Maryland Nightlife

Amid the satisfying clinks of cocktail glasses and the glow of neon lights, patrons at Laurel Station Bar & Grill feast on juicy burgers and steaks, lump crab cakes, and succulent steamed shrimp, all while enjoying the exploits of their favorite sports stars. Over 20 high-definition screens deck the brick walls, broadcasting all Sunday football games and most pay-per-view events, and an enormous projector screen unfolds sporting events and shadow-puppet cage matches in jumbo resolution. Guests belly up to the granite-topped bar for frosty draft beers, or book a private party room to ring in special occasions with good company and hearty pub fare.

At Relic, the fried frog legs in a spicy garlic sauce ($9) habitually sell out, so order them right off the bat if you're feeling adventurous. Chicken skewers with onions and peppers ($9), pan-seared crab cakes in lemon-butter sauce ($9), and a veggie tower of eggplant, mushroom, spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes, and peppers ($9) also make excellent starters. Save room for Relic's meaty main attractions: steaks and burgers grilled over a wood fire, both made from beef that has been dry aged in a Himalayan salt-aging chamber (much like your pet yeti-mummy). Steaks come in a variety of sizes ($19–$28) in New York strip and rib eye and can come with your choice of sauces, including bordelaise sauce, béarnaise sauce, and wild-mushroom brandy-cream sauce. Similarly, you can order your nine-ounce burger your way ($8), the "firy” way (chipotle paste, grilled jalapeños, port onions, and manchego cheese, $10), and the American way (house sauce, dill pickles, red onions, tomato, american cheese, $10), among others.

Elliott's raises the drinking bar, lowers and fills it with beer, and raises it again with its 20-beer tap tower serving all craft beer. Happy hour runs 4 p.m.–7 p.m. Monday through Friday and refreshes with half-price drafts, $2 domestic bottles, $3 import bottles, and $4 mixed drinks. Delighted drinkers who arrive before 7 p.m. on Tuesday evening will discover that their drinks remain at happy-hour prices for the rest of the night. All customers are encouraged to ask about the nightly pint and bottle specials, but if you know what you want and won't be dissuaded, grab an all-day, everyday economy-buster special such as the $12 pitchers of any draft, $15 domestic bucket or $20 import bucket (six bottles per bucket), or $4 Orange Things. On NFL Sundays, kick back with the $1 domestic bottles whenever the Ravens are playing. Baseball fans can enjoy $2 domestic suds and $1 hot dogs during Orioles games.

The Life of Reilly Irish Pub & Restaurant recreates the feel of an Emerald Isle public house. Framed jerseys decorate an exposed brick wall opposite the bar, above which flat-screen TVs showcase the latest international rugby matches. The bar itself stocks an extensive selection of Irish whiskeys, and its 10 drafts spotlight classic Irish brews such as Guinness and Magners Irish Cider.

But the kitchen's head chef, Dale Fields Jr., hasn't forgotten he lives in Baltimore. Alongside fish and chips and shepherd's pie, he underscores regional classics including a melt comprised of two mini crab cakes served on toasted english muffins. He rounds out his menu with other pub staples such as chicken quesadillas, beer-battered buffalo shrimp, and steak fries smothered with cheese and bacon.

Baltimore Comedy Factory has nonviolently busted guts with nationally sourced joke-slingers for nearly three decades. Several nights a week, the club schedules sets by stars pulled onto the stage fresh from appearances in blockbuster comedies and hit TV shows. Tucked within the Power Plant Live complex, the club’s expansive new location finds room for comfy table seating, a beach-themed bar pouring sodas and cocktails, and an ample supply of super-size prop sunglasses.

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).