Irish Pub in Baltimore

Saturday night was supposed to be something completely different than what it turned out to be. I won't bore you with the tragic details, but let's just cut to the chase and say that I ended up at some random Irish pub in Baltimore instead of where I truly wanted to be. This random Irish pub was Claddagh Pub in the Canton neighborhood. Can I just say, parking here blows? There's only street parking and absolutely no lots. So you just drive around and around until you find a spot. And at 9PM on a saturday night, it's a pain in the butt. It took us way too long and way too many rolls around way too many blocks. Ugh.

It was a pretty lively spot, but most people were just drinking, not eating. There were multiple large dining areas. Where we were, there were these giant nice, yet creepy, paintings above us. Why does the laughing violin guy have a black eye? We were puzzled.

J ordered crab toast. When in Maryland, do as the Marylanders do... so I got a bowl of the maryland crab soup. R got a cup. It was good. There was real crab in there, not from a can, as I found some big shell chunks. So in a way, I didn't mind, as it seemed more authentic that way.

J ordered the rack of lamb. I don't remember the last time I ate rack of lamb. Ok, I do. It was many years ago and it was in Michigan at a russian restaurant. Man, that was a fun meal.

R ordered the mussels. She did not enjoy these at all. She said they were rubbery. I tasted one, and it didn't seem rubbery to me, but they were very smoky tasting.

I went with the small portion of the steamed shrimp appetizer as my meal. I know I'm not typically an appetizer girl, but in this case, I went with two appetizers as my meal. They said these were jumbo shrimp, and boy, did they ever mean it. It's hard to see the scale from this photo, but trust me, these were JUMBO! They came doused with old bay and some deliciously sweet onions. I was worried that this wouldn't be enough food, but man, there were 7 of these bad boys, and I was plenty filled up.

I was happy with my food here. The service was good. I even asked for a wet nap, and even though they didn't have one, our waiter fashioned one for me. He even heated it up for me. That's service! Oh, and you can't smoke in restaurants and bars as of Feb 1 in Baltimore. Whoo hoo!