Lithuanian Festival of Baltimore

We kicked off our Savannah road trip in Catonsville, Maryland at the Lithuanian Festival of Baltimore. We had never had Lithuanian food before, so when I saw the festival announcement on Chowhound, conveniently scheduled for the day we would be driving from Maryland to North Carolina, we knew we had to stop by. We had no idea what Lithuanian food would be like, and were really excited to try some.

When we got to the festival, we paid our admission fee, and then made a beeline for the back hall where most of the food vendors were. So many things looked good, but we weren't entirely sure what anything was and looked up the dish names on Google to get more info. The first thing we decided to try was cepelinai, which Wikipedia told us was the Lithuanian national dish. Well, if it's their national dish, then we had to try it.

Cepelinai are basically grated potato dumplings stuffed with minced meat and sometimes some cheese, which are then boiled, and served with sour cream sauce and bacon. These were so good. The texture of the potatoes was so interesting. It was different from an actual potato, a little denser and thicker, kind of sticky and gluey. I'm not really sure how else to describe it, but we liked the texture. The filling was tasty, as was the bacon in the sauce. We were pretty happy with these. 

After the cepelinai, we wandered around the festival a little bit looking at the various things for sale and the other food options. Eventually we made our way outside to the armory's parking lot where they had set up a mini beer garden. A is always looking to try beers from other countries, so when he saw a lot of people drinking Utenos, he got one of those. It was pretty much what he was expecting. It was a light-flavored, crisp beer that went down smoothly. It's not his preferred type of beer, but it was definitely refreshing on the warm day.

After exploring the beer options (which I didn't really partake in, as I was driving this part of our road trip), we decided to try one more Lithuanian dish. We were tempted by the potato pancakes, but we can get potato pancakes at home in NYC. They may not be Lithuanian potato pancakes at home, but they're probably relatively similar.

Eventually we decided on kugelis. According to the sign the vendor put up, kugelis is a Lithuanian dish "made with potatoes, bacon, onions, eggs, and seasonings, then baked," and served with a side of sour cream. When we got the plate, it looked like a loaf.

It pretty much was a potato and egg loaf, so it was very filling, very dense, and very rich from the bacon flavor. You could definitely taste the eggs, as parts were very reminiscent in flavor of an omelette. Since we were planning to get lunch in northern Virginia, it might not have been a good idea to get this as our second dish, as it was really heavy, but the flavors were good. Between the two, we liked the cepelinai a little bit more, but both were good. Overall, it was a nice introduction to Lithuanian food. From what we saw, the cuisine seems filled with sausages, potatoes, and bacon. We're okay with that.

In addition to food, one of the highlights of our stop at the festival was getting to watch the Lithuanian traditional dancers. The heavy dishes filled with potato and bacon made a lot more sense after seeing how active the dancers were and how many calories they were burning. Unfortunately for the rest of us though, we were just sitting/standing and watching them, which didn't really help our waistlines. We stayed in Catonsville a little longer than we had planned since the folk dancing was really fun.

We were pretty happy that we got to start off our trip with a cuisine we had never tried before. We're not sure when we'll have Lithuanian food next, as we don't really know of many (if any) options in our area, so we're glad that we were in Baltimore on the right day!

Baltimore Weekend

5 years ago in June, we went down to Baltimore for a quick weekend trip, mostly centered around the Baltimore Orioles and Maryland crab. We had a great time and sampled a bunch of different local eats, which was fun to reminisce about while doing these recaps (which we managed to get done just in time to meet our self-imposed "deadline" of 5 years later (to the month)).

If you missed any of the posts, here's a summary of our quick weekend trip. We drove down to Baltimore on Friday night, stopping along the way for some burgers and curly fries at Roy Rogers in New Jersey. We closed out the night with cheesy chili fries, chips and salsa, and drinks at Chili's with some friends while catching the Blackhawks game. There wasn't a ton to do around BWI that we knew of.

Saturday brought a relaxing and epic crab feast at Canton Dockside and lots of (okay) ballpark eats at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Even though we weren't thrilled with the ballpark eats after having such delicious crab only hours earlier, it seems like the options have changed and improved over the past 5 years, so I think it would definitely be worth checking out the eats there. Honestly though, you're not really going to Camden Yards for the food. You're going because it's a gorgeous ballpark and a great place to catch a game. It was one of the first ballparks I visited outside the ones in New York, and its beauty really made an impression on me back when I was a teenager!

