It’s always a great day when we take the Maryland Crab Cake Tour to Gertrude’s and spend time with (cousin) and proprietor and Chesapeake chef John Shields with a first-time visit from Nick Rodricks, whose famous columnist father has put together a magical tale of our city upstairs at The Baltimore Museum of Art in “Baltimore 1966: No Mean City.” Smalltimore abounds as the pair goes fishing with friends, food, family and what we all have in common in Baltimore.
Nestor Aparicio, Nick Rodricks, and John Shields discuss the upcoming benefit at Union Craft Brewing for employees of Falcon Hands Hardware Store, which burned down. The event will feature local restaurants, including Gertrude’s, offering food for $25. They also talk about Dan Rodricks’ play “No Mean City 1966,” which explores Baltimore’s history and culture. Nick shares insights into his father’s playwriting process. John promotes Gertrude’s vegan crab cake, made from zucchini and other ingredients. Nestor highlights the play’s sold-out shows and encourages ticket sales for the remaining performances.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Attend Union Craft Brewing’s Friends & Family event on Monday night and bring burgers, cookies, and cheesecakes to support the benefit for Falcon Hands Hardware employees.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Return to Gertrude’s on Sunday to enjoy the blue catfish dish and attend Dan’s 1966 Baltimore No Mean City show on site.
Union Craft Brewing Benefit for Falcon Hands Hardware Store Employees
- Nestor Aparicio introduces Nick Rodricks and John Shields, highlighting their family connections and their presence at Gertrude’s.
- John Shields discusses a benefit organized by Union Craft Brewing for employees of Falcon Hands Hardware Store, which burned down.
- The benefit involves local restaurants, including Gertrude’s, providing food for a $25 donation.
- Nestor Aparicio shares a personal anecdote about his relationship with John Shields’ family and his positive experience at Gertrude’s.
Dan Rodricks’ Thespian Journey
- Nestor Aparicio praises Dan Rodricks’ acting skills, mentioning his role in “No Mean City 1966” and his ability to play Brooks Robinson.
- John Shields and Nick Rodricks talk about Dan’s transition from a one-man show to a full-cast play.
- Nick Rodricks recalls his initial skepticism about Dan’s play and how it has surpassed his expectations.
- Nestor Aparicio shares his excitement about promoting Dan’s show and hopes it sells out.
Dining Experience at Gertrude’s
- Nestor Aparicio describes his dining experience at Gertrude’s, including his order of collard greens and pork medallions.
- John Shields suggests combining mashed potatoes with collard greens for a hearty meal.
- Nestor Aparicio shares his positive feedback about the catfish he ordered, emphasizing its quality.
- John Shields humorously mentions the environmental benefits of eating invasive blue catfish.
Promoting Vegan Options at Gertrude’s
- Nestor Aparicio promotes Gertrude’s vegan crab cake, which is made from zucchini and other ingredients.
- John Shields explains the process of making the vegan crab cake, including the use of vegan mayonnaise and egg replacer.
- Nestor Aparicio compares Gertrude’s vegan crab cake to other vegan options available at other restaurants.
- John Shields mentions the popularity of the vegan crab cake among customers.
Dan Rodricks’ Play on 1966 Baltimore
- Nick Rodricks discusses the educational value of Dan Rodricks’ play, which covers events in 1966 Baltimore.
- Nestor Aparicio and Nick Rodricks talk about the relevance of the play’s themes to contemporary issues.
- Nick Rodricks shares insights into the development of the play, including Dan’s research and writing process.
- Nestor Aparicio expresses his excitement about attending the play and promoting it.
Personal Connections and Family Dynamics
- Nestor Aparicio shares a story about his first meeting with John Shields’ father, who took him fly fishing.
- Nestor Aparicio and John Shields discuss their family connections and the importance of family in their lives.
- Nestor Aparicio talks about his son’s unique sense of style and how he expresses himself.
- John Shields shares a light-hearted moment about his son’s hair color and its changing hues.
Final Thoughts and Future Plans
- Nestor Aparicio and John Shields discuss their plans for attending Dan Rodricks’ play and other upcoming events.
- Nestor Aparicio mentions his hope to catch a good meal during his vacation.
- John Shields humorously suggests combining different dishes to create a unique meal.
