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Chestertown

Have a non food-related event to attend this weekend in Chestertown, MD and wondered whether anyone has any good haunts out there....I suspect that most people heading to the Eastern Shore from the DC region, when asked about great food or restaurant recommendations, would recommend Cantler's or Mike's or another Annapolis/Kent Island area hangout. Since we're only traveling from Annapolis to Chestertown, not very far really, I thought it would be nice to grab a bite out there and make an afternoon of it. Anyone have any good recommendations in town?

Thanks!

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Waterman's Crab House in Rock Hall is the best crab house in Maryland and MORE atmospheric than Cantler's with far superior sides. I've linked a lengthy post of mine about it from CH several times; this is the link again: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/17149...%27s+crab+house

Thanks JoeH...a little bird told me you might chime in on this topic! :-) Sounds like a great place....we will definitely check it out!

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Rock Hall

Waterman's Crab House in Rock Hall is the best crab house in Maryland and MORE atmospheric than Cantler's with far superior sides. I've linked a lengthy post of mine about it from CH several times; this is the link again: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/17149...%27s+crab+house



Definitely second this recommendation. I have been several times and have never been disappointed. Two times made a special trip there even though we weren't staying close by just so we could let others experience and enjoy the place.
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St. Michaels

Recently my Fiance and I went to The Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, MD... TERRIFIC in every way. The Inn is a quaint little retreat on the bay, and acts as a boaters dream port. The room was superb, with a view that over looks the garden and docks, where the geese nestle in the morning hours. Dinner was delightful, each night a new little treat arrived to fill our palates with delight. A well chosen wine list by Thad is a perfect compliment to top the evening off with that special bottle. Only thing, no corkage is allowed in MD, so better spare a little extra cash for the evenings. This is definitely a place to check out for a weekend or for money saved, a mid week escape. wink.gif

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Cambridge


I am looking for a good restaurant in Cambridge, MD -- seafood preferably

http://suicide-bridge-restaurant.com/ is the link for one of Maryland's best seafood restaurants: Suicide Bridge. Years ago John Rosson noted that it "was seafood to die for." Extremely difficult restaurant to find but worth the effort. Note that it is closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday until April. If you go seriously consider anything with rockfish or crab.
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Cambridge

My wife went to visit her mom with the baby this weekend so I was left to my own devices. I knew that I wanted to play good golf and eat well, all without spending a ton of money. Unfortunately I got neither today. The golf course at Harbourtowne, ostensibly designed by Pete Dye, looked like any other crappy municipal course. Did Pete really design this dog track? Afterwards, I had a really early dinner at Suicide Bridge restaurant. I started with half a dozen oysters and half a dozen clams, on the half shell. They were served with lemon and cocktail sauce. At $8.50 per half dozen, the oysters were a bargain even if they don't have mignonette. My entree was the seafood combo, but I opted only for the flounder, crab cake and soft-shell, all fried. Normally, it also comes with shrimp and scallops, so they gave me an extra crab cake since I didn't want the shrimp or the scallops. I really enjoyed the crab cakes - they were more like balls, very meaty with little filler, and nicely seasoned. I didn't really care for the soft-shell and hated the flounder. The fish had no flavor and it was way overcooked. The soft-shell was similarly flavorless and by nature harder to overcook. I didn't finish the fish. Lastly, the Stella Artois on tap wasn't very cold. Maybe it was an off night or I ordered poorly but there's no chance that I would go out of my way to eat here again.

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Chestertown

I used to live in Chestertown and went back there this past weekend to visit some old haunts. The Bay Wolf Restaurant in Rock Hall certainly has seen better days but still puts out a mean crab cake and Maryland Crab Soup. There's a relatively new place called the Fish Whistle on riverfront in Chestertown. It's where the Old Wharf Inn used to be and while we only had a few drinks there, it looks pretty promising. Waterman's still one of my favorite places in the world. If you catch it on a nice breezy summer day, it's amazing. The crabs were great and their other offerings aren't bad either. If you're looking for a nice dependable greasy spoon diner then Ellen's in C-Town is the place for you. We ate there on Sunday and the place probably hasn't changed in 30 years. Full post below:

http://www.foodnomad.net/2012/08/watermans-crab-house.html

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St. Michaels

Any high-end purveyors of local (or, hell, imported) quality stuff in or around St. Michaels? One of the great mysteries of life is how so much fish sold so close to the water can be so bad, and why the best produce is often found downtown, not near the farms.  But I'm hoping this might be different.

