Feel like some bangers and mash, or enchiladas and refried beans? Maybe it’s a martini you’re after, accompanied by a star anise-seared tuna with coconut Thai basil risotto. Whatever your culinary preference, you’ll find plenty to please your palate along the rejuvenated West Street, which draws a growing number of locals and adventurous tourists.
Here’s a guide to the restaurants and nightlife along West Street:
The Ram’s Head Tavern, home to the Fordham Brewing Company, has grown from its early days as a basement pub – for years, West Street’s lone nightspot. Now, it’s a restaurant and entertainment venue that draws regional and national acts such as Aaron Neville, Lyle Lovett and Bo Diddley up to five nights a week. Botanical prints cover the tablecloths, and brass rings hold the half-curtains in clubby dining rooms and two bars. Visible through the archways in the main bar are the sturdy copper vats – “the largest six-pack in Annapolis,†as they’re called – where Fordham beers are brewed. Seven are served here, including Copperhead Ale, Oyster Stout and Fordham Light, along with a seasonal brew. The menu focuses on pub-style grub, like a Fordham beer-battered shrimp entrée, reubens, burgers, fish and chips and a shrimp salad sandwich. Jambalayas, chicken and seafood dishes dominate the entrée list. Local musicians play the pub rooms and, in good weather, the garden patio, many nights during the week. Call for ticket info. 33 West St.; 410-268-4545.
At Lotsa Pasta the Mediterranean blue of Amalfi coast scenes brighten white stucco walls. The 14 tables extend the color scheme with cobalt-blue bread plates atop white linen. Choose from pizza, zuppas, antipasti, insalatas and pastas. 36 West St.; 410-267-9950.
For a Mexican meal at a good price, try El Toro Bravo. Hanging philodendrons ring the two dining rooms, tendrils linked into a living frame for the bright murals of Mexican village life. Settle in at an aqua booth and order from a mix of tacos, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, tamales and fajitas that dominate the menu. For lunch, the combo specials, numbered one through 10, could not be more reasonably priced. 50 West St.; 410-267-5949.
49 West Coffeehouse & Winebar brought art openings and jazz to West Street with its December 1995 debut, all in an establishment serving the sort of food and drink you might encounter in a Florentine café-bar. Nobody minds if you want to settle in at a corner table to read. Or watch the street life pass from one of the window nooks. Artists’ work hangs from the walls. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served; look for healthy and creative sandwiches like the pesto tuna steak, along with quiches, salads, soups and a handful of entrees, including pastas. 49 West also is a popular dessert stop in the evenings. There’s live music Tuesday to Sunday evenings. 49 West St.; 410-626-9796.
Gavin Buckley and Jody Danek, who opened the Pan-Asian restaurant Tsunami in 1999, understand their hip, fast-forward fare brought something new to the street. “Our object is to try to get a foothold in here,†says Buckley, seated at the sleek, stainless steel bar that dominates Tsunami. Buckley and Danek, with their wives, Julie Williams and Kristin Lewis, respectively, along with other partners, are behind the restaurants and other businesses that will open at West Village. The hip factor is high at Tsunami, where open ceilings show ductwork painted white. The sushi’s good, but don’t overlook the entrees with creative sauces like rockfish en papillote with coconut curry sauce. A late-night sushi bar is open nightly. 51 West St.; 410-990-9868.
By Allison Blake
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