Baltimore - Local Food and Restaurants.

All local Baltimore restaurants take great pride in the local food they serve. Being a seaport town, not surprisingly in local Baltimore restaurants sea food features high on most of the restaurant menus. A particular specialty in Baltimore seems to be crab meat - to the extent that you’d be forgiven for thinking that crabs must have evolved there in the first place.

Needless to say the waterfront is the place where you’ll find the best authentic Baltimore local seafood restaurants. To visit a traditional Baltimore restaurant offering crab meat almost by the bucket; you can do a lot worse than going to Bo Brooks on Boston Street. This is in downtown Baltimore right on the sea front at Lighthouse Point, Anchorage, in the Northwest Harbor. Whilst the newspaper covered tables may appear quaint and quirky; a favorite from the extensive menu here is the steamed crabs, washed down with a cold beer which will taste like no other crab you’ve had before. Their freshness will leave you convinced that they’ve only just been pulled out of the sea. Also on Boston Street there’s also the Bay café. The jerk chicken and burgers here are to be recommended, especially when eaten outdoors on a balmy summer’s evening by a tiki torch. In the daytime there’s a sandy beech out front that gives terrific views out onto the Patapsco River. The recommended seafood option in this local Baltimore restaurant is the shrimp salad; whilst the bikini competition is entirely optional and not a side order! Finally out here in the east of Baltimore is one of the oldest Baltimore restaurants offering local and traditional American food - the Sip-N-Bite. Almost trapped in a time warp this American diner is little changed since it opened in 1940. The place has a vast menu to choose from and specializes in its 24 hour breakfasts. Anyone looking for a true American diner experience really should make a point of coming out to this one.

Moving west and back towards the city center, but staying around the harbor, you could go to the Pier V Hotel restaurant if you’re after something a bit more up-market. Not so much a local Baltimore restaurant as a typical American steak bar is the key feature here. One of the Ruth’s Chris Steak House chains - you can be guaranteed a steak here just how you like it; after all seafood isn’t what everybody wants. However, having said that chicken, seafood and even vegetarian menus are also available here. This restaurant also has one of the best wine bins in Baltimore, including fine French wines like a 1999 Chateau Mouton Rothschild at around $500 a bottle.

In the heart of the financial district to the north of the Convention Center on East Chase Street is the Owl Bar and Grill. Walking into here you’ll feel as if you’ve just been thrown back to the 1950s. There’s a sense of opulence and style here that you’ll not find in many places in America, let alone Baltimore. The long wooden bar seems to be a magnet for the Martini crowd, which probably adds to the air of sophistication about this place. The menus change regularly but always include a good selection of local food and cooking.