College Reunion in Baltimore, MD

Cue, “Good Morning Baltimore,” – Tracy Turnblad, Hairspray. 🌇

Okay, I know there’s a lot of scary media out there when it comes to Baltimore, & I’m not saying to ignore that, because there is truth in it for many different reasons, but I encourage you to GO and do your research to stay in safe areas.  Ask your hotels and Airbnb hosts about the area, travel in a couple or a group, and uber/lyft when needed. Basically, just like any other big city in the US, right??

Alright, you ready for the fun part?! Because there’s a lot!! I grew up in Frederick, Maryland, from the ages of 5 to 17, so going to Baltimore at 27 felt like returning home for many reasons, but this time I could partayyy around town!

My college friends and I planned the trip on this particular weekend (November 16th 2023) because the Ravens (GO ‘VENS BABY!) were playing a home Thursday night football game against the Bangles (heyyy Joe Burrow). So, a perfect time to go back to MD to drink, laugh and watch football!

Soo, let’s get into it!

Night one: Thursday night football 🏈

I landed in BWI around 3, and Marley, my best friend and incredible hostest for the weekend, picked me up and brought me back to her lovely row home in the Upper Fed Hill area. She does not Airbnb the space, so unfortunately for you, I don’t have an exact stay rec lol, but the area was fabulous, especially if you’re catching a Raven’s game and like to party, because we could walk right to the tailgate lot, the stadium, and the Fed Hill bars before/after the game (which are a madhouse, but we of course went anyways).

First, we went to Outpost American Tavern for happy hour, where we got $5 orange crushes (Maryland staple beverage) and a few shareables. This place is super affordable for quick bites during the happy hour, if you’re in this area!

To tailgate, we brought our own canned beverages to the H lot (the party lot) & pregamed there as a squad. No entry fee required, just show up and you can stand around.  

The game was SO fun! We sat in nosebleeds and I could still see the game well from my seats. If you’re trying to save money on the seats, I was satisfied with the upper level, as a girl who was indeed watching the game. Also, there was a liquor bar on the upper level, which our crew appreciated.

After the Ravens killed the Bangles– RIP to the rest of Joe Burrow’s season (sorry boo, still love ya!), we headed to the Fed Hill bars, and they were jam packed, so we just went to the shortest line so we could all be together. Ya know we took shots & danced & left.

*Bars I would recommend going to before a game or watching the game at: Mother’s Grille, Watershed, One Star, & The Charles.

Before we called it a night, we hit Pubdog– def a place for this recs page! When you order a beer, you get two, every single time. At this point we were rolling 4 people deep on a perfect double date, so we just ordered “2 beers” and got 4. The beer is great, served in a classic mug. Then we got 4 personal pizzas to go for home. The whole bill was $75 for 4 beers and 4 decent sized pizzas, perfect last stop of the night! 🍕

Friday morning/afternoon

In the morning, Marley picked us up Sam’s Bagels & I got a lox and cream cheese bagel and holy freaking moly they did not hold back on the lox– rule #1. It was honestly one of the best lox bagels I’ve ever had… what, what?! Yes, that good. 

In the early afternoon Marley and I went back down to the Fed Hill bar area, and wow what a difference during the day. The area is so gorgeous and calm on a weekday afternoon.

We went to Brightside Boutique, which if you’re a shopper girly, check this place out, they have multiple locations throughout Baltimore. It is a very female focused boutique, so they have really cute, unique Baltimore gear, brands like Free People and Levi’s, and lots of gifting items like funny mugs, jewelry, and cards. Each location is a little different & here is their Instagram that I follow.

After, we went to Watershed, located in the incredible food hall, Cross Street Market. We went up to the rooftop & had skinny grapefruit crushes. I mentioned crushes being a staple in Maryland. And when I tell you, THIS was an MD crush, wooo doggies it was a chef’s kiss. 🍊 They also have fresh seafood for food options and the rooftop is just awesome, so check it out if you’re in the area!

We then headed out to the Guinness Brewery Factory to meet the boys and drink some BEEERS. The Factory is a little drive outside of Baltimore, but worth every penny we spent in Ubers (not that much ha). I am a Guinness gal, so I was in heaven! 🍻

The Guinness was of course very velvety and fresh, so that’s what I stuck to, but they also serve other unique Guinness beer options. Unfortunately for my non-beer drinkers, I believe they’re only serving brewed beers, so bring your airplane bottles– KIDDING!

We sat outside for our first beer on the picnic tables where they have an outdoor beer bar, cornhole boards, and a huge mural to take some pics in front of—you know where my priorities were!

We moved inside so we could order lunch and the food was very good & fresh, def recommend!

Alsooo, the merch section is highly impressive, which I am super picky about brewery merch, as I feel like most breweries miss the mark on merch (esp for women) BUT not Guinness!! I got my oversized stitched Guinness varsity jacket (pictured wearing it above) there and I LOVE IT!

For dinner, we stayed local in the Fed Hill area and went to Nola Seafood & Spirits. I really did feel like I was in Nola– they even gave us Mardi Gras beads. ⚜️

We got a ton of Oysters (def order their Northern selection, not local from the bay), the crawfish toast, and the Cajun mussels. Our server, Julie was the sweetest and brought us beignets on the house, because ya know, we brought the vibes. They were in fact amazing, so bring the good vibes and maybe you’ll get some too, or ya know order them ha.

After dinner, we went to One Star, Marley’s favorite bar and a local’s party staple, for a final drink. If you like it, be sure to leave a one star review! 😉⭐️

Saturday

This was a fun packed day spent in Fells Point—an area you must hit on your trip to Baltimore. It’s my favorite part of Baltimore with its cobblestone streets, old brick buildings, right on the harbor & home to upscale restaurants, bars, hotels, and shopping. What’s not to love?!

For brunch we went to Prima Dopo & this place is SO cute!  There was a DJ playing great music and TVs playing football. It is more expensive, but the food is top notch! We got a pizza and crabcake benedicts, oh my lawd! We ordered breakfast shots (DO IT) and fresh cocktails to drink, so we left feeling RIGHT!

We shopped around in the area—there is another Brightside over here, a cool surf shop, and many of my favorite corporate shops.

When we were ready to feed our buzz again, we headed to the Sagamore Pendry hotel. Y’all– another must do!! It is a gorgeousss hotel with so many unique areas to enjoy. We sat at the bar because it was cold outside and our bartender, Sean was 11/10 amazing! We ordered espresso martinis at 2 pm– the perfect time to indulge in a ‘spresso tini, you can quote me on that! One of the best I’ve had, and of course it had 3 beans!

After our cocktails, we went out to the pool deck, which faces the harbor and wowza–go out here if you go to Baltimore when it’s warm.

We went to the Admiral’s Cup to keep our party going, where it was popping with live music.

We relocated after to El Buffalo in Canton, which is a tequila bar and Mexican restaurant, aka my fav. We just went for margaritas and a vibe, but the food looked super yum. P.S. every day at sunset, they serve complimentary tequila shots at the main bar– si, por favor! & Every third Saturday they have a drag brunch!

Well that’s everything we did worth sharing on the blog, but my lovely bff & Baltimore local, Marley, wrote out all her fav recs for our arrival & I’m going to share those in the Google Maps link as well 🙂

Go ‘vens baby! Xoxo, JWTR

All the places I went to above & additional recs from Marley so you can see them on the map 📍

& Local Baltimore eats Instagram pages:

Baltimore Food Scene

Eat More Be More