Faidley's

Note: Today, I came home to find my brand new copy of Roadfood (now in its ninth edition) waiting for me in a package from Amazon. Apparently this edition has over two hundred new entries, although obviously many of the entries are holdovers from earlier editions - and most of the restaurants that appeared in the previous edition are described using the same blurb as last time. I guess I shouldn't complain about this version being too similar to the previous one. I still bought it, with eyes wide open.

One nice feature of the new edition is the advent of the Roadfood Pantheon (my term, not theirs): a list of the Sterns' Top 100 Essential Spots. (Neither Primanti Bros. or Rutt's Hut made the cut, which sounds absurd on its surface, but then, it's probably hard to narrow a list of 900+ down to one hundred.)

One minor annoyance: a few of the places that I have previously visited (some at great inconvenience), are no longer in the book. Although the Sterns make a special point of nothing that the omission of some of these spots "does not mean it's out of business or we don't like it any more," it's still a little disheartening to find that suddenly I haven't been to as many destinations on the latest list.

By the same token, it's annoying to find new entries located in areas I visited in the past and may not visit any time soon. For example, the latest edition includes "Al's French Fries" in South Burlington. I lived in Vermont over the summer, and probably passed Al's French Fries at least five times. It's a little upsetting to know that I missed out on an easy opportunity to make a Roadfood run, simply because I didn't know this place existed. And I'm not sure when I'll be up that way again. Oh well.

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Date: June 14, 2013

Food Ordered: One large crab cake

I will probably never live closer to a Roadfood destination than I lived to Faidley's in Baltimore. This legendary crab cake spot, which did make it into the Sterns' Pantheon by the way, is one of many establishments in Lexington Market, just a few blocks away from my old apartment down town. Lexington Market is real Baltimore: a little gritty, a little dirty and to non-locals, sometimes a little intimidating. It's right on the subway line and the Light Rail line, which means it is easily accessible to folks from some of Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods. Lexington Market is a world away from Philly's yuppified Reading Terminal Market, and that's part of its charm. On the other hand, there is nothing particularly charming about the acts of violence that have recently occurred there, sometimes in broad daylight. (Note: Plans are in the works for a major overhaul of Lexington Market. I hope it doesn't entirely lose its grungy character, but yeah, this place probably could use an overhaul.)

I tried to make it to Faidley's several times before I actually succeeded. It isn't open on Sundays (I learned that the hard way) or after 5:00 (That too). A few weeks after moving to downtown Baltimore, Maya and I walked over to the market at around 1:00 on a Saturday only to find that, while the market itself was open, Faidley's, inexplicably, was not. (We had a crab cake anyway, from another vendor, and it was fine.)

I finally tasted my first, and to date, only, Faidley's crab cake on a Friday afternoon when I made a pit stop on my way down to Camden Yards. It was worth the wait. I ordered a huge crab cake - no fries, no sides - from a weathered old white woman who called me "hon." And I ate it the way it was meant to be eaten - standing at a round table in middle of the crowded market. When people talk about a great crab cake, they always mention its lack of filler - and yeah, that's important, but it's also kind of a given at the highest levels of crab cakes. Faidley's crab cake was pretty much all crab, no filler - but to me, its most salient quality was a slightly mustardy tang that I found myself recalling all throughout the O's game.

Verdict: Five out of five stars. I've made something of a study of crab cakes since I moved to Baltimore about two and a half years ago. And if you get me started, I will be happy to pontificate on the merits and demerits of various venues in the area. But it all starts and ends with Faidley's. There's a reason it always tops those Best Crab Cakes in Baltimore lists. Obviously, its inclusion in Roadfood is essential, even though I think the Sterns egregiously snub a few other Baltimore institutions.