- Nestor Aparicio wraps up the conversation by promoting the BMA and the upcoming play, encouraging listeners to attend.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Baltimore, Union Craft Brewing, Falcon Hands Hardware, Dan Rodricks, No Mean City, 1966, Gertrude’s, fly fishing, crab cake tour, vegan crab cake, BMA, Matisse exhibit, family, benefit, community.
SPEAKERS
John Shields, Nick Rodricks, Speaker 1, Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 2
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W N st am 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. We’re out here at the BMA. We’re at Gertrude. I’m gonna try to get my camera shot together, because I’ve got Nick Rodricks here. I got John shields. One of them’s like family, because honestly, your dad feels like a crazy uncle to me. And John shields is family, because my son was smart enough when he identified Aubrey many years ago to say she’s a member of shields family. They’re good people over there, and they got gertrudes, and we’re gonna be
John Shields 00:34
here, and they’re east side. They’re east side I had before we
Nestor Aparicio 00:37
get going. You wanted to promote this. Let’s do this real quick, because I only have you for a short time, because you have certain thing going on. Certain thing going on, and Nick’s got a show going on upstairs, but you got this thing that union craft brewing is doing for friends and family, and it’s important.
John Shields 00:51
Yeah, John Carroll is putting on a benefit for the employees from Falcon hands hardware store in Hamden that burned down, and so those folks are, you know, without a job right now, and the whole community is coming, neighbors, taking care of neighbors. All the restaurants on here are going to be there
Nestor Aparicio 01:11
on Monday night, bringing food. We’re bringing a burger, cookie, cheesecakes. I’m around Monday better come. 25 bucks. 25 hours, everybody, if you’re involved in it, see the guys over at Union. I love them, too. Yeah, and I had the best lunch here today. And I don’t want to say your place sneaks up on me, because, like, now that we’re family, and by the way, Dan introduced me to him, and I didn’t even know we were, like, related, till he said, That’s
Speaker 1 01:38
funny, because Dan introduced me to him too. I’m his uncle.
Nestor Aparicio 01:42
I to what year were you born? Man, oh, 90. So I’m your dad took me out for a turkey sandwich in 1987 and I was just thrilled to for him to be so kind to me. I didn’t think that 40 years later, he would be the kind of guy taking me fly fishing, inviting me backstage for his mean city 1966 presentation that you would be playing the role of Brooks Robinson, right? Yeah, correct. Yep, I look more like Aparicio
Speaker 2 02:10
than you look like Robinson. Well, I don’t have the hairline. Yeah, I don’t
Nestor Aparicio 02:13
know, but these shows that he’s done and John, you’ve known Dan forever. You heard he was going to do a show. You heard it was going to be here. I knew it was going to be good. I didn’t realize how good he was going to be at this. I thought he could be good at it when we’re fly fishing a couple years ago. He’s telling me about it, and I saw him do his Don dinaldo act at Jack Lemmons house back you know, when we did Oktoberfest, when I was young, working at the paper, and I knew he had this thespian thing about him, but I think, and I told him this the night that I saw the show, and he told me the whole bogo’s In thing, I said, I think Dan Rogers has found a whole lane. Do you agree with that? You’re absolutely you’d love the shows, right? I’ve been to all of them now. Where are you? You’re the kid. You got to say good things.
Speaker 1 02:56
Oh yeah, I have to say good things. I will say that originally, when he had talked about writing a play. And, you know, he wanted to do a one man show. I was kind of like, you know, I’m here, I’m here for you, Dad, I’ll support you and whatever. But then I’ll be the one there. I’ll be whatever, you know, whatever you show, yeah? But then, you know, when, when the one man show turned into his first play of cast. I think we had 12 people in it, yeah, that first night, I remember being like, Oh, this is, like, a real thing. And yeah, I think it’s surpassed maybe his expectations originally, and maybe now, by the third play, he’s he’s a little bit more accustomed to the idea that, yeah, we can put a whole show on, but it’s a big it’s a big under the writing is one piece, but the actual undertaking is another thing.
