Whole blue crabs steamed under a heavy coat of Old Bay or J.O. seasoning, dumped on a brown-paper table and cracked open with wooden mallets. The crab feast is a Baltimore summer ritual as much as a meal.
Steaming whole crabs in seasoned salt is the oldest way Baltimore eats its Chesapeake catch, a working-waterman tradition that became the city's defining summer feast. Crabs are graded by size and sold by the dozen, steamed to order and piled high. The communal table, the mallets, the cold beer and the slow, messy work of picking are the whole point, and crab houses around the harbour and out on the water have run the ritual for generations.
3 editor picks for Steamed blue crabs in Baltimore, ranked by editorial score. All Baltimore signature dishes · Steamed blue crabs across every city.
Faidley's Seafood ★ 4.7
downtown · 119 North Paca Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Faidley's Seafood at Lexington Market has sold its jumbo lump crab cake since 1886, a stand-up counter where you eat the city's benchmark cake off paper.
LP Steamers ★ 4.4
locust-point · 1100 East Fort Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21230
LP Steamers in Locust Point is a classic two-storey crab house, steaming blue crabs heavy with Old Bay and serving a rooftop deck above Fort Avenue.
Mama's on the Half Shell ★ 4.2
canton · 2901 O'Donnell Street, Baltimore, MD 21224
Mama's on the Half Shell on Canton Square is a neighbourhood crab-and-oyster house, working steamed crabs, oysters and a crab cake across two busy floors.