We Baltimore locals have known for a while that the guys at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood aren’t any kind of pushovers, but they have the biggest of hearts. Though they put up billboards countering PETA regarding steam crabs, “It’d be a sin to waste them, come & get ’em”, they also sold t-shirts printed “People Eating Tasty Animals” as a fundraiser for local animal shelters.
After their now viral and infamous replay to the HuffPost’s post taking quite frankly, a loser, lame, anti-American stance against our Olympic Gold Medal winning Men’s Ice Hockey team — spelling out GFY — lots of people have been taking advantage of their shipping to 50 states (they hope for international some day). People are supporting a loudly patriotic business, but I’m here to let you know what you’ll be treating yourself to! I was happy to be hosted to experience it.
If you’re here in Baltimore, dress how you like, sports jerseys beloved. It’s a casual vibe with absolutely fine dining service anticipating your every desire. Server Jack Riley is a stellar member of the team.
To start with, they have lots of kinds of drinks, including an incredible selection of non-alcoholic drinks. On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, “Orange Crushes” are the thing, with orange juice, orange vodka, liqueur. But in Baltimore, they put it pedal to the medal with several Crushes flavors. I tried cherry-lime — that vintage Cherry Lime Rickey flavor and blueberry-lemon. And here we start seeing the vibe of how we like to eat and drink in Charm City: everything is balanced, not candied sweet or knock you on your ass liquored for tourists. It’s refreshing, juicy and grown up.
Deviled Eggs are not too salty, with a rich, creamy flavor enhanced by smoky bacon. The presentation is cool bistro, not crab shack bench.
Jimmy’s has sushi! Again, not Papaw’s crab shack. I eat a lot of sushi and even our Japanese restaurants can’t beat the clean freshness of their raw tuna, which says a lot.
Jimmy’s Famous Seafood — named from the get-go by the owners’ late dad — has been on about a zillion tv shows. Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is super fond of the Crab Cake Egg Roll, including crab cake, cream cheese blend, coleslaw, mango ponzu and spicy mayo. Let’s set aside for one second that this is chock full of crab meat and it’s so creative. Let’s talk about the coleslaw! It’s like a California-Asian style coleslaw with spicy, tangy dressing, green and red cabbage in thick cuts, red and green pepper, carrots, scallions. It’s a modern take on a favorite. If they sold this in small buckets in grocery stores, I swear they could build a whole new empire just on this.
And here’s another divine salad: their Greek salad. It’s got a rich, creamy and simple dressing, no harsh vinegars or weird herbs. There’s lots a particularly creamy feta cheese variety, pepperoncini, olives and Romaine lettuce.
A reason why here and nowhere else: Jimmy’s Famous Seafood has a couple of oyster varieties that are exclusively theirs. I once went on a boat with an oyster man in Prince Edward Island who did that kind of work. He had his little next step up from a canoe, red flags where he marked out his territory. I tried the Bayside Bays from Rappahannock River, Virginia. Did you know that George Washington is said to have thrown a Spanish silver dollar across it? These oysters are clean with tons of “liquor”, a good hit of salt. They have very deep cups. They’re served with lemon, cocktail sauce with an extra dollop of horseradish, mignonette with with substantial shallot pieces.
Then came time to try oysters dressed up. Oysters Rockerfeller are a traditional dish with good portions of the good stuff: creamy, cheese, with a touch of Pernod. Or, you can take it to the next level with Jimmy’s Oysters, stuffed with creamed spinach and decadent Crab Imperial.
It’s kind of known that in most Baltimore restaurants, the dessert is an afterthought and if you have something good in the freezer, you’re better off sticking with that. But Jimmy’s has its own dessert recipes and right away, you notice something different: they aren’t gooey or overly sweet. Whipped cream is fresh, cakes are incredibly moist (how do they do that?). Red Velvet Cake with cream frosting is an old Southern favorite. Chocolate Blackout Cake has dense chocolate cake, ganache, fudge and brownies. It is a billion jillion (Woody Guthrie’s favorite number) times better than a chocolate lava cake. Smith Island Cake is the state cake of Maryland. Originating on Smith Island, where they still have an Elizabethan dialect and fish for seafood, I think (shh, don’t hurt the little island ladies’ feelings!) Jimmy’s is the winner. Their vanilla cake is rich and super moist, the frosting is less sugar-icing. They have several varieties of cheesecake and I hear that strawberry is a real favorite. This cheesecake is very dense. I taste cream and sour cream, the flavors stand out.
I got to see behind the scenes! Here is server Jack Riley with his colleagues.
They talk about meal prep in one of the bill boards. They have a whole cooler devoted to pick up stuff for feasts and grilling at home. If I lived right in that neighborhood, I don’t know how much cooking I’d ever do again. They have wholesome ingredients, I wouldn’t have that hesitation about “living off restaurant food”. They cook the way you want to eat.
Luxe & Down-Home Cuisine/Culture/Travel/Style 