For 36 years, Nancy Longo has cooked seafood in a cluttered kitchen the size of an elevator. The other night she took the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes to the top floor, and invited me to go along for the ride and even contribute a dish. I fixed a traditional Portuguese baccala (bacalhau) salad.

Longo sports a Seven Fishes T-shirt as she prepares the Feast of the Seven Fishes for 20 dinner guests at her Pierpoint Restaurant in Fells Point.
Sous chef Chris Holley has been helping Longo in the kitchen since 1989, when Pierpoint opened. Here he prepares one of the courses for the feast: scallops in a cherry-balsamic caramel with smoked salmon-ricotta ravioli.
Guests were seated family-style for the multi-course feast.
Chef tools: Tongs and whisks
For the second course, Longo sauteed chunks of butternut squash until they were soft, almost creamy, then mixed them with creamier risotto. Served with buttered-up lobster.
Prepping bowls for the soup course: a savory, clear broth with Chesapeake clams, leeks, spinach, lemon and truffle oil.
Spice shelf
Roasting pans as old as the restaurant, opened by Longo in 1989.
Kitchen envy backstage at Pierpoint Restaurant: Pardon me while I stare . . . .
Nancy Longo, owner and chef at Pierpoint Restaurant in Fells Point, spoons out clam soup, the first course in her Feast of the Seven Fishes. 

Click here for my column on the Feast in the Baltimore Fishbowl

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Published by Dan Rodricks

Dan Rodricks is a former long-time columnist for The Baltimore Sun, winner of numerous national and regional journalism awards, a radio and TV personality, podcaster and fly angler. His narrative memoir, "Father's Day Creek," was published in May 2019 by Apprentice House at Loyola University Maryland.

2 thoughts on “Photos: Backstage at Pierpoint Restaurant, Baltimore”

  2. I wish I’d been aware of of it–definitely would have attended (or was it it invitation-only?). Have been to one of her previous small dinners, one you also attended, and loved it. She’s the greatest!.

    Harris Factor Columbia, MD

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