Once again I imagine our Dear Leader whisking around in her white tennis dress swatting away slow pokes with her racket and seeking out oomph with girlish enthusiasm.

Owl Meat,

Those "slow pokes with her racket" took me 6-0 while on vacation.

Ah Bro Bim, vanquished with love. Is there a victory dance?

While I appreciate your opinion Ernest T. Davis, I'm not sure I'll ever be old enough to like having to chase down my waitress for the check! Or for that matter requesting water 3 times and not getting it.

I just used my Donny B tip calculator for EL's meal and it exploded.

If I ain't a gittin' my water, I'm throwing rocks at the winders.

EL, I'd have to say the crabcakes at Pappas are pretty incredible actually. Not sure how that did not translate on your visit. I'm as Baltimore as they come and have had every solid cake in town and these are one of the tops. Also I've taken quite a few friends, both locals and out of towners for the crabcakes who have all loved them, we generally hang out in the dive bar side of Pappas since we watch sports and drink pitchers of Sierra Nevada dirt cheap, so that is the overall appeal for me. The service there is always top notch, the bar side that is. And they make good comfort food like blackened chicken greek salads, and the usual sandwiches etc. The restaurant is a bit dated feeling and an older crowd, but again, I've had a few solid meals there. I could give a ... who else is eating there, I'm looking for a solid meal at a place like that, not hipster crowds, and I'm young and relatively hip to some degree.

Owlie, how many box tops do I have to send in to get my very own Donny B tip calculator?

I'm afraid I like some taste to my food. I had a hard time when I married into a midwestern family ...

LOL at the "Donny B tip calculator"!! That guy is never gonna live that post down, I love it!

Where's our friend Kenny Banya? I'm sure he can get us all some imitation Donny B Tip Calculators from his good friend Bob Sacamano.

Chw, could you perhaps describe what constitutes a good crabcake to you?

I imagine a good crab cake is like sex or comedy, you know what you like when you experience it and nobody can convince you otherwise.

chw - I am with you when it comes to the bar side of Pappas. It is an interesting contrast to the older patrons, white linen dining room. Only eaten there once, but been a couple times just to shoot pool and have a few beers. That one experience I remember decent food, good service, and interesting conversations with some of the regulars!

Pappas - The Peppermill of Parkville (and I mean that in an endearing way!)

In the really old days, when Pappas' was Wargo's, the bar was a stag bar.

surprised at how nice it was inside- it wasn't expected from they way it looked on the outside. got the Maryland Crab Cake- Six ounces of Chesapeake Bay jumbo lump crabmeat (however it did have a good deal of filler but a lot of big chunks of meat- I did come across a few tiny pieces of shells in it). We were out celebrating my birthday and plenty of people who worked there stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. The service people were very nice and friendly. The food was average.

Wargo's, that's right - in the mid 1970's we could get served underage there, but it was kind of intimidating going down into a stag bar at 16 or whatever so we rarely did (we were innocents back then.)

I wonder if there are any stag bars or restaurants left that aren't strip clubs or Hooters. I understand that there many not be any de jure stags, but would there still be any de facto ones.

I'm suddenly feeling extremely feminine. What is the difference between a stag club and a strip club?

Lissa asked: What is the difference between a stag club and a strip club?

The cost of a bottle of champagne.

Yup Elizabeth, your review was pretty much how I remember Pappas--neither fabulous nor awful, just ordinary. I haven't been in years, and judging from your review, I don't see any reason to go any time soon. I do patronize Pappas Seafood across the street for take-out meals, which are tasty and decently priced ... good enough for me.

Well, the good news is that Pappas will not suffer a loss of business as a result of your review. The place will be packed just about every night of the week, no matter what you had written. You review may have hurt many other restaurants but Pappas will continue to thrive. Matters not if EL liked the service or not.

Lissa, a stag bar doesn't allow women. I certainly hope they're extinct nowadays, but you never know.

The bar at Haussner's was a stag bar originally.

Ah, Hal. So a stag bar is like a men's bar for straight guys? Got it. Thanks.

So a stag bar is like a men's bar for straight guys

I have no idea what the straight to crooked ratio is among stag bar denizens.

Perhaps this book would help?

Hi Hal,

I would say what "constitutes" a good crabcake to me is that it tastes good, adn like a previous poster mentioned you just know that you like it. Frankly I think the whole obsession of jumbo lump only that everyone beats to the ground in reviews is the equivalent of calling the southwest area of Highlandtown, "Canton." It's a new phenomenon (sp?). My idea of a good crabcake is my great-aunt from Tilghman Island picking every last bit of meat from all the left over steamed crabs that my uncle brought out of the bay as a lifelong waterman and making cakes out of them and eating them with mustard and crackers. That's my idea of how a crabcake should be made, and the closest a restaurant can get to that the better. (I also don't mind if it is fried, the whole broiling thing was a health conscious decision as far as I can tell, although it is more delicate with the meat so I enjoy them broiled moreso.) I also prefer my crabcakes with ice cold beer and nothing fancier than old bay as spice, and no weird chopped items as fillers like peppers etc that out of towners seem to throw in there. Throw in a couple dozen raw oysters as an appetizer and that is my ideal crabcake. And back on the topic, Pappas' back a few years ago would have a free raw bar one afternoon, maybe a sunday, and the oysters were pretty solid too.

Chw, sounds like your idea of a good crabcake is pretty much like mine. I use lump or jumbo lump when I make my own just because it's a lot easier than trying to get all the bits of shell out of "regular" backfin crabmeat, not because I think big lumps taste better than small ones.

My biggest complaint with so many modern crabcakes is that they're made with Asian blue swimmer crabmeat that doesn't taste much like crab.

I don't know which kind of crabmeat Pappas' uses. Their online menu (last time I looked) listed "colossal lump" crabcakes, which is certainly Asian (north American crabmeat doesn't come in that grade). On the other hand, Jessic L in a reply earlier in this discussion says she was served 6 ounces of Maryland jumbo lump.

I just went to Pappas on Sunday night with my boyfriend and some friends. We all got the crab cakes. The menu said the cakes were 7 oz, but I didn't see any mention that it was MD blue crab. They were delicious as always, but the size of the lumps (some as large as a half dollar) lead me to think that there is no way that could be MD crab.

To Robert of Cross Keys:

Get your Seinfeld references right. Bob Sacamano is Kramer's friend, and he's the one who gets the imitation tip calculators that screw up and cost Morty Seinfeld the condo board election at Del Boca Vista. Kenny Banya is the hack comedian Jerry hates.

Get it together.

Chally, I know the tv reference; however, we have poster on here who goes by the name Kenny Banya. I took some poetic license with my tv trivia.

Hack? Have you heard my Ovaltine bit? It's gold, Chally, gold! For that crack you owe me a meal and as you well know, soup is not a meal.