Dining in the Canal Zone
The historic Chesapeake & Delaware Canal, which runs across the flatlands in Delaware and Maryland connecting the two bays, offers an interesting culinary journey beginning in Chesapeake City, which has four restaurants either located on the waterway or close to it, then moving east to a marina on the north side of the waterway and on to Delaware City on the eastern end.
When we moved to Newark in the early 1970s, my wife and I especially enjoyed driving the 15 miles southwest to Chesapeake City on Christmas Eve to have an early dinner at Schaefer’s Canal House. Even though the restaurant’s water feature — the 450-foot-wide canal — was already dark when we arrived, there often were vessels traveling through, even on Christmas Eve. Owner Gunter Sunkler would dim the lights inside the restaurant while external lighting cast the vessel in daytime brightness as he announced the ship’s vitae — its size, registry, port of origin, destination and its cargo.
Chesapeake City proper is a small town, very old-fashioned and comfy with enough antique and curio shops to keep your attention, and dining options well worth multiple visits. There are a lot of cottage-style historic dwellings, some of which have been turned into B&Bs. It’s the type of destination that is perfect as a place (a) to rent a room and write your novel, uninterrupted, (b) to serve as a base while you hike along the canal or take a long bike excursion down into inlet-pocked Eastern Maryland, (c) to hide away from relatives, bill collectors or hordes of tourists or (d) to have a great weekend lunch or dinner at mostly affordable prices.
Today, Schaefer’s Canal House remains a great place to eat and drink and take in the view, whether by day or by night. The restaurant has been energetically repurposed — large, open, and sun-drenched with decks and windows on the canal side, with a darker, cooler setting in the back recesses where a large, oblong bar resides. The bar is a grand one, busy with elevated screens for sporting events — the perfect place at 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning to sip a Bloody Mary while deciding what the day brings. Schaefer’s menu is equally vast, with well-prepared but casual dishes. Sandwiches, which feature a variety of seafood options, mostly range in the teens to low twenties in price. Most entrees are $20-$30, with $45 for twin lobster tails or a generous surf and turf. There are also pasta and taco options.
208 Bank Street, Chesapeake City, MD; 410-885-7200, M-Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm, Sun 10am-9pm
We have always been fond of the Bayard House at the foot of Bohemia Avenue, overlooking the waterway. Formerly a wooden, old-fashioned, small-town hotel, the Bayard would feel right at home in the countryside of eastern France or Switzerland, quite tranquil, with a premium view of the canal. The primary dining room is a tastefully decorated, intimate porch with huge glass windows. When an ocean-freighter does pass through, its cargo actually towers above the dining room windows as it glides by. There can be drama here as well in the dead of winter, when ice floes ride west to east below you before suddenly changing course back east to west with the reversing of the tide. Start with the rich Bloody Mary, topped with olives and a fat shrimp and rimmed in Old Bay, of course. Then progress to Chef Bruce Wetterau’s enjoyable menu with options like Maryland crab soup accented with almost-crisp minced vegetables, and entrees showcasing seafood, beef, pork, and chicken, ranging from $29 to $62.
11 Bohemia Avenue, Chesapeake City, MD; 410-885-5040, Mon-Wed 5-9pm, Thurs-Sun 12-9pm
Behind its prim metal fencing separating it from the street, the Chesapeake Inn & Marina has a formal-looking, classic façade that has the appearance of a members-only facility, one where you would surely need a key or a code to gain access. Inside, however, things quickly become more-welcoming, even casual. The facility also takes advantage of its elevated view to provide glimpses both of the Canal a few yards away and dozens of docked (in summer) or moored (in winter) private boats. A handful of tables and comfortable banquettes fill the small main dining room, and there are adjacent rooms for parties and private dining. The diverse menu features plenty of seafood and beef, with several pasta courses along with sushi and sashimi. Prices are slightly higher here than for casual dining, and it’s a great place for family dining or business lunches where you want to have some bustle around you.
605 Second Street, Chesapeake City, MD; 410-885-2040, Mon-Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 10am-9pm
If you want a touch of romantic ambience, visit Prime 225 (whose owners recently purchased the Bayard) a few blocks back from the water on Bohemia. Prime 225 could have been snatched from New York’s West Side just above the theater district, one of those small places with intimate banquette seating, black on white table appointments and just-so service. The décor is very tasteful with brick interiors, small works of original art and a peek-a-boo window to the small bar. We went for lunch, with a menu that’s small but delicious, and wine comes in one of those oh-my-god gigantic glasses. The menu suggests that dinner will get you something a little fancier, such as Chateaubriand for two, lobster tail or an antipasto board.
225 Bohemia Avenue, Chesapeake City, MD; 410-885-7009, Mon-Wed 5-9pm, Thurs-Sun 11:30am-9pm
Back to the Canal’s north bank and switching from the city to the countryside leads us to Grain H2O, located on a marina midway between Summit Bridge and Saint Georges. The atmosphere is energetic and fun (think of it as a huge townie or college bar) with good, casual food. Seats are available at the large granite-top bar, plus both indoor and deck seating for the summer. The menu has modern brew pub with lots of sandwich options, and the beers are rated on a horizontal axis of “sweet” to “bitter” and from “maltier” to “fruitier” on a vertical axis, one for on tap and one for cans and bottles. GrainH2O is the place on the canal you go to hang out and not worry about what time it is in the real world.
3006 Summit Harbour Place, Bear DE; 302-440-4404, Mon 4-11pm, Thurs 4pm-1am, Fri 11:30 am-1am, Sat 2pm — 1am, Sun 2-11 pm
Our final stop takes us to Delaware City and Crabby Dick’s, located at the end of Clinton Street, which has lots of pleasant, vintage houses and shop. (Delaware City is also where you come for the boat ride to Pea Patch Island and Fort Delaware State Park). I had not expected much at Crabby Dick’s and was more than pleasantly surprised. Housed in an old, mansion-like hotel overlooking the bay on one side and the small, wooded Battery Park on the other, Crabby Dick’s has a main dining room, a large bar and, in good weather, a long, shaded porch facing the bay with lots of tables. The newspaper-like menu is extensive, with lots of “sammiches,” steam pots, soups and salads. This is an ideal place to take a visiting out-of-town friend for lunch or drinks on a summer weekend.
30 Clinton Street, Delaware City, DE; 302-832-5100, Wed-Sun 11am-9pm
About the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal
The Canal, one without locks and thus completely at sea level and influenced by the tides, was finished in 1829 during a busy period of canal building in the US. It is still busy with ships taking its 14-mile-long shortcut between the harbors in Baltimore and elsewhere on the Chesapeake and the ports of Wilmington or Philadelphia on the Delaware, saving about 300 miles by so doing. Now operated by the Army Corps of Engineers, the 35-foot-deep C&D Canal is reported to provide passage for about 40 percent of all commercial traffic in and out of the Port of Baltimore.
