The Ultimate Maryland Dining Guide 2026

By: The Local Palate

Copy to clipboard

Best Chef: Kiko Fejarang

Kiko Fejarang The Duchess Image courtesy of Tony Foreman — Kiko Fejarang, The Duchess, Image courtesy of Tony Foreman

The Duchess resists easy labels. It’s a cozy British-style pub featuring a fireplace, wooden and leather furniture, and excellent fish-and-chips, while many of the dishes from chef and co-owner Kiko Fejarang highlight Guam’s native food, Chamorro cuisine, with Spanish, Japanese, and other Asian ingredients. “I have a lot of influences from my family in our cooking,” she says, among them the shrimp and corn patties served with a spicy aïoli gleaned from her aunties.

Kiko Fejarang’s Recommendations:

Breakfast: Bunny’s Buckets & Bubbles

I love Jesse Sandlin’s cooking. Their biscuits are to die for, light and fluffy. You can just eat this biscuit by itself.

Lunch: Mekong Delta Café

Their pho is amazing. It really warms your soul.

Dinner: The Milton Inn

Executive chef Chris Scanga does everything in-house with simple ingredients that all meld together, like their gem salad with a dijon vinaigrette, pickled onions, and bacon lardons.

Drinks: Golden West Café

Their cocktail menu is very playful, and the beverage manager is creative.

The Duchess food dish Image courtesy of Tony Foreman — Image courtesy of Tony Foreman

Best Beverage Pro: Martin “Beans” Gardner

McGarvey’s Saloon and Oyster Bar, Annapolis

Garnering numerous best bartender accolades and serving as the Grand Marshal of the Annapolis St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2024, Martin “Beans” Gardner has worked behind the bar at 51-year-old McGarvey’s Saloon and Oyster Bar for 30 years. Welcoming customers to their very own “Cheers,” Gardner draws as many fans as the venue’s buck-a-shuck James River oysters. “I like to think of myself as a connection between the long-time clientele and the new, younger crowds,” Gardner says.

Martin “Beans” Gardner’s Current Favorites:

MARYLAND PRODUCT

George’s Organic Vodka (of Ocean City) and its mixers, including margarita and bloody mary. The company was created by a local bartender, formerly of Annapolis.

BEVERAGE TREND

Aromatic bitters in cocktails. Whether it’s orange, black, walnut, or original, these bitters have the customers wondering what that extra little touch in their drinks is.”

DRINK SOMEWHERE ELSE

As a big fan of different styles of beers, my dream location and drink would be to visit Munich and have a Hofbräu Oktoberfestbier.

The Best of Maryland

Best New Restaurant: Sassafras, Betterton

With eight seats perched around an open kitchen, Sassafras delivers a 12-course meal inspired by regional farms and waters and fired up in a wood-burning oven. Owned by husband-and-wife duo chef Paul Edward and Caroline Benkert, the menu evolves with the seasons, but some staples include the pliable focaccia and kombucha pie.

Best Fast Casual: Ekiben, Baltimore

After 12 years, Ekiben’s loyal following shows no sign of slowing down, with fans continuing to line up for its Taiwanese curry fried chicken, tempura broccoli, and tofu nuggets topped with spicy peanut sauce and herbs. It now boasts three city locations, with a fourth on the way in Frederick, its first outside of Baltimore.

Best Food and Wine Experience: Burnt Hill Farm, Clarksburg

Ten years after opening the tasting room at Old Westminster Winery, siblings Ashli Johnson, Drew Baker, and Lisa Hinton debuted their second project: Burnt Hill Farm, an estate vineyard whose serene, minimalist buildings overlook the Appalachian Mountains. The reservation-only tasting room pairs wines with bread made from stone-milled grains and chef Tae Strain’s small plates, which capitalize on the farm’s bounty.

Best Steakhouse: Wye Oak Tavern, Frederick

A former convent, the Visitation Hotel’s mid-19th-century building is a stunner, featuring the Wye Oak Tavern led by celeb sibling chefs and Frederick natives Bryan and Michael Voltaggio. While pescatarians can eat well, the focus here is really on the meat, from the dry-aged ribeye to the juicy Tavern burger.

Most Memorable Dining: Beteseb Restaurant, Silver Spring

Silver Spring offers an abundance of Ethiopian cuisine, and the family-owned Beteseb Restaurant remains a local favorite for its beef tibs (tender beef cubes sauteed with veggies) and hearty vegetable combos with lentils, cabbage, and collard greens. It’s also one of the few Ethiopian restaurants that serves breakfast, with scrambled eggs and fava beans on the menu.

Best Culinary Hotel: The Ivy Hotel, Baltimore

The Ivy Hotel’s Magdalena Bistro draws diners for its locally sourced Chesapeake Bay flavors, featuring the cuisine of executive chef Scott Bacon. Hotel guests wake up to lemon ricotta pancakes, savor pimento cheese sandwiches with afternoon tea, or mix their own cocktails with the eclectic selection of spirits at the DIY bar.

Best Hotel Bar: The Cannon Room at Pendry, Baltimore

With leather seats and wood panels on the walls and ceilings mimicking the inside of a whiskey barrel, The Cannon Room bar feels like an intimate private club. Drinks made with the local Sagamore Rye steal the show, while the afternoon boozy tea highlights tea cocktails paired with seasonal sweet and savory treats.

Best Healthy Eats: Modern Stone Age, Chestertown

Anthropologist Dr. Bill Schindler and his wife, Christina, oversee a scratch kitchen that assembles sandwiches and pizza made with wild-fermented sourdough and desserts made without refined sugar. The pair travels the world, from Peru to Kenya, in search of ancestral food traditions that inform their menu, and hosts cooking classes and culinary trips.