By Greg B. (Photos by Dan S)  Like many people, I had never known about the beer and polka hall that existed in Jessup, MD.  When I first learned of this in Dec of 2007, the park was on the verge of closure, so we headed down for a night of good food and beer (with some Polka time).  Well, the park closed, and this interesting place I had just discovered was not going to be open to us again.  Or so we thought.

Blob’s Park is open again!  For at least another 3 years.  They opened this year just in time for the new year celebration, and have been going strong ever since.  What is blob’s park you might ask?   A Barvarian styled beer hall with live polka music, complete with tons of great German food and a good beer (excuse me, bier) selection, this really is an interesting destination right near Baltimore that should not be missed.  It does get pretty busy on the days I have been there, I would say the hall (which is rather large and open, just as a bier hall should be, with a dance floor in the middle next to the stage) was about 50% full on the night I went.  They are open weekends, Friday and Saturday nights as well as Sunday afternoons (but you should check the schedule, they have a lot of events and special bands, including some good ones this weekend for Valentine’s day, in case you hadn’t made plans yet!).

Walking in, there is an entrance fee ($8, i think).  After this, we found a large table that could accommodate all of us at once and began to order some beer (two pitchers of their dunkel, probably Paulaner’s dunkel).  It was a great bier to go with the food that would come shortly.   mean, when you think about it, what better biers can there be to go with various krauts and sausages and dumplings than a good malty dunkel or a nice crisp paulaner (marzen). Their menu was rather large, with a ton of different options.  Most of the main entrees were reasonably priced around $13-17 and just so we’re clear: you’re going to feel very full after the food, so it may be wise to dance both before and after eating!

Though the food was a little slow in coming, we didn’t mind waiting while the bier was flowing.  I should probably take this point to say that if you are a male out with a female, and you’re not dancing with her, she will be asked repeatedly throughout the evening to dance by various polka-loving older men.  It’s just a fact of the bier hall, and something to keep in mind.  When the food did arrive it was great, and very filling.  We ordered an appetizer of fries, which came in a bucket (and had a philosophical discussion about what constitutes a bucket versus a pail, just one of those nights).  I had a plate of brats, while others had potato dumplings, various stewed meats and some even got the schnitzel (which was delicious).  Most plates came with a hearty helping of red cabbage, which if you don’t know is actually pretty taste, sweet, with a little tang to it, as well as potatoes of some sort, mashed, fried, baked, you name it.

By the end of the meal, we all just wanted to sit around and not move for a bit, however many of the women at the table could not resist the siren call of the older men, and were repeatedly dancing for a good hour or so.  Finally, when the crowd had thinned enough and everyone was thoroughly tired and potentially, still stuffed, we left.  This is a place I strongly recommend checking out.  It is a place of original German culture, not a place that was made to resemble German culture after the fact.  The music is great, the beer selection is good (I didn’t see what they had on tap, but they do have a rather large bar off to one side of the bier hall, in case you want to just stop in for a drink now and then for an evening).  Go with friends, take a date, or plan a family trip here.  You wont be disappointed and I bet you will be back.