Choptank

Early during the week of Thanksgiving, I was chatting with TT when he mentioned his dinner plans for Wednesday.  “We’re going to Choptank,” he said.  “You should come.  We can try more stuff.”  And I wanted to, I really did, but I didn’t want to be a third wheel (though I am also friends with CT), then I mentioned going to Choptank to my other friends, who agreed that we should go on Saturday to celebrate HB’s birthday.  HB had been once before and really liked it, plus we’d all talked about using the recent BlackBoard Eats code together… it was settled. 

Unfortunately, we had 7 of us, and their website states clearly that reservations are accepted for up to 4 people.  Plus the code was for up to 4 people, though we had two (or more) codes.  So StB kindly called to make reservations and tried to ask for our two tables to be near each other, at which point a manager gave her a hard time and tried to accuse her of trying to ‘cheat’ the system, so she gave up trying to give them the two codes for our tables.  This could be the end of that story – just a mention of how rude a manager was to my friend – but it isn’t. 

When AB and I arrived (somehow the earliest! yay! and she drove, too), I asked about the other table (since one was in my name), to see if we could be seated together.  StB arrived and we both discussed with Andy, who was super helpful and friendly, about the issue.  He asked us why we hadn’t put something into the reservation, and we told him we had, and after a lot of back and forth, he finally reconfigured so that we could sit somewhere near each other.  Thanks Andy!  You rock! 

(Meanwhile, AB had sat down at our table in the very corner, and she’d been served potato chips.  I mention this because… when we sat at our new tables, we never got the chips.  Wah.) 

So the BBE deal was a lot narrower than it had sounded on the email; you could choose from each section of the menu, but only from a limited portion of each.  HB ordered the shrimp taco, which she said was only okay. 

StB, BB and I (the four of us at one table; ShB, AB and SpB all sat at another table, so I didn’t take pictures of their food) all opted for the Maryland crab dip, which came piping hot, super creamy and cheesy.  I liked it, though BB and StB both pointed out that it was quite heavy – especially for just one person to eat – and there wasn’t that much crab in there.  But what crab there was, was tender, sweet and in big chunks… scattered around the dish.  I love cheese, though, so I would have eaten the whole thing without thinking if I hadn’t reminded myself I still had more food to go. 

HB continued with the crab cake; she remarked that it was fine, but nothing special.  She said later that she’d preferred Choptank months ago for steamed blue crabs, and those crabs were much better than the crabs used for her crabcake. 

StB ordered the prawns, though I can’t recall her side.  I didn’t hear much from her about this – so it wasn’t awesome nor was it horrible, cuz she definitely would have said so if it were. 

BB and I both ordered scallops, so I only took a picture of mine, with the salsa verde and the roasted butternut squash.  The butternut squash were bad – mushy and unappetizing, while the salsa verde was incredibly flavorful and bright-tasting.  

My scallops were cooked properly and tender, and the salsa verde boosted them nicely, but overall, it was a pretty blah plate.  I guess I wanted something more, something special. 

Our choices of dessert varied as much as our personalities: HB with the peanut butter chocolate cake, which she really liked.  She ate the most of her dessert than anyone else. 

StB opted for the coconut cake, which I think she said was just OK. 

BB chose ice cream, vanilla and banana, but the banana was icy and tasted very artificial.  She was hoping for chunks of banana, but got none. 

My choice of red velvet, I knew it would disappoint me, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.  Super dense, and tasting more of just “cake” than chocolate or anything, really, I took about 3 bites before I stopped eating.  StB looked at me and said, “That bad, huh?” and I just shrugged.  What else was there to say?  I didn’t want to eat more of something I didn’t like.

Yvo says: The BlackBoard Eats deal wasn’t a bad one, if you ordered things you liked, but the menu was somewhat limited.  It came with a glass of wine or beer (pairings chosen specifically for each dish) for each course, so take into account that there were three glasses of wine per person… and the total was $38+tax/tip (about $50).  We enjoyed some of the wines more than others, though I couldn’t tell you the name – heck, I’m surprised that my pictures aren’t all blurry (it’s really dark in there, so hush!).  Basically… the deal is pretty decent in terms of value, and some of the food is good, some isn’t – which is many, many restaurants in general.  I’m on the fence about this place for what we got, but HB insists we have to go back for crabs, so expect another post once we’re back into crab season (late April to early October). 
middle of the road