Phil and Sandy Visit

Our first guests at the Crabicurious Headquarters! Phil and Sandy Hanlin descended upon the great state of Maryland to spend the weekend with us. We had a jam packed itinerary which, as you could have probably guessed, mostly centered around food and cocktails. 

Blue Agave Restaurante y Tequileria

Located just a few blocks from Federal Hill Park on Light Street was Blue Agave. Ambiance was excellent, margaritas were excellent, and the guacamole was... excellent! Ben and Meg, we are definitely coming here when you all come in town!

Not only was this the best Mexican food we've had in Baltimore, they also take reservations! You hear that El Mundo? Join us in the 21st century! 

Crabicurious rating: 4.5 crabs out of 5

Mount Vernon

On Saturday, we returned to Mount Vernon to show our VIPs the spectacular Washington Monument. It was a perfect day for walking around and after a quick lunch we checked out one of our favorite dessert places: Marie Louise Bistro.

I wonder if this picture would be more impressive if the 10,000 tulips were actually in bloom...

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cake was good, but left a tiny bit to be desired. The presentation made up for it though. 

The Walters Art Museum 

Next up, we opted for a little culture. The Walters Art Museum (#2 thing to do in Baltimore via TripAdvisor) features the vast art collection of William T. Walters and Henry Walters, whose family amassed their vast fortune marketing and distilling whiskies. As a marketer of whisky myself, I am taking this as a sign that I will one day need a four-story museum to house my infinite wealth.

We checked out only two floors and will definitely be checking it out again next time we are in Mount Vernon!

Here is a picture of some old stuff.

Here is another picture of some old stuff.

In Between Festivities

Quick stop back in Hanover to take Dog Draper for a walk. He met a friend named Jake who was also a dog so they had a lot in common. 

Fells Point

This picture is worth its full 1000 words. 

Next, it was back to our old stomping ground in Fells Point. We walked around the harbor boardwalk and went into our favorite art gallery. Then while we waited for our table at Thames Street Oyster House, we grabbed a drink at Crabicurious.com Hall of Famer, Red Star (home of the Draper cocktail). 

Thames Street Oyster House 

Rated the #4 restaurant in Baltimore out of 1,603, The Thames Street Oyster house has been on our radar since first stepped into Fells Point. The wait was over an hour and a half, but worth every second! 

Drink of the weekend went to the Ginny Lynn made with Tanquerey, St. Germain, and fresh grapefruit. Leslie may have had more than one. 

Is the "hunt for the best crab cake in Baltimore" over already? It might be. Another crab-skin for my belt. 

Birthday girl picked out a lemon chess pie for dessert and got a free sparkler! 

What a meal!

Maybe it was the fresh fried oysters, maybe it was the cooked-to-perfection crab, maybe it was the fire hazard with the sparkler, or more likely it was the great company, but whatever it was, this one ended up being a perfect meal. 

Crabicurious rating: 5 stars out of 5

Be Sure to Check Out our Evening in D.C. with Dr. Shontz

The Doctor is in (D.C.)

Washington D.C., our great nation's capital and Baltimore's friendly neighbor to the southwest is just a short, beautiful 45 minute drive from our apartment. Doctor Jason Shontz, PhD was visiting D.C. for work-related matters, but was so kind to reach out to us in hopes to meet for dinner. We happily accepted! This provided the perfect opportunity for us to briefly explore some national monuments before heading to dinner at The Hamilton in the heart of D.C. (Don't worry Yaboy and Nikki, we are holding off a thorough tourist immersion in D.C. until your visit).

After parking in world's most confusing parking structure, we immediately ventured to the nearby Washington Monument. We had visited Baltimore's Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon but I must say George has a much larger representation in D.C. Who knew!?

From there, we walked to the World War II memorial and took some selfies, followed by a stroll past Obama's house on our way to dinner. Too bad he was in Cuba or we would have said hello. 

The Hamilton

We met Jason and his lovely colleague at The Hamilton. Hip joint known for its great food and daily live music, we really liked this spot. The service was excellent and the food was delicious. And they could make a pretty good Kentucky Mule. Everyone enjoyed their meals and everyone (except Robert) ordered some amazing brussel spouts.    

Starting to wonder if we should call the blog Calimaricurious.

