Lures Will Lure in Beer Fans

If you want to cool down with a nice refreshing beer and want to avoid the stale selections of many Annapolis and Baltimore, MD restaurants and Bars head to Lures in Crownsville, MD. It's just 20 minutes away from downtown Annapolis and 40 minutes from downtown Baltimore, located on General's Highway.

The first thing you will notice when you walk into Lures is the bar, and it's the jewel of the restaurant. With 14 taps, Lures offers a variety of different beers from around the country on tap for it's customers. You might even find a fruit flavored beer or hard cider on tap among the selections, depending when you stop by. The beers rotate regularly, and the restaurant's website keeps an up to date list of those bars. While the bar only features two small televisions, the bartenders are entertaining and personable. For beer fans, there are several specials that will be mentioned below.

Lures offers both indoor and outdoor seating. Once you are seated, a friendly waiter or waitress brings you a menu. Just under 10 items are featured on the appetizer menu with the Rockfish bites, small battered pieces of Rockfish, being the star of the appetizer selections. For something more hearty, they serve a huge plate of nachos topped with chicken or beef. Appetizer selections range from $8 to $12 and are plenty to share with two or three people.

The entrees on the menu feature the seafood that the Annapolis area is known for. There are many dishes with fish and crab featured on the menu. Rockfish and Tuna are featured along with crab cakes. They even feature a classic polish dish of Sausage, Sauerkraut and Perogies. If you aren't a fan of seafood, they feature a very well prepared hand cut rib eye stead for just over $20, which could cost you twice as much at many local steak restaurants. Overall the entrees range from the low teens to the low 20's in cost.

For lighter selections, there are sandwiches and salads. The salads are generally about $10 in cost, with one featuring seared tuna costing a couple dollars more. The greens are fresh and toppings well prepared, complimented by flavorful but not overpowering dressings. The sandwiches are in the same price range and feature beef, chicken and seafood, including a blackened seared tuna sandwich. They even feature a pulled pork sandwich that combines sweet and spicy flavors perfectly. If you have a vegetarian in your group, there is even a veggie sandwich on the menu. In addition to these selections there is a children's menu as well as nightly specials, ranging from beef to seafood selections.

The dessert menu is not long, but rich. They feature XanGo, which is a cheesecake with bananas and served within a tortilla shell, as well as a chocolate cake. The star of the show are the Smith Island cakes, these are Maryland traditions. They are seven layers of cake in a variety of flavors, Lures typically features two flavors of Smith Island Cake each night.Live music is featured many nights during the month after 7:30 pm to help you relax after your meal, or during it.

While the food is very high quality, it provides a supporting role for beer fans. Even though the standard prices of the beers are pricier at $8 to $10 than typical bars in the area, Lures offers a few bargains for beer drinks. Each day two beers are featured for close to half price. In addition to those daily specials, Happy Hour specials are featured Monday to Friday from 4 pm until 7 pm. All beers on tap are half price during Happy Hour and select appetizers are discounted as well.

Those aren't the only specials for beer lovers though! For $30 a year, you get a "beer club membership card", this comes with a baseball hat with the Lures name on it, and a card that you can use for a free beer once each month as well as a free entree for your birthday, valued up to $20. You are getting over $100 in beer, food and a hat for that $30 investment.

Lures truly caters to the microbrew beer lover. They partner with Dawson's Liquors, located in Severna Park, to host monthly beer club dinners at Lures. These are not covered by the beer club membership cost, but are open to everyone, even non beer club members. Typically they cost $38.50 and are held on one Tuesday night a month. The cost includes all the beers on tap you can drink from 6 until 8 pm, as well as samples from a brewery selected by the staff, along with a description of each sample. A buffet is included in the cost as well, themed to match the beer selection.

With all the restaurants and bars in the Annapolis area, Lures has found their niche. The restaurant appeals to everyone, but beer lovers truly have a home at Lures, where customers are remembered by name and it truly feels like a community restaurant in which everyone, even one-time visitors are considered neighbors.