I live on Kent Island(Stevensville on the map), which is just over the bay from Annapolis. We do have quite a few local flavor restaurants, which, primarily, are seafood oriented. As far as mortgages are concerned, we saved about 50K in our home purchase about 7-8 years ago, by choosing the Eastern Shore over anything comparable on the other side. You might have to go a little farther onto the shore today to find a better bargain these days.
I wouldn't say that we have an abundance of coffee bars, though, but there are a lot of local bar/restaurants that are popular.
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