Maryland history tastes better with jumbo lump crab and a sandwich that needs both hands.
These longtime restaurants have earned their place by giving diners something specific to remember. One stop piles corned beef high. Another serves pizza from a recipe that has ignored every trend since the 1940s.
Near the water, steamed crabs and Chesapeake views keep lunch from feeling ordinary.
Some names still hold the same neighborhood corners generations have visited. Others sit beside the Potomac or inside historic markets, turning one meal into a reason to cross town.
The setting changes, but the pull stays strong.
Leave room for the specialty, and see which Maryland classic still deserves the detour.
1. Faidley’s Seafood
Faidley’s Seafood was founded in 1886 and continues operating inside Baltimore’s Lexington Market under descendants of founder John W. Faidley.
The business began as Smith & Faidley, selling seafood, terrapin, and wild game. Cooked food came later, and Nancy Faidley Devine developed the jumbo lump crab cake recipe that became the counter’s signature in 1987.
That history matters when the cake lands in front of you. Faidley’s makes each one by hand with jumbo lump blue crab meat, shaping a portion that averages about 6.5 ounces and keeping the large pieces of crab recognizable.
You do not need a white tablecloth to appreciate the result. The market setup uses standing counters, which means your attention stays exactly where it belongs: on a crab cake with a browned exterior and a center packed with sweet meat.
The menu also includes backfin crab cakes, fried fish, soups, oysters, and other seafood, but the jumbo lump version remains the order that first-timers circle. Try holding a serious conversation after that first bite. The crab usually wins.
Address: 119 N Paca St, Baltimore, MD 21201.
2. Di Pasquale’s Italian Marketplace
A sandwich run can become a full grocery expedition at Di Pasquale’s Italian Marketplace. Luigi Di started a family business that now spans four generations and several locations.
The Brewers Hill marketplace on Toone Street carries that century-old mission forward with Italian groceries, prepared foods, sandwiches, pasta, cheeses, meats, and pantry items.
You may arrive with one lunch order in mind, then notice the shelves and quietly abandon all restraint.
Family history gives the business depth, but the food keeps the story moving. Di Pasquale’s still presents Italian culinary traditions as something to eat, take home, and share rather than something displayed only for nostalgia.
The sandwich counter is a natural starting point. Generous combinations of meats, cheeses, vegetables, and spreads make lunch substantial, while prepared dishes and market goods give you plenty of reasons to inspect another aisle before leaving.
This is one of those places where the shopping bag becomes heavier with every “one last look.” By the time you reach the door, dinner may already be handled, tomorrow’s lunch is probably covered, and an unfamiliar jar has somehow joined the family.
Address: 3700 Toone St, Baltimore, MD 21224.
3. Attman’s Delicatessen
Steam rising from a kettle is the unofficial welcome sign on Corned Beef Row. This place has served Baltimore since 1915, when Harry Attman opened the business on East Lombard Street.
More than a century later, hot corned beef still comes from the kettles throughout the day. Pastrami, chopped liver, rye bread, deli salads, and traditional sandwiches fill out a menu that has never needed a fashionable reinvention.
The corned beef sandwich remains the obvious challenge. Meat is piled high enough to make your first approach look like a structural engineering test, especially once mustard and rye enter the equation.
Do you compress the sandwich, divide it, or simply accept that dignity is leaving before lunch ends? Attman’s rewards whichever method gets the corned beef from the paper to your mouth.
The Baltimore location also preserves its connection to Corned Beef Row, a stretch of Lombard Street once known for multiple Jewish delicatessens. Attman’s is the longtime survivor, and its family history now reaches across four generations.
There is nothing delicate about the portion, and that is precisely the charm. Order confidently, keep several napkins close, and remember that a sandwich this tall is not interested in your clean shirt.
Address: 1019 E Lombard St, Baltimore, MD 21202.
4. Matthew’s Pizza
Pizza was still a novelty in much of America when a father and son began selling tomato pies in Highlandtown. Matthew’s Pizza opened in 1943 and identifies itself as Baltimore’s first and oldest pizzeria.
Its individual pies are built on a distinctive dough recipe that the restaurant keeps secret. The original tomato pie contains no cheese, while other versions add house sauce, hand-grated mozzarella, imported reggianito, or both cheeses.
Then Maryland enters the conversation.
The Crab Pie tops the crust with lump crab meat, hand-grated mozzarella, imported cheese, caramelized onions, and Old Bay seasoning. It sounds like two local traditions collided, shook hands, and decided to stay for dinner.
That specialty earns attention, but the classic pies explain the restaurant’s staying power. A thick, chewy crust and bold tomato sauce give each pizza a character that is immediately recognizable without copying modern deep-dish styles.
You can chase novelty elsewhere. Matthew’s has been making its own kind of pizza for more than eight decades, and the oven still knows exactly what to do.
Address: 3131 Eastern Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224.
5. Captain Billy’s Crab House
Captain Billy’s Crab House has operated in Popes Creek since 1947, serving blue crabs and seafood beside the river in Southern Maryland.
The restaurant remains family-owned, and places steamed blue crabs at the center of its identity. They arrive seasoned with the house crab seasoning, ready for the slow work that turns dinner into a hands-on event.
A crab meal refuses to be rushed. You crack, pick, inspect, and celebrate every clean piece of meat as though you personally negotiated it out of the shell.
The current menu travels beyond steamed crabs with crab cakes, shrimp, mussels, seafood platters, fish, hush puppies, and crab-filled appetizers. Still, the riverfront setting makes the traditional crab order especially difficult to resist.
There are easier meals, but few are as entertaining. By the end, your hands have done more work than your fork, the table looks thoroughly used, and nobody can pretend dinner was forgettable.
