Once upon a time, there was delicious Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken in Baltimore - chicken so delicious it drew the masses from all walks of life. Racial tensions and other petty rivalries eased as the city's denizens crowded into the tiny entryway of La Rotisseria for magically seasoned and always cooked to perfection chicken with beans, rice, and the best green sauce ever made. And, every once in a while, a small selection of hand-made papusas that always sold out almost immediately. That little storefront carry-out place was my first taste of papusas, and of Peruvian style chicken. And to date it has been the best.

A while back, the In-n-Out/Five Guys clone Grab-n-Go was sued by In-n-Out for being, well, an almost exact clone, right down to the decor and menu. It was so much like In-n-Out that I was constantly forgetting that it actually wasn't and just referred to it as Fake In-n-Out. Well, they closed to little fanfare, and in their place is Georgia's Carry Out. And even though Georgia's still has the copycat decor (red and white tiled walls) and burgers (the Wild burger and the Asian burger are still on the menu, although their descriptions have been slightly altered), they seem to be doing OK.

Tiki's on Broadway is a pinhole in the wall of Baltimore, a small take-out place that looks the way you would expect it to, only smaller. The Formica counter in the front seats five and provides you with a full-on view of the cigarette rack that carries two brands - Mavericks and Newports. The menu is posted above this in a series of typed pages tacked to the wall. Further in are a couple of rows of small, well-worn booths and a couple of wall-mounted screens showing a horserace video and Keno. You can buy tickets at the front, along with every lottery known to the Baltimore area.

Folks who have lived in Baltimore know that it's a patchwork with the good and the bad nestled right up against each other in a crazy quilt of urban living that means you spend a good bit of time walking along the edges. Fells Point is such an area. It starts out pretty nice in the touristy area down by the water. But as you move further inland, an almost unconscious wariness sets in. I can never actually feel the transformation taking place in myself - the change in my stride and posture, the set to my jaw, the way my body language changes to encourage others to keep their distance - until I begin to move back into that tourist zone around the harbor and I feel that slight tension leave. This is where Sticky Rice is located.