Best Chef in Maryland: Jesse Sandlin
Sally O’s, The Dive, Bunny’s, Baltimore
The season six Top Chef contender has found a formula for success with her three East Baltimore restaurants: comfort food-filled Sally O’s, corner bar The Dive, and Champagne and fried chicken at Bunny’s. Sandlin attributes her businesses’ popularity to their authenticity. “It looks like you walked into my living room,” she says of Sally O’s, “and you can feel that in all of the spaces—there’s a warmth and genuine-ness to them.”
Jesse Sandlin’s Maryland Recommendations
They have an excellent happy hour, empanadas del dia, and great tacos.
The menu is eclectic, with an excellent hamachi crudo and pastas.
Pioneer Pit Beef, Catonsville
The cash-only spot serves the best pit beef and pit turkey anywhere, (443) 882-1005.
White Rabbit Gastropub, Frederick
It’s a gastropub with great beers, pizzas, and smashburgers.
Best Mixologist in Maryland: Andre Levon
Long before Clavel received its multiple James Beard Award nods, locals knew that the mezcaleria and taqueria serves cocktails that outrank many heavyweights in bigger cities. Clavel bar director Andre Levon says he owes the bar’s success to the team’s democratic process: The general manager and bar staff contribute drink ideas (in a Google doc) and experiment in a drinks lab above the restaurant. “It’s where we take our kooky ideas and pass on recipes.” The result is 15 or so new drinks added twice a year, including nearly a dozen without alcohol.
Andre Levon’s Maryland Recommendations
Kitsch serves Baltimore’s best turkey club.
They’re incredibly thoughtful and have a variety of menu options.
This place is excellent for coffee and pastries.
The Best of Maryland
Best New Restaurant: The Urban Oyster, Baltimore
Jasmine Norton’s rebrand of the seafood haven takes a stylish and more upscale turn in Baltimore’s Hampden neighborhood and features deviled eggs topped with fried oysters, a lobster corn dog, and a daily selection of bivalves.
Best Tried & True Restaurant: Royal Taj, Columbia
Diners come from DC and Virginia to experience this 17-year-old Indian restaurant in central Maryland, where the staff showers greetings on repeat visitors in an elegant gold and white space. Order piles of fluffy naan to accompany the chicken curry and saag paneer.
Best Spanish Food: Isabella’s Taverna & Tapas Bar, Frederick
Favored by locals for its selection of Spanish wines, paella, and tapas, Isabella’s lively dining room packs in the crowds.
Best Coffee Shop: The Filling Station, Sparks Glencoe
A large coffee cup beckons visitors to this woman-owned shop inside a former gas station. It fuels guests with more than 50 varieties of caffeinated and noncaffeinated drinks, breakfast sandwiches, and Mexican fare.
Best Out-of-the-Way Dining: RockSalt Grille, Westminster
One of the best bets for Maryland Chesapeake cuisine, RockSalt’s oysters, crabcakes, and rockfish rule the menu at this Carroll County Main Street gem.
Best Dive Bar: Quarry House Tavern, Silver Spring
This classic dive bar has won over crowds with its legendary whiskey list (featuring more than 250 varieties), live bluegrass, and one of the area’s most craveable burgers.
Best Power Lunch: Chick & Ruth’s Delly, Annapolis
The Annapolis spot is known as much for spotting state legislators as it is for their thick deli sandwiches filled with corned beef, pastrami, and turkey, many of which are named for political figures.
Best Fast Casual: Big Greek Café, Columbia
With nine Maryland locations, Big Greek Café has become one of the best fast-casual dining spots in the state, winning fans with its falafel, gyro, and moussaka.
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