Captain Billy’s currently opens Thursday through Sunday, so checking the schedule and crab availability before making the drive is sensible. The reward is a Southern Maryland ritual served with a Potomac River backdrop.
Address: 11495 Popes Creek Rd, Newburg, MD 20664.
6. Schultz’s Crab House
An award did not create the reputation at this Essex dining room. It simply put a national spotlight on work that had already been happening for generations.
Schultz’s began as a cafe and lounge in 1950 under Mildred and William Schultz. Karen and Bob McKinney took over in 1969, opened Schultz’s Crab House, and kept the original name because replacing the sign was not financially practical.
That economical decision became part of Maryland restaurant history. The McKinney family still operates the business, and the James Beard Foundation named it an America’s Classic in 2017.
Steamed crabs remain the centerpiece, particularly during summer and fall when Maryland crabs are at their best. The kitchen seasons them with a house spice blend and serves them in a wood-paneled, nautical room with white paper covering the tables.
The menu also makes crab easier to approach for anyone who prefers a fork. Jumbo lump and backfin crab cakes, crab imperial, Maryland crab soup, and crab fluff offer several routes into the same Chesapeake tradition.
Crab fluff may sound like dessert, but it is a battered and deep-fried crab cake. Consider that your delicious reminder not to judge Maryland terminology too quickly.
Address: 1732 Old Eastern Ave, Essex, MD 21221.
7. Friendly Farm Restaurant
Dinner begins before the entree at this spot. Rolls, sides, relishes, fruit, and other family-style accompaniments start filling the table, making restraint seem like a plan from a previous life.
The family opened the Friendly Farm Restaurant in 1959 on a 200-acre farm in northern Baltimore County. The current building followed in 1964 after the original farmhouse location could no longer handle the growing clientele.
Fried chicken and jumbo lump crab cakes are among the best-known entree choices, joined by roast beef, fried shrimp, country ham, and steak. Each person selects a main dish while many of the sides are shared across the table.
That arrangement changes the mood of dinner. You are not guarding a private plate: you are passing potatoes, reaching for another roll, and wondering who moved the apple butter.
The countryside setting adds another layer to the trip. Three ponds surround the property, and the drive through northern Baltimore County separates the meal from the faster pace of the city.
A scoop of ice cream traditionally finishes the family-style experience. At that point, claiming you have no room left is understandable, but the spoon may expose you as a liar.
Address: 17434 Foreston Rd, Upperco, MD 21155.
8. Cantler’s Riverside Inn
Follow the road toward Mill Creek and the seafood begins to make sense before you reach the table. Jimmy Cantler, a Chesapeake Bay waterman, opened this inn in 1974 with a focus on fresh seafood and casual family dining.
The Cantler family has worked in the seafood industry for five generations. During Maryland’s crab season, local watermen deliver catches to the restaurant’s docks, where experienced handlers sort and inspect the crabs.
Those crabs are steamed to order and served on brown butcher paper with J.O. seasoning. You can buy them by the dozen, half-dozen, or individually, which gives cautious beginners a way to test their shell-cracking confidence.
The room may be casual, but the crab operation is precise. Size, quality, season, and availability all matter, and prices are posted daily because the catch does not follow a fixed restaurant script.
Mill Creek also gives the meal a waterfront setting reached by road or boat. Free docking is available for patrons, while smaller dining parties are generally seated on a first-come basis.
Once the paper is covered with shells, nobody cares how gracefully you started. Cantler’s turns lunch into a working session, and your mallet deserves a performance review afterward.
Address: 458 Forest Beach Rd, Annapolis, MD 21409.
9. Courtney’s Seafood Restaurant
At Courtney’s Seafood Restaurant, the owner is a Maryland fisherman, which makes the connection to the water considerably more direct.
The family-owned restaurant in Ridge has served Southern Maryland for more than 40 years. Its official site highlights fresh rockfish caught daily in the Chesapeake Bay, along with crabs and other seafood.
That location near the lower Potomac and Chesapeake gives the menu a regional identity that cannot be copied with nautical decorations alone. What reaches the kitchen is tied to the surrounding waters and the work of people who know them.
Breakfast brings in early diners, while seafood, sandwiches, steaks, and daily fare carry the restaurant through lunch and dinner. The room stays casual, keeping the focus on the catch rather than ceremony.
You may hear local fishing stories while deciding between rockfish and crabs. Some tales will probably grow larger before dessert, but the seafood does not need the embellishment.
Courtney’s is not a staged version of Southern Maryland. It is a working family restaurant where watermen, residents, and travelers can meet over food connected to the same coastline outside.
Address: 48290 Wynne Rd, Ridge, MD 20680.
10. Box Hill Pizzeria And Crab Cakes
Pizza and crab cakes sharing top billing sounds like a menu identity crisis. Box Hill Pizzeria and Crab Cakes has been in business since 1984, proving that it is actually a very effective Maryland business plan.
The Kanaras family opened the Abingdon restaurant with pizza in the name, but the crab cakes became the defining specialty. They are made fresh seven days a week with jumbo lump and colossal crab meat.
A light filling holds the large pieces together without hiding their sweetness. For restaurant and carryout orders, the cakes are formed to order, then broiled until the exterior turns golden.
That process explains why the crab cake carries more weight than a side attraction. It is not a token Maryland item added to a pizzeria menu; it is one of the restaurant’s central products and is also shipped around the country.
Pizza still earns its half of the sign, along with subs, Italian dishes, and other casual favorites. One person can order a pie while another commits completely to crab, and nobody at the table has to compromise.
The combination is unusual enough to get your attention and established enough to erase the doubt. After four decades, Box Hill has made “pizza or crab cake?” sound less like a choice and more like an ordering sequence.
Address: 2915 Emmorton Rd, Abingdon, MD 21009.