Visiting Annapolis

From time to time, I’m going to be making posts here that reflect my opinion on something and other authors will be welcome to do the same. This first commentary post was originally going to discuss service at restaurants and how it differs among various establishments in Annapolis. I spent Friday night and Saturday there last weekend with my wife in what was my first trip to the state capital since moving here last summer to get married (to a Maryland native.) As I wrote it, it turned more into a travel piece than a review of restaurant service so I’ll let it stand as that now, with mentions of the varying levels of service included.

Our trip included a late birthday present for my wife in the way of tickets to the Edwin McCain show at Rams Head. Since our tickets were to the 10 p.m. show we decided to just get the Performance Package and have dinner next door in Rams Head Tavern.

We got there early for our reservation and they seated us ahead of time. My wife decided on the Ahi tuna while I decided to get beer-battered shrimp. Our waitress had seemed a bit nervous when taking our order, she had mixed something up talking and mentioned it had been a long day and got flustered by the fact that she spilled a very, very small amount of my beer (I tried the Tavern Ale because I had heard good things about beers with Pacific Northwest hops but never tried one before) when she brought it to the table. She brought a salad for my wife and a basket of bread and my wife remarked that I should have gotten a salad with my entree, which I hadn’t noticed when I ordered.

When our food arrived at the table, I had a saucer with 6 shrimp on it (the entree had 12 listed on the menu) and that was it - no sides or anything. We promptly figured out that they had brought me the appetizer order of the beer-battered shrimp. I told the waitress - she apologized profusely and said she’d get me some more shrimp and some fries. After she went to the kitchen, she came back and also made sure I got the salad that should’ve come with the order and said the appetizer order of shrimp was on her an that she was bringing a full entree out. My wife, who had a view of the kitchen and the servers’ area, said that she had been consulting with the manager while she was back there. We wound up with 18 shrimp and I ended up needing help from wife to finish them. Our server handled the situation very well for someone in their first day of work (a fact she told us later) and I had no complaints. We tipped her 20% because of the aplomb she handled the situation with. The discount on the meal because of the performance package made it a great deal. We didn’t even have to leave the building to head next door for the concert.

There’s even a quick service note on the concert hall side of things at Rams Head before I briefly mention the concert. The woman in charge of the door for the show must park her broom in the janitor’s closet on her way in to work every night. We were seated in the back near the door and the other couple at our table had a 3rd person decide to go to the concert. They were trying to work out a trade with the people at the table where the friend’s ticket was located and not having much success. We were willing to help them out with a trade since our seats weren’t side-by-side and I was having to look to the left and back to see the stage (I was able to turn my chair around later.) The woman in charge of the door was no help whatsoever to them apparently (and there were still tickets available when we got there) and didn’t seem to care when we offered to help out. She remained in the concert hall as a spectator mainly for the whole show and did little to stop the obnoxious concert-goer at the table next to ours who was sitting sideways an taking up so much space that the woman sitting next to me in the other couple finally got fed up and moved to the chairs at the back next to the door. Her date and their friend joined her during the break after the opening act and they wound up watching the rest of the concert there.

The woman working the door was too busy schmoozing and enjoying the concert to even do anything about things like that obnoxious boor at the adjacent table, but she did have the time to try to crack down on people taking pictures - but only if they were unfortunate enough to be sitting on the back rows where she was standing. If you were close enough to the front you could take pictures with impunity.

Gary Pfaff of Atlanta was the opening act. I had never heard of him before and I was very impressed with his performance. I’d pay to see him as headliner somewhere. Edwin McCain (who now has short hair if you haven’t seen him lately) gave a really great performance. I’d seen him before at an outdoor music festival with a big crowd, but never in an intimate setting like Rams Head. He joked around and told stories between songs and interacted with the audience the whole show (another note: my hometown in South Carolina is only about 35-40 miles away from his hometown.) After the show, everyone who attended the concert got a free mug of their choice of Fordham beer (we tried the Copperhead Ale) in the tavern.

Overall, Rams Head got great grades - especially the waitress who was working her first day. The value of the performance package (which included a food discount and validated parking) made the entire evening a good deal. Rams Head just needs to give a chill pill to the older lady working the door of the concert hall (and I understand about contracts and camera bans, I’m referring to her general demeanor the whole time.) Hopefully when they take out the brewing operations between the restaurant and the concert hall to add more concert hall space, they will fix the tables near the door now so people won’t have their back to the stage anymore.

Saturday morning we slept in and headed in for a late breakfast or early lunch in Annapolis before a 1:30 walking tour that included the historic district, the Naval Academy and the State House. We parked in the same garage off West Street that we parked in the night before and went to the temporary visitors center to see if there were any good coupons and to find out where the meeting spot for the tour we’d signed up for was.

