Image via Complex Original
You would be hard-pressed to find bad crab in the fine state of Maryland. Seriously, it would require actual time and effort. Maybe you’d have some success in, say, a college dining hall, but other than that Maryland is home to delicious, succulent crab in all shapes and sizes, specifically in and around Baltimore.
Baltimore is known to many as Birdland because of the black and orange bird representing its oh-so-terrible Major League Baseball team. The Orioles continue to disappoint season after season but the crab cake sandwiches and other tasty crab treats in what I like to call Crabland more than make up for their losing streak.
Phillips
Phillips Seafood [301 Light Street, Baltimore] is last on this list solely because it is a chain restaurant—some chains have to be good, right?—and located in Charm City's main tourist attraction: the Inner Harbor.
On any given day this area of downtown B-more is crowded beyond belief, whether because of middle school field trip visiting the world-famous aquarium or national cheerleading competition participants out on the town after a long day of tumbling. So in order to get to the wonderful crabby delights Phillips offers you must deal with touristy crowds and, worse, touristy prices.
While Phillips’ traditional Maryland crab cakes are quite scrumptious, the real gem here is the crab macaroni and cheese. The three-cheese sauce mixed with juicy, fresh crabmeat and noodles is magnificent and more than enough for one person, so prepare to share.
(If you really don’t want to deal with the crowd in the main restaurant you can always try the Phillips Seafood Express and/or Buffet located in another building in the Harbor—it seems Phillips purchased a whole lot of property here, which was a smart move if you ask me, because even the fast-food versions of their crab dishes are superior to most.)
Camden Yards
Ah, Camden Yards, everybody’s favorite baseball stadium. You’d think a sports arena would offer only extraordinarily overpriced, mediocre fried food, but not the Baltimore Orioles’ home stadium. This beloved ballpark boasts a special eating area accessible only with a ticket on game days: Eutaw Street [333 West Camden St #1, Baltimore].
On this modest stretch of land lie several food stands with the best pulled pork and barbeque in town, as well as some mean crab cake sandwiches, all for very reasonable prices. The crab cake sandwiches inside the stadium are pretty swell too, albeit slightly more expensive, especially if you're sitting in the special second-level area where the cute little waiters bring you your sandwich. I’d take that over an overpriced hot dog at Yankee Stadium any day.
Red Brick Station
A few exits north of downtown Baltimore on Interstate 95 is a land by the name of White Marsh. This is technically Baltimore County and there isn’t much to it aside from one stretch of restaurants, a movie theater, strip malls, and a regular mall. There is one stand-out star in White Marsh, though—Red Brick Station [8149 HoneyGo Blvd, White Marsh].
Opened in 1997 and inspired by traditional English pubs, this brewery and restaurant on the Avenue is very popular amongst the young professional crowd due to their unique brews and darn good burgers. They also serve the standard Maryland crab cakes—it’s simply unheard of for a restaurant in this state to not offer them,—but their real specialty is the Chicken Chesapeake. Two chicken breasts grilled to perfection and smothered in sautéed crab, tomato and lobster sauce.
Side note: A popular Towson University hangout, Bill Bateman’s (also located in Baltimore County, but in the other direction) serves similar dishes, such as burgers and chicken sandwiches topped with ooey-gooey crab dip and Old Bay. These are also very good but Bateman’s has a serious “undergrad” atmosphere and some of their food makes the tummy rumble a bit, if you get my drift.
Nacho Mama's
Where to even begin describing Nacho Mama’s [2907 O'Donnell Street, Baltimore]? For starters, they describe themselves as a Mexican Hangout and Elvis Lounge where the King forever lives on. They're located in the Square on O’Donnell Street in Canton, a twenty-something hipster rowhouse neighborhood adjacent to Fells Point.
Mama’s is known city- and state-wide for their delicious nachos, as well as the Elvis-adorned walls (the joint even opened on Elvis’s birthday, January 8, in 1994). Their best nachos platter consists of crispy multi-colored tortilla chips covered in traditional toppings, plus cheese with crab meat and Old Bay mixed right into the sauce.
Do you know what goes perfectly with crab dip nachos? A hub-cap margarita. Yes, hub-cap. Nacho Mama’s is also famous for the way they serve their award-winning concoctions of tequila, triple sec and various fruit juices; don’t worry, they clean out the hub caps after stealing them from cars parked around Canton before using them to serve you fine folks.
G&M
A couple exits south of the downtown Baltimore area on I-95 in a totally nondescript area of Baltimore County where you can find the absolute best crab cakes in the state and quite possibly on the East Coast. Locals, visitors, and publications like the Washington Post and Baltimore Magazine agree that G&M Restaurant and Lounge [804 North Hammonds Ferry Road, Linthicum] is the place to go for crab.
G&M is new and improved after undergoing a massive makeover to accommodate their ever-growing customer population. They were even willing to share their recipes, offering crab cake cooking tips on their website. Tasty seafood and some real Southern hospitality, what more could you ask for?
