And So it Begins: Rusty Scupper

I flew into Baltimore early on a Friday morning and had the day to waste before catching the Amtrak to Washington DC to start my week there.  I stopped at the cab line with the intention of grabbing a cab and taking it into the city.  When the cabbie asked where I was headed I replied “Not sure, you tell me.  I want to see 3 things: 1) the harbor 2) the best crab cakes in the city and 3) one other cool thing you think I should see.”  With that he informed me that it was much cheaper for me to take the metro into the city, for $3.50 I could get a whole day’s pass and get pretty much anywhere I wanted to go.  He also told me that the best crab cakes weren’t actually in the city but located about 4 miles from the airport (sadly at 9am they weren’t quite ready for me).  Lastly his “cool place” suggestion was a mile and a half long mall (not this girl’s idea of a cool place to go so I skipped that).  I will probably never in my life say this again, but I was glad United decided to lose my luggage, it meant that I didn’t have to cart it around the city while I toured and it showed up to my door in DC when I finally got there.  No United, this is not an open invitation to do this every time I fly with you.  So with that I was headed off to the Inner Harbor to see what I could take in.  Give me a historical artifact and I will be a happy girl no matter what (102 degree temperature and all).  The USS Constellation gave me something to do for a while, including getting to see a cannon being fired, score.  Then I headed to the National Aquarium, I love aquariums, something about them I just can’t get enough of, my favorite being the Chattanooga Aquarium.  I highly recommend spending the $5 extra dollars to watch the 4d movie.  Because I am a nerd I watched the Planet Earth movie, but I could have enjoyed Happy Feet as well I am sure.  By this point in the afternoon I was starting to get hungry.  Across the harbor was a building with large letters announcing the Rusty Scupper restaurant.  I figured they should have some crab cakes, so off I went.  The inside was nicely decorated, and the prices seemed to reflect that.  But they had no issue with me being in my shorts and flip flops, at least I had a nice shirt on.  I sat at the bar, my favorite place to sit when you happen to be dinning alone for whatever reason.  The bartender was attentive and friendly.  She brought out some fresh bread with a homemade roasted red pepper, garlic, and almond dipping sauce.  The sauce was both sweet and savory, good, but I liked the bread better without it.  I of course 

ordered the Broiled Crab Cake with three mustard butter sauce.  It was simple and delicious.  Often times I find that crab cakes have too much breading and other ingredients, hiding the taste of the crab.  This however had none of that.  It was almost totally crab and the butter sauce was a perfect flavor additive.  I enjoyed the rice that accompanied my crab cakes, I could have done without the vegetable of the day, a green bean and carrot mixture, just wasn’t that great.  The price was a bit steep, but I was eating crab cakes on the harbor in Baltimore, pretty sure the crab had been swimming around not more then a few hours earlier, so the price was comparable to the experience.  It was a fairly befitting way to start my Julapolooza, I’m glad I had fresh catch crab cakes in Baltimore, can’t wait to see what I get into next.  Oh, one last note, I have found that the best thing in travel life is to upgrade to business class on the Amtrak, bigger seats that recline, plugs for my dying phone and IPod, and more leg room, I will not travel any other way again.