Preston Street Inn

Preston Street Inn 6 units @ Shapiro's Café - 2 blks from Penn Station in the Mt. Vernon area of Balto. City, MD offering 2 units w/baths, 3 units w/baths & kitchens, 1- 1BR

6 quiet, clean and safe rooms now available in the vibrant Mt. Vernon section of Baltimore City, Maryland. Conveniently located 2 blocks from Penn Station servicing AMTRAK, MARC and Maryland's light rail connecting to the airport. Easy half block walk to Baltimore's FREE Charm City Circulator offering bus service to the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards (Orioles), M&T Stadium (Ravens), National Aquarium,

Science Center and much much more! We have 2 hotel style units with private baths, 3 studio units each with kitchens and baths, and a junior 1 BR units with huge kitchen, living room and bedroom. All units have their own air conditioning and heating systems, tv and wifi. Washer and dryer available in the building.

02/25/2025

powerful

09/21/2024

Yosie’s Falafel Shop across from 7 Mile Market sent me back in time to Shapiro’s Cafe - it was always on my bucket list and so much fun… so join me As I stroll down memory lane 14 years past…..

Shapiro's a sandwich haven in Mount Vernon
Cafe offers a mix of traditional Jewish deli foods and Middle Eastern favorites

By Rob Kasper, The Baltimore Sun

June 24, 2010

You can eat upstairs or downstairs at Shapiro's Cafe, at 7 W. Preston St. near the University of Baltimore in Mount Vernon.

The fare — deli sandwiches and Middle Eastern wraps — is the same in both areas, but the downstairs caters to the carryout crowd and the upstairs is aimed at the sit-down set.

The upstairs, a space once occupied by the Sylvan Beach ice cream shop, seems to be a spot designed to attract faculty members. There is a polished wood floor and six tables for two where diners can relax or grade papers. Posters decorate the walls. Sunlight streams in the windows, and the upstairs has a good air-conditioning system, a comfort on a hot summer day.

The downstairs is more of a student lair. It is darker, with a few stools along one wall, and it is warm. The kitchen, with those heat-generating engines known as ovens, is nearby. But the grotto-like downstairs is also home to the schwarma, a slab of layered meats that yields sandwiches and the grandfather, I am told, of the Greek gyro.

I am a sedentary sort, so on the muggy day I visited Shapiro's, I headed to the cool upstairs.

The menu was written on a chalkboard, offering a combination of Jewish deli favorites — pastrami, corned beef, brisket, Reuben — and Middle Eastern delights — falafel and hummus. Chai teas, flavored coffee drinks and exotic fruit drinks are thrown in for good measure. Perfect, in other words, for an eatery near a college.

The hot pastrami sandwich ($6.50) was terrific. The pastrami was thin, yet juicy, lean and faintly sweet. It was as good as any pastrami I have tasted on Lombard Street and close to those I have sampled in New York. The bread, a seeded rye, was the perfect match.

The falafel ($5.25) was also pleasing, even if it did not reach the heights of sandwich delight achieved by the pastrami. The falafel was brimming with a filling of fried chickpeas, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and a tahini sauce. It had bright, crisp flavors. But the wrap, a pita bread, could not contain these moist contents. The bread crumbled halfway through the sandwich. I hate it when the pita crumbles.

A serving of hummus ($3.50) dotted with olives was solid, if not spectacular. So, too, with the raspberry brownie ($2): good, not great.

The real eye-catcher at Shapiro's is that schwarma ($6.50), a marriage of layered beef and lamb formed into a round and cooked on a spit. When you order one, a server cuts thin slices of meat from the round, then combines them with chopped vegetables in pita bread and tops it off with one of a variety of sauces. I got the "traditional" sauce topping, which was pretty spicy. The meat and vegetables delivered that pleasing combination of cooked protein and vegetable crunch. But again, the pita bread crumbled.

The difference between a schwarma and a gyro, I was told, is that the gyro uses pressed meats and schwarma, which is an older sandwich (hence the "grandfather" label) uses layered meats.

