Happy weekend MBIP'ers! I have Reserves this weekend and I am working, but I’ve put together this little recap of the weekend of Fri/Sat/Sun 26/27/28 July. We were in Baltimore all three nights. It was a great weekend! The weather had been rather scorching and humid—and then magically it got cooler and much more comfortable. That was enough to inspire us to get out and enjoy. Terry has decided to join us for the first day, and then me and Smoopy finished out the weekend by ourselves. Come along for the ride to Charm City!
7:43pm—Friday, 26 July. Off to Charm City for a Friday night out! It's a rare full BBC outing. Smoopy is driving, T (Terry) is in the backseat babbling, and I'm sitting up front taking pictures!
7:45pm—M&T Bank Stadium. Home of the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens! A good place to see a game, much better than the Washington Redskins down the road.
7:46pm—We're headed down the Fort McHenry exit here.
7:46pm—Gonna make a left down here...
7:56pm—Check it out, a Baltimore icon—the Domino Sugars plant.
7:59pm—WTF? There’d a robust tomato plant growing out of the crack of this sidewalk? I wonder how this happened? Talk about your miracles of nature!
7:59pm—Little Havana.
8:01pm—Me and T are waiting for Smoops to deliver the first round!
8:08pm —I got a Dark & Stormy and it's tradition to take it to the outside patio and check out the sights!
8:15pm—Here is the aforementioned patio.
8:18pm—A shot of our next destination!
8:41pm—T and Smoops leading the way to the next destination.
8:42pm—A shot of where we just were!
8:44pm—Here we are at the Tiki Barge. This is a great place to have a few drinks on a nice night.
8:45pm—Overpriced yuppie pool.
8:47pm—Terry sporting his Dos Equis beer can!
8:51pm—Beautiful day outside in Baltimore, couldn't ask for a better Friday evening.
9:10pm—Smoopy and T at the bar getting round two, which turned out to be crappy margaritas. Oh well, can't win them all, should have gotten a second round of Dos Equis!
9:44pm—Off to our next destination!
9:55pm—Southside Saloon. It’s hard to describe this place, I usually describe it as the most real bar in the neighborhood. I copied this review from someone on Yelp, I think it's pretty spot on for someone who rated the place 1 star:
A typical conversation in this bar.
My boyfriend and I go in to get a bottle of wine and a 6-pack of Boh.
Man: Nice weather, isn't it?
My boyfriend: Yes, so warm all of a sudden.
Man: (Looks at me) Yeah, it's THONG weather! (and nods at my boyfriend)
I live across the street and have gone into Southside numerous times. The place is a truly South Baltimore bar. Only the locals come here and 98% of the time there is a motorized wheelchair chained up to the pole out front. (That explains the crowd that frequents Southside. I've even seen a middle-aged woman ride a razor into this bar.) There are pool tables in the back, Keno poker, and TVs for sports games. They also have take-out beer and wine which is why I frequent Southside.
One time I came in for a drink, sat down at the bar, and the bartender reached below the bar, pulled a huge hunk of meat out of a mini-fridge and asked me if I wanted to buy it.
Another time I walked in for a beer with a friend and we noticed the local bum grabbing a drink about 3 stools down.
That's Southside. Cheap and South Baltimore.
10:06pm—The comfy inside of Southside.
10:36pm—Our third round of Natty Boh drafts, then we topped that off with a Bloody Mary afterwards!
10:53pm—Barly's. I can never get a damn good picture at night here. Nonetheless, they have good beer here, let's go inside already!
10:58pm—I get a Bitburger can, Terry gets a Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout!
11:11pm—A shot of Barfly's from the back, we got that corner spot at the bar.
11:28pm—The last stop of our Friday—Dirty Oars tavern. The just opened this place up, but not many people go here, not sure if they are going to last much longer—business has actually gotten worse.
Saturday, 27 July, 8:20pm—Nick's Fish House. This is a cool place on a river, just south of downtown. There's a nice inside, and a large outdoor area, multiple bars, music—they have it all.
8:31pm—The view from the outside at Nick's.
10:55pm—Paul's. I need Powerball tickets, and might as well have a Heineken also. This wraps up our Saturday, it was a little slower than yesterday! We went to 3 other places, but there was nothing noteworty or pictureworthy.
Sunday, 28 July, 6:50pm—One more day out and about. We were hungry, and going to Fells Point in Baltimore seemed like a good idea. Kooper's Tavern has good burgers, so we started here!
7:34pm—The "Homicide" Building.
8:13pm—Life on the Street.
8:14pm—A different view of the Domino Sugars building from Friday night.
8:16pm—The Point. Smoopy likes the Sangria here and their AC is usually cranked up, so I like it.
8:44pm—Cat's Eye Pub. One of the best places in the city, I just wish it was slightly bigger—I would be here all the time. Sunday's a good day to go and squeeze in.
9:40pm—Nighttime shot of the Homicide Building. This is from the 3rd floor of Slainte.
9:42pm—One more shot from Fells Point, looking over the water to Locust Point. I don't want to go home, but I have a damn job that gets in the way of fun. So, sadly we let the journey home begin and one more Bar Exam comes to a close. See you all next month for more tavern touring!
Related Posts: Sixteen Days and Two Dozen Bars; Charleston, South Carolina and A Pittsburgh Bar Crawl.
Bonus Photos!
Marty's 9/11 story on MBIP, from Tuesday, made me want to look up my photos from visiting the 9/11 Memorial sites. I'm glad I've visited all three of them and paid my respects.
11 October 2011, 1:22pm—Shanksville, PA—Flight 93 Memorial.
14 January 2012, 3:43pm—9/11 Memorial New York (South Tower).
19 October 2012, 3:47pm—Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.