Kooper's Tavern

Kooper’s Tavern is the quintessential Baltimore restaurant: good food, good beer, Orioles/ Ravens on TV, bartenders and wait staff who know your name, view of the harbor upstairs and its ships that sail by and a faint aura of Old Bay floating in the air. There’s also a touch of class (especially evident in its ingredients and menu) involved that makes it acceptable and inviting to bring out-of-towners and parents to seek out this local stop.

Perhaps it’s the Friday oyster happy hour (free oysters!) or the Tuesday Burger nights in which you can build your own burger with a selection of Kobe beef or maybe bison meat, triple crème brie, fried onions, avocado, mushrooms, applewood smoked bacon, or whatever your burger heart desires. In any case, any restaurant/ pub completely dedicated to a yellow dog once named Kooper certainly sheds a lot of love and affection for its customers as well. Kooper even has a namesake beer, the Yellow Tail Ale.

Not only does Kooper’s make a winning burger of your choice, its menu of East Coast American fare is rarely a disappointment. Crab cake fans will thoroughly enjoy Kooper’s lumpy Maryland favorite, paired with a side of mussels or a dozen oysters.

Every so often, long tables are set up outside with a variety of local oysters being shucked at lightning speed. For $1 an oyster, passerbyers can add cocktail sauce and lemon and sit down with a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack. Outdoor seating is popular during warm or even just sunny weather, as many a local will enjoy keeping his or her beer cold on a wintry Saturday afternoon.

- by Rin-rin Yu, Washington Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)

Rin-rin Yu

Rin-rin is an award-winning writer and journalist based in the Baltimore-Washington area. Her work has appeared in China Daily, DAYSPA magazine, Luxury Home Design, Aquatics International, Not For Tourists and other publications. Rin-rin has also worked for ABC News, WHDH-TV (NBC) in Boston and Hanley Wood Business Media. She has a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She is an avid world traveler and maintains a travel blog, www.mytravelhats.com.