There is not much decor at Shapiro's, but the service is prompt and friendly. Upstairs or downstairs, it is a good place to grab a quick sandwich or wrap.

As for whether you should go for its Jewish deli fare or its Middle Eastern fare, thanks to that dynamite pastrami, I give the edge to the deli.

Shapiro's is open Monday through Friday, with the downstairs open until 8 p.m. and the upstairs open until 3 p.m.

Pizza, I am told, will soon be on the menu, including a Middle Eastern version.

Shapiro's Cafe

Where: 7 W. Preston St.

Call: 443-220-0050

Hours: Downstairs: 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday and upstairs cafe: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday

Sandwiches and wraps: $5.25- $7.50

Credit Cards: Master Card, Visa, Discover

Food: ✭✭✭

Atmosphere: ✭✭

Service: ✭✭

[Key: ✭✭✭✭: Outstanding; ✭✭✭: Good; ✭✭: Fair or Uneven; ✭: Poor]

09/14/2024

An interesting read on Muslim terror by Paul Marek. I welcome your comments:

When asked how many German people were true N***s, the author's answer can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

'Very few people were true N***s,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the N***s were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come.'

'My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

'We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is a religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.'

'The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of r**e victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become su***de bombers.'

'The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous. Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China 's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.'

'The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an o**y of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery? Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

'History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.'

'Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.' What do statistics tell us: not later than 2051 French will have more Muslims than Christians, The Netherlands to follow just a couple of years later, Belgium probably by the year 2060, and Germany already has over 8 million Muslims which is to say, 10% of its population and every week new ones coming from war-torn countries.

Mosques are mushrooming all over the E. U. receiving construction permits on a daily basis. Go and ask for a church construction permit not even as far as Saudi- Arabia, just start asking in Turkey and you'll feel a hard kick in your butt.

'Now Islamic prayers have been introduced in Toronto and other public schools in Ontario , and, yes, in Ottawa , too, while the Lord's Prayer was removed (due to being so offensive?). The Islamic way may be peaceful for the time being in our country - until the fanatics move in.'

'In Australia , and indeed in many countries around the world, many of the most commonly consumed food items have the halal emblem on them. Just look at the back of some of the most popular chocolate bars, and at other food items in your local supermarket. Food on aircraft have the halal emblem just to appease the privileged minority who are now rapidly expanding within the nation's shores. Why - because they dare in the name of God.

'In the U. K, the Muslim communities refuse to integrate and there are now dozens of "no-go" zones within major cities across the country that the police force dare not intrude upon. Sharia law prevails there, because the Muslim community in those areas refuse to acknowledge British law.'

'As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts - the fanatics who threaten our way of life, and they do so in the name of God'

Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand.

Extend yourself a bit and send this on.
Let us hope that thousands world-wide read this, think about it, and send it on before it's too late, and we are silenced because we were silent!!!

Author's details:
On 21 February 2006, Canadian Paul Marek published on his blog Celestial Junk an article titled "Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant." In passages such as the following, Marek's essay warned about the dangers of Islamic fanaticism and dismissed as irrelevant the notion that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are peaceful:

Close up of King Charles waving hello this morning as he leaves church and returns to Balmoral.
08/25/2024

Close up of King Charles waving hello this morning as he leaves church and returns to Balmoral.

05/27/2024

I’d rather talk to you at 4:44 am in the morning than talk at your funeral. Nothing worse than losing a friend because they didn’t think they had anyone to talk to. Phone always on, door always open and coffee can be poured.
Support each other. I need eight people to post this message to show you are always there when someone needs you. I have an idea who’s going to write “done”.
WHO ARE MY 8
Сору / Paste. Be the one!

09/14/2018

Preston Street Inn offers 10% discount on all rooms booked by September 30, 2018 for stays through December 23, 2018.

Inside Preston Street Inn
11/12/2013

Inside Preston Street Inn

Address

7 W Preston Street
Baltimore, MD
21201

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Preston Street Inn posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Preston Street Inn:

Share

Category