This summer has been a real crapshoot when it comes to planning weekends at the beach. It’s requiring more advance preparation on activities to do indoors, should the weekend be a wash out.
Luckily, there’s always food.
I spent a long weekend with my sister and two cousins down in Ocean City at my aunt’s condo. Her place is on 60th Street and normally we stick to a five-10 block radius when picking places to eat. This year, I decided to push our boundaries beyond our usual parameters.
Before I left, I consulted Lauren Cook for recommendations. You know her as the traffic reporter on Good Morning Maryland. She's also an expert on Ocean City. Her family has a place there and I’m pretty sure she’s been to every restaurant along Coastal Highway. She gave me some great recommendations, which I am now sharing with you.
The first place we went to was Liquid Assets near 94th Street. It’s a wine bar and bistro where the walls are covered with bottles you can buy. The bar is large and there is a lot of seating while you wait for your table, which is a plus because they don’t take reservations. My cousin Kristen and I sipped on a Cabernet and Zinfandel during our wait.
My favorite dish of the evening, and probably the entire trip, was the Burrata. It sat on top of a garlic glazed donut (what the what???) with a pine nut and basil crust, surrounded by multi-colored tomatoes soaked in a vinaigrette. The Burrata was creamy, smooth, and holy moly, that garlic glazed donut stole the show! The pine nut, basil crust was like a pesto and the donut had just a hint of sweetness. I would have been satisfied with just that as my meal. We also ordered a side of La Querica American Prosciutto, which was a nice complement to the Burrata.
For dinner, I had the roasted chicken tacos that came with saffron rice and beans (yum!) Kristen ordered the scallops on a bed of risotto, both of which were cooked perfectly. The scallops melted in my mouth.
We decided to forgo dessert and instead each had another glass of wine. Whenever there was a lull in the conversation that weekend, one of us would say “How about that dinner on Thursday?” It was magnificent. My favorite restaurant of the weekend.
The next night, the four of us went to dinner at Longboard Café on 67th Street. This is within our five-10 block radius, but I didn’t know about it until Lauren recommended it. I highly suggest making a reservation. We waited for almost an hour and a half for a table. They have a decent-sized waiting area outside, so once again we sipped on cocktails while we waited.
For an appetizer, we ordered the crab quesadillas and queso dip. The quesadillas had a nice amount of crab in it and I loved the chipotle crème dip that came with it.
I decided to go a little lighter for dinner and ordered the stuff avocado, one half topped with crab salad and the other with tuna salad. The salads were light on the mayo, a nice crunch with the celery, and just the perfect amount of food for me.
On our last night, we went to yet another place recommended by Lauren (she really knows her stuff) and hit up Ropewalk near 83rd Street. The view we had of the bay, even though we were inside, was simply breathtaking. I included a picture of it with this blog. It looked like Heaven on Earth.
We had the fried green tomatoes topped with lump crab as an appetizer… YUM! I am such a sucker for fried green tomatoes.
For dinner, I had the beer-battered Rockfish tacos served with the usual toppings of lettuce, tomato and cheese and a chipotle horseradish. Again, the perfect amount of food.
You see, when my family goes to the beach, we bring about 1,000 pounds of food to munch on from sun up to sun down. We probably don’t even need to go out to dinner, but it’s nice to get out of the condo for a few hours.
Note: Ropewalk also doesn't take reservations but even though we ate around 6:45 p.m., we were seated right away. There is a nice playground outside to entertain the kids should you have to wait!
A big thank you to Lauren for the recommendations and to my family for trying new places with me. Show us and our bosses that you love us and give us a follow on Instagram @tastebudswmar