Corn bread grilled cheese: you can probably guess how good this was.

Crabicurious rating: 4 crabs out of 5

Sorry Jason, but Robert hasn't mastered Photoshop enough yet to open eyes. 

In Case You Missed It:

Sandy and Phil Visit Baltimore

Tour Crabicurious Headquarters

Bryson on Daredevil Season 2

Matt on the Pickup Basketball Scene at Loyola in Chicago      

Welcome to Crabicurious Headquarters

Well, this is where the magic happens. Editors and writers battle in the creative trenches, striving to generate engaging and unique content for all the die hard Crabicurious followers. Here at C, we believe in providing a comfortable and inclusive blogging atmosphere. Employees are even encouraged to bring their pets to work! Says Leslie Rixman, "Dreams do come true!"  Please enjoy this virtual tour and be sure to come visit us for an in-person tour!

The employee lounge where bloggers have been binge watching American Crime Story: People v OJ Simpson. The fire place may or may not have half-melted the sound bar. I don't know how we didn't see that coming.

Another shot of the lounge. Draper lounges in perpetuity. 

The conference room where two high-powered Crabicurious executives are currently plotting their next media empire hostile takeover.

Employee break room, stocked to the brim with Cliff bars, ranch dressing, and everything one would need to make a killer wrap.

No dog goes hungry here at Crabicurious. 

State of the art restrooms with available showers! What a perk! 

Like most innovative start-ups, our office is equipped with nap rooms to help increase employee productivity.

Every once in a while, we do have problems with someone abusing their nap room privileges.

Beautiful art adorns the walls to spark creativity.

For out of town employees we offer a fully equipped guest suite. So if you're on the fence about coming in for a tour, don't be!

Seriously, come visit us! Is it not obvious that we have too much time on our hands?!

Baltimore Eats 2

We (two humble culinarians) are finding the food in Baltimore to be pretty good. A lot of variety, typically not a huge wait, and some really good seafood. Here's the second installment of Baltimore Eats in the order we visited!

1) Blue Moon Cafe 

The Blue Moon Cafe is the top brunch spot in Baltimore according to some unknown blogger we found. The place held about 10 people and those waiting for tables were asked to kindly "get out of the way or stand outside." But it was worth the wait. Leslie got their "world famous" Captain Crunch French Toast which you can probably surmise was delicious based on the picture above. Robert went with the Sweet Baby Jesus, a breakfast scramble with crab because he's on a mission to be the crab species' number one enemy.

Crabicurious Rating: 5 crabs out of 5 (!)

2) Waterfront Hotel

Looking for a quick bite to eat we wandered down Thames Street and picked a random restaurant. Unfortunately we have no recollection of this place. Probably a combination of it not being very memorable and it taking too long to write this blog post. We do remember we had G&Ts because they were basically the size of a big gulp. 

Crabicurious Rating: Forgettable out of 5 crabs

3) Watertable

This one, however, we will never forget! Not because of the food, but because we dined and dashed. O_O The cocktails were okay and we had some of Maryland's favorite, Old Bay, on calamari. Then we inexplicably got up and walked out. Oops! The server chased us down at full sprint. For some reason he was apologizing profusely. I was like, "yeah don't let it happen again bro."

Crabicurious Rating: 3 crabs out of 5

4) Papi's Tacos 

We stumbled into Papi's Tacos after a long weekday looking to feast. Would this be the El Mundo of Baltimore? There was no wait, which was great, because we no longer have Ramiros AKA "Lightweight El Mundo" across the street as a backup plan.

We found ourselves in a cool brick enclosed patio (who doesn't love brick accents). Robert took a flight down Tequila Road and familiarized himself with the three expressions of Herradura (work never stops for some). For food, street-style tacos and it was pretty above average, but the search for the Baltimore El Mundo continues! 

Crabicurious Rating: 3.5 crabs out of 5

5) Twist 

Located a few blocks from Papi's Tacos was Twist, a tiny restaurant on Broadway with a very impressive website. A website that included pictures of wine, which is interesting, because drinks are BYOB here... not off to a great start Twist! It was also the most expensive per-bite restaurant that we've been to; Philip wouldn't be too impressed with the portion size. Overall though, it ended up not being all bad.

