The best breakfast ever! Miss Shirley’s Cafe in Baltimore, MD

Every time a waiter walks by with a dish, conversations stop: the aroma, the presentation, the food.  I think I found my all time favorite breakfast spot to date while visiting my sister in Baltimore. This place ROCKS! Has anyone ever been to Miss Shirley’s?  If you haven’t…and you find yourself in Baltimore …run don’t walk. Be forewarned, there will always be a line, but when food is that good what else would you expect? The most daunting task you will encounter is deciding on what to order. The rest of your experience is all about the food – there really is something to be said of exceptional southern cooking!

Breakfast Cocktails
We arrived Sunday morning at 9:30 and had a 20 minute wait, while sipping outrageously delicious libations: I had Shirley’s Crush – fresh-squeezed orange juice with the pulp, passion fruit vodka, triple sec, a splash of club soda, with a sugar rim garnished with a Strawberry and orange slice. Very refreshing. Everyone else had the Spicy Shirley, Shirley’s version of a bloody Mary beautifully crafted with absolute Citron, a slice of green tomato, pickled okra, peppers, jalapenos, celery, Peppadew, lemon and lime with an Old Bay rim. You could say this is a meal in itself. If you really want to eat your drink – you can order 2 ounces of fresh lump crab garni …eating crab in MD is like eating lobster in Maine- you just have to do it!

Appetizers
The appetizers where a true sign of how special our meal was going to be. They are listed on the menu under “Wake up your Taste Buds”. You can say that again!  We had two orders of the Crab Cake Bites served with Old Bay Remoulade and an order of Chesapeake Deviled Eggs– four deviled egg halves with a dollop of Lump Crab Meat, Diced tomatoes, Chives and a sprinkle of Old Bay.  Highly recommended.

House Specialties: For our main course we had to go with the house specialties.

 I was going to get the Crab Cake & Fried Green Tomato Eggs Benedict: Poached eggs, mini jumbo lump crab cakes on top of fried green tomatoes, corn and tomato relish with asparagus & Old Bay Hollandaise sauce. But I just had to go with the Soft Shell “BLT” Benedict. Tough choices I know. Poached eggs, cornmeal-crusted soft shell crab, red and yellow tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, Applewood smoked bacon on sourdough rounds with Old Bay Hollandaise sauce and a drizzle of Old Bay Remoulade. Out of this world delicious!

Get your Grits On: Jumbo blackened shrimp on fried green tomatoes served with savory grits with bacon and herbed-Hollandaise sauce. Just divine! You can replace the shrimp with blackened salmon if you like.

Sunrise Benedict: Poached eggs and house-made slow roasted Carolina pulled pork on corn bread rounds with collard greens made with Tasso ham and Cajun Hollandaise sauce.

Cinnamon Roll French Toast: For the sweet tooth in every bunch this is to die-for. Dipped in almond-scented egg mix, dusted with cinnamon & powdered sugar & drizzled with cream cheese icing.

And this, my friends is just a sampling of the menu, it goes on and on and every dish is, dare I say it, orgasmic!