Tidewater Grille October 9, 2020

Located at 300 Franklin St. Havre de Grace, Maryland is the Tidewater Grille. My friend and I had gone to the area to do a bit of railfanning on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor in particular because the clock is running out on the current Amtrak Acela trainsets. We also visited the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum and the Lock House Museum while in the area.

We wanted a restaurant that afforded a view of Amtrak’s bridge across the Susquehanna River which this place most assuredly does. They have an abundance of outdoor seating as well as indoor, all well spaced for social distancing.

As luck would have it a Northbound Amtrak train passed after we ordered.

And lucky for me, the tugboat Capt Tom happened by pushing a barge.

I will quote my friend, The Pizza Bastard, in describing his meal shown above.

“When it comes to gourmet, I am a pretty simple guy—I do not go for those fancy $75 dollar plates at some pretentious French restaurant that gives you a four-ounce steak and three lima beans expertly placed by a three Michelin star chef. For $75 bucks, one expects under-table service, so on the rare occasions when my cheap-ass editor at the newspaper would send me out to something a tad more than a run of the mill QSR spot for the weekly feedbag, I almost never racked up a bill exceeding $30. Because of that, during a weekend outing, I was less than willing to splurge on the expense paid out by Baltimore Shipspotting for a lunch at Tidewater Grille. As a retired food critic for several major newspaper, I typically have to walk a fine line between being objective, and yet, not piss off a potential advertiser—luckily this is not a problem, as Tidewater Grille provides a solid fare that won’t make my editors’ or the accounts payable department cry.

“Despite, Baltimore Shipspotting’s declaration that I could order anything off the menu, I humbly went with a simple sandwich. This is not to say, I ordered a run of the mill club, or even a slightly fancier Monte Cristo, but rather the pride of the Chesapeake Bay, a crab cake sandwich. For the sake of brevity, I will keep this brief, and will omit the usual banter about the ambiance, service, and the usual chatter one expects to find in a formal food column.

“I will admit, my lunch came out from the kitchen alarmingly fast, so I was a tad nervous at first, but as so far as crab cake sandwiches go, this one F’ing rocked. There—I said it. For a paltry $18, this Maryland crab cake sandwich was made from 100% Maryland lump crab meat, with next to no filler whatsoever, served with a choice of cheese (I went with gorgonzola, though, America, mozzarella, cheddar, and a few other options that I no longer remember were available), dill pickle, lettuce and tomato on a pretzel roll bun. The sandwich came with tarter sauce on the side, and fries basked in sea-salt.

“While, the cost is a little higher than what I typically see as market rate for a crab cake sandwich, the quality was top notch, and more than worth it. Add in the pretzel roll and the gorgonzola cheese (the best kind of cheese to pair with Maryland blue crab meat), and it was clearly a great value when one adds in the quality. Overall, I was even more impressed with my lunch, even more so than a free meal from Baltimore Shipspotting, and could see myself likely dropping by Tidewater Grill again next time I am in Harve de Grace.”

I went with the seafood platter which weighed in at a hefty $32 which included salmon, shrimp, scallops, and a mini crabcake. I opted for wild rice and garlic mashed potatoes for the sides. I am not an experienced critic as my friend is, however, I found everything to be delicious. I am wary of restaurant salmon but this was excellent and not dry. The only thing I didn’t really care for was the mashed potatoes. They were light and fluffy but not as much flavor to them as I would expect. Everything else on the plate had excellent flavor which was further enhanced by the drawn butter provided in its own bowl. It is worth the price for an occasional treat. Of additional note we found the consistently bemasked staff friendly and attentive. It is likely my friend and I will make a return to this place when Amtrak’s Acela replacement goes into service. For the curious a video I took of the trains can be seen below.

You can view my photography (more than just ships!) here and more videos here.