Seafood and beer

I spent Saturday of this holiday weekend in Baltimore. Originally, the trip was just to check out some sights and eat some crab cakes. But on Thursday, I realized the awesome beer bar Max's Taphouse was having its Belgian Beer Fest this weekend. It was a no-brainer to stop there.

Crab!
The trip began with a stop at Lexington Market and Faidley's. I had heard it's the place to go for crab cakes, and these didn't disappoint. The area was definitely less touristy and authentic downtown Baltimore. And the market overall wasn't very impressive. However, Faidley's was great. In addition to the crab cakes, it has a raw bar, plus an area where they sell fresh fish and seafood. It was great to see some locals gathered around the raw bar in what appeared to be a Saturday ritual of eating oysters, drinking beer and chatting. The crab cake was pricey but amazing. I highly recommend it (pictured here with Baltimore's own Natty Boh beer. I was driving so I drank just a Coke.)

Inner Harbor
The weather wasn't quite as nice as the 70-some degrees we had Friday. However, it was still not bad to take a stroll around the Inner Harbor. Also, I LOVE the Barnes & Noble, located in an old power plant.

Hats
We tried to go to the Belgian Beer Fest next, but the line was down the block and not moving. Disappointed, we decided it just wasn't in the cards. So we wandered around to check out some of the nearby restaurants and bars. We stopped in a hat shop, and somehow I came out with a hat. I'm frankly a little scared of hats and unsure how they look on me. But I liked this one, and people there convinced me that it looked good, so I now own an actual hat. (I'm not counting baseball caps or knit winter hats, which I did already have.)

Bertha's mussels
With the beer fest seemingly not an option, we ended up stopping at Bertha's, which is known for its mussels. So, of course, I ate some mussels. There was a little three-person band playing Irish music in the corner. The scene reminded me a bit of McGurk's in St. Louis (on a weekday night, not a crazy weekend), except mussels are much rarer in the Midwest.

Finally, Belgian beer!
As we headed out to walk back to the car, we noticed the line outside Max's had disappeared. With great excitement, we headed that way and after nudging our way through loads of people at the bar, I got two tasting-size servings of beer. (As noted previously, I was driving.) They were delicious, of course. And in the process, we met a couple of Baltimoreans who were very friendly. (The beers they had already consumed might have facilitated that.) We chatted with them as we drank, and I now have a couple new bar and restaurant suggestions for the next time I visit Charm City.