What can I say the place is worth the trip... Here's another independent review.
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This is not the easiest restaurant in the world to find. The global navigation system in my car told me that we were within two miles of it and shut down! There was not a sign in sight. And, trust me on this, we WERE in the middle of nowhere. Not a gas station, not a human being anywhere to ask where it was.
I broke down, picked up my cell phone and called to ask for directions. Very matter of factly they described how to find. (Turn right at the side of the post office and go two miles.) A very small post office and again, no sign. No human beings on this road either. Not many buildings, in fact mostly fields; after five or so minutes we wondered whether we again had made another wrong turn.
Finally, in the distance was the "Suicide Bridge" (so named because of four actual suicides along with several other locally notorious incidents over the years). On the far side of it was a large, almost new looking structure with stone, cedar, floor to ceiling plate glass windows, some 25 feet high, and behind this a cluster of similarly styled buildings. Several parking lots held what must have been 200 cars. An adjacent marina had boats as long as 60 feet or more docked in it. When we pulled into the first parking lot I noted that the cars featured many from Pennsylvania, even New Jersey and Virginia in addition to Maryland and delaware.
There was nothing else anywhere in sight other than this remarkable oasis like complex of stylish, modern buildings and enchanting cove and marina.
Inside we found beamed ceilings, stone walls, cedar wall panelling and cedar columns, a ten foot high fireplace, subdued lighting allowing light in off of the water directly outside. There was a warren of rooms, perhaps four dining rooms along with stairs to a night club and upstairs decks. Overall, this was an enormous restaurant with a number of additional buildings outside including one which was an enclosed, screened in pavilion that seemed capable of housing 250 to 300 people for an event or private function or feast.
We later learned that the Suicide Bridge restaurant had originally started in the 1920's as a room in a local farmer's house where he and his wife would sell hot meals to people who stopped by. (Lord knows how they would have found this place!) It had grown over the years and was purchased by its present owner 15 years ago who continued to enlarge it. Today it has seating for 380 people in its various rooms along with pavilion outside and a stage upstairs in a large hall that could hold 300 or more people for rock and roll bands which play several nights a week.
This was also a landmark known far beyond its immediate area. Only seven miles off of route 50 apparently many people regularly stopped at it on their way to and from the Shore.
There is a reason for all of this. There is a reason for the continued growth and this night, 300 or more people having dinner literally in the middle of nowhere.
The food is excellent. And, for all of my criticism about Coastal Flats from Friday night, this restaurant does absolutely everything right when it comes to ambience. This IS what a great Maryland seafood restaurant should LOOK and FEEL like. Whether the walkways outside on the dock, the open stone fireplace, the pristinely beautiful almost surreal on this evening inlet setting which opened farther out to a much larger bay-the Suicide Bridge has as fine of a setting as any Maryland seafood restaurant. It's not Cantler's nor Stoney's but in it's own way it's just as beautiful and just as special.
It's also much more upscale and more about full service dinners. So much so that even though fully sated we decided to go in and, yes, have dinner.
The cream of crab soup had a pure, creamy consistency devoid of the floury texture which I have found so many other places (including Stoney's). Correctly made with a roux then a mix of heavy cream and milk there were many lumps of sweet Maryland crab. The flavor seemed to lack a bit of sherry or "bite" if you will but the silky, thick spoonful was still delicious. Vegetable crab soup was also very good, made in house. It had the bite of Old Bay and more flavor than what we had earlier in the day. Still, it was not made with stock, rather probably with a combination of water and maybe, clam juice.
The crab cakes were filled with lump meat. Far superior to our disappointments at Captain's Galley but, honestly, not on the level of the Cove. But, they were very, very good. Two sold for $24.95 with a salad and two other sides. The house made cole slaw was minced and flavorful, actually outstanding. Tartar sauce and cocktail sauce were homemade although the french fries were frozen.
The menu looked interesting: fresh broiled rockfish stuffed with crab imperial ($24.95), fresh grilled tuna stuffed with crab imperial ($24.95), fresh flounder stuffed with crab imperial (same), crab imperial ($19.95), crab stuffed shrimp ($21.95). There were nine or ten veggies, most made in house; crab dip, crab balls, scallops wrapped in bacon w/ cheese sauce, crab toast (garlic toast topped with crab dip), "Suicide oysters (bbq sauce, cheese and bacon) and on and on.
We did not eat enough at the Suicide Bridge Restaurant to be able to have a real opinion of its food. We do know that what we had was delicious. None was the best of its kind but still the ambience in the rooms, the setting outside, the overall excellence and quality of what we tasted, there is a great deal of hope for this restaurant.
We will return soon.
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I have to admit it was a great ride through the country side of Md's. Eastern Shore on the bike and I hope they keep the outside influences from changing it's character..
Clay
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