Baltimore Eats - In The Kitchen

If there ever was a competition -a "Baltimore's Most Amazing People Prize," Barbara Lahnstein should probably get nominated for Most Creative and Determined Woman Entrepreneur. But with her fabulous mane of curly black hair, snazzy jewelry, lingering German accent and her trademark fishnet stockings, we might want to also add "Colorful" to that list of accolades.

Barbara hails from Stuttgart, West Germany where she was educated in the original arts-based, alternative Waldorf School, established by the German philosopher Rudolph Steiner. Though she recalls her days at school as "boring," evidence of Steiner's dictum that, "Everything must be beautiful!" is apparent in each and every one of her culinary creations.

During her teens she took one year off from the Waldorf School and spent it at a Swiss boarding school in Neuchatel, where mastery of the "kitchen arts" was considered essential for every well-educated young girl. "There they were very old fashioned, doing everything from scratch, didn't use any machines -everything was hand beaten... and that is the only formal cooking schooling experience I've had."

Barbara is a talented visual artist and her delightfully quirky sketches can be spotted occasionally on Neopol's signage and menus. Her original "life plan" was to become an illustrator, but after just two years of art school in Germany she married an American and immigrated to the US in 1981, with plans to continue her arts education stateside. The marriage didn't last, and she soon found herself a single parent in a strange country.

So Barbara rolled up her sleeves and quickly conjured up a specialty food business that's carried her through a number of ups and down and turn arounds. First she teamed up with a friend, Odessa Dunston, who had recently graduated from the Baltimore International College of Culinary Arts. Together they started doing small catering gigs while Barb spent her down hours researching the art of smoking fresh fish and game.

Remembering the wonderful smoked delicacies of her German childhood, she was convinced that Americans would appreciate finely smoked products if they were available. "I had this idea of smoking... of doing it differently, without all the salt... not using big pieces of meat, but more fresh fish and game." Her research led her to Feather Haven Farm out in Westminster where they were breeding game birds.

With a local source of quality, fresh game birds established, Barb set about designing her first smokery. Assembled to her specifications by a local welder, weighing nearly a ton, and needing 4 or 5 strong men to hoist it round, it sits today in her backyard in Charles Village. In 1988, Barb and Odessa started selling their own fancy, decorated baskets filled with smoked pheasant and quail in Feather Haven's stand at the 32nd Street Farmers' Market. When Feather Haven went out of business a few years later, Barb and Odessa inherited their position at the Market.

"I was thinking then: 'What can I do now with no more game birds?' So I started smoking fish, mostly salmon, but also rainbow trout and rockfish in season." Barb recalls, "Then I met an incredible guy, Albert Camp, he was a retired rocket scientist, really, who started a goat farm in Charles County called Brentland Farm. He had a big dairy and made beautiful goat cheese long before it was really popular in this country. He was way ahead of his time..."

Meanwhile Barb's son Dorian was recruited to the effort. Barb had come across a nifty antique lemon squeezer and Dorian, then only 8 years-old, became the official Lemonade Boy at the Market. Dorian worked right alongside his mother and Odessa, cheerfully crushing lemon after lemon at the market stand, spending long evenings sitting on the kitchen floor grating cheese into a huge bowl, lugging, packing -setting up, breaking down. "Dorian is so much a part of everything I've done. He's the best and most important part of what gave me the strength to do this... and he really gave his entire childhood to the business," Barb insists.

Today Dorian is a student at Hampton University in Virginia but you'll still be likely to see him on a summer's morning, greeting old friends and new customers with the same boyish charm that made him a favorite at 32nd Street all those years.

Back then the three of them soon became known at the local farmers' markets for their unusual smoked fishes and herbed goat cheese spreads -and for Dorian's old fashioned lemonade and welcoming smile.

But Barbara was just getting started. Wondering what else she could do with Brentland's lovely cheese, she concocted her first goat cheese pie. v These were similar to a super rich quiche with goat cheese in the custardy filling. Barbara did colorful arrangements of nuts, olives and sliced fruits and vegetables across the top and they sold them by the slice at the Market stand where they became one of their most popular offerings. "We used to buy 50 pounds a week of Brentland's fresh goat cheese."

In the early 90s the gals took over the North Charles Street space next to the Charles Theater, where the old BAUHouse gallery had been. They opened up a cafe in the front portion of the large gallery space and named it Metropol.

At Metropol they developed a small menu around their own smoked and baked products, accompanied by herb teas, fine European cocoa, fancy coffees and exquisite little pastries and desserts from Patisserie Poupon, a small French bakery on East Baltimore Street. Metropol held revolving art shows in the gallery as well as musical events, dance parties, poetry readings and other performances.

In 1997, when the old Charles Theater went under the wrecking ball, Metropol closed and the partnership between Barbara and Odessa was effectively over, but Barbara held on to her spots at the local farmers' markets -she and Dorian selling on the weekends at 32nd Street and the City Market under the Fallsway. Meanwhile the death of Albert Camp meant the end of Brentland Farms too -no more goat cheese.

"I had to figure out a way to keep my cheese pies alive!" Barbara exclaims, "I started thinking of the pie we had in Germany, called an onion tart, it's made with Gruyre cheese. We had it every fall to go with the celebrations for the new wines of the year."

Barb played around with the idea of a mixed cheese pie, experimented and came up with a blend of Gouda, Fontina, Swiss and Ricotta that captured the richness she was after and stood up well enough to allow her to make a tall, layered pie with different savory fillings. True to her Waldorf schooling, she gives just as much attention to the appearance of her pies as she does to the taste. "I love the way Patisserie Poupon makes such beautiful pastries. I want my pies to be equally pretty -but savory, not sweet. Why does every pretty thing have to be sweet?"

When Belvedere Square was being rebuilt Barbara was invited to come aboard as a permanent vendor. Immediately excited at the prospect, she started laying out plans to build a new smokery on the premises at the Square -and Neopol was formed.

Barbara spent months looking for just the right equipment, finally settling on working with a company in Texas that specialized in building small smokeries for the culinary trade. Special venting and fire permits were required but eventually her new, bright red, cast iron smoker was installed at Belvedere Square.

Now you'll notice the sweet smell of wood smoke wafting round the market stalls because Neopol smokes right there everyday. They do their own bacon, sausages, poultry and seafood - especially their smoked and flavored salmon, by far the most popular smoked item they sell.

Her latest brain-children are her smoked salts and peppercorns. These simple condiments, flavored with essential oils and herbs, then slow smoked in the smokery, add a subtle seasoning to grilled and roasted dishes and seem destined for real culinary fame.

Since Barbara got her start at the 32nd Street Farmers' Market, she's always worked closely with local farmers and purveyors. Now she gets all her poultry, eggs and most of her meats from David Smith's Springfield Farm in Baltimore County. In season, she buys most of her produce from One Straw Farm and her fruits from Reid's Orchard. She gets her organic flour through Ned Atwater at Atwater's Bakery, a neighboring merchant in the Square.

And where does Barbara get her ideas? "Well, I just think about the food I've always loved the best, the things that just make you feel good when you're really, really hungry and want to eat something you love -savory, the tastes of savory things. When I was little I'd climb up on the cabinets to get to the pantry and go for the capers -never the sweets, I loved the capers!"

-Bonnie North

Neopol Smokery
Belvedere Square Marketplace
Belvedere Avenue & York Road
HOURS:
Monday - Friday 10 to 7
Saturday 9 to 7
Sunday 0 to 4