Heritage 485

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
Heritage 485
485 Main St, Prince Frederick, MD 20678
(443) 968-8338
http://heritage485.com/

This is where Old Field Inn and Saphron used to be on Main St., Prince Frederick.

A GREAT restaurant just came to Calvert County! My wife and I went last night for our anniversary, and it did not disappoint.

Before dinner, we sat at the bar and had a few drinks. I started with the spiced mule (house infused spiced vodka, bitters, lime, ginger beer). It was good, but I'm not normally a spicy kinda person. The ginger was a bit overdone, but it was the bartender's first day, so it's understandable. From there, I tried the Ancho Pear (Tequila, pear liqueur, ancho liqueur). This was a slow-to-drink, drink. As you can imagine. Being normally a beer guy, I was out of my element, but worth it. The tequila shined brightest in the drink, but the "burn" associated with it was subdued by being chilled and the other liqueurs. After that I came back to my comfort zone and had a delicious hefeweizen by Jailbreak brewery (Feed the Monkey). My wife had "The Connection" (muddled basil, raw sugar, gin, lemon juice, champagne) and loved it so much, thats all she ordered.


Food-wise, we had the mussels for an appetizer which comes in a bowl of liquid heaven made of roasted garlic and leek broth. She got the Lamp Ragout which is super rich and made with pillow-soft gnocchis, red wine braised spring vegetables, and mint jus. The mint wasn't noticable at all (I'm not a mint person) and it's a generous helping of deliciousness.

I had the crab cake which was a large (8-10oz maybe?) cake made with a ton of crab meat. I've seen reviews that compare it to Jerry's Place crab cakes, but I'd argue these are better. I normally don't order crab cakes as my wife makes the best (I may be biased), but I wasn't sorry I did. It was perfectly cooked and delicious. It was served with asparagus and baby potatos au gratin.

For dessert, we shared a passionfruit/berry fruit salad in an edible chocolate bowl with coconut shavings on top. It had to be forced down because of how full we were at this point, but I'm glad we did.



Everything was superb and reasonably priced. We were the last ones there and spoke with both owners Joe and Mike. Both are from the area (Prince Frederick and Lusby, IIRC) and I found out they locally source their ingredients. If they can't get it locally, it's not on the menu and I love that. The bar staff, the wait staff, everyone was fantastic.

Two years ago, we traveled to Maine and ate at a place in Rockland called Primo. The chef is a 2 time James Beard award-winning chef (top chef in new england) with a fully functional farm on the property, making it a true farm to table restaurant. Our experience last night was up there with that. We'll certainly be back.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
That was a wonderful review and I'm thoroughly annoyed by it because I know that without Budweiser and fried chicken wings, that restaurant will be done within a couple of years. People bitch and complain that there are no good restaurants in SoMD, but there are and always have been...it's just the locals refuse to patronize them. Saphron was amazing and they should have been packed every single night of the week, but nope. The Applebee's was packed, and Outback was packed, and McDonald's had lines out the door, but Saphron sat alone with its wonderful low country cuisine night after night.

If people have to leave the main road to go eat, they won't do it. I swear if Jerry's was one street over from Rt 4, he'd be gone by now.
 

Chris0nllyn

Well-Known Member
That was a wonderful review and I'm thoroughly annoyed by it because I know that without Budweiser and fried chicken wings, that restaurant will be done within a couple of years. People bitch and complain that there are no good restaurants in SoMD, but there are and always have been...it's just the locals refuse to patronize them. Saphron was amazing and they should have been packed every single night of the week, but nope. The Applebee's was packed, and Outback was packed, and McDonald's had lines out the door, but Saphron sat alone with its wonderful low country cuisine night after night.

If people have to leave the main road to go eat, they won't do it. I swear if Jerry's was one street over from Rt 4, he'd be gone by now.

Thank you.

We spoke with the owners about that. They seem to be really down-to-earth guys who care about supporting local businesses but understand the get-in, get-out mantra that keeps places like Applebees and Mexico in business.

We let them know that we're excited for them to be here and will recommend that place to anyone and everyone.

One thing they have that Jerry's doesn't (albeit because they're not on Rt.4) is the location. Sure it's right on Main St. and surrounded by buildings but sitting on the front porch eating dinner was unbelievably quiet and laid back for being in the heart of Prince Frederick.
 

lovinmaryland

Well-Known Member
That was a wonderful review and I'm thoroughly annoyed by it because I know that without Budweiser and fried chicken wings, that restaurant will be done within a couple of years. People bitch and complain that there are no good restaurants in SoMD, but there are and always have been...it's just the locals refuse to patronize them. Saphron was amazing and they should have been packed every single night of the week, but nope. The Applebee's was packed, and Outback was packed, and McDonald's had lines out the door, but Saphron sat alone with its wonderful low country cuisine night after night.

If people have to leave the main road to go eat, they won't do it. I swear if Jerry's was one street over from Rt 4, he'd be gone by now.
They actually have wings on the menu...gotta eat them at the bar though :lol: I get what you're saying though.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the place that opened up where Café D artiste used to be. I was expeciting their menu to be more along the lines of this place.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Wow!

$28 for a sirloin steak?

Nothing is that good. I'll eat at home.

Well, there ARE steaks that good, just not sirloin.

Their prices do seem high - $9 for olives and bread? $11 for cheese and crackers? No. But you're also paying for the professional staff and the atmosphere, which has value. This looks like the sort of place that Monello would like to go to and I'd go along just because he does nice things for me all the time. I'm into the clam shacks these days.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Most people don't.

The burger is good, I hear. Only $13.

I'm always interested in how restaurant owners decide on prices. I look at some items and think, yeah, that's about right; then I look at others and figure they must have been smoking dope when they priced that one. I also never understand why they don't offer apps in several sizes, or make them smaller and cheaper - like a, you know, appetizer instead of a meal.

But again, I'm not a fine dining person so what I think doesn't really matter.
 

RoseRed

American Beauty
PREMO Member
I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the place that opened up where Café D artiste used to be. I was expeciting their menu to be more along the lines of this place.

I've been there once and was a bit disappointed. I expected more variety on the menu.
 

luvmygdaughters

Well-Known Member
The "Fine Dining" that I have participated in a few times, always involved "little food" and "big prices". I understand the whole presentation thing, but, if I order a dinner, I want an adult dinner with adult sized food.
 
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