Nestor Aparicio 03:36
Why did the show at Christmas time? And John sat in and we sat right here. Dan did 53 minutes talking about the show. It was at that point that I learned that to George Wallace was, in fact, a Democrat, not a Republican. Had that argument McKeldin and where the politics and all that was, but the notion that, like I said to Dan, I mean, I want to promote this for you. We held the Sports Illustrated up, have pictures all that. And I said, I’ll promote this. And I’m thinking, I hope it sells out for him. I hope it’s like successful form the court thing and like all that, and now they’re just like, by the time I’m here, it’s sold out. I got nothing to sell the Amy Cheryl thing. I tried to get lunch here today. You had my name on if they people were mad at me. Woman sat here and she said, Oh, so you’re reserved. What do you need? She said to me, what do you need to do to get a reservation at Gertrude? And like I didn’t, I said, Well, I’m doing my podcast here, promoting this show, but really, my cousin owns the joint. And she said, Well, that’s a good reason. And then I get the menu, and she was trying to talk to me, and I’m trying to read everything, because I don’t eat here all the time, but I want to make a great decision, and I loved your collard green so much. And the last time you tried to talk me out of it, somebody else did too, because I ordered the pork medallions with the with the grits, and we were just wondering, like, how good is that going to be to take it home to eat it at home? Know, I text you that night, you did, and I told you how delicious it was, and I ate it again the next day. So today I had to have the collard greens. It’s just like, I haven’t had them in three months. You know, when you have something that’s great, and you’re like, I got I can’t wait to get that. So I I almost ordered the salmon. It looks delicious with the mashed potatoes, delicious. And I thought collard greens aren’t really going to go with that the way that you wanted to.
John Shields 05:25
So what you needed to do was order the salmon with the mashed potatoes. Hold the salmon. Get the mashed potatoes. Put that with the greens. That’s what I eat for my regular meal.
Nestor Aparicio 05:35
What’s the protein on that salmon?
John Shields 05:37
No, it’s mashed potatoes and collard greens. It’s like col cannon. It’s like an Irish American meat in there. What it was, it’s a cow. What they pulled on a cow and they got the milk in his fall. Yeah, and we got about 75 pounds of butter in each batch. And so if you can’t get enough protein out of there. I don’t know where even begin.
Nestor Aparicio 06:02
Put some pork on air. Throw some catfish, some shrimp creole on there from dead animal we find somewhere. So the meal comes today, and it came really quick. Yeah, I took a picture of it because I wanted to promote your place, and I love you. And there’s my picture. And so I have a little picture of me with my catfish, right? And then I started eating it, and the lady next to me and that good stuff started talking to me, and I’m like, this is the best meal I’ve had this year. So I just want to be like, so it’s 64 days into the year. I haven’t been out a whole lot, yeah? Like, this is the best meal I’ve had this year. And I hope I’m going to vacation next week, couple places I’m hoping, but it’s a high bar. Yeah, you set the bar, like I’m hoping, at some point before, like, June, yeah, something as good as that catfish.
John Shields 06:45
And you also did a very, very good deed for the Chesapeake Bay today, because he ate that invasive blue catfish and helping to clear them. SOPs are eating all the little crabs, I mean, everything. And you so you, you pitched in. You did your civic duty, eating that catfish and the greens.
Nestor Aparicio 07:04
And I’ll do it again on Sunday, coming back for the show on site, so didn’t have any space for me, okay? And he sold out, and I was trying to do the show on Thursday, which is opening day, which I thought that’s bad idea, yeah. And then you told me, Amy Cheryl’s got us, like, wall to wall here. And I said, All right, let’s do Wednesday. And I said to Dan, when’s the dresser? Also Tuesday, Wednesday? Said we’ll do Wednesday. And I knew Dan was gonna punk out because he’s so busy and it’s crazy. And I knew I could get cast members here give me your take on the show. And when your dad said I’m doing a 66 thing on race, and because I’ve had Vanessa here earlier, and I had Chris talking at length about the show, and Dan’s in the show, but he’s not the protagonist. He’s more of a but talking about this city. And some guy that’s born in 1990 some guy that was born in the 1900s you remember 66 I was born in 68 so educationally, spiritually, what am I going to see when I see the show on Sunday?
