DINING REVIEW
MISS SHIRLEY’S CAFÉ 1 Park Place, Annapolis 410-268-5171 missshirleys.com
Awaken Your Tastebuds By James Houck Photography by Stephen Buchanan
Baltimore staple since longtime restaurateur Eddie Dopkin opened the original location in the Roland Park burb in 2005, Miss Shirley’s Café established it reputation in short order as an endearing original featuring crafty recipes, southern- and locally-influenced fare, casual yet refined dining, and as the go-to restaurant for stick-to-your-ribs breakfast. Paying homage to namesake Shirley who was known for “her sassy charm and sheer joy of preparing dishes for catered celebrations in the community,” makes for a pretty cool backstory as well. Within a decade, second, third, and fourth locations popped up. And it’s the Annapolis eatery where our dining adventure takes flight. For this early-fall outing, I brought the appetites of the immediate family, ensuring a full range of menu items would be sampled…and finished. And on a Sunday with sunshine, mild temps, a gentle breeze—that is, very good weather—we anticipated that, yes, we wouldn’t be the only ones out and about in Downtown Annapolis or congregating at Miss Shirley’s for a mid-morning meal. So it was upon arrival…a crowd gathered outside the main entrance enlisting themselves with the hostess for seating indoors or out (there’s a small batch of tables on the sidewalk). Our wait time, about one hour. Fair enough. We preemptively walked off a few calories along West Street and Murray Hill before returning and claiming our booth inside. Busy, busy, busy can only begin to describe the buzz inside Miss Shirley’s on a Sunday morning. Servers were dashing to and fro the back kitchen with sizzling plates and temptations—smatterings of
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What’s Up? Annapolis | November 2021 | whatsupmag.com
eggs, hash, meats, waffles, pancakes, libations, sweet treats, and savory nibbles. All of it conjuring that heavenly, nostalgic diner aroma you can almost taste. And we were about to taste it all… but first, another bit of a wait, giving us more than enough time to comb the menu. When our server finally arrived to take our orders, the pace quickened as drinks, appetizers, refills, main plates, and more refills packed our table faster than we could finish. Not a bad thing; just proof that when you order the farm, this farm delivers!
