Baltimore restaurant The Duchess aims to be a go-to community spot, and it's working

One of Baltimore's newest restaurants has a chef putting her heritage on a plate. The Duchess opened on The Avenue in December, and it's quickly become a favorite in the Hampden neighborhood 

The restaurant showcases Pacific Islander cuisine in a pub setting.

Baltimore restaurant owner highlights Pacific Islander roots

As their dishes were brought to their table, Blaise DePaolo and her husband exclaimed how good it looked.

DePaolo wanted to take her husband somewhere special for his birthday, and she learned through word-of-mouth that The Duchess is that place.

"Everybody said we had to try it," DePaolo said. "Then, of course, we know that Foreman has great restaurants."

The Foreman she is referring to is Tony Foreman, the man behind some of the area's best restaurants. For The Duchess, he wanted vibes akin to an English pub.

For the food, well, he handed that over to Chef Kiko Fejarang. The two have worked together for a while. Fejarang is the executive chef and partner at The Duchess.

"I asked her, 'Hey, so I wanna build this space. I want it to feel this way, but I just want the food to be excellent, so you're gonna be here,'" Foreman said.

When it comes to the food, Fejarang puts herself on the plate. When WJZ was in the kitchen during prep time, she was making tatiyas -- a mix between a tortilla and bread.

"This is actually my auntie's recipe," Fejarang said. "This is something that we eat with like pretty much anything."

Fejarang highlights Chamorro cuisine, which is from her home of Guam. The cuisine and menu have a lot of different Asian flavors -- pancit bihon, for example, is Filipino. There's also spam musubi on the menu, which is a popular Pacific Islander snack.

There are some other dishes with a Chamorro twist, like the fish 'n chips. It is a pub, after all.

"[I cook to] share a part of what I grew up with everybody. That's like what pub houses are, you are to share stories and stuff. I have little bits of stuff that I grew up on that inspired me throughout my entire career," Fejarang said.

Baltimore restaurant serves as community hub

It's not all about the food, though. The Duchess aims to be a gathering spot, both Fejarang and Foreman just want people to share a moment and a plate.

The cuisine has been a big draw for people.

"We've had people who actually are from Guam. Then people who were stationed on Guam come back and say, 'Oh, this reminds me of a time that I lived there,'" Fejarang said. "That's really touching to hear that from them."

While the hype is growing locally, its draw knows no bounds. Foreman said many patrons have come from out of state because they heard about The Duchess.

"People from like, Virginia, Washington, D.C., New York, have come in," Fejarang said. "That's very, very touching."