Nick Rodricks 08:02
Name? Yeah, I Well, I think it’s a, it is really like an educational experience. And I think, you know, I get a little backstage, because see my dad a lot. I get, I get to kind of watch him, you know, read about something in the paper one day, or read a, you know, an old newspaper article or book, and then kind of watch him talk through and at the time, you don’t realize that, you know, he read some article about the Frank’s difficulties finding a home. So he tells me about that, like, three years ago, right? And at the time, you don’t think, Oh, this is, this is on its way to becoming a whole play. But he, he does this pattern will start to, you know, talk about things repeatedly, and that over the course of a couple years that, you know, maybe he writes a couple scenes here and there. But for the audience, I mean, for anybody that you know was born closer to 1990 I think there’s a lot of things that happen, but, but, I mean, I grew up, I growing up here, like, I, you know, you all these stories you hear. It’s really cool. It’s been great watching them kind of like, come to life. And I think, really, yeah, people are going to learn. About what was happening in the city 1966 cool baseball year. But this play honestly, it’s not just about baseball. It’s mostly not about baseball. It’s mostly about everything that was coming with baseball at the time, and what baseball may have meant to people in the city at that year because of everything else that was going on. So, yeah, I mean, there’s a lot, there’s a lot packaged in there, for sure, well,
Nestor Aparicio 09:23
and I think a lot of things that are relevant to today, right? Absolutely. Pete Alonso signing, harkening, the Frank Robinson thing. You crazy baseball fan, big baseball fan. Yeah, yeah. I know. I mean, I see you were Canadian stuff, a big hockey guy too. But yeah, yeah. And you were, he was supposed to take me fly fishing, yeah, on the Maryland crab cake tour out. And we were supposed to go out on the little upper, lower Potomac,
Speaker 1 09:46
Luke, maybe North Branch The Potomac.
Nestor Aparicio 09:49
And your dad had me in the woods because you were unable to teach me 10 o’clock, two o’clock, 10 o’clock. So Tony Doctor man down in 10 o’clock, two o’clock. I’ve been fly fishing once. Time. And your dad, you know he he wants to give joy to people. Yeah, he really does. He really does. And he met us all the way out Western Maryland. My wife and I, we went with Eric Sauer, who had his life saved on the bone marrow registry. He is the founder of, there goes, my hero. He had his son with him. So I’m out on the lake with these two miracles that had their lives. Your dad’s got the waiters on. He’s putting me in waiters. I don’t know why. I’m scared to death. I have my ass up against a rock, and I just was trying not to fall on all the slime in the water. Talk about right? Yeah. So I kept casting and casting and dance, being all strategic about what fish like, and I’m just out getting sunshine. You’re just surviving. We caught one fish, and it was smaller to my hand, and we it was a rainbow trout. We held it up. So Dan and I have and I held the fish really close to the camera, so the fish looks right
10:50
and grin, you
Nestor Aparicio 10:52
know, but we close the only fish we caught the whole day, and we marched back. And you would have thought that we lost the World Series. You know, Dan was defeated. Ah, Nestor, I brought you here. I wanted you to catch some fish. I feel horrible. I feel terrible. And, and, but, you know, but you gave me catfish today, and we got one more fish out of the bay we did today. So I’ll just eat catfish here. No salmon next time. And now, the reason John is not just special because he’s my family, but I started this crab cake tour thing, and I found people who are shellfish intolerant, or crab doesn’t agree with them, but they you know, sure. And Odette Ramos vegan and certain vegan people. Jamie Raskin is vegan. Calvin Ball is shellfish into so I learned this about politicians, but everybody said, you come to gertrude’s and they have a crab cake, and ain’t like a regular crab cake, so I want you to promote that, because most people don’t
John Shields 11:51
even know about this. I can’t believe it’s not crab Crab cake. Yeah. So it was a recipe one of my little sister gave me for essentially, mock crab cake. So it goes this, I don’t know, 15
Nestor Aparicio 12:07
years recently, okay, yeah, so this didn’t exist in 19 No, when you were in Sausalito. No, any
John Shields 12:13
original No, when I was in Berkeley with the restaurant there, no, we did not have the mock crab cake.
Nestor Aparicio 12:19
So you put this on. Yeah. Do people order it?
