Carson’s Creekside

The punny name sets the tone exactly right: LoonAsea is where an Essex afternoon happily goes off the rails, cold drinks, good crabs, and a waterfront setting that makes everything taste better.

On Middle River in Baltimore’s northeastern harbor country, Bowleys pours cold beer and steams crabs in season with the honest, century-old working-waterfront character the neighborhood built its name on.

On the Back River in Essex, Charly’s pours cold beer and steams crabs at the dock that has anchored this waterfront neighborhood’s identity for as long as anyone can remember.

A Middle River-area waterfront bar in Essex where boaters and regulars know the bartender by name, Brewers Landing keeps Baltimore’s northeastern harbor tradition of cold drinks and fresh crabs alive.

McFaul’s pairs the Chesapeake’s greatest food, the raw oyster, with a waterfront bar setting and a rotating selection that changes with the season and the tides.