6 Best Restaurants in Frederick and Western Maryland, Maryland

With more than a dozen beers brewed on the premises, a menu featuring locally grown and organic produce, plus a bright, airy dining room and outdoor patio, Frederick's original brewpub is a crowd-pleaser that draws families, local office workers, and a Happy Hour crowd. The Germanic brews include an award-winning golden Kölsch, a spicy Hefeweizen, and a malty Maibock. Try the upscale twists on pub favorites like creamy Maryland crab dip with poblano chilies, a pulled-pork sandwich made with local hickory smoked pork, and grilled chicken served in a rosemary peach sauce with toasted pecans.

Deep Creek's best spot for sophisticated café food serves breakfast burritos and homemade granola and scones in the morning. Lunch brings on an assortment of appetizers and sandwiches, including chicken breast with basil mayo, and fresh mozzarella on ciabatta bread and quesadillas with smoked Gouda, portobello mushrooms, and caramelized onions. Salads feature crisp vegetables and grilled meats. Beer and wine are available when a cappuccino just won't cut it. Best of all, the eatery is just a short walk uphill from the lake, near the public park access, and opens bright and early at 8 am.

Family-owned and -operated since 1929, this legendary establishment boasts a bustling restaurant and pub with 11 dining rooms, an adjacent inn, shops, and a museum—reportedly the only one in the nation—that pays homage to nearby presidential retreat Camp David. The spot is well patronized by members of the media, and posted newspaper clippings and photographs recall the 1979 Camp David accords and other major news stories. Cozy has home-baked treats and several all-you-can-eat buffet nights to refuel after a long day of hiking. On Wednesday and Thursday it's steak and shrimp; Friday and Saturday feature a gut-busting land-and-sea spread that includes steamed oysters, clams casino, shrimp, scallops, barbecued ribs, steaks, and fried chicken. You can ratchet up the heat with one of the 200 hot sauces from the restaurant's "Wall of Fire."

Above the county fairgrounds, this homey diner serves affordably priced breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. Try the sweet-potato pancakes or sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. Homemade potato chips, cut thick and still hot from the fryer, are a mouth-watering treat. Desserts, made in-house, are a hit, particularly the choco-fabulous Sinful Seven Cake. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the restaurant.

On summer evenings, locals and tourists crowd onto the elegant brick patio to sip raspberry and pomegranate-flavor margaritas and munch on overstuffed quesadillas and blackened tilapia tacos. Year-round, the cozy dining room evokes a hacienda with rustic wooden beams and brightly colored paintings by Mexican artists. The marinated strip steak, creamy chicken La Paz, and crab cakes served with jalapeño tartar sauce are, as they say in Spanish, delicioso.

The area's German roots may have you hankering for schnitzel, knockwurst, or a cold Oktoberfest beer. If so, head to Schmarkerl Stube. Waitresses dressed in traditional dirndls (recall those St. Pauli Girl beer commercials?) carry heaping plates of homemade sausages, veal and noodles, and sweet and sour beef with dumplings. The house favorite Knusperige Schweinshaxe (marinated pork shank with sauerkraut, apple-flavored red cabbage, and homemade Bavarian bread dumplings) must be ordered 24 hours in advance so that the pork has ample time to marinate. Intricate wood carvings and red-and-white checked tablecloths complete the theme.