Before leaving Baltimore on Sunday, we stopped by Pappas for some excellent crab cakes that had more real crab meat than any crab cake we've ever had. We can only dream of getting crab cakes like these somewhere near home.

It's 5 years later, and it was only a short weekend, but we finished recapping another trip!

Pappas

Our last stop on our Baltimore vacation was Pappas Restaurant in Parkville, Maryland. We went there specifically for their crab cakes, which were supposed to be amazing. The thing that was really important to us with the crab cakes was that they be full of crab and not full of filler, and that was what everybody said about Pappas. We hoped they would live up to our expectations!

We stopped by Pappas for lunch on our way out of town, and it seemed like most of the people there were locals. On each table was a basket of crackers, a plate of raw cucumbers, and a basket of bread. What a warm welcome!

We started off with an appetizer of Maryland crab soup. Crab dip, steamed crab, crab cakes, crab soup, we wanted to try as much crab as we could on our short weekend escape. Although we can't tell you much specifically about the flavor of this soup this many years later, we remember this soup was good.

The whole reason for our trip to Pappas was for the crab cakes, which came with a garden salad and a side of vegetables. The garden salad was actually a pretty generous selection, including tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, peppers, and croutons.

A got the double order of Maryland crab cakes, while M got a single crab cake. Each crab cake contained 7 ounces of lump crabmeat with some spices. (The online menu now says 6 ounces, so they might be a little smaller now.) For our vegetable side, we both got some simply steamed asparagus.

The reason we chose to go to Pappas was because the reviews of their crab cakes said that they had very little filler, and the crab cake was full of crab itself. Everything we had read was completely true. There was so much crab, and huge chunks of crab. With this much crab meat, it was no surprise that it wasn't inexpensive ($15 back then for a single crab cake with the sides), but they definitely gave you a lot of crab. The crab was beautifully sweet, and the seasonings accented the sweetness perfectly.

We enjoyed our visit to Pappas, and it was the perfect way to end our Baltimore trip. Even though Baltimore isn't that far, we somehow haven't made it back for another weekend trip to indulge in more Maryland crab, but hopefully we will soon!

Pappas Restaurant, 1725 Taylor Avenue, Parkville, Maryland.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

The main purpose of our visit to Baltimore back in 2010 was to go to an Orioles game at Camden Yards. I had been once before when I spent a summer in Baltimore, but it was A's first time at the ballpark. We still hope to someday visit all of the MLB ballparks, so this was another one we could check off our list.

From what I remembered from my last visit (which was over 10 years earlier), the food at Camden Yards was interesting with crab cakes and other Chesapeake area favorites. I didn't remember eating much on my last visit, but hoped we'd find something interesting this time. At the very least, we got some Old Bay seasoning packets for free, so that was a nice Baltimore souvenir!

It's been 5 years, so I don't remember if we couldn't find the crab cakes or other Baltimore favorites, or if they were just too expensive to try. In any event, we started with some turkey and pork sandwiches from Boog's BarBQ, which was named after and owned by Boog Powell, a former Orioles player. They were good, but not as amazing as we thought they would be from some of the rave reviews we read at the time.

We also picked up a half smoke from somewhere, which we thought would be like the chili-covered dogs we got from Ben's Chili Bowl at Nationals Park. (Those are so good.) It wasn't. It was just a charred hot dog with some peppers and onions on a bun. It was fine, but not what we were hoping for.

Partway through the game, we got so fed up with all the screaming Red Sox fans (seriously 90% of the ballpark was Red Sox fans) so we went to get some more food from The Greene Turtle, a ballpark location of the Baltimore sports bar. We picked up some Boardwalk fries (standard fries, although they had skin on them and did taste like potato, which was good) and some cheeseburger sliders (pretty good but not amazing, although it was nice to have the grilled onions).

We also got some ice cream treats at Carvel. We have Carvel at home but some soft serve on a hot summer night is always good.

We were happy that we tried a bunch of different eats at Camden Yards, but we didn't have anything amazing during our visit to Oriole Park. Looking at the ballpark options now, I see all these things we would have wanted to try back then, like crab mac and cheese hot dogs and crab dip-topped waffle fries. If these were all there 5 years ago, then we completely missed them despite walking all around the park surveying the food options. All I know is that we need to return to Baltimore at some point for some more delicious Maryland crab!

