Eats and Drinks
Best Cheap Restaurant
Port Truck Stop
1701 S. Clinton St., (410) 276-3227
The burger's $1.95; shrimp basket is $4.50, and from the pale tile floor (a kerosene heater stands ready near the front door) to the paneled walls to the tiled ceiling, everything about the Port Truck Stop says cheap. Situated on South Clinton, across Eastbourne Avenue from a huge fuel-storage tank, the Port--which is also just a few hundred yards from the new Canton Crossing and almost in the shadow of Ed Hale's 1st Mariner Bank tower--is part of Baltimore's fast-disappearing blue-collar culture. It's the kind of breakfast-lunch place where a dock worker dressed in jeans and a fluorescent orange vest can grab a cig and some chili without breaking stride. Or he can hold court around the big round table with his buddies, or play the machines. Port Truck Stop will not please fans of Starbucks and Kiss Café, and it has not always gotten the love from CP. A 2002 story was headlined "Apocalypse Chow," and the writer confessed that she didn't even sample the Port's menu. Well, the dogs aren't No. 1. But the burger's pretty good, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise included.
