Urban Discoveries Baltimore

Anyone can call it a night, and most nights, most of us do. But there’s a real craft to pulling an all-nighter––one few ever truly master. Whether you’re a vampire, a gamer, an insomniac, or just a sleepy-eyed professional, if staying awake is part of your routine, then you’ve by now memorized the hours and location of every dive and convenience mart in Baltimore. For the rest of you, here are three safe havens if you find yourself up past bedtime:

1. Blue Moon Café in Fell’s Point (1621 Aliceanna Street) won’t be much help during the week. Their delicious breakfast food and homey ambience shuts down most days at 3 p.m., but Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, they reopen at 11 p.m. and welcome latecomers until 7 a.m. It’s the best place to blunt your weekly short-term alcoholism on a fat cinnamon roll and the business end of a coffee cup.

2. Papermoon Diner in Charles Village (227 W. 29th Street) shares a predictable element of its name with the last entry; I’ll let you guess why. The place was once open 24 hours, but now it keeps more civilized hours––Sunday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. The good news is that those closing times are for last seating, which means you just have to make it in the door. If you haven’t been to Papermoon before, imagine an army of mannequins and vengeful children’s toys painted in swathes of primary colors. Now imagine sitting quietly while they watch you eat. It’s not as creepy as it sounds. It’s a little creepy. The food, more importantly, is quite good; I recommend the Weed Burger. Just be sure to follow all the rules.

3. Sip & Bite Restaurant in Canton (2200 Boston Street) is, and this is something, actually a diner. Open since the 1940s and little altered since, the S&B serves food hot and tasty just as fast as possible. Sometimes that means you wait in a line that stretches out the door. Sometimes that means you split the whole place with a passed-out guy and a waitress on break. The service is generally nice and crisp, and the hot sauce is no joke. There aren’t any labels for the menu items’ nutritional content, so don’t bother asking. Best of all, Sip & Bite is open all for all 24 of the hours in all seven of the days that you might want to stop by.

What do you do with yourself when the world is asleep?

Posted in: Baltimore User's Guide, Canton, Charles Village, Fells PointNo Comments