Hometown Hype: BaoDi in the Baltimore Spotlight

The Highlandtown community has been aflutter with the announcement of a new Chinese-American restaurant set to debut on Eastern Avenue in the coming weeks. 

Bao Di, a new restaurant specializing in Chinese comfort food, is coming to Southeast Baltimore.

A new Chinese restaurant is set to bring both familiar favorites and regional specialties to a recently renovated Highlandtown building.

Highlandtown’s new BaoDi Restaurant & Bar spotlights the comfort foods synonymous with Northern Chinese cuisine. The family-owned spot comes from Baltimore resident Lucy Wang and her dad, a former chef in Kentucky. Look for a lineup of lots of noodles like lo mein, wontons, scallion pancakes, hot and sour soup, walnut shrimp, mapo tofu, braised pork belly, and a full cocktail list.

Bao Di is the kind of restaurant that feels personal before the first dumpling hits the table, because it is: it’s run by Lucy Wang and her husband, Eric Repas, with Wang’s father Bob running the kitchen. The food leans into Northern Chinese comfort (Wang is from Shenyang), with dishes like braised pork belly, cabbage-and-tofu stew, handmade dumplings, and guo bao pork, a crispy sweet-and-tangy pork dish that reads like a specialty instead of a greatest-hits compromise. Repas handles the bar, and the place commits to the idea that drinking is part of the meal; the Chinese liquor baijiu gets a real role, and there’s even a house “Baltimore Zoo” riff that doubles down on the couple’s backstory.

Who isn’t on the lookout for Chinese food in Baltimore? I was excited to stop by Bao Di, the handsome Highlandtown newcomer specializing in home-cooked food from Northern China.

During a recent visit I enjoyed hard-to-find dishes like Three Cup Chicken and a dessert called Eight Treasure Rice, a Chinese rice pudding.

But I positively devoured a special of chicken curry, which arrived at my table still bubbling in its clay pot. Shredded strips of tender chicken basked in a sweet curry together with hearty chunks of carrots and potatoes.

Memo to Chef Wang: Please put this deliciousness on the regular menu.