Nightlife in Eldersburg

Vino 100 offers visitors a chance to peruse a head-spinning array of wine and complementing grub that will soothe even the most pork-rind-singed palate. Visitors dining in at Vino 100 will be able to bait a warming buzz by purchasing one of more than 100 wines priced at $25 or less (there is a $7 corkage fee). A boutique-style shopping experience is paired with a casual dining area, allowing patrons to shop and eat just like at the mattress store. Wines by the glass ($5–$9) change on a daily basis, while a wide range of delectable bites are available for noshing. Try a mixed cheese platter ($5), hummus platter ($6), or spinach dip ($6), or chow down on a hot panini (starting at $7.95, available starting June 15). Additionally, several premium beer varieties are available to soothe hoppy cravings and cannonball wounds.

Smokin' Hot Bar and Grille specializes in drenching their hickory smoker meats in their house-made barbecue sauces, from pork and beef to entire turkeys. A buttery wooden bar stretches across the edge of the dining room, where visitors quaff drafts of Sam Adams or Smokin Hot's house ale, order classic or flavored martinis, and enjoy live music on Friday and Saturday nights. Beside their beers, the staff prepares smoked wings coated in one of nine barbecue sauces that range in heat from a pleasant brown sugar to a daringly fiery Black Jack. Steaks coated in house rub char to perfection on the grill, which also cooks pairs of 4-ounce cheeseburgers draped in two different sauces. The kitchen also serves hearty house-made mac and cheese four ways: straight, topped with chili, mixed with black beans, or fried with marinara sauce for dipping. Smokin' Hot Bar and Grille’s team prides itself on creating an atmosphere that’s fun and family-friendly, unlike an R-rated seminar on tax deductions.

Jovial crowds of sports fans line the wooden bars and maroon booths at both Loafers Sports Bar and Grill locations to unwind with cool brews and a tasty spread of seafood and pub eats. Flat-screen TVs broadcast football games for die-hard sports enthusiasts and Antiques Roadshow reruns for appraisal fanatics as they enjoy burgers and plates of wings, nachos, and potato skins. Chef Joe Rocco packs jumbo lumps of meat into his crab cakes and steams pots of crabs year-round to complement pints and the Big Loaf beer, a 1-liter pour of draft ale. A variety of nightly events draw in revelers with specials, karaoke, and live DJs, as opposed to old computers programmed to play "Glory Days" in binary.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, the streets of Ellicott City echo with the footsteps and laughter of revelers making their ways between the city’s pubs and breweries. Bar crawlers visit four local pubs; The Diamondback Tavern, Ellicott Mills Brewing Company, Judge's Bench Pub, and La Palapa Grill & Cantina. Revelers sip domestic beers, spirits, and wines as they tactfully ignore bar-trivia rivals inside the Diamondback Tavern's rustic interior, between the wooden trim and hanging amber-colored lamps of Ellicott Mills Brewing Company and the Judge's Bench Pub, or between the exposed brick walls and colored glass mosaics at La Palapa. To help stomachs soak up excess alcohol, some bar proprietors lay out snacks for touring groups. Participants on both earlier and later crawls walk away with a souvenir T-shirt, as well as a new layer of bar-crawling memories to replace lingering remembrances of high-school-trigonometry lessons.

Built by a group of friends interested in camaraderie, cold drinks, and good food, Diamondback Tavern aims to put a contemporary spin on a traditional Maryland tavern, and its pub menu has earned accolades from the Baltimore Sun and Howard Magazine. Wrangling local meats, seafood, produce, and bread, the staff builds fresh sandwiches filled with garlic-braised pulled pork and caramelized bananas, crab-cake platters loaded with two 5-ounce jumbo lump crab cakes, and veggie risotto topped with grilled portobello. Behind the bar, chilled local and domestic brews and sangria blended from a family recipe cleanse palates and put out fires after fire-eating competitions gone wrong. Diners enter under a traditional hanging tavern sign emblazoned with a brown diamondback-turtle shell before nestling into a spacious sports bar or dining room. Diamondback Tavern also hosts open-mic nights and screening events around NFL games to keep ears and eyes entertained as mouths gnaw on the minimalist, modern decor.

Classic pub fare combined with ample big-screen televisionery makes Padonia Station an ideal venue to catch your favorite game while indulging in the menu’s flavorsome features. Await the seventh-inning kickoff with six French-bread slices of crab toast served with tortilla chips and salsa ($8.99), or chase three meatball sliders with a side of apple sauce ($7.99), then condemn your mouth to a blazing eternity with 10 wings from hell, bleu cheese dressing, and celery sticks ($8.49). While legume lovers kick home runs with a vegetarian quesadilla ($6.89), meateaters might find themselves enamored by the antics of a homemade, chili-topped, Texas-style burger ($8.99) or a six-piece buffalo tender dinner ($11.99).