Daily Eats Saturday, November 3

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One of my girlfriends came to Maryland for a visit this weekend.  We had a wonderful day shopping and snacking in and around Baltimore.  We started off the morning with brunch at Cacao Lane in historic Ellicott City.  I had never been there before but I was really impressed with the menu.  There are lots of veggie and seafood options and these are generally good choices for some who is eating low carb.  

I tend to relax my diet a little bit when I have company and so I ordered the fried green tomatoes and a coffee.  The tomatoes came out breaded in cornmeal, so not the greatest choice, but man were they good.  I scraped off about half of the breading with a knife and dug in.  There was a lemon basil aioli on the side that was tasty.  For those of you who don't know, an aioli is a kind of glorified mayonnaise that is used for dipping.  The coffee at Cacao Lane was excellent.  I had to stop myself from drinking a fourth cup because we had a long day ahead and I didn't want to have to stop.

After shopping in historic Ellicott City we went down to the Baltimore inner harbor for a long walk.  It was pretty chilly but we still walked around the water for a couple of hours, stopping to peer in a couple of shops.  We headed home to meet the awesome boyfriend and then the three of us went out for dinner.  

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I wanted to take my friend out to eat crabs, a Baltimore tradition, especially this time of year.  We decided to go to Canton Dockside, which I have heard so much about but have not yet visited.  The restaurant has an odd feel; it's kind of a cross between a sports bar and something fancier.  There are original murals featuring different areas of Maryland that are incredible, and the whole place smells like yummy crabs.  

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Awesome boyfriend wasn't in the mood to get his hands dirty so my friend and I split a half dozen crabs and a Caesar salad.  Crabs (actually any seafood that comes in a shell) are an excellent low carb choice.  They're high in protein and the carb count is almost zero.  Make sure that you don't confuse this with the packaged imitation crab that has quite a few carbs.  The Caesar dressing tasted homemade and the crabs were, of course, delicious.  The meal was medium priced- $90 for 3 people- so not somewhere I'll be eating every day, but I will definitely be returning next time I have a visitor in town.