Ask a Baltimore native about coddies and you might get a big smile and a story about saltine crackers and yellow mustard. These little fried cakes of salt cod and potato were once sold at delis, drugstores, and corner lunch counters all over the city, and they cost next to nothing.
Today they are much harder to find, which is exactly why people get excited when they spot one on a menu. Below are six Baltimore spots still frying coddies, from a crab cake counter inside Lexington Market to a Hampden oyster bar and a Belair Road seafood carryout, so you know where to go next time the craving hits.
1. Faidley’s Seafood, Baltimore, MD
Plenty of people walk into Faidley’s for the famous jumbo lump crab cakes and walk out having discovered coddies too. That is a happy accident worth planning for.
The counter now sits in the updated Lexington Market at 119 N Paca St, and it keeps its no-frills, standing-room-only style. You order, you find a spot at the counter, and you eat…