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We drove home from Tidewater though the Eastern Shore this weekend.  We stopped at Blue Crab Bay Company to pick up more Sting Ray Bloody Mary mix (in 2 quart size) and their Skipjacks peanuts.  We asked for a recommendation for lunch nearby and they immediatley suggested The Island House Restaurant. It is about 4 miles east of Rt. 13, right on the water.

Co-owner Blake Johnson is a former Navy SEAL who move there in 2008.  They buy seafood from local fishermen and change up the menu according to availability.  I was thrilled to have my first softshelled crab sandwich of the season.  Nice fat crab, like we used to get when I was a kid. The beautiful green beans were local.  We also had fresh fried oysters.

Dessert was a homemade Smith Island-style carrot cake.  It didn't have as many layers as the real deal but it was super moist and rich with cream cheese frosting.  The server said that a local woman bakes these cakes at her house and brings them to the restaurant.  We scarfed it up too fast to take a picture. :(

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If you are in the area, I highly recommend that you venture off the main road to check it out.

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Thanks to DC Deb for the recommendation! Have now eaten twice at The Island House. They offer a variety of plates which come with two sides and sweet potato biscuits. The biscuits are awesome. I had an "Eastern shore dinner"--with a crab cake and some fried oysters; on our second visit I had a grouper/scallop combo. Sides included those fabulous green beans, corn, coleslaw. Dessert was a Reece's Smith Island cake.

We also tried Mallard's on the Wharf in Onancock. Not quite such great food but still a very sweet little waterfront spot. I'd be happy to drink away an afternoon here. (Alas. Here to work. Plus driving.)

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Cambridge

Snappers Waterfront Cafe, 112 Commerce St.  Established seafood restaurant with unremarkable food. Overall: Meh. Lucky for me they did work to ensure I had grain free options (grain free crabcake was wonderful).  Likely will not go back.

Suicide bridge seafood restaurant.  Only thing there worth eating was the raw oysters.  Poor wine selection, barely acceptable beer selection.  Will not be returning.

The High Spot, 305 High Street.  Food nicely prepared, made to order, local ingredients, worked with me on my food restrictions.  Creative menu.  Would definitely go back.

Realerevival Brewing, 504 Poplar Street.  Very good fresh brewed beer, great for drinking.  Go anywhere else for eating...their food is prepared in microwave.

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Chestertown

Desperate to escape DC, we booked a long weekend in Chestertown, MD. It is slim pickings in the off season but we managed some decent eats. 

We took two nice bottles of wine with us to drink at the B&B, but stopped at Chester River Wine & Cheese for some cheese. There was a good selection, actually better than I had expected and we left with a finger of Etorki, a finger of Payoyo, tinned herring, and crackers. The little shop also sells charcuterie, oils, spices, vinegars, local liquors, and prepared foods. In season, they also do wine tastings but don't have enough foot traffic to open multiple bottles to taste in the off season. 

We had dinner at the Kitchen at the Imperial our first evening. I had a terrible espresso manhattan, tasty stuffed oysters (bacon, leeks spinach), and a very good crab cake. The crab cake was made from jumbo lump crab and had very little filling. It was served with a forgettable tomato roumalade and a side of asparagus. @MichaelBDC had an average caesar salad and a braised lamb shank. The lamb shank entree came out swimming in entirely too much  rich red wine sauce (which was also too fatty/greasy), but was cooked well and tasted above average.

After walking around Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge, we stopped at Harbor Shack in Rock Hall. This place is laid back, borderline divey, and right on the water. The menu is all over the place ranging from Mexican food to brisket to fried fish, so we kept it simple. I had the crab cake sandwich, which was decent and tasted better with some tartar sauce. @MichaelBDC had a fried rockfish special which turned out to be like fish and chips. The rockfish was the winner, came out hot, nicely fried, with seven large pieces of fish and average fries. 

Our last night, we went to Barbara's on the Bay, probably the most popular place in the area. The place was packed with locals when we got there, but fortunately for us we arrived on the later side and were seated at a table in the bar area. I had some very good grilled oysters and some above average shrimp and grits. The shrimp was great. @MichaelBDC had a beet and goat cheese salad and the meatloaf with mushroom gravy, which he loved. This is not gourmet stuff, but still a very good meal and fairly priced. 

As for lodging, we stayed at the Great Oak Manor. This is a great place with a nice great room that overlooks the bay and some other nice quiet rooms for guests to sit around and enjoy themselves. There is also complimentary port and sherry all day long. There was a nice pantry for all day coffee and tea, baked goods, fruit, and m&ms. The breakfasts we had were really good. The only downside was the very large great pyrenees dog belonging to the inn keepers that roamed the manor. The dog was nice and friendly, but I did not realize I was even slightly allergic to this dog until I had pet it and sat next to it, and got its dander on me. I was miserable for the rest of the weekend so what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend on the Eastern Shore turned out not so. 