As we headed down Main Street headed towards City Dock we kept our eye out for somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat so we could still make it to our 1:30 tour. About 20 ’til 1 I noticed something on the right side of the street. It was Chick & Ruth’s Delly, which I’d read about a few times in the newspaper since they’re known for naming their sandwiches and other menu items after Governors and other state officials.

They’ve been in business since 1965 and Ted Levitt, the son of the original owners, is now running things (he started out as a dishwasher there as a child.) It is one of the hangouts in town for political and legislative types and reminds me some of the Capitol Cafe, a defunct state capital hangout in my home state of South Carolina (which I didn’t encounter until it’s business was already going downhill.)

Another unique feature about Chick & Ruth’s is the Scotlaur Inn, which is a bed & breakfast upstairs from the deli. Guests check in at the cashier inside the deli. Ted Levitt also operates another business, Uncle Teddy’s Soft Pretzels, which has sales outlets at Oriole Park at Camden Yards and at BWI Airport. Besides having all of the items named after politicians listed on the walls, they have various pictures of politicans, midshipmen the family has sponsored, and other people all over. There’s even a picture of Ollie North in Iraq for Fox News near the ATM by the front door. Every morning, there is a pause in the hustle and bustle for the saying of the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag.

We sat around looking at the menu and pictures on the walls for about 10 minutes or so before we finally figured out we’d fallen through the cracks somehow when a server went on break. When a waitress finally got to our table, she was extremely helpful in telling us what the best things to order would be with the shortest prep time since we were in a bit of a rush at this point. We both ordered omelettes and they were done and on the table in 5 minutes or so. I had the Annapolis Cheese Steak Omelette while my wife had a bacon and cheese omelette. The omelettes were great and the homemade home fries were excellent as well and we again left a generous tip. We left there to head to City Dock for our tour but it wouldn’t be our last trip to Chick and Ruth’s that day.

We arrived at the City Dock information booth for our tour and found a Colonial-dressed guide from Watermark sitting next to the booth. We were taking the Three Centuries Walking Tour which is a two-hour tour that includes the historic areas of Annapolis, the U.S. Naval Academy and the Maryland State House. The guide (I forget her first name but her last name was Huston) was excellent and had a basket full of visual aids that weren’t limited to pictures. (Watermark’s guides are required to undergo 50 hours of training before they begin work and it shows in how well their tours are.)

The tour started with background information on colonial clothing for both the aristocracy and the working class before going to an original home not far from the dock. The tour then continued on to the Naval Academy. The USNA portion of the tour was great but I think I might go back later for one of the tours actually given on campus by the Academy since there were some things I wanted to see that weren’t covered and the chapel was not accessible because it was a Saturday in June and it was nothing but an assembly line of weddings all afternoon.

The tour did go by Lejeune Hall and the Goat statue before heading towards Bancroft Hall, the massive barracks on campus. An area on the first floor included an example of what a furnished room looks like as well as plaques honoring distinguished alumni in cluding James Stockale, John McCain and Ross Perot. The Tecumseh statue and the Herndon monument were both covered next as we approached the chapel. Even though the chapel was not accessible, we saw the next wedding party gathered around the bandstand with the groomsmen keeping the groom away from the bride on the other side of the bandstand and shrubbery.

Before we headed to the rear of the chapel to go to the John Paul Jones Crypt, our guide did let us wait for the wedding that was ending to exit the chapel so that we could get pictures of the newlywed couple walking through the crossed swords on the steps. The tour then went to the Jones Crypt, which was very interesting - especially the historical background on Jones and the search for his remains provided by our guide.

After exiting the Academy grounds, the tour went up Maryland Street and stopped outside the home that belonged to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase. While there, the Hammond-Harwood House across the street was also discussed. After leaving those houses, the tour continued with a stop at St. John’s College and a discussion of the academic program there, along with pointing out the replica of the Liberty Bell and a mansion originally built for a colonial governor that now belongs to the college. The annual croquet match between St. John’s and the Naval Academy was also mentioned.

The final stop of the tour was the State House and grounds which began with a stop at the Thurgood Marshall Memorial and continued inside. The House of Delegates chamber was the first stop inside while the Senate chamber was off-limits due to renovations. The Old Senate chamber, which is in the original part of the building, has been made to look like it did during the time period the U.S. capitol was located there. A mannequin of George Washington in uniform is in the front of the room symbolizing Washington resigning his military commission there. The tour ended on the grounds at the cannon that was brought from St. Mary’s City when the state capital moved to Annapolis.

We walked around the State House grounds for a bit and then headed down Cornhill Street back towards the City Dock after deciding that were going to take the 90-minute cruise to the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. On the way we stopped in the market space for a cold drink.

The line for boarding was already taking shape a few minutes after 4 when we got to the dock. The cruise started up around 4:30 and passed all the sailboats and other craft moored in Spa Creek as well as the Academy. Eastport was pointed out as well as the 3 radio towers still standing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. During the Cold War there were a total of 15 of these towers used to keep in contact with the U.S. fleet at sea. The pilings another light house rested on off the point where the towers were was visible. Other communities and areas on shore were discussed including the area where the B&O Railroad originally had a resort only accessible by rail and water that included hotels and an amusement park.

