Where's the Best Place to Watch the Ravens Play?



Two buddies set off on a quest.

My friend, Erik William, and I visited four fine local establishments to find the best place to watch the Ravens play the Falcons on Thursday night football on Nov.11.

We set off in Erik's sleek silver AMG Mercedes from Chase to Bowleys Quarters to Middle River to Pulaski Highway in search of the best Ravens' Happy Hour in the eastern part of Baltimore county.

We started off at Liberatores' at Honeygo Boulevard. I know Liberatores' may be the best Italian place to take your wife or girlfriend but the best Ravens' Bar?

Bartender Luigi Declaro promptly greeted us as we sat at the only two seats not taken at the main bar. Erik ordered a $2 domestic and we saddled up to the bar. His beer was kept shockingly cold by the stainless steel disk imbedded into the surface of the granite bar.

The bartender, Nick Bonono, quickly ran down their specials for Ravens games, they have the already mentioned $2 domestic bottles, $5 drink specials and $14/pound Lazyman Shrimp.

We decided on the the Lazyman Shrimp, which came already peeled and deviened smothered with steamed onions and old bay seasoning. The plump shrimp were u14 in size meaning there was 14 shrimp per lb.

"The shrimp were very spicy," said William, "almost too spicy but luckily I had the beer to cool my mouth down."

The couple sitting next to us had the Margherita Pizza. It looked delicious but we need to get to The Long Beach Restaurant & Tavern before the game started.

We paid our tab, got the bartenders suggestions for menu items; Luigi likes the Crab Ravioli and Nick likes the Filet of Pizza steak.

We were greeted at Long Beach by a former co-worker of mine, Al Zuro. Zuro serves as the executive chef at Long Beach. He introduced us to restaurant manager, Sarah DiBiasio . We were quickly ushered upstairs to the Utter Bar, and introduced to Marion Utter the proprietor. The chef ordered us a platter of nachos, hot wings and steamed shrimp. These are offered with a pitcher of beer for $10 during Ravens' games.

Utter explained the bars' charitable outreach, they recently held an event to benefit the Saint Jude's Children's hospital, and another to benefit a local food bank.

We watched the entire first half of football at this local Ravens Roost #71.

The shrimp looked huge on the plate, these 10 succulent briny shrimp were coated in the just the right amount of old bay.

"I would put our food here up against anyone's" Zuro said. "Our crab cakes, our hot wings, and our hamburgers."

The wings were cooked correctly and coated in a tasty hot sauce. The nachos came in a generous portion, tri-colored fresh fried chips covered in nacho cheese sauce, beef, and sour cream.

"This place was open during last winter's blizzard," bragged patron Kasey Haggerty. "I think they have the best hamburgers I've ever had, and I travel for business. I rode my snowmobile here during the blizzard of 2010 and they opened every day."

As the Ravens and the Falcons headed into the locker room for half time we headed out of Long Beach and headed to on Eastern Avenue.

There, we sampled their tempting wings. We ordered them medium but it was a very spicy sauce, a classic hot sauce mixed with butter. We also shared a cheese steak, overstuffed with seasoned steak-um, fried onions, and lettuce and tomato.

Bartender Stacy Travers recommended the all-jumbo lump crab cakes.

With the third quarter ending Erik and I drive to Catches on Pulaski Highway.

Bartenders Josh Wolf and Erin Byrnes greeted us at the door. We did not want to eat anything so we ordered waters and asked about the Ravens game day specials. Thursday nights are karaoke for Catches so a large portion of the clientele was waiting to sing but many Ravens fans were evident.

Catches features half price appetizers, happy hour beer specials, and free fresh-shucked oysters with all the fixings, during Ravens' Games.

The last Atlanta Falcons touchdown signaled the end for our night as well as the Ravens' night, who lost 26-21. We headed home for the evening, not quite sure if we found the best Ravens bar but sure we found some good ones. Can't wait to continue our quest. Any suggestions?