Bits & Bites: New spots near Camden Yards to grab a beer or a snack on Opening Day

The beverage roster at Oriole Park at Camden Yards is getting quite the shake-up this year.

In a double-play of drinks-related announcements leading up to Thursday’s home opener against the Los Angeles Angels, we learned that the Orioles will be serving Coca-Cola this season, instead of Pepsi, and that National Bohemian, the lager that’s no longer locally brewed but still a hometown favorite, will be making its return to the ballpark for the first time since the O’s booted the beer over a trademark dispute with Pabst in 2016.

But if seasons past are any guide, stadium prices are still likely to be a doozy. A report last year from sportsbook NJ.bet found that Camden Yards had the fourth most expensive beer in Major League Baseball (a domestic brew cost $10.99 at the ballpark in 2023). The food isn’t much cheaper: USA Today reported that the O’s had the priciest hot dog in the league last season, at $8.25.

For baseball fans who want to fuel up before the game, there are, of course, other options. Those in the know head to nearby breweries like Checkerspot Brewing Co., Pickett Brewing Co. and Wico Street Beer Co., or to dives like Mums and Quigley’s Half-Irish Pub. Pickles Pub and Pratt Street Ale House are also perennial favorites, judging by the game-day traffic.

This year, there are a few new spots opening just in time for baseball season  — though we can’t vouch for the prices just yet. I’ve got the rundown in this week’s column, which also offers an update on the fate of one brewery’s “Adios Angelos” beer.

Boots, brats and baseball

Right across from the stadium, at the corner of Camden and Eutaw Streets, the Hilton Inner Harbor Baltimore will add a biergarten to the lineup this baseball season with the opening of Boots & Brats.

The pop-up, set to open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays whenever the O’s have a weekend home series, will take over the patio outside the shuttered Diamond Tavern. Though the restaurant has been closed since the pandemic, the Hilton wanted to capitalize on its prime location, said hotel manager Paul Fitzgerald, especially after seeing an uptick in guests coming for Orioles games last season.

“With the Orioles’ success, we wanted to join in,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re hoping to gain a lot of traction from this.”

In preparation for baseball season, Hilton staff have decorated the patio with picnic tables, string lights, a big-screen TV and bar games including a giant Connect 4 board.

The biergarten, which makes its debut on Opening Day, will serve local beers from Union Craft Brewing and Heavy Seas Brewery as well as German-themed snacks, like bratwursts, potato salad and soft pretzels served with beer cheese and mustard. Cocktails, wine and Spaten Brau, a German lager, will also be available. For a Teutonic take on a shandy, diners can try the Radler, a blend of pilsner, sparkling lemonade, lemon and rosemary.

Because the biergarten follows the home game schedule, hours will vary: Fitzgerald recommends checking the Boots & Brats website or social media pages ahead of time to make sure the bar is open.

A new restaurant for baseball season and beyond

A short walk from the ballpark, on South Paca Street, a new restaurant is also planning its launch on Opening Day.

Maryland Yards will take over the old Frank & Nic’s West End Grille at the base of the Zenith apartments. Though its name conjures Camden Yards, managing partner Richard Craft says the spot is aiming to be more than a pre- and post-game haunt.

“It will complement the baseball bars, and we’ll certainly be a baseball bar during games, but we’ll have a bigger focus on full-service restaurant meals and having dinners and lunches to kind of round out that area,” he said.

The restaurant comes from the team behind the Guilford Hall Brewery in Greenmount West, where Craft is also a partner. Maryland Yards will be a “complementary brand” to the brewery that’s more “restaurant-centric,” he said.

Part of Maryland Yards will house a cafe serving breakfast and cappuccinos, cold brews and other coffee drinks. The remaining restaurant will focus on lunch and dinner offerings with an emphasis on seafood and “Maryland-centric” fare: crab cakes and seafood towers will be on the menu, as will a Berger cookie martini. There will, of course, be Guilford Hall brews on draft, as well as beer from other local craft breweries and local wine and spirits, Craft said.

The restaurant will host a preview on Thursday with a limited food and drink menu served on Maryland Yards’ outdoor patio. A full opening is scheduled for April 19.

Blast from the past

Another old standby will return under new ownership as the baseball season begins.

Ricardo Arce Cruz recently bought The Bullpen, a small bar sandwiched between Pickles Pub and Section 771, after the previous owner filed for bankruptcy.

Cruz, who owns a food truck and also managed Rosina Gourmet in Canton, was approved for a liquor license transfer for the business in January. I’ve reached out for more details about his plans.

‘Adios’ to an Angelos beer

One brewery a short walk from Camden Yards will have two limited-release beers on draft to cheers Opening Day. But one of the brews will need a name change after recent events.

Come Thursday, Checkerspot Brewing Co. plans to tap Birdland Pale Ale, a slightly tart beer infused with mango. A second beer, a Mexican lager with agave, lime and salt, was originally named Adios Angelos to mark the team’s change in ownership from the Angelos family to David Rubenstein.

After longtime owner Peter Angelos died March 23, however, Checkerspot brewer and co-owner Judy Neff knew the beer’s name had to go.

“It was never meant to be interpreted as anything negative,” she said. “It was just the excitement over the new ownership. Out of respect for his family and everything he did for the Orioles, we’re not trying to capitalize on something like that.”

Neff is brewing up a new name, which will be unveiled in time for Opening Day. And the brewery has another surprise in store for baseball fans: a special release of the brewery’s Bird is the Word honey kolsch in vintage bottles from Space Foods, a 1950s-era sugar syrup manufacturer that used to have a warehouse down the street from where Checkerspot’s taproom sits today. Only 24 bottles will released, at a cost of $25 each.

The special releases add to the air of festivity on Opening Day, Neff said.

“Opening Day is such a fun day in Baltimore,” she said. “It’s almost like a Baltimore holiday.”

Ekiben hits Camden Yards

Baltimore’s favorite buns and bowls are making a ballpark appearance.

Asian fusion eatery Ekiben, which has locations in Fells Point, Hampden and Riverside, will add a pop-up in Camden Yards for several homestands this season in the stadium’s Camden Commons section, which hosts a rotating array of local vendors.

Ekiben will serve menu favorites, like the Taiwanese curry fried chicken Neighborhood Bird, on March 28-30, when the Orioles play the Angels, and on April 1-3, when the team takes on the Kansas City Royals, according to an Instagram story posted by the local restaurant chain.

“Expect nothing less than an all-star lineup of flavors that pair perfectly with our birds,” another Instagram post promised. “We’re all in — black and orange in every bite, bringing your fav buns in the city and your fav baseball birds together at last.”