Downtown Dining in Backwoods Maryland

When traveling, we'll pretty much go anywhere, provided there’s something good to eat along the way, at the destination, and on the way back from the destination.

This past weekend, we were seized by the notion of heading an hour north to Frederick for a couple of food adventures and several hours of shopping. The real credit for this trip goes to our friend KL, who, for a while, has been wanting to explore the city’s legendary vintage clothing stores and antique furniture purveyors. KL was visiting from New York, and since AC and I were long overdue for a day trip, we made it happen.

For lunch, we stopped at Monocacy Crossing, just several miles south of historic Frederick. The restaurant, housed in a nondescript, possibly refurbished, roadside inn, was totally missable, as it sat quietly tucked away on a two-lane country highway. Contrary to what usually happens, we actually spotted it and found a makeshift parking spot in the gravelly “lot” of the restaurant.

Upon entering, diners might catch a glimpse of the none-too-subtle display of a chef’s jacket from the Culinary Institute of America, embroidered with the head chef’s name. A sign of good things to come, we thought.

One of the first things we noticed while perusing the menu was the ample selection of bygone cocktails, namely The Grasshopper and The Pink Squirrel, two drinks that we poked fun at for about 10 minutes before eventually ordering them. The Grasshopper sold us on the crème de menthe alone, and indeed, it tasted like liquefied mint ice cream and took on the same almost neon green hue. The other constituent parts were white crème de cacoa and cream. The Pink Squirrel required a bit more investigation. It includes creme de noyaux, white crème de cacoa, and cream. Noyaux turned out to be almondy (rather than hazelnut, which we thought in the beginning), and was clearly responsible for the Barbie-doll pink color. Almond flavoring adds a complex greatness to so many things, and this was no exception. Next time, we'll have a go at the Harvey Wallbanger.

For the appetizer, we went for the Asian Spiced Ribs with Peanut Sauce. The meat was tender and flavored with a spicy marinade, and the velvety peanut sauce was much appreciated, as we sopped up every last bit of it with whatever pieces of the hot, garlicky homemade bread was leftover (not much).

AC's Saute of Pork Tenderloin with Sage-Cider Sauce was a truly new experience.  While I’ve enjoyed many a delicious marinade, none was so ever-present as this one. Many marinades taste great on impact, but don't hold their flavor through the chewing and the swallowing of every food morsel. In this case, every bite offered up a new burst of cider, a waft of sage, and what we decided was a liberal helping of ginger. The flavors were fresh, light, and, as always, anything apple-oriented is a great complement to a tender slab of pork. The dish came with creamy skin-on mashed potatoes, and lightly sautéed snap peas.

KL ordered the Open Lobster and Crab Ravioli with Asparagus. It would be wrong to call these colossal squares of pasta just “ravioli.” These, rather, were like duvet covers made of thin homemade pasta—huge (probably four by four), thin, squares of tender al dente pasta very delicately stuffed with generous amounts of crab and lobster in a rich lobster cream sauce. Though heavy, the filling was delicious and original. The dish was topped with sautéed asparagus.

After lunch, AC admitted to me that when I decided on the Crispy Eggplant Napoleon with Grilled Vegetables and Tomato Cream that he thought this would be the boring concession to vegetarians, and would therefore be a tasteless mound of soggy veggie saute. When AC is quick to judge, he can sometimes be wrong. For those of you who regularly read ST, you know I hardly ever eschew eggplant. And though I prefer to enjoy meat at a nice place, I had a feeling this would be a delightful interpretation of my favorite oblong and oft-maligned vegetable. Fortunately, I was right. Three rounds of crispy, lightly fried eggplant were alternated by massive helpings of delicately grilled bell peppers, squash, and zucchini, all sitting in a pool of homemade light, creamy marinara sauce. It would be really easy to overgrill the vegetables, resulting in a mushy pile of plant matter. But each veggie slice was thick, hot, and retained its rigidity, and still had that fleshy texture that a nice grilled veggie should have. The eggplant was fabulous. Clearly, the chef had fried it in some proprietary seasoned bread-crumb mixture that gave the fried eggplant almost a loud crunch.

Next time, we won’t eat so much or drink two cream-based cocktails so we can actually enjoy the homemade Coconut Pound Cake.

Take a day trip to Frederick and stop in at Monocacy Crossing along the way at:

4424 Urbana Pike
Frederick, Maryland
(301) 846-4204

—AK