by Allison McAlister
Fine dining in
Dundalk? Who would've thought? If you're looking to enjoy an excellent
meal in a casual atmosphere and take in one of the best waterfront
views offered in Dundalk, you must visit The Seasoned Mariner on Wise
Avenue, right by the bridge. Locally owned and operated, Bear Creek
resident Frank Taggart joined up with property owner Steve Goff in
March of this year to open the new restaurant. If we want to take
our wives out to a nice dinner, we always had to go somewhere else,
Taggart said, meaning they had to travel outside of the Dundalk area.
We wanted to bring a nice restaurant to the neighborhood. The building
has been a bar/restaurant for decades. Goff and a business partner
bought the restaurant in 1998 and opened Mariners Landing. They sold
the restaurant in 2004 but retained ownership of the property. In
the last six years, the restaurant has seen several owners and name
changes. The Scottish-born Taggart moved to Dundalk in 1998 and he
and his wife stumbled upon the restaurant when they were looking for
a local watering hole. They developed a friendship with Goff, and
when the previous owner of what was known as The Beach House had to
close up shop, Goff was left with an empty building and a mortgage
to pay. He called Taggart and said, Lets do this together. A new partnership
was formed between Goff and his wife Dorothy, known as Dottie, and
Taggart and his wife Barbara. After 29 years in the computer industry,
now I'm going to become a restaurateur, Taggart smiled. All I know
how to do is be a customer. As long as the customers are treated the
way I would want to be treated, then were golden. The restaurant,
which officially opened for business on June 7, has undergone significant
renovations and now the bar is completely separate from the dining
room. A family can come into the restaurant, have dinner and never
see the bar, explained Taggart. We've had a number of families come
in to eat which is what we hoped would happen. Taggarts whole focus
of the new restaurant is on the customers experience. We offer an
excellent product out of the kitchen and our service, for the most
part, is better than average. Its not excellent yet, but that takes
time, he explained. When the restaurant was known as Mariners Landing,
it employed a young chef named Bobby Armiger who was a good chef and
passionate about what he did. He moved on to country clubs and other
restaurants. Taggart called him up for menu advice when the new restaurant
was starting up. Ironically, Armiger had just given notice at his
current job and Taggart quickly brought him on board, which is reflected
in the restaurants name, since the young chef is now older and wiser
than he was during his Mariners Landing days. The Seasoned Mariner
was a perfect fit. Taggart also got a package deal when he hired Armiger,
because Armiger's mother, Peggy Ward, came on board as well as prep
chef and she also handles lunch. Its obvious Armiger is a talented
chef, as evidenced by everything we sampled on a recent visit to the
restaurant. Featuring daily lunch and dinner specials, as well as
the regular menu items, several of the dishes offered at The Seasoned
Mariner are refreshingly different from the usual restaurant fare.
For instance, Taggart mentioned, Bobby does amazing stuff with potatoes.
Its true! You simply must try the croquette. One bite and you'll be
hooked. The texture of the fried outer shell combined with the smooth
and creamy mashed potatoes inside will have your taste buds dancing.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself here. We began our meal with the
soup - the black bean for me and the cream of crab for my co-worker.
The black bean soup was on the daily specials menu, and it was delicious.
Served piping hot, it was chock full of beans and very flavorful.
The cream of crab was unlike what's served at other restaurants. My
co-worker described it as different and spicier than the usual and
said its a very good spicy cream of crab soup. Next we tried the corn
fritters appetizer, also featured as a daily special. These yummy
nuggets were served with several fried green beans as well, which
Id have to say were the best fried green beans I've ever eaten. For
our main meals, I went with the Seasoned Hamburger, a 10-ounce ground
chuck burger blended with their special in-house seasoning. This was
one well-seasoned burger! It was very tasty, and it was huge! So large,
in fact, that I ended up having to cut it with a fork and knife because
it was too big for me to get my mouth around it to take a bite. This
is definitely a burger that will satisfy even those with the biggest
of appetites. My co-worker just had to try the Crab Mushroom Casserole,
described as jumbo lump crab cake simmered in sherry cream demi-glaze
with fresh herbs, mushrooms, garlic and shallots and topped and browned
with the restaurants very own Chesapeake mashed potatoes. It was clear
she thoroughly enjoyed the dish. O-M-G is all she could say. Its like
a Seafood Shepherds Pie...oh my gosh! She loved it. Though we were
stuffed after all that amazing food, we did take dessert to go. My
coworker had the homemade apple dumpling, made by Ward. She described
it as heavenly. I went with the pumpkin cheesecake, which blended
the taste of pumpkin pie with the creamy goodness of cheesecake. It
was simply scrumptious! I cant wait to make a return visit to The
Seasoned Mariner. There are a few items I'm dying to try, like The
Seasoned Seafood Sub, the Horseradish Crusted Rockfish and the Smith
Island Stew. In addition to the daily specials, the restaurant also
offers nightly specials every week. Monday nights are Pasta Night
for $9.95, Wednesday nights are Date Night where you can enjoy a romantic
evening for two for $49.95, Thursday nights are Steak Night for $9.95
and Sundays are Sushi Days with Chef Sonny from Nichiban in Federal
Hill. The restaurant also holds once-a-month Wine Dinners, featuring
tastings of several wines from a featured region followed by a three-course
meal and dessert accompanied by wine selections to complement each
course. The Seasoned Mariner is located at 601 Wise Avenue in Dundalk.
For more information, call 443-242-7190 or visit www.seasonedmariner.com.
The waterfront view from the upper dining room is spectacular.
