BaltoZine RoundUp: Flying Dog, Fish Pepper, MD Deathfest, BBQ Joint of Easton, Woodberry Kitchen

The Baltozine Roundup is a regular feature wherein we take a look at what national periodicals are saying about Baltimore-area arts, events, people, and places. Be sure to pick up the magazines and read the full articles.

Draft Magazine (July/August 2013) covers a few Maryland-area eateries and beers.

"3 Brand New Kebabs" is an article about meat-on-a-stick makeovers. It features a contribution from Andrew Evans, barbecue champion and chef-owner of BBQ Joint in Easton, MD - a delicious-sounding recipe using braised pork belly.

And there's a review of Flying Dog Brewery's Raging Bitch Belgian Style IPA. The beer get's an 88 rating (out of 100):

"In the bouquet, a hit of caramel threads together the American hops' orange and lemon and Belgian yeast's white pepper and clove. Toasted grains with a touch of sweet bubblegum stretch over the tongue as clove and black pepper draw out the alcohol's spice. Grapefruit flavor and intense bitterness showcase the IPA brawn, as it dries out the swallow and leaves the tongue tingling in its wake."

The Art Of Eating (#91) has a feature by Sam Hiersteiner called "The Fish Pepper Of Maryland (Old Bay Seasoning" which features Woodberry Kitchen.

"... We had made a pilgrimage to Woodberry Kitchen, the chef Spike Gjerde's much-admired restaurant, to taste the Fish pepper, an ingredient that until not long ago had almost been lost to history despite its singular importance to Chesapeake cuisine. Gjerde was introduced to the Fish pepper in 2009 when he read Fighting Old Nep: The Foodways Of Enslaved Afro-Marylanders 1634-1864, by a culinary historian named Michael Twitty. Gjerde asked one of his local purveyors, Denzel Mitchell of Five Seeds Farm, if he would grow them. Later that year, Gjerde turned a batch of Mitchell's peppers into an unfermented version of Snake Oil, which he put to the 'oyster test' by adding a few drops to a local bivalve. Now mid-Atlantic chefs, historians, and farmers have rediscovered Capsicum annum 'Fish' and tried to bring its unique flavor back into the public consciousness. Woodberry Kitchen, perhaps the only restaurant in the country that features the pepper, is the epicenter of the effort. ..."

The new issue of metal magazine Decibel (#106) features both an article on area-band Pig Destroyer and full coverage of Maryland Deathfest.

Matthew Widener gives a fairly in-depth summary of 2013's Maryland Deathfest, "Maryland Deathfest XI."

"The Sonar compound that housed Maryland Deathfest since 2006 may have given way to a douchey nightclub called Paparazzi, but, fuck, at least it wasn't a thousand degrees in Baltimore this past Memorial Day weekend! Here are our 20 favorite sets we witnessed while miraculously not contracting Maryland Deathflu for the first time in five years. ..."

Kevin Stewart-Panko has an article about Pig Destroyer, "This Is Beautiful. This Is Art: The Making Of Pig Destroyer's Prowler In The Yard."

"If you've been a regular Decibel reader over the years, it may be hard to believe there was a time when Pig Destroyer weren't one of the most popular and revered bands in underground extreme music. ..."