Sunday night’s surprise snowfall forced me to cancel our dinner reservations at the recently opened Aggio, which caused me to undergo a bit of Bryan Voltaggio withdrawal. Luckily, I had various errands to run over in Maryland Tuesday, which gave me a perfectly good reason to drop by one of the chef’s other restaurants, Family Meal. I’ve been enjoying that spot ever since it opened back in 2012.

I started, of course, with my favorite appetizer, the chicken pot pie fritters.

When I placed my order, the server indicated that the recipe had been tweaked to include crushed Ritz crackers in the crust. Surprisingly, this improved a concept I already enjoyed. The coating held together the pot pie filling more tightly, and made for an even more interesting contrast between the shell and what was inside.

That’s as far as my duplication went, though, and my entree and dessert were all new (to me anyway). My main course was the shrimp po’ boy, which included lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and creole mayonnaise.

Check out the size of these shrimp!

A tasty combination, and the bread was choice, too.

Desssert was the banana-butterscotch pudding, layered with spiced shortbread, cream cheese mousse, and banana.

Definitely groan-inducing. It tasted so good I’m not quite sure the concoction is entirely legal in the state of Maryland. Better get there to try one yourself before the authorities find out!

How much do I like Family Meal? So much so that it’s where I’ll be celebrating my birthday at the end of the month.

Can there