Chef Michael Grande’s culinary journey began in a Long Island, New York, kitchen, where, as a young boy, he learned the treasured family recipes of his mother and grandmother. After decades of formal training and experience in upscale restaurants across the country, he’s infusing a dash of that early education into a new menu at Pendry Baltimore’s Rec Pier Chop House. Nearly everything on the menu tells a story. The Brunch Burger is Grande’s decadent excuse to have a favorite dinner dish for breakfast—the chef has even won a few burger competitions throughout his career. The orecchiette, prepared with broccoli rabe pesto, Italian sausage, and pickled chili, is a take on a childhood dish he’s been tinkering with for years. And for dessert, the Baltimore Blackout Cake comes from a special memory of his late father. “Growing up, my dad always waxed poetic about this cake and how he could no longer get it because the Brooklyn bakery that made it had closed down,” Grande says. “I have been wanting to put a version of this cake on one of my menus for the last few years—and now it has become our best-selling dessert.”