A gastropub opened by an Irishwoman in Baltimore, Maryland, earlier this year has been named by the New York Times as one of the 50 best restaurants in the United States.
Dubliner Millie Powell (32) and her American husband Will Mester (39) opened The Wren in Baltimore in February. Powell says they are “thrilled” with attracting such positive attention so soon after starting up.
While they had suspicions that the New York Times might feature The Wren after the title asked to do a photo shoot, Powell says they were happily blindsided by the timing of the list being published this week.
“It was a nice surprise,” she says.
They have been working in the restaurant industry for a decade, with Powell’s experience mostly gained in Ireland. She was a cheese monger for Fallon & Byrne in Dublin and worked front of house in a number of Dublin establishments, including Host in Ranelagh. Powell’s family are also involved in the industry, with her brother Kevin Powell owning Loose Canon Cheese and Wine on Drury Street, Dublin.
Mester has worked as a chef in New York and the Baltimore area.
The Wren is his second venture with business partner Rosemary Liss; they also co-own another Baltimore restaurant, Le Comptoir du Vin, which opened in 2018. It has been lauded by Bon Appétit.
Liss was the original link between Powell and Mester. A Baltimore native, she met Powell some years ago when she was undertaking an artist residency in Dublin, and put Powell and Mester in touch when Mester was due to visit Ireland in 2021.
“One day in August, I sent him a message saying: ‘Hi, my friends and I are going for a swim at Seapoint if you’d like to join us.’ He said later that he looked out the window and it was a really dark and overcast day. He was like really? A swim in the sea? He met us for a swim and then plenty of pints were consumed afterwards and we just hit off with one another.”
The couple were long distance for a few years before Powell moved to Baltimore two years ago.
The timing coincided with Le Comptoir du Vin losing its pastry chef, and even though Powell had no professional experience in the area, her “knack for pastry” landed her the job.
“I had no faith in myself. I remember the first night I made the desserts, it was funny to me that people were paying for it,” she says.
Two years later, when the couple decided to open The Wren, with Mester serving as its head chef, it was decided that Powell would continue in her role as a pastry chef.
“I still don’t feel comfortable with the name pastry chef. I’m a baker,” she says.
The New York Times listing of The Wren recommends trying Powell’s pastries: “For dessert, a flowery light apple cake.”
The Wren in Baltimore 
A seasonal dish in The Wren 
A dessert made by Millie Powell for The Wren
Powell thinks the popularity of her desserts is down to the nostalgia that they invoke for Americans.
“Irish people bake in a kind of old fashion way – lots of sponges, lots of puddings, lots of fruit-based things. It’s very different from the kind of over the top American desserts. It’s comforting,” she says.
The Wren, which serves a changing seasonal menu, is in the central and historic Fells Point neighbourhood in Baltimore. Powell says the couple wanted it to be “a nice cosy neighbourhood pub that served really good food”.
However, she admits that the gastropub “didn’t open to great success”.
“It’s been a hard few months and it’s been a little bit trickier in this part of the city,” Powell says.
“It’s a very old-school neighbourhood, and I don’t mean this in a negative way as I think people are the same way in areas of Dublin. But people are kind of very set in their ways and loyal to the businesses that they already go to. Sometimes it does feel a bit like people are like ‘who are these blow-ins?’”
The Wren was previously a scotch bar called Birds of a Feather and had been operating for 43 years.
“I think it’s hard to take over a business that was very storied to begin with and has a very loyal customer base and we really did try to be sensitive to that,” says Powell.
“We decided to keep the scotch element and we have a pretty extensive collection of scotch, though we added Irish whiskey to our drinks list, obviously.”
Powell also worried that The Wren’s more Irish approach to hospitality meant that, “some people thought we were quite rude” when it opened.
“There’s no host to greet you or anything; you kind of just have to figure it out a little bit. That’s not the hospitality culture here.”
Powell and Mester are thrilled to be included in the New York Times list, especially so soon after opening, but have some concerns about the strain good press can put on a small restaurant.
“We are a small business that’s working with a very small team and is in a small space to begin with. There’s eight of us here. Three in the kitchen and five other full-time staff.”
In the future, Powell would like to move back to Ireland with Mester and open a restaurant here but, for now, they plan to enjoy the acclaim they are receiving in Baltimore.