It took me a moment.  My eyes adjusted as the image focused and I reread the caption.  Crab cakes smothered with shrimp salad.  My head pulled out of the world of Yelp on my phone.  The Ray Lew 52.  Although there is a never ending abundance of food selections anywhere I am, both in and out of the city I also spend a decent amount of time on social media.  Facebook, Instagram and Yelp not only display the pictures I take of food I devour, but also help me discover new places to go and try.

Gourmet Girls is an extremely busy cafe and catering business in Owings Mills.  Despite the unassuming exterior in a business park, the inside houses a full market, an impressive hot foods bar, deli and ample seating.  But for my own palate, what struck me the most was their selection of unique and gourmet sandwiches, namely the Ray Lew 52.  Named after Baltimore Raven legend Ray Lewis, this sandwich combines two local sandwich classics.  Crab cakes and shrimp salad.  And echoing the words from Wedding Crashers, “crab cakes and football, that’s what Maryland does!”

The crab cakes were hot and delicious, the shrimp salad cool and comprised of huge chunks of shrimp.  The toasted ciabatta was soft and chewy with a slight crisp on the outside, and underneath it all, lettuce, tomato and crunchy, crispy bacon.  Incredible.

Gourmet Girls also stocks some classic Baltimore desserts as well, and I couldn’t bear passing up a slice of Smith Island Cake nor miss their offering of Chocolate Tops!

Sometimes I have no idea how to end these posts!