The history of lighthouses in the area was discussed prior to the history of Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse. The light was not automated until 1986. The lighthouse is now owned by the City of Annapolis with assistance from Anne Arundel County, the U.S. Lighthouse Society and the Maritime Museum. The Coast Guard is still responsbible for the aids to navigation at the lighthouse and current weather information at the light can be found here. The Bay Bridge could be seen on the return trip as well as the other landmarks previously mentioned. Watermark has several other cruises of varying lengths on various vessels, including charters and a water taxi. The cruise to the lighthouse we took was on the Annapolitan II.

We walked around and went in shops around the City Dock area after the cruise before we started looking for somewhere to eat dinner. Middleton Tavern was one of the older establishments (1758) that I had noticed earlier in the day so we decided to eat inside there (they had a separate hostess for outside dining.) We had been outside most of the afternoon so we needed food and water but we weren’t looking for something too heavy. We both got oyster shooters and the beer that came with them was a house brew that was quite tasty - had I even known they had house brews (more on the service later) I probably would have ordered one of them instead of the Sam Adams Summer Ale that I ordered. My wife decided to get the Seafood Tower appetizer and treat it as dinner while I got the Middleton Special (a sirloin with baked potato and a salad.) The decor was great with many period items - some of them dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries. Our table was in a corner right next to a picture of Abraham Lincoln accompanied by a brass plaque pointing out that Lincoln only received one single vote in the city of Annapolis during the election in 1860.

The food was excellent in every regard. The service from our waiter (anyone from the restaurant wondering the name can contact me at mail@insidecharmcity.com) left something to be desired. He took our drink orders and seemed to become disinterested from that point forward after we didn’t order a bottle of wine (our only guess on this was because of the gratuity potential.) While everyone else in the restaurant was hustling and generally busting their ass to get things done (especially the busser and the guy who poured the water), our waiter was just downright lethargic. While the other staff on that level were scrambling to get things ready for a larger party, our waiter let both our water glasses sit empty for upwards of 10 minutes and my wife had to get up and go to the bar to get a refill of her iced tea. The waiter disappeared for large periods of time and when he emerged he would go to adjacent tables without even bothering to see if we needed anything. We waited for several minutes for the check, which he had ready in his hand as soon as we answered affirmatively that we were ready for it. Our total order was still in the $50-60 range pre-tip, if that’s what he was worried about after the lack of a wine order. I did leave a 15% tip (exactly that amount - I did the math) to make a point but to not penalize any of the other hard-working staff who probably shared in gratuities. We really weren’t in the mood to deal with the hassle of complaining at the time but we did discuss how we’d had two other dining related issues during the trip (both mentioned above in discussion of other establishments) and how at those establishments things had been handled at the level of the server without things escalating. I’ve intentionally left the name of the server out at Middleton to prevent any embarrassment.

After dinner we walked around and looked at some more shops down around the dock an market and kept our eyes peeled for somewhere to get ice cream. After going through a book store and a tourist trap gift store (where we got 3 different mashed pennies) we found ourselves right across the street from Chick and Ruth’s again - I was headed that way to get a picture before dark - and I remembered a kid on the sidewalk when we were leaving earlier in the day asking if that was the place with the good milkshakes. Since his dad answered him affirmatively then, we popped in to see exactly what they had in the way of dessert. My wife had a scoop of ice cream in a cone while I had a milkshake. The shake, which was great, came in a glass but they also brought out the metal cup from the shake mixer with some more in it. After I finished what was in the glass, the remaining milkshake was so much that it barely fit into the glass when I poured it from the metal cup. The scoop of ice cream was huge.

Annapolis is a charming place that still has many facets of a small town despite all the growth in tourism and government. It’s a good day trip from Baltimore or even a good weekend. I’ll go back at some point soon probably. As far as the places we frequented this weekend go, I’ll definitely be going back to Chick & Ruth’s as soon as I can and I would recommend it to anybody who asked about Annapolis. I’d also recommend Rams Head for a meal or a concert to anyone. Watermark for a cruise or tour is another business I’d highly recommend. While I would probably try Middleton Tavern again because the food was so good and on the chance the level of service was just an anomaly, I’m not quite to the point of being able to recommend them to someone else right now.

Do you have any comments on Annapolis in general or recommendations for other restaurants or attractions? Do you have any other suggestions for places to go on day trips from the Baltimore area? Leave your suggestions in the comments below or email them to mail@insidecharmcity.com.

The rest of the photographs I took on the trip can be found here.

Update: For a perspective on Annapolis from someone who has live there for a few years, check out Quantum Sagas. I also neglected to link to the very excellent website for the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County CVB.