Robert ordered the crab avocado (two of his favorite foods combined) salad and it was excellent; from the plating to the tiny breadsticks, to the taste itself, it was a very nice dining experience. Leslie got the yummy mushroom ravioli and some nasty, slimy, smelly asparagus. 

Crabicurious Rating: 3 crabs out of 5

6) Kooper's

On our way home from Twist, we realized we were still hungry so went into Kooper's Tavern for pub fries which were... you guessed it... fire! Thought we'd cap the night with some JD Honey and JD Fire shots since we're young and dumb. Unrelated: I left my wallet and credit card there. Also unrelated: Leslie got a debilitating migraine.

Crabicurious Rating: 4 out of 5 crabs (based on those fries alone and the fact that they have photos and paintings of a really awesome dog... I assume Kooper?)

7) Sushi Q  

Sushi Q was our first restaurant experiences in Hanover, where our new permanent apartment is located. It was a wild ride: Jam packed, patrons waiting to be seated had to huddle around tables, and those who were seated were maybe 2 inches from the table next to them. The chaotic introduction soon turned into a pleasant dining experience. The sushi was spot on and fresh. They captured Leslie's heart withe a free spongy dessert thing, which was a nice touch. Overall, good name, decent food, decent experience... We did realize that we are a long way from the hipness of Fells Point out here. :(

Crabicurious Rating: 3.5 crabs out of 5

8) Rusty Scupper 

Our first visitor to Baltimore! Uncle Mike was in town for a conference and kindly took us out to an amazing dinner. It was a classic Mike experience with his world famous hospitality. The Rusty Scupper sits right in the heart of Inner Harbor. We had the best table in the restaurant, overlooking the water. 

Their speciality was seafood. Robert went with the Surf and Surf because how can you pass up a lobster/crab cake combo? Leslie had her go-to coconut shrimp and both meals were unbelievable. 

Thanks to Mike for the excellent meal. For everyone else that comes to visit, this might be where we take you! 

Crabicurious Rating: 5 crabs out of 5

Crabicurious Takes Chi Town

Crabicurious was on location this weekend for a trip to The Windy City aka Chi Town aka The Second City aka The City of Two Shoulders aka Chiberia aka Chiraq aka Chivegas aka Balticago to meet up with the folks and my basketball protege, my cousin Matt.

The first activity was to see the the GOAT (D Wade) shred his hometown team. For the rest of the trip and with the guidance of Matt-gellan, we saw all that Chicago had to offer in a short weekend. Some of the top memories are pictured below:

Wow, as an accomplished amateur photographer, I really  am embarrassed to have blown the focus so badly on this one. And on the first shot of a trip. Please don't stop reading! This place is called Jake Melnick's and the wings were absolute fire (I'm saying fire a lot lately). 

It was surreal to stand next to this famous statue. To think, the second best shooting guard ever memorialized right there. 

It was a bucket-list moment to experience a Chicago Bulls intro. The in-arena experience was the best of any basketball game I've been to. 

Amar'e actually looks even older in person, but he did score 6 points! Earned himself a good wine bath for after the game. 

I moved to 5-0 all-time in Heat games I've attended, so maybe I should attend more

Eggsperience for breakfast! It was eggactly as you might eggspect: quite eggscellent. You could even say it was eggstraordinary.

Here is a picture of the greening of the Chicago River. "Green like Craig's eyes and money."

Happy St. Patty's Day! Robert made a photo! 

Atop the John Hancock building. Looking North towards Lincoln Park... Philip loves that band.

Caption Contest??? Leslie looking on to the Tilt Experience (pictured below).

Leslie was like... "nah I'm good" 

Chicago post Great Fire 

A little snack in the afternoon courtesy of Molly's Cupcakes in Lincoln Park. From left to right, top to bottom, Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcake, Ron Bennington, Molten Chocolate, Peanut Butter Nutella filling (which was fire), Caramel Butterscotch (shouts out to old people).

Lou Malnati's for the last dinner of the weekend. A crisp, flaky butter-crust accentuates the delightful ensemble of melty cheese and scintillating sausage. Topped with fresh parmesan, this authentic Chicago deep-dish pizza was... fire.

Be sure to stay tuned for future check-ins with Matty Ice. Especially looking forward to the oral history of his intramural basketball loss at the hands of some other scrub team by a staggering 60 points.