After Four Decades, Costas Inn as Good as Ever

You could stand on a corner and look around until a restaurant sign draws you in. But we've got a better idea. Each week, Dundalk Patch picks a great restaurant either in town or nearby that's worth checking out.

Here's this week's choice:

Costas Inn

Overview: Locally owned for 40 years by the Triantafilos family, the Costas Inn remains a Dundalk institution. Voted Best Crap Soup by the City Paper, Best Crab House by Baltimore magazine, as well as Best Pit Beef by Baltimore magazine in the past, and recognized by Zagat’s with an “excellent” rating, the Costas Inn combines warm, friendly service and great food. Whether it’s seafood or a daily Greek special, the Costas Inn gets it right.

Recently Patch.com stopped by for lunch and enjoyed a rich, creamy tomato basil soup, and mousaka, a kind of Greek lasagna with layers of meat sauce, roasted eggplant and potato topped with a light parmesan cream sauce – baked golden brown – and served with garlic bread. Still thinking about how good it all tasted the next day…

Oh, and there’s a good bar separated from the main dining room if you’re looking to catch a ballgame or grab a beer after work.

Below is a sampling of the Costas Inn dinner menu:

Décor: The large dining room, simple and casual, is a comfortable spot for a quiet dinner. The bar is more lively, of course, offering big flat-screen televisions. Check the terrific, oversized, framed photos from turn-of-the-century Baltimore on the barroom walls.

The Drinks: Wine, liquor and 11 beers on tap.

Appetizers: More than your typical starters, the Costas Inn goes the extra mile with many of its appetizers. For example, rather than basic fried mushrooms, the Costas Inn offers mushrooms caps stuffed with jumbo crab imperial ($13.95). Other appetizers include mozzarella sticks ($6.95); calamari with marinara and duck sauce ($10.95); barbeque shrimp, grilled and wrapped in bacon and melted provolone ($10.95); crab dip with bread sticks ($12.50); and potato skins stuffed with bacon and cheddar cheese, served with sour cream ($7.50), among others.

Raw Bar & Steamers: Bowl of mussels with garlic butter and parmesan bread sticks ($9.50); New Zealand green shells sautéed in garlic butter with straw fried onion ($12.95); Oysters Rockefeller topped with amaretto creamed spinach and melted provolone (5 for $14.95); clams casino ($10.95); and a half-pound of steamed shrimp ($11.95), among others.

Soups: Maryand crap (cup: $3.95); cream of crab (cup: $3.95); Northern bean and ham (cup: $3.25) and French onion crock ($6.50), among others.

Salads: Caesar salad ($8.95); Euro salad, baby field greens, gorgonzola, walnuts and cranberries tossed with raspberry vinaigrette ($8.95); Greek salad, fresh leaf lettuce with feta cheese, kalamata olives, pepperoncini, cucumbers, tomato and onion ($8.50).

Seafood Specialities: Maryland crab cakes ($24.95); Orange Roughy Rockefeller ($19.95); Salmon St. Michael ($21.95); scallops, blackened, broiled or fried ($19.95); and stuffed lobster tail ($25.95), among others.

Entrees: Costas’ combo, New York strip and jumbo lump crab cake ($31.95); Steak Triantafilos, New York strip topped with jumbo lump crab imperial ($31.95); pork chops ($16.50); homemade meat loaf ($9.95); and Texas Pit BBQ Ribs ($16.50), among others.

Pasta Dishes: Spaghetti and meatballs ($10.95); lagasna ($10.95); fettucine with chicken or shrimp and scallops (chicken - $14.95; shrimp and scallops - $21.95); and chicken parmesan over fettucine pasta ($13.95), among others.

Desserts: Fudge nut brownie with ice cream ($5.50); Costas hot fudge sundae ($5.50); caramel apple pie with vanilla ice cream ($5.95); bread pudding with vanilla ice cream ($5.95); and a personal Patch.com favorite, Mary’s homemade rice pudding ($3.75).

Specials: Daily food and drink specials listed under appetizers on the first page of the menu.

Signature Dish: Jumbo crab cake, 8 oz. cake of sweet lump crab meat, served with choice of two sides ($19.95)

Online menu: www.costasinn.com

Address: 4100 North Point Blvd., Dundalk

Cost: $$$