to Charm City NOMS! For quick help deciding where you want to eat, search by genre or keyword on the right side of this webpage. You can also see what places we’ve visited on our map and suggest places for us to review in the future in our ”Where to Next” comment area. Enjoy!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Stewart's Rootbeer

We are reviewing this place for these reasons:

  • This old-time drive in type place is incredibly hard to find
  • It's been owned by the same family for 60 years
  • the same guy has been working there for over 40 years
  • it's only open during the summer
  • they has root beerz on tap!!!

Dave loves several things: me, dogs, Halo, naps and most importantly: hot dogs and root beer. In that order. When we drove by this place one day and saw it was open we nearly drove through the cement highway divider to get in there. Dave was so excited. They pour their root beer (or cream ale) into frosted mugs and everything is made fresh, by hand in the kitchen.

And everything is delicious. Dave devoured several corn dogs, while I face-planted into a double cheeseburger hot mess. It was heaven. The burger fell apart in my hands leaving me with mayo covered mitts and a clown-style smile of mustard and ketchup.

We highly recommend, nay, COMMAND you visit this place when they open next spring. Say hi to the friendly staff, sit back and enjoy several frosty mugs of rootbeer then raid the fridge on your way out and take home a few 4 packs of Stewarts fine beverages. Honestly, a must.

5 NOMS!


Dave's 2 Cents:

Many years ago, before I-95 came along, Route 40 used to be a booming highway. As you exit downtown Baltimore and drive East on 40, you can just imagine how grand a roadway this area was. Hotel shells line the street, which were once booming with people, after all this was the only way to Delaware and Atlantic City before 95 came along.

Out from the rubble though, stands a classic gem that has stood the test of time. Stewart's root beer. Once a prevalent franchise spread up and down the east coast, this is the last Stewart's store front in Maryland. As a matter of fact, it's the last of its kind in the Mid- Atlantic. If you want to travel inland, the Midwest has a few in northern Ohio, and the next closest one is in Camden County, New Jersey. I know that spot well, as i spent the first 10 years of my life right down the road from the "Drive in" version of Stewart's in West NJ.

The only 2 things that could make this place perfect is: 1. being open all year, and 2. being a true drive in (parking your car outside and a girl on skates rolls up to your car and takes your order).

When you walk into this place, you can just get hit with a huge feeling of nostalgia. Whether your 30, 40, 50 or 60 years old, there is a good chance you've been to a place like this during your childhood.

As you order from the front counter, you can watch through the doors, your food getting freshly made and another person reaching into the deep freeze to grab your mugs for your root beer. The root beer and diet are on tap, and the other 4-5 flavors are vended through the normal fast food dispensers.

There are also pallets of bottled flavors for you to take home with you, in all the flavors. They even allow you to mix and match flavors whether you buy a 4 pack or a crate of 6- 4packs. You can even get root beer 1 gallon barrels, filled with your favorite flavor!!!

If this diner has touched your childhood like it has mine, you definitely need to share the experience with friends and your own children. This place is worth the drive, you truly need to visit.

Stewart's Rootbeer on Urbanspoon