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Annie's Paramount Steak & Seafood House
Route 50 & Kent Narrows at Mears Point Marina, Grasonville
410-827-7103

We were in the mood for a nice, thick steak with all of the trimmings. What better place than Annie's Paramount Steak & Seafood House, located on Kent Narrows Way in Grasonville? With unseasonably warm weather enveloping us, the trip by car to one of our favorite marinas brought back fond memories of our frequent Bay jaunts to the Narrows.

Annie's is indeed a top destination restaurant for area boaters as well as an all-season favorite for the locals. It has a new chef, Trevor Travis, who's getting comfortable in his new surroundings, and we were anxious to see how he was doing.

Travis is a 1993 Johnston Wales graduate who began his career in fine dining at establishments including New World Cuisine in Islamorada, Florida and the Laura Ashley Estates in Charlottesville, Virginia. A native of the Eastern Shore, he was anxious to return to Maryland, so he responded to the classified ad for a sous chef position at The Annapolis Yacht Club. After five years, it was time to go off on his own. With the support of Annie's owner Mike Katanis, this duo is performing well together.

Though Annie's is a family style restaurant known for its "paramount" steaks, the Sunday Brunch, which features a wide selection of breakfast and luncheon favorites, is equally popular. For our visit, the just-completed terrace dining area was the perfect place to enjoy a mid-evening meal. (It's also available for banquets.)

We started with Annie's award-winning cream of crab soup, with good reason. This is the third year the restaurant has won "best cream of crab" for its entry at the Seafood Festival. The mulligatawny was out of this world and the crab dip was spicy and delicious, as was the calamari. The menu offers quite a few appetizers to choose from, moderately priced from $5.95 for soups to $17.95 for a pound of steamed shrimp.

Between courses, Mike came to our table to tell us of some exciting new menu changes he has in mind for the upcoming season. He also hinted that Travis had been baking and promised to save some of the tiramisu, Malibu crème Brulee' and peach bread pudding, which was still warm. Hard to think of steak now!

A bottle of Zinfandel would be nice…The wine list is extremely limited, but one is sure to find a favorite. For our entrees, the choices ranged from stuffed lobster to chicken and ribs. However, we were here for beef. We selected the prime rib-regular cut, which was quite large and beautifully prepared. The filet mignon paired with a scrumptious crab cake was just as wonderful the next day (with all of the sides included, it was too much for one person to eat). And the New York strip was a very flavorful selection.

Throughout the meal, our thoughts returned to those dessert notables that Mike discussed earlier. Katelyn thoroughly enjoyed the Malibu crème Brule. I was hesitant to try it myself-I love authentic crème Brulee', no special flavors for me-but I found it delightful, flavored with Malibu rum. The peach bread pudding was outstanding, at least what I could beg from my friend Cathy. (It is so hard to get food from a chef!) But I managed to keep most of the tiramisu to myself (after all, it was promised to me, and Gilles was distracted with the key lime pie).

It was a fun night for all. Though there are many fine dining venues available, some nights nothing sounds better than a good steak. Now you know where to find it.