Tavern On The Bay at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club
500 Marina Club Rd., Stevensville, MD 21666
410-604-2188
http://www.chesapeakebaybeachclub.com.

You are cordially invited to become a member of the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club. No blackballs. No dues. No mandatory food allowance. All it takes is showing up at this magical destination just over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Kent Island. Wend your way around a boat-filled marina, pass a sentry box and park in the club lot-or come by boat or plane. There are slips available by prior arrangement and a small airport is nearby.

The reward for the trip is an escape to another world-a unique waterfront complex that combines a conference center (Marriott Corporation and Black and Decker are among the clients); a sandy beach furnished with Adirondack chairs and an ancient Tilghman Island fishing boat reborn as a bar; a spacious entertainment center that accommodates three- hundred for live music and dancing in a rustic wooden structure; a casual carry-out food shack; six billiard tables; a ballroom used for parties and receptions; and a first-rate restaurant called Tavern On The Bay.

Longtime friends John Wilson and Gary Johnson are business partners in this novel venture. Their vision has transformed a prime parcel of waterfront property into a place the public can enjoy year-round. Open since last July, the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club’s biggest drawing card is its restaurant. The atmosphere is reminiscent of a posh private club somewhere in New England, with old-fashioned fans suspended from a vaulted wood-paneled ceiling and walls of windows overlooking the Bay and the marina.

A handsome mahogany bar and baby grand piano are features of the main dining room, nattily furnished with booths and tables, their seats cushioned in blue and white stripes. An adjacent dining room, named after Wilson’s Aunt Hassie, is slightly more formal with boat prints covering the butter yellow walls and cloth-covered tables surrounded with slatted stained wood chairs. Martha Stewart would approve of every aspect of this decor. But it’s the food that promises to make Tavern On The Bay a popular dining destination for the discerning public. Two talented executive chefs are in charge of the kitchen here, working as a team to create one of the most appealing menus to be found regionally. Chris Roy, a graduate of Johnson and Wales Culinary College in Rhode Island, worked for the Hyatt Regency chain for fifteen years on both coasts. David Clark, also culinary trained, has excellent credentials.

This is the place to come for lunch, a light supper, or a no-holds-barred celebration dinner. The kitchen understands the current craze for “grazing,” and their “Tavern Starters” ($5.75-$10.50) are enough to stop you in your tracks. A rich Maryland corn and crab bisque is a smooth golden pond centered with a circle of lump crabmeat and generously sherried. Maryland-style crab soup has a pureed tomato base studded with grilled vegetables and shreds of crab. A thin-crusted pizza is slathered with Mascarpone, sprinkled with grated smoked Gouda and wild mushrooms, and finished with fresh arugula and a mist of white truffle oil.

Get past the starters, and you’ll discover a perfect traditional Cobb salad ($7.50), an artistic composition featuring small mounds of diced tomato, avocado, bacon, and scallion stalks topped with grilled chicken slices and a scattering of toasted walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese crumbs. Tavern salads also include a combination of fruits and berries tossed in a fresh fruit coulis and served with fruit yogurt ($8.50) and Caesars available with grilled chicken or salmon, poached shrimp, or sautéed oysters.At lunch, we selected the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club ($6.75) as a barometer and were delighted with the freshness of roast turkey, honeyed ham, bacon, and Gruyere generously packed into toasted pita bread lined with lettuce and tomato. This is also the place to indulge one’s burger fantasies, with a juicy 8-ounce char-grilled prime beef patty on a kaiser roll ($6.75), or crab-cake cravings, with an excellent rendition of this Maryland classic (market price) modernized with a tangy sun-dried tomato tartar sauce.

Fast before coming to Tavern On The Bay for dinner. Portions are generous and the fare exceptional. Lobster dumplings, steamed and served with a sage-flavored seafood consommé ($9.75), are celestial. So is a seared tuna and salmon Napoleon, layered with crème fraiche and crowned with caviar ($8.75). In the evenings, a raw bar features impeccably fresh oysters served with a caramelized shallot and sherry sauce ($6.75 for six) and plump Eastern black mussels in a heady tomato-garlic-white wine broth ($5.75) as well as steamed clams and shrimp.The broad choice of entrées ($13.75-$24.50, including accompaniments and a house salad) is divided into seafood selections, meats, stews, savory pies, and mixed grills-a reflection of the kitchen’s sophistication and versatility. Of the seafood entrées, we recommend an inspired variation on the stuffed shrimp classic, this one distinguished by a savory filling of pancetta, crabmeat, and spinach paired with a scallion-potato pancake, ($19.75), or a superb strudel of salmon and scallops layered on phyllo dough with oven-dried tomatoes and spinach, then baked and finished with a lime butter sauce ($17.75).

In the meat department, a boneless lamb loin sauced with a subtle sun-dried tomato and roasted shallot demiglaze ($24.50) is Chef Roy’s signature dish. Chef Clark, whose background has its roots in Asian cooking, prides himself on the popularity of soft-shell crabs in a crisp tempura batter that sell out every time they are included on the menu. Other rarely found entrées included on Tavern On The Bay’s menu includes a bountiful mixed grill platter ($21.75) of roasted pork tenderloin, grilled chicken sausage on a grilled chicken breast, filet mignon, and Portobello mushrooms in a red wine sauce; and a classic chicken pot pie topped with a Gruyere cheese crust ($13.75). The dessert menu was being revamped at the time of our visits, but I hope the kitchen keeps its classic crème brulee ($5.50) served with fresh berries and a sinful chocolate paté in a pool of pureed raspberries ($6.00). Every-one here-from restaurant manager Bryan Glorioso to the chefs and wait staff-seem to appreciate the concept of teamwork to make a restaurant special. I hope you find everything as A+ as I did on my visits to Tavern On The Bay.