John Shields 12:21
They order it so much. We go through cases and cases and cases of zucchini. It’s zucchini, yeah. And so you basically, you know, just grating it on the on the largest grater, and then you put salt over it and let all the water, like, drip out of it. That gives it more of the consistency, and then you wring out the zucchini, yeah, and then, essentially, you’re making a crab cake batter. But since we wanted it to be vegan, we use a vegan mayonnaise, and there’s this thing called energy egg replacer. It’s kind of like a powder. You whip it up and it froths up like an egg. And so you use that in there as well. So it’s completely vegan, and people love them. I mean, I had heard the
Nestor Aparicio 13:07
legend, yes, it’s what I did the first time. I did the crab cake tour here, because it was one place and get it. I remember when you were doing that, yeah. And I the house, the land of Kush also does. Then he do it with a different product. They do, yeah, they do it with a different kind. It’s like some sort of vegetable. I Yeah, it’s an odd thing that it’s not right, like zucchini, yeah, it’s a vegetable I haven’t heard of or spoken about since the last time I did it. But I do think that that’s a fascinating crab cake tour, like
Speaker 1 13:37
Jack for something, a lot of, yeah, vegan, vegan food, replacement food, yeah, I
Nestor Aparicio 13:41
think that is so, yeah, John’s got places. He’s got to go. You’ve got dress rehearsals upstairs. Yeah, I know you’re playing the role this weekend, or Chris is playing. Yeah, Chris and I are someone to see you on Sunday afternoon. Yes, squeezed me in for the matinee. You know, I feel like Second Club on the matinee. Dan will be in the show Sunday, right? He’s not. There’ll be some other there’s no other act. There’s no bad doing to me. What what they did to me up in Broadway a couple years who’s the Home Alone guy, McCauley, cock and who’s his brother that won? Kieran. Kieran, he was in the show, great, Glengarry Glen Ross. I went up to New York see Glengarry Glen Ross. I paid my 68 bucks, or whatever cheapskate thing. I didn’t last minute. I bought my ticket. I walk in and they hand me the thing, and it has the little it has the little white paper, and it says, Kieran Koco’s will not be appearing tonight. Care, you know, what did I care? Bill Burr was in it.
John Shields 14:38
It was fun, but this year was good.
Nestor Aparicio 14:42
He didn’t need him. Don’t sleep on an understudy. State knives. All you need to know, Nick Rodricks is about to become my new best buddy and fishing buddy, and
14:50
we’re gonna whenever you want. Yeah?
Nestor Aparicio 14:53
Well, I didn’t catch anything. I’m still like a fly fish virgin. Yeah, so me. While we eat the catfish with this guy, John shields has been my cousin for over 10 years now. They are so cute. Aren’t they cute? They are what color is their hair this week? Is it pink?
John Shields 15:10
But I just go on and look, and it just makes me smile.
Nestor Aparicio 15:13
My kid is the original, like the Tesla song. I took off my hat, I said, imagine that my kid has hair like mine, except it’s pink, yellow or green or flavor, yeah, strawberry or blueberry or snozzberry, and then he puts it under the hat, so nobody knows about his
John Shields 15:30
do, but on weekends, yeah, it’s out. Let it fly,
Nestor Aparicio 15:33
let the pigeons loose. So, you know, and my son’s older than you. My son’s born 84 it’s really nice to meet. Yeah, Nick roderick’s, I love your dad. You love your dad. Me too. Oh yeah, where’s the BMA? We’re Gertrude. That’s this guy’s place. Gert was who, who’s Kurt, my grandmother, and Miss Gert was my neighbor who made sauerkraut and kielbasa. And you are. You’re kind of the sauerkraut King. Sauerkraut. I think of you. Yep. So I’m gonna come back and share some sauerkraut with you. When sauerkraut month, November.
John Shields 16:09
What is that? That’s in January. We got to wait for kraut fest 2027, that’s in January. You come and dance. Yep. We’re gonna poke in the night.
Nestor Aparicio 16:17
Away. My son just got an accordion. Oh, my
John Shields 16:21
goodness, maybe we can get them in. Lot of the band members are dying. We got we need a replacement polka.
Nestor Aparicio 16:29
Polka. Poll, all right. John shields, we’re here. You’re sold out. You’re sold out. Amy Cheryl, sold out. But the place is free to come to one after the BMA and love them up. We’re right here in the middle of the city. They’re putting on great shows, putting on great exhibits. Matisse is coming back next year. Matisse never leaves. And I’m gonna leave and I’m gonna come back and get some catfish Sunday. My friend John shields and Nick Rodricks, on behalf of our friends here, no mean city, Baltimore, 1966 they tell me there’s a handful of tickets. If you know Some, yeah, if you know somebody, you can get in Sunday at two o’clock back for more. We’re Baltimore positive. Stay with us.