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Nice area.  I have sailed to the Mears marina next door.  Very lively bar Jelly Fish Joel’s where the main attraction is grabbing a drink and watch how many boaters fail to navigate a very narrow and shallow channel and run aground.

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Chestertown

Bad Alfred's Distillery- there was a guy set up with buck a shuck oysters outside, so we got 2 dozen oysters, and cocktails from BAD, I got a Kentucky mule with their bourbon.  The oysters were good (He will be at the Wine and Cheese place next month), cocktail was good.  You can get pizza there, we didn't, but it looked pretty good. 

Evergrain Bread Company- pastries are not cheap here, but they were very good, especially the ham, cheese and potato hand pie and blueberry muffin. 

Galena

We went to the Kitty Knight Tavern on Saturday night and I had the chicken marsala.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.  My Mom's salmon looked good, but the risotto looked thick.  I had a bite of her friend's chicken cacciatore and that was good.  

Rock Hall

We went to Waterman's on Sunday and had steamed shrimp, hush puppies, fried crabcake, fried oysters, baked potato, vegetable medley, fish tacos.  The fish tacos were cod, but hey they were good.  The fried oysters were really good, not gamey at all.  The crabcake was ok, it had a filler that wasn't my favorite.  The vegetable medley was actually fresh sauteed veggies- cabbage, green beans, onion and corn that was better than I expected.  The shrimp were steamed perfectly and I liked the hush puppies.  I know this place gets slammed in the summer, off season they are missing some of their menu, which I can understand.

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Was in Chestertown this weekend- they have a ton of Memorial Weekend activities- http://www.chestertownteaparty.org/ it was pretty crowded, so we watched the tea party from the boat.  We then went to Betterton and ate at Barbara's on the Bay for dinner to avoid the Chestertown crowds.  We all had crabcakes for dinner, and shared appetizers of Sassafras Shrimp (shrimp with a leek and celery sauce that was thickened with something, and I would guess thyme and sherry) and scotch eggs.  The shrimp were really good.  I would like this as an entree to be honest, I would have eaten the sauce with a spoon.  The scotch eggs were hardboiled inside, not runny, but not a bad snack.  The crabcakes were good- a nice mix of crab and binder that was handmade- and came with orzo and spinach.  I just got the one crabcake and with the other stuff we had that was plenty. This place doesn't have a huge menu, but I thought what we had was pretty good for the area.

The next day we anchored at Conquest Beach and had sandwiches on the boat for lunch, and hot dogs/burgers grilled out on our friends boat for dinner. They got the meat at a butcher in Sudlersville- http://sudlersvillemeats.com/ and they were really good.  Sudlersville is not far off the main road to Chestertown from 301.  

Monday we went to Rock Hall and had drinks, mussels and shrimp at Waterman's. The food was good for outdoor seating, chill, kind of beach/bay food.  We thought about getting crabs, but theirs weren't coming in until 1:30pm and we figured right now they would still be pretty small. 

There are about three new restaurants that are open/opening in Chestertown right now, but I haven't tried any yet.

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Back in Chestertown for the weekend-

I had dinner at the Chester River Yacht and Country Club- it was Mexican night, the chicken enchiladas were edible and not terrible, but they weren't really chicken enchiladas in the real sense either.  That night we drove to Rock Hall to see the 3rd of July fireworks show there- that is a pretty big show- 20 minutes of fireworks.  We watched them from the back bar of Waterman's.

The next day we had jalapeno poppers and burgers at Rolph's Wharf at the Sandbar while a storm passed through.  This is a fun place to stop on your boat as you can pull up on the beach and they have a bar and grill right there.  The burger wasn't special, but it was a decent burger you could get on your boat with a full bar.  The jalapeno poppers I am sure were likely out of a frozen bag, but again for boat/bar food it was definitely not bad.

That night we went to the Fishwhistle in Georgetown.  This was probably the best meal I have had near Chestertown- although there are a few places (Cafe Soto, Loiuse's) that people have mentioned that I haven't been too.  I had the cioppino and it was delicious.  A friend had the cuban and it looked good, I had part of it cold the next day and thought it was tasty.  My Mom wasn't crazy about the crab cobb, she thought some of the crab was a little mealy.  

July 5th we had neighbors over and had shrimp from J&Js that were delicious and huge, and crabs from the Chester River Seafood Company, which were also huge and delicious.

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