Crab Soup

If you're out and about in the Glen Burnie area and in the mood for some good Greek, Italian or American food, stop by Romano's Restaurant on 6905 Ritchie Highway. The atmosphere is friendly, the staff is attentive and it's a good place to take the whole family. Owner Saki Stamidis, formerly of Greece, opened the restaurant in 1983. Remodeled in 1992, it maximizes its space by offering diners a continuous upholstered bench on three walls with chairs on the other sides of the tables, allowing two people to cuddle up or sit across from each other.

THE WORLD of crab soup is divided into two camps, red and white. Those in the red camp believe crab soup should have a tomato base, contain more vegetables than your average backyard garden and have a judicious amount of spice, a prodigious amount of crab meat and occasionally some shell.I have heard this crab soup called by several names, among them "traditional Maryland vegetable," "the working man's crab soup," "home-style crab soup" and "the real stuff."Those in the white-soup camp advocate a crab soup made with fresh stock, more cream than your average cow and gorgeous lumps of crab meat.

The Yin Yankee Cafe and Fishmarket -- a new Annapolis restaurant that's so hip it seems to be a la SoHo, New York -- offers an eclectic menu blending Eastern and Western cooking styles under the cutesy headings "Port of Annapolis" and "Port of Hong Kong."Having spent substantial time in both cities, I have to warn you, Yin Yankee's food resembles the cuisine of neither locale.But that's not to say it isn't good.On a recent visit to the 4-month old restaurant, my lunch companions and I were impressed with the concoctions offered on the menu.

I picked up the monster by the tip of one claw and let it dangle in front of me in all its massive glory. My quest for the heaviest crab of the season was finally over. This year's journey came to an end at Seaside in Glen Burnie, a crab house that inspires pilgrimages from all around the Beltway. Here, crabs arrive at the table so hot it takes tough hands, or an artfully wielded knife, to get off the outer shell. Owner Jerry Wood opened Seaside six years ago, but he's been in the crab business for more than two decades.

It's 8:30 on a sunny Sunday morning, and chef Jerry Edwards is loading up his car with, among other things, a smoked duck, crab soup, packets of diced vegetables, pots and pans and kitchen implements.When everything is packed and secure in the Chrysler Sebring convertible, Edwards heads from Timonium to TV Hill in Baltimore, where he'll be doing a cooking spot on WBAL-TV's morning news program.There's more to the occasion than making the show hosts' mouths water: Edwards is one of more than a dozen chefs who will be cooking signature dishes for Meals on Wheels' seventh annual Culinary Extravaganza, to be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Harbor Court Hotel.

From the moment you walk into The Corinthian restaurant at Loews Annapolis Hotel, it's easy to see why County Executive John G. Gary eats there. It also is easy to understand why County Executive-elect Janet Owens made a crack about the county's food budget during the campaign.The Corinthian is pricey. It also is fine dining in the true sense of the term. The rose-colored upholstery on the chairs matches the floor-length curtains, which blend perfectly with the cream-colored rug and covered chairs, all of which go so nicely with the marble tabletops and the paintings.

Soup. It's a comfort food. Crabs, if you're from Maryland, are a necessity. And cream of crab soup on a chilly autumn afternoon, well, that's paradise. But only if it has the right consistency, aroma, flavor, texture and a great deal of crab meat.Recently, some members of the Anne Arundel Bureau staff took an unscientific, partially blind taste test (one restaurant's soup came in bowls with its logo on the side) of cream of crab soups from four North County restaurants that were recommended by staffers or boast of having the best cream of crab soup.

SHORTLY AFTER Ismael Gutierrez, chef at Baltimore's Capitol City Brewing Co., won first place in the cream of crab division of the Old Bay Crab Soup Stakes, I asked him if he had used any "secret" ingredients.He said he had. It was a jalapeno pepper. Gutierrez said that near the end of the soup-making process he had dropped finely diced pieces of the fiery pepper into the mixture."It gives the soup a hint of spiciness," Gutierrez said, "and pulls the flavors together."While many Marylanders would roll their eyes at the notion of putting such a south-of-the-border flavor into a Mid-Atlantic mainstay, folks who sipped the soup liked the results of the union.

Vans Warped at RFKListen to punk, alternative rock and retro swing and cheer on top-ranked professional and amateur athletes in competitions ranging from skateboarding to BMX to in-line skating when Vans Warped Tour '98 makes a stop tomorrow at the RFK Stadium parking lot in Washington. More than 30 bands are scheduled to perform, including Bad Religion, Rancid, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Save Ferris, Sprung Monkey and the Aquabats. Gates open at 11:30 a.m.; show starts at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $20. Call 410-481-SEAT.

Buddy's Crabs and Ribs in Annapolis has a scenic location overlooking City Dock and an up-tempo atmosphere, but neither justifies the overpriced plates of bland seafood my husband and I had one recent early evening.The dinner buffet -- $8.95 for stuffed shells, salads, fruit, fried oysters, mussels, shrimp and a raw oyster and clam bar -- was tempting. But we wanted to see what else Buddy's had to offer. If we had known, we might have chosen the buffet.First, I learned not to take the name of the place to heart.