Canton Dockside

One of the things we remember most about our Baltimore trip (from 5 years ago) is our 3 hour long crab feast. Our original plan for our only full day in Baltimore was to get up early, explore a little bit, head to Canton Dockside for a crab-filled lunch, go to the Inner Harbor and sightsee a little bit, and then go to Oriole Park for the evening baseball game. We made it to lunch and to the game, but there was no sightseeing in between since by the time we were done with lunch, it was already time to drive to Camden Yards!

Neither of us had really indulged in Maryland crab before this trip, but we felt like it was something we had to do. When we researched where to go, there were so many different opinions and everyone seemed to have their own personal favorite for steamed crabs and crab cakes. It didn't seem like there was some universally loved "best" place, but people seemed to like Canton Dockside for steamed crabs and it seemed convenient, so we headed over there. (The crab cakes would wait until the next day.)

We got a (rather large) table since we had arrived on the earlier side for lunch. Just after ordering, since we got steamed crabs, they brought out a bucket for shells/parts and a couple mallets so we could crack open our lunch. We were really excited for this new experience and studied the 5 step crab eating instructions on our placemats in preparation for our adventure. But before we delved into the steamed crabs, it was time for an appetizer.

For our appetizer, we got an order of their Maryland crab dip, which came with "sides" of celery and garlic bread. From what we remember, this was really tasty and a good start to our meal. It was creamy and rich, but while we enjoyed it, we were ready to eat some "real" whole crabs, so we were pretty happy when this arrived at our table.

We don't remember how many crabs were in the tray (we think they recommended 10?), but they were filling enough for lunch and, as we said, took 3 hours to eat. Part of that was the steep learning curve in figuring out just how to get the meat out of the crab and making sure that we didn't miss one tiny morsel. A is great about cleaning off the bones from a lot of what we eat (like chicken and fish), so we definitely weren't going to let any crab go to waste. That being said, cleaning out these crabs was easily one of the more difficult things he had ever eaten.

The crabs themselves were really good, and just simply seasoned with what tasted like (and what most likely was, considering our location) Old Bay. We had a great time eating our steamed crabs, even if it took all afternoon, and would definitely do it again.

Canton Dockside, 3301 Boston Street, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Next Stop Maryland

Four years ago today, we were on a weekend trip in Baltimore, indulging in an epic crab feast (and a baseball game). I was going to reminisce and post about that today, but then thought, why not just write about the whole trip instead of just all that crab?

We left for our weekend trip on Friday evening. On the drive down, we stopped for a quick dinner at the Molly Pitcher rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, which has one of the few remaining Roy Rogers locations in our area. What's the best thing about Roy Rogers? The curly fries! I have no idea why other fast food places won't serve curly fries. They're so much better than regular fries.

A got a roast beef sandwich. He likes roast beef sandwiches, but not many fast food places have those either. (Arby's does, but we don't really have Arby's nearby either.) He added some horseradish and BBQ sauce to his sandwich. A wishes more places served roast beef sandwiches since they're so tasty when slathered with that horseradish sauce.

I got the Gold Rush chicken sandwich, which was basically a crispy chicken sandwich with cheese. It looks bare, but Roy Rogers has a toppings bar where you can add things like onions. Guess I didn't take any pictures of our sandwiches after we put toppings on them.

We didn't stay in Baltimore proper because the hotel rooms were way too expensive (even on Priceline) and all booked up (thanks, Red Sox fans!). So we ended up staying out near BWI. Once we got there, it was time for a second dinner (or a late night snack) near our hotel. There wasn't much there but Chili's, so we went there to meet some friends and watch the Blackhawks game.

We started with some drinks. A got a beer and I got a pomegranate margarita. 

After flipping through the menu, we couldn't resist the Texas cheese fries with chili. Lucky for us (and somewhat surprisingly), the fries actually resembled the droolworthy photo from the menu.

The skillet had cheese fries topped with their "famous" chili, jalapeños, green onions, and applewood smoked bacon, with a side of jalapeño-ranch dressing. From what we remember, these were tasty. Completely unhealthy, but good. I hope we got a half order...

We apparently also ordered the bottomless chips and salsa.

We must have been really hungry after our drive if we got this on top of the cheese fries. Maybe we got them to share with our friends. My web album caption says we got refills so it had to be one of those two reasons. It's been four years, so we have no idea. They were just chips and salsa though. Nothing special.

We were really excited to finally be out of town, even if just for the weekend. After a night's rest, it was off to the crab feast!