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Where's a place for one last good meal near BWI?

  • g

Flying into BWI to visit family in Southern PA. Looking for a recommendation for a place to go for lunch for one last good meal to tide me over before being in the food wasteland that is family's cooking for 4 days. Not planning to go into Baltimore and am planning to drive the 195, 695, 795 route up to PA. Thanks in advance for any help!

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      1. re: Marty L.

        Either of these. And for both don't be afraid of the outside appearances.

        1. re: Dennis S

          I love R&R, and that would be great. But the advantage of Grace Garden is leftovers. Make a "mistake" and order one dish too many. Then you can bring some leftovers to the family visit and get one more meal. Definitely worth a slight detour south before heading to PA.

          Search this board for Grace Garden. You'll see great advice about dishes to order.

          1. re: HowChowBlog

            I just found R&R through HowChow's blog, and I'm addicted. First time I've found something I would call true Tex-Mex in this area (though I think they're from Mexico City).

            The tacos are bursting with flavor. The tamales and huaraches were good too. Just be prepared to get jammed into a 3 x 12 space in the gas station with the other customers waiting for their food, but it's so worth it.

      2. re: Marty L.

        I endorse the Grace Garden recommendation.

      3. Closer to BWI is G&M Restaurant in Linthicum Heights. They specialize in crabcakes.

        4 Replies
          1. re: JonParker

            Really? I was last there several years ago when I had to overnight near the airport due to a delayed flight, but I remember liking it. I checked Yelp and it still gets excellent reviews (not that Yelp is always to be trusted).

            1. re: dracisk

              G&M is one of the most discussed and devisive restaurant on this board. I'm amazed at the volumes of opinions so vastly different. It's as if there are two different restaurants with the same name. I am in the camp that can't believe people like it.

              To grubn, please do yourself a favor and use the search feature on each of the reccommend restaurants to see the opinions and detailed menu discussions. Especially for Grace Garden - you won't find better guidance, IMHO.

              1. re: Terrie H.

                Interesting about G&M. I don't spend tons of time on the boards and wasn't aware of the wildly differing opinions. Like I said, it's been years since I was there, and I don't remember much, but I don't remember it being horrible.

                Anyway, OP, beware!

        1. jennings is on your route
          and agreed, g&m with its fake crab is to be avoided.

          3 Replies
          1. re: chowsearch

            To be fair it's not "fake", but it is vastly inferior Asian crab meat with way too much doughy filler. I've had better "crab cakes" in Kansas.

            1. re: JonParker

              Even back when they didn't import their crab meat, the gummy texture of the binding ingredients and the not quite fresh flavor of the crab made me wonder why I was being dragged there. Apparently size does matter to folks that haven't had a really good tasting crab cake.

              1. re: Terrie H.

                It's fake in that it's a different variety of crab from Indonesia, the Blue Simmer. The history is G&M ran as a touted choice in a long-ago WashedPost column called "Crummy But Good" and meant as a weekend destination for DC'ers. Crabcakewise, in the DC area, as Jerry's of Lanham demonstrates daily, big is good. Big and golden buttery brown is better. Cooked imitation mayo and pasteurized tasteless but pretty crabmeat deceptively sold as "MARYLAND style BLUE swimmer CRABMEAT" as Phillips aggressively does passes for those who have never had the real thing. DC/VA license plates still populate the G&M lot. When G&M got sold a couple years ago, new owners started to publicly admit they use imported "at times". If the public asks them to buy local for taste, maybe they will. If they can do that well with fake, maybe they'll be great with real.

          2. Avoid G+M- feh
            Good choices are
            1). Gunnings Seafood: good fresh seafood, crabs and an over the top triple decker sandwich with crab cake, bacon and shrimp salad on rye with lettuce and tomato
            2. Snyder's Willow Grove: much better choice for an authentic MD crab cake

            2 Replies
            1. re: dining with doc

              I second Gunnings fir crabcakes. Also Little Spice for Thai is very good.