When asked to write a column about my weekend, my first thought was that I had little to nothing to write about. My dreams of endless excitement during Senior Spring have largely devolved into evenings spent eating ice cream and watching National Geographic with friends.
That being said, the only aspect of my social life that continues to thrive (read: exist) is my commitment to brunch. It’s early in the day, low-maintenance, and can involve either coffee or alcohol, which basically makes it a perfect meal.
Despite having thought that I’d tried every brunch in the greater Baltimore area, a new place came up this weekend.
A friend of mine made plans for a group of us to get brunch at The Boathouse, and I realized that the scope of my brunch knowledge was way more limited than I thought.
The Boathouse Canton Waterfront Grille (yes, that’s the full name, according to Yelp) is a New American restaurant tucked away in Canton. It’s right on the water, as the name suggests, next to the Canton Waterfront Park.
It’s definitely a drive from campus, and I would recommend sharing an Uber, but it’s also accessible via the Circulator. Just take the Purple Route downtown, walk over to the Green Route stop and take that to its Fleet Street stop. From there, it’s about a 15 minute walk east to the restaurant.
(It’s probably easier to just take the Uber.)
It’s a somewhat unassuming brick building, which is not unusual in Baltimore, but the inside is surprisingly spacious and light-filled. Even though we were seated in a corner, there were so many windows and levels in the restaurant that it felt like we were right in the middle of things.
There was an extensive and beautiful patio and outdoor seating area, along with a partially enclosed seating area. If winter weren’t endless this year, it would have been a great place to sit and enjoy the view of the harbor.
I typically judge brunch based on one of two things: coffee or mimosas.
Since I am still a Hopkins student and needed to get a few things done after brunch, I could only judge the coffee (although they do have bottomless mimosas for $15 with the purchase of an entrée). The coffee was excellent and not burned, which either means it was delicious or that I have lower coffee standards than I thought.
We started with an order of the French Toast Dippers ($7), which were French toast sticks coated in cornflake crumbs and served with raspberry cream cheese icing.
As someone who typically does not like sweet breakfasts, I still thought they were incredible. They were the perfect combination of sweet and savory, and they were portioned well so that we all had room for our meals.
For my main course, I got the Chicken and Waffles. This was my first time ever having chicken and waffles together, so I can’t judge the combination based on past experiences, but I can judge them individually.
The chicken was served in tender form, which I’ve been told is atypical, and was perfectly cooked.
The waffle was light and delicious. I typically like a denser waffle, but it paired perfectly with the chicken.
The meal was served with maple syrup and a choice of barbecue sauce, honey mustard or ranch.
In total my entrée cost $14. Again, I’ve never had them before so I can’t weigh in on the cost, but they were delicious and I had enough left over to eat them for dinner as well, which felt like a great deal.
Overall, the Boathouse was a bit of a hike but worth the trip. And I will definitely be going back for those mimosas.
