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• Has come a long way toward serving vegans

Joe Squared is another place that started out almost militantly anti-vegan (seriously, nothing about their pizza was vegan when they first opened-- crust, sauce--all not vegan) before eventually, after I'd given up on them, they (grudgingly perhaps) began to cater to vegans. Now they have all kinds of vegan options: sandwiches, pizza, coconut milk-based risottos. It's like they did a complete 180. And that is great-- I appreciate it. All that being said, though, I still haven't tried anything beyond the pizza, which I cannot fully promote. It's okay, but there is much better vegan pizza to be had in the city (Johnny Rad's being at the top of that list). I am still very curious about both the garbanzo bean burger and the risottos, but have yet to try either. Part of this is because of their two locations. I never liked the original one on North Ave-- I thought it was dingy and depressing. It felt like a former nightclub that had barely been dressed up to be a restaurant-- it was dark and I think it even had a mirrored wall. I have no idea if they ever brightened it up or not, but they did put some outdoor seating on the sidewalk (not that the idea of sitting on the corner of Howard and North Ave is very appealing). Now I've heard they are likely leaving that location due to disputes with the building owner. Their other location is downtown on the same street as the building where I work. I rarely eat out for lunch while at work so I never think to go there. And in my off hours I would never choose to go there because it's embedded in a network of crappy theme bars frequented by yuppies and other tools that never venture more than a stone's throw from the Inner Harbor. Seriously, it is a terrible, terrible place and I was frankly shocked when I first heard Joe Squared opened a new location there because nothing that opens in that area ever lasts. For the 10 years I've been working on this street, that place has seen one bar after another open and close, none of them lasting more than a year. So far, though, Joe Squared has broken the mold, so kudos to them. I just hope when they reopen their flagship space it has a nicer atmosphere than it used to, wherever they end up moving it.