SOON\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dahlia Cocinita: A vegan Mexican concept from Oleum\u2019s Alisha Adibe is coming to Canton early next year. After embarking on her own vegan journey, Adibe brought Oleum\u2019s internationally influenced comfort dishes to Fells Point in 2025. Dahlia Cocinita will build on that mission by providing plant-based Mexican and Latin American-inspired fare. Taking over the former home of longtime breakfast spot Simply Marie\u2019s on Elliott Street, Adibe is excited to showcase vegan fish alternatives like watermelon tuna in her ceviche, as well as lions mane mushrooms and hearts of palm in her \u201cfish\u201d tacos. \u201cWe\u2019ve also gotten requests for flan and enchiladas verdes,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Named after the official flower of Mexico and Adibe\u2019s love of true crime\u2014particularly the Black Dahlia story\u2014Dahlia Cocinita is Adibe\u2019s first project that requires a kitchen overhaul. \u201cIt\u2019s a very small space, so we\u2019re going to go big with the design and decor and make it fun,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I\u2019m keeping the green [exterior]. I don\u2019t want to erase Simply Marie\u2019s from the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed:\u00a0After his previous gig at Peabody Heights came to an end recently, local chef Anthony Lanasa set a lofty goal to open a restaurant of his own in only 30 days. \u201cI was not expecting to get laid off,\u201d he says. \u201cI was sitting there in shock when my wife said, \u2018Dude, you should just go for it.\u201d\u00a0He\u2019s already secured a space\u2014the former Maillard Patisserie on Chestnut Avenue in Hampden\u2014for Pressed, a sandwich shop that will feature wraps, salads, and paninis like the \u201cCrandaddy\u201d (turkey, Swiss, pesto, and cranberry) and the \u201cPortobello Pressed,\u201d using Firefly Farms goat cheese and local portobello mushrooms.<\/p>\n

The spot will debut with a lunch program and slowly ease into breakfast and dinner service. Lanasa says the short turnaround timeline overlaps well with the return of the neighborhood\u2019s annual holiday festivities. \u201cWe\u2019re thinking about doing donuts out front for Halloween night, or something during the 34th Street lights,\u201d he says. \u201cWe want to do a lot of fun things to join the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ubon: Montree \u201cJack\u201d Wongchalee is having a great year. The force behind Bodhi Corner, The Dara, and Charm Thai Corner\u2014which took over the space that was previously Nana in Towson earlier this year\u2014is preparing to unveil Ubon in the former home of Nacho Mama\u2019s on O\u2019Donnell Square in Canton later this year. Centering on Thailand\u2019s Isan region\u2014heavily influenced by nearby Laos and Cambodia\u2014the menu will offer chargrilled and roasted meats seasoned with pla ra (fermented fish sauce), as well as khao niao, pull-apart sticky rice often associated with the popular mango sticky rice dessert.<\/p>\n

Nalley Fresh at Cross Street Market: Adding to the new faces at Cross Street Market in Federal Hill (Royal Deli and a revived version of Don\u2019t Know Tavern recently moved in) is this longtime local salad chain. Slated to cut the ribbon this month, the latest location will feature Nalley\u2019s customizable salads, bowls, and wraps, while also adding a new fleet \u201cchow-licious\u201d options, including hollowed-out subs.<\/p>\n

EPICUREAN EVENTS
Through November: Steak N\u2019 Bone Second Anniversary Specials
This Korean barbecue spot is thanking customers for their support throughout the past two years with daily discounts Tuesday through Saturday. Throughout November, stop by for buy-one, get-one Soju and wine deals on Tuesdays; 15 percent off for veterans, first responders, students, and hospital workers on Wednesdays; BOGO shots and cocktails on Thursdays; and a $35 all-you-can-eat lunch special from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.<\/p>\n

10\/24: The Jang
Mark your calendars to attend The Jang, a free, open-air, Korean-inspired market at the Ynot Lot in Station North. While checking out traditional dance performances and live Korean folklore painting, grab eats and drinks from vendors like Steak N\u2019 Bone, Toki Underground, Porto Pizza, and Good to Great.<\/p>\n

SHUT<\/p>\n

Guinness Open Gate Brewery:\u00a0Among the most shared local headlines last week was the news that this 62-acre brewing behemoth in Halethorpe, one of only two Guinness facilities on American soil, would be shuttering by month\u2019s end. After opening in 2018\u2014and subsequently leveling the playing field for Maryland beer production overall\u2014the grounds became a go-to gathering place for locals and tourists alike, offering rotating pours, behind-the-scenes tours, an in-house restaurant, and robust event programming. In 2023, Guinness halted production of Baltimore Blonde on site (moving it to upstate New York), signaling business model changes. Now, news of the closure comes in the wake of a $1 billion savings plan rolled out by parent company Diageo this past August.<\/p>\n

As of now, there\u2019s no word on what could potentially take over the property\u2014formerly home to Seagram\u2019s\u2014once the gates officially close on Nov. 1. As Baltimore\u2019s Guinness era quickly comes to an end, visitors can raise one last pint during regular hours or at special weekend events that are still on throughout October. As far as the staff is concerned, 174 workers are reported to be impacted by the closure. Diageo has stated that it\u2019s establishing a $250,000 community fund aimed at \u201csupporting local organizations and initiatives focused on strengthening economic opportunity and the local hospitality industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Meet the Author<\/p>\n

Ana Bak is a contributing writer for Baltimore, where she covers food and arts and culture. With a passion for human focused storytelling, she creates engaging content as @itsanabak, where she highlights the local food scene, wine culture, and beyond. <\/p>\n

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OPEN Qaffee House: Brand new to Highlandtown, this cafe is the first brick-and-mortar location for Qaffee House\u2014which started as a coffee truck in Columbia. Owners Nabeel Razzak, Rehma Khan, and Shehab Hady feature a Middle Eastern-inspired menu of pastries, coffee, and tea. Qaffee\u2019s signatures include an espresso with\u00a0 housemade cardamom syrup, as well as two<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[3531,3529,3527,3530,3528],"class_list":["post-47211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-maryland","tag-maryland","tag-maryland-dining","tag-maryland-food","tag-maryland-grocery-stores","tag-maryland-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117407102022194498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}