Seafood Platter

There is nothing old or inn-like about the Olde Philadelphia Inn. And I dare say this shopping center restaurant's only link with The City of Brotherly Love is its location on what was once a main road between here and there. Why, there's not even a cheese steak on the menu.Perhaps this large, informal restaurant once lived up to its name. Our waitress said it used to occupy a large blue house, now boarded up, across Philadelphia Road. But today the restaurant fills two storefronts -- one for the bar, the other for the dining room -- in an L-shaped congregation of groceries, video stores and copy centers.

Here I am having dinner at Pappas Restaurant on a weeknight in summer, supposedly a dead time for restaurants, and every table is filled. This Parkville institution must be doing something right, but I'm not sure what it is. Sometimes the reasons for a restaurant's success are obvious. Not this time. True, the staff couldn't be nicer, harder-working or more professional. But that doesn't make up for the fact that there were too few of them. Even with reservations, we had a long wait before a busboy was available to clear and set a table for us. We waited even longer for the waitress to get free to take our order.

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.

Even though Connolly's Pier 5 Pratt Street seafood house served up its last crab cake platter in 1991, Baltimoreans near and far still fondly recall the old, no-frills restaurant and wish that such a place still existed. In the week since my Connolly's column was published, my phone has rung off the hook, and my e-mail basket went into meltdown. Folks anxious to talk about the loss of the rattletrap seafood venue that defied the march of time and Inner Harbor development were more than willing to share a few memories of long-ago meals there.

Right now you'd be hard pressed to find a better place than the newly opened L&N Seafood for a moderately priced fish dinner. (That's assuming you get over the shock any Baltimorean would feel when he realizes there's no crab on the menu.) Once L&N gets discovered, though, watch out. This place is going to be a zoo.The first L&N Seafood opened in an old L&N train station in Knoxville, Tenn. That was 10 years ago during the World's Fair; since then the chain has been so successful nearly 40 L&Ns have been established from New York to Texas.

It is Annapolis old and new. Watermen and Washingtonians. Crab cakes and blackened catfish. Several beers -- but more wines by the glass.So what if Annapolis is several miles away? So what if this ambience may not even exist within the capital city? This is the way it ought to be. The old and the new side by side. A working man's bar replaced by one with fine wood paneled walls, ceiling fans, big windows for "waterfront dining." But a bar where the old customers still come.This is Deep Creek, a restaurant on the Magothy River in Arnold, one of those bedroom communities off Governor Ritchie Highway whose residents each morning relocate to Baltimore, Annapolis or Washington.

Eating at Fresh Fresh Seafood is an unusual experience. The restaurant, on York Road in Towson, is small, and the food is slow to arrive, but everything is made from scratch by owners Darlene and Ricky Parker. As Darlene explains, "We just can't let food go out any old way." It has to be just right. Darlene greets you at the door and escorts you to one of several small tables already decked out with plastic utensils and foam cups. You can bring your own wine or beer, and she'll provide extra foam cups for them.

". . . and this score just in from the stadium: the Baltimore Concrete Abutments 5, the Cleveland Barcaloungers 3. In a 10-inning thriller. That's three wins in a row for the Butts."There. Congratulations. You have experienced the future. The future of sports. One Hundred Percent Foolproof Team Nicknames Guaranteed Not to Offend Any Person, Vegetable, Mineral, Loyal Family Pet, Chicken Product, Seafood Platter or Member of the Plant Family.". . . and so after three innings it's the Baltimore Magnesium Sulfide 2, Cleveland Impossibly Cute Babies 1."

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- I ate a plate for lunch yesterday.You had a bowl of soup or a salad or maybe a bagel.I bought a sandwich at the Olympic deli and ate the plate it came on.A blue plate special, literally.I also ate half the sandwich, which was stale. The plate was better. It was the best darn plate I ever ate.Especially when I dipped it in sugar, giving new meaning to the phrase "dessert tray."No, I have not gone crackers up here in the cold, white north. I'm just doing the green thing: saving the environment, Olympic style.

Dining at the Cheshire Crab reinforces the notion that appearances often can be deceiving.Our object lesson began with the drive to the restaurant. As we turned off Fort Smallwood Road and drove down a series of residential streets, my dinner companions expressed doubts about my navigational skills. However, when the restaurant's well-lighted sign appeared on our right, they immediately became believers.When we walked onto the expansive deck of the restaurant, which overlooks Main Creek and a marina, and saw people in shorts at picnic tables picking at piles of crabs, we had the feeling we were in the wrong place.

