By the Docks Seafood Restaurant: You won’t go home hungry
By the Docks, a Middle River restaurant, a prominent fixture on Eastern Boulevard, has been recognized and awarded numerous accolades for Baltimore’s Best Crab Cake. Is it the best, many will agree that the large, lump Blue Swimming crabmeat cake, broiled to golden brown perfection reigns supreme. By the Docks’ crab cakes are so popular that you can now have them shipped to anywhere in the contiguous United States.
Owner, John Kanellopoulos, whose family owns the Double T Diners and Yia Yia’s Bakery, treats his customers like family, the family that fills your plate with so much food saying, “You shouldn’t go home hungry.” Portions are very large; take the 9 ounces cold water lobster tail topped with By the Docks’ award winning crab cake crabmeat. How large is it you ask? Well, my dining companion stated, “It’s bigger than your head.” Part of a small group of folks invited in as guests to taste and experience By The Docks’ seafood cuisine I was able to see many variations of their offerings other than my own:
Jewels of the Sea – By the Docks’ colossal jumbo lump crab cake paired with 4 ounce cold water lobster tail, jumbo shrimp & scallops
Rockfish A La Vasca – Pan seared rockfish sautéed with shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, calamari and Johan Crab claw in a traditional Spanish green sauce of fresh parsley, garlic and wine.
Their fried calamari is worth boasting about. Kanellopoulos shared, “We never use frozen and we cut the calamari rings wider than most to keep it tender.” Agreed, the calamari was especially tender. We all tasted the other appetizer of the oysters Rockefeller – their rendition with spinach with four cheeses.
Desserts are worth saving room for and also, large – so ask for two forks. Yia Yia’s Bakery, fills their dessert case with sweet temptations from old traditions like Smith Island cake to their own creation of baklava cheesecake.
By the Docks’ nightly specials like 1 ¼ lb. lobster night on Monday’s for $14.99 or Tuesday’s Crab Cake night for $17.99 and many more tantalizing offerings for the rest of the week. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention their Saturday and Sunday brunch for $17.99 with all you can eat shrimp and oysters on the half shell.
By the Docks has become a destination restaurant, especially for their crab cakes. Reservations are highly recommended.
By the Docks – 3321 Eastern Boulevard – Middle River, Maryland 21220 (410) 686-1188 www.bythedocks Facebook & Instagram @bythedocks
For Dara Bunjon if it is food, Dara Does It, in fact, that is the name of her company which offers creative solutions for the food industry the likes of public relations, marketing, social media, cookbook compilations, food styling, culinary events, networking and freelance writing. You will now find Dara applying her broad range of culinary skills as a food stylist for television chefs/cookbook authors the likes of Steven Raichlen, Sara Moulton, Nick Malgieri, and Nathalie Dupree. Dara Bunjon lives, eats, dreams and writes about food and isn’t hesitant to share her views and experiences about restaurants, culinary trends, recipes, cookbooks or even her childhood food memories. She has been on the food scene for too many years to mention. Known both in Baltimore and nationally, Dara Bunjon is a former member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs’ national public relations committee.
In the past, she has written for Style Magazine, Foodservice Monthly, Mid-Atlantic Restaurant Digest, Urbanite and other sundry publications. Since 2004 she has maintained an award-winning food-related blog called Dining Dish. She co-authored her first cookbook Yum! Tasty Recipes from Culinary Greats in association with Studio Spear. And has written Baltimore restaurant reviews for Gayot.com
Dara believes food is subjective; everyone’s taste is different and she enjoys bringing you to her table to commiserate and enjoy lively discourse.
Considered one of Baltimore’s food influencers, you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @daracooks.