From The Banner · Jane Godiner · · 1m 20s
Baltimore raw bar bites beyond oysters
Baltimore restaurants serve inventive raw bar bites beyond oysters.
In brief
Baltimore restaurants serve inventive raw bar bites beyond oysters. Baltimore’s raw bars offer creative seafood dishes like hamachi crudo and Crab Tower beyond traditional oysters. Originally reported by The Banner.
Best fall time for raw bars
Early fall offers warm weather and cool breezes perfect for cold seafood platters.
“This might be an unpopular opinion, but I believe that this time of year, these very early days of fall, when excess heat and direct sunlight are softened by frequent, cool breezes, is the best time to enjoy a raw bar.”
Thames Street Oyster House
Fells Point institution serves Maryland oysters and international seafood like escargots and pickled herring.
“This 15-year-old Fells Point institution might have been the subject of some fleeting internet buzz after a visit by K-pop band BTS during its Baltimore tour stop”
Nora Blú
Midtown-Belvedere bar offers hamachi crudo with grilled pineapple and pickled onions.
“Some of the most inventive dishes on this list can be found at Midtown-Belvedere newcomer Nora Blú, which opened its doors in late August”
Happy Times Seafood
Carrollton Ridge carryout serves oysters and clams with lemon and hot sauce.
“If you’re in the market for a raw bar experience on the go, look no further than Happy Times Seafood, a Carrollton Ridge carryout restaurant that offers both oysters and clams on the half shell”
Nick’s Fish House
Waterfront bar features cold seafood platter with oysters, clams, shrimp and crabmeat.
“Nick’s Fish House’s ultimate raw bar order, the cold seafood platter, requires a few hands and mouths to take down.”
The Urban Oyster
First Black woman-owned oyster bar serves Crab Tower with avocado and mango.
“For the chance to try a different raw bar bite each time you visit, head to The Urban Oyster, which brands itself as the country’s first oyster bar helmed by a Black woman”
Raw bar innovations
Baltimore restaurants create diverse raw bar experiences from local to global seafood.
“The following Baltimore eateries are serving raw bar bites, including both fresh and chilled seafood beyond oysters”
Oyster varieties
Maryland oysters and clams from Chesapeake Bay region are popular choices.
“On any given day, you can expect a variety of oysters from Maryland and surrounding states, from mild and creamy local Hollywood Sweets to Massachusetts-sourced Beach Plums with plenty of salinity, but you’ll also find meaty quahog clams from Rhode Island, delicate topnecks from Virginia and clean-tasting lobster tails and claws from Maine”
Global raw bar options
Restaurants offer international dishes like escargots and pickled herring.
“The raw bar gets even more interesting, and a little looser in definition, as you move to its global offerings, which include three fully cooked items: warm French escargots bathed in garlicky maître d’hôtel butter, rich Portuguese sardines packed in a spicy, tomato-infused oil and surprisingly sweet, cold Dutch pickled herring”
Innovative dishes
Nora Blú serves hamachi crudo with grilled pineapple and pickled onions.
“One showstopping meze features thick, toothsome layers of hamachi crudo, sandwiched between smoky fragments of grilled pineapple and finished with seed-in serrano slices and pickled onion”
Oyster toppings
Oysters at Nora Blú come with saffron foam or compress-pickled apples and cucumbers.
“The other, a plate of locally sourced oysters on the half shell, might come with a piping of saffron foam, or with dollops of diced and compress-pickled apples and cucumbers, a sweeter alternative to a traditional, pepper-forward mignonette sauce”
Crab Tower
Crab Tower features avocado, mango, tomato and crabmeat with wasabi-honey vinaigrette.
“The Crab Tower is stacked with avocado, tomato, mango, crabmeat and wasabi-honey vinaigrette, and is served with house-made tortilla chips”
The essence
Baltimore’s raw bars offer creative seafood dishes like hamachi crudo and Crab Tower beyond traditional oysters.
