Seaworthy scarfing on Barracks Row

For centuries, the sea has lured grizzled men to brave weather and fearsome creatures for the chance at unspoken riches, an unfettered lifestyle, and the ability to wear shoes that're stylish, yet don't require socks. Honoring the men who fill those shoes, the Chesapeake Room.

Overseen by a Georgia-imported executive chef, CR rocks a semi-open kitchen and a nautically themed dining room handsomely decorated with a 300-gallon barside fishtank, large oils of Chesapeake fisherman, custom wood ceiling fans designed to look like boat props, and tables hand-lathed out of North Carolinian Curly Maple, as the North Carolina Curly Neal was deemed "too flashy". Peake-inspired seafood includes starters like alderwood-smoked virginia oysters & bluefish pate and lemon goat-cheese/pecan brittle petite blue crab cakes, plus mains like cast iron-roasted rockfish with asparagus ribbons/blue crab vinaigrette; a hearty, tomato-based Chesapeake Seafood Stew (w/ mussels, clams, shrimp, and bay scallops); and sauteed golden tile fish, who still haven't quite figured out how to consistently hit the toilet. Meats're (at least semi-) locally sourced from within a 250-mile radius, with goodness including a grilled ribeye with wild mushroom bread pudding in a Madeira-veal reduction, wild boar cheek raviolis with bourbon butter & arugula salad, and a roasted beet/lemon aioli bison tartare advertised as "hand-cut", but which got back on the team after its mom called the coach, embarrassing as it was.

Because sailors love booze, they've got eight reds and whites by the glass, seven local-ish drafts (from Baltimore's Heavy Seas Gold Ale to Charlottesville's Starr Hill The Love Wheat Beer), and specialty 'tails like the vodka/spicy ginger ale "Changsha Mule", and the Kluge Cru (VA wine)/Jack/burnt grapefruit juice "The Preakness" -- another place you venture for unspoken riches, only to end up with no socks.