Eating at Fresh Fresh Seafood is an unusual experience. The restaurant, on York Road in Towson, is small, and the food is slow to arrive, but everything is made from scratch by owners Darlene and Ricky Parker. As Darlene explains, "We just can't let food go out any old way." It has to be just right. Darlene greets you at the door and escorts you to one of several small tables already decked out with plastic utensils and foam cups. You can bring your own wine or beer, and she'll provide extra foam cups for them.

Lu and Joe's isn't owned by Lu and Joe anymore. And while some locals and motorcycle fans might bemoan that fact, Anna Chanyasulkit, owner of the restaurant for the past two years, thinks that the changes she has introduced have been good for local families. "You don't walk in and get stared at anymore if you're not dressed in black leather," she says. "We see a lot of families now - more and more all the time. It's not the scary place it used to be." Lu and Joe's offers a variety of food.

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 piped-in music and the decor at Gunning's Seafood Restaurant aren't great, but then Carnegie Hall probably serves a lousy crab cake.Me? I'll take the crab cake at Gunning's. And the rockfish stuffed with crab. And the soft crab sandwich. And the eclair.There are two Gunning's, the original on South Hanover Street in Baltimore that was sold at a foreclosure auction five years ago and one in Hanover, owned by the son of the original Eddie Gunning.Gunning's, the West County version, is the restaurant that progress paved around.

Dining at the Cheshire Crab reinforces the notion that appearances often can be deceiving.Our object lesson began with the drive to the restaurant. As we turned off Fort Smallwood Road and drove down a series of residential streets, my dinner companions expressed doubts about my navigational skills. However, when the restaurant's well-lighted sign appeared on our right, they immediately became believers.When we walked onto the expansive deck of the restaurant, which overlooks Main Creek and a marina, and saw people in shorts at picnic tables picking at piles of crabs, we had the feeling we were in the wrong place.

LILLEHAMMER, Norway -- I ate a plate for lunch yesterday.You had a bowl of soup or a salad or maybe a bagel.I bought a sandwich at the Olympic deli and ate the plate it came on.A blue plate special, literally.I also ate half the sandwich, which was stale. The plate was better. It was the best darn plate I ever ate.Especially when I dipped it in sugar, giving new meaning to the phrase "dessert tray."No, I have not gone crackers up here in the cold, white north. I'm just doing the green thing: saving the environment, Olympic style.

Schooners is not going to win any beauty contests. It has the look of a suburban road house, and, sitting on the fringes of the commercial hustle of the Belair Road, it is easy to miss. Once inside, diners have to pass through a bar to get to the dining room; although a few nautical pictures and stuffed game fish have been hung in a bid for "atmosphere," the place is definitively frill-free.Just the place, in other words, to eat lobster.Despite its reputation as rich-folks' food, lobster is a sloppy treat that, like steamed crabs, should never be eaten in a fancy restaurant.

A schooner is a multimasted ship, so Schooners is an apt name for the multifaceted restaurant and lounge in Ocean City's beautiful new Princess Royale hotel. The oceanfront eatery -- which is open for three meals a day -- offers an extensive and varied menu that for dinner includes steak, chicken, seafood, Italian and Mexican specialties.A schooner can also be a pint-sized beer glass, and the restaurant offers about a dozen imported beers as well as "Schooners' Original Lager Beer" ($2.25)

Right now you'd be hard pressed to find a better place than the newly opened L&N Seafood for a moderately priced fish dinner. (That's assuming you get over the shock any Baltimorean would feel when he realizes there's no crab on the menu.) Once L&N gets discovered, though, watch out. This place is going to be a zoo.The first L&N Seafood opened in an old L&N train station in Knoxville, Tenn. That was 10 years ago during the World's Fair; since then the chain has been so successful nearly 40 L&Ns have been established from New York to Texas.

". . . and this score just in from the stadium: the Baltimore Concrete Abutments 5, the Cleveland Barcaloungers 3. In a 10-inning thriller. That's three wins in a row for the Butts."There. Congratulations. You have experienced the future. The future of sports. One Hundred Percent Foolproof Team Nicknames Guaranteed Not to Offend Any Person, Vegetable, Mineral, Loyal Family Pet, Chicken Product, Seafood Platter or Member of the Plant Family.". . . and so after three innings it's the Baltimore Magnesium Sulfide 2, Cleveland Impossibly Cute Babies 1."