Shortly after we were seated, The Westlawn Inn’s owner, Lee Travers, dropped by our table and filled us in: Ours, he said, was “the mafia table” - otherwise known as the best one in the house.
Let me assure you, first of all, that our reservation landing us such a spot had nothing to do with where I come from (New Jersey) or my job (which includes writing this feature).
My wife placed the reservation, and we do not have the same last name. And although Travers and I had met before to talk about his rock ‘n’ roll days for an article, a haircut, it seems, allowed me to maintain anonymity. (We said “hello” to him on our way out the door.)
Sometimes you just get lucky.
The reason the mafia table is the mafia table, meantime, is because it offers a straight-on, unobstructed view of Saturday night’s extra perk: a live jazz band.
Such jazz on a recent Saturday came courtesy of Jim Ritter’s Creole Gumbo Jazz Band, an outfit that would not exist, as it happens, were it not for Westlawn, which Travers opened in the summer of 2004.
Backstory
The Westlawn Inn is, in many respects, the sum of Travers’ life experiences. That would be rock ‘n’ roll, construction and restaurants.
As a teen, Travers played in a band that was good enough to get a recording contract (45s, to give you an idea of the time period) and tour.
In his 20s, that life phase came to its end and Travers went into his family’s construction business. But after his father died in the 1990s, Travers began thinking about reconnecting with another part of his past: His parents had once run a Prince George’s County roadhouse.
Naturally then, Travers was also thinking casual - a bar and grill, perhaps. That was until North Beach’s mayor, Mark Frazer, convinced him to take a look at this former boarding house - and short-lived Caribbean-themed restaurant - on North Beach’s Chesapeake Avenue.
Westlawn has sinced established itself as a haven for upscale yet accessible fare. As food preparation does not rank among Travers’ skills, he has aptly outsourced that job throughout the years to up-and-coming chefs. His son, William Travers, is the manager and, as Travers will note, a fourth-generation restaurateur.
As for Westlawn becoming a weekly jazz venue, Ritter had a hand in that happening. In a corner of the downstairs dining room, within an area now designated “Club 9200,” Ritter noticed the photographs from Travers’ rock ‘n’ roll days and struck up a conversation with the owner.
Soon after, Ritter formed his band, which currently features Tom Holtz (tuba), Rick Rowe (banjo, guitar) and Ben Redwine (clarinet).
The experience
If Travers were to tell me his restaurant were in fact designed for jazz, he could have easily fooled me. The place has the look of a speakeasy, and the old wood floors and raised ceiling create excellent acoustics.
Creole Gumbo is a fine band. If you like classic New Orleans music, as my wife and I do, you are in for a treat.
The food, listed on a menu inspired by the season, is memorable, too.
Starters include cornmeal-fried oysters, calamari and crab-stuffed mushrooms. The bowls of cream of crab soup I spotted at other tables made me envious I did not try it myself, and the salads, particularly the roasted apple, look tempting, too.
Given the state of the American tomato, allow us to roll the dice on an appetizer of fried red tomato topped with mustard sauce, bacon bits and crab meat. This was crunchy and flavorful without being too oily.
My wife did not have to look long at the menu to know she wanted the grilled swordfish. As it was with my pan-seared scallops, the seafood in her dish was by far the highlight. The sides, meanwhile, very-lime couscous and sauteed cherry tomatoes and haricot verts, slim French green beans, were worth mixing into each bite of the big portion of flavorful fish.
The oversize scallops, too, were fairly divine. While the menu description notes a prosciutto cream sauce, you find it mainly in the center of the dish, beneath four juicy scallops. The dish, in other words, is rich but not too rich. Squid ink pasta? I can’t recall ever twirling up thick strands of black pasta. But beyond just sounding interesting, it also had an interesting (and pleasing) flavor. Roasted red peppers were a nice extra touch.
You might as well stick around for dessert: Why leave when the band is still playing? Our choices, for what it’s worth, proved your options are diverse. Chocolate cheesecake is a bar of chocolate made for the chocoholic. A more complex yet simple option is a slice of hot milk cake, which offers bites of sugar carmelized into chewy, crunchy perfection, and whipped cream.
Rounding out the evening were several wine options priced in the $20 range. Ritter, too, did more than just play his instrument and introduce the songs. He told funny stories.
Thing was, these were stories you sort of had to be there for. Lucky for you, Creole Gumbo is served here starting at 8 p.m. the second Saturday of every month. You can find the rest of Westlawn’s jazz offerings at the restaurant’s website (www.westlawninn.com).
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The Westlawn Inn is at 9200 Chesapeake Ave., North Beach. Hours: 5-9:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 5-10:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday. Prices: appetizers $7-$10; dinner entrees $23-$28; sandwiches, breakfast $8-$13. Credit cards: V, MC, D, AE. Reservations: 410-257-0001.
