To the naysayers: Baltimore is south of the Mason-Dixon, and while accents steer closer to the Eastern seaboard, the attention to foodways is purely Southern. “I think my restaurant is part of a larger movement that includes a lot of smart people in schools, hospitals, and the general public who have a strong desire to eat better food,” says Spike Gjerde, the chef at Woodberry Kitchen, a restaurant devoted to curing, canning, and preserving the region’s bounty. Don’t miss Michael Mina’s new Wit & Wisdom, an American tavern devoted to such foods as heirloom pork cooked on a wood-fired rotisserie and served au jus. Thanks to Spike, Michael, and other local chefs, Baltimore keeps our (wood-fired) hearts burning.