Mark’s Score 8.5
The summer season is here and the tourists are returning to St Michaels. If you are on vacation, you are not just looking for good food, you are looking for an experience, something that you cannot find at home. One of the great features of this restaurant is its location and outdoor patio, right next to the marina. There are a number of good restaurants in St Michaels, but few of them have Blu Miles’ views.
Blu Miles is owned by entrepreneurs Imad Abu-Ahmadeh and Ike Esoud who own the popular Cactus Taverna in Salisbury. While Cactus taverna focuses on Middle Eastern cuisine, Blu Miles’ focus is more traditional Eastern Shore cuisine; crab, scallops, mussels, clams, oysters, fish, and shrimp, sourced locally.
It is still a little early in the season, so when I had lunch there a few weeks back, I had the restaurant to myself. There were three staff in the dining room and I was the only customer. So, as you would expect, I got excellent service. I went to Blu Miles on the suggestion of a friend of Imad’s. I struck up a conversation with the Imad’s nephew and he generously offered me a glass of their pineapple infused vodka; which he poured from a glass keg sitting on the counter. I am not a spirits drinker, it’s strictly beer and wine for me, but I have to admit the pineapple vodka was very tasty. At the end of my meal, he came out with a crab cake plate and asked me to bring it to an elderly shut-in who lives near to me. That kind gesture alone is worth a few brownie points. But restaurants aren’t rated on kindness, they are rated on the quality of the food and the experience.
On this particular occasion I ordered a cup of cream of crab soup and the fish sandwich. The sandwich was the daily special, I frequently order what is on special, because it is the meal the restaurant is featuring. So, they should be putting their best foot forward.
The soup was certainly adequate, but I wouldn’t rate it the best crab soup I have ever eaten. However, my strategy of ordering the daily special paid off. The fish was lightly fried and seasoned with their “special sauce.” Try as I might, I could not get them to divulge the ingredients. But no matter, whatever it was it was certainly a cut above the typical tarter sauce or mayonnaise slathered on fish sandwiches up and down the shore.
You are going to get a decent meal at this restaurant, the main dining room, while quaint, is not really very special. But it’s summertime and the outside patio, with views of the bay and marina, is truly special. I can’t think of a better place to sit on a warm summer’s afternoon. And here is a hint, if you do so, you might order the pineapple infused vodka.
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