Annapolis: Lunch at Sam's at the Waterfront

On our way back from Delaware, we made a stop for lunch in Annapolis.  We don't know a ton about the city (probably because it's in stupid Maryland), but using some combination of Yelp, Google Maps, and a bit of chance, we stumbled upon Sam's at the Waterfront.  Sam's is randomly located at Chesapeake Harbour Marina.  We initially thought it would be in the downtown area of Annapolis (Ben thought of the Georgetown waterfront).  Oops.  In any case, we had a nice lunch.

This is the calamari with sriracha mayo. We always order
calamari as an app, and this mayo was extra special.

We started with the calamari, as is our habit (see our previous post).  We don't really understand why, though.  Ben wasn't a particularly adventurous eater growing up, though he wasn't picky - in either case, he steered clear of calamari until sometime after college.  Elizabeth was grossed out by squid as a kid, to the dismay of her parents.  She remembers one day when she went out to eat with her brother and dad; her dad ordered "onion rings" for the table and Elizabeth loved onion rings.  These were chewier than normal but still delicious.  When her dad told her that it was actually squid, she didn't believe him.  Tricky dads. 

In any case, now it's a staple for us when we go out, and this one was a winner.  The calamari itself was light, crispy, and well-seasoned.  But the sriracha mayo was the real hero of this dish.  It was tangy and sweet, and it had just the right amount of heat.  We have not yet attempted to make calamari ourselves (if only because we have it so much when we go out).  But when we do, we will definitely be trying to recreate the sriracha mayo.  We'll let you know how it turns out.

Elizabeth's first lobster roll.  Glad it wasn't at Quizno's.

For our entrees, Elizabeth had the lobster roll.  This was Elizabeth's first lobster roll, and it won't be her last.  Pretty much all of the seafood we had during our stay in the Chesapeake area was incredibly fresh and delicious, and the lobster roll was no exception. We're pretty sure that the lobster didn't exactly come from the harbor, but still.  Maybe they just have higher standards since so much good seafood does come from Chesapeake Bay.  Either way, it was a pretty good lobster roll.  The shoestring french fries were a hit as well.

This burger is so photogenic. Too bad it was overcooked -
more medium well than medium rare.

Ben ordered the Kobe beef burger (it was on special) with bacon, blue cheese, and sauteed mushrooms.  The flavors were all fine, but sadly, Sam's committed a cardinal sin in Ben's book - though Ben asked for the burger to be cooked to medium rare, they sailed clear past that, almost to well done.  Ben hates sending food back unless it's inedible, but his general rule is that he never orders that item from them again.  And if the same restaurant overcooks a different meat or other menu item, they are blacklisted.  It's a real shame too because, if the burger were cooked to medium rare, it would have had the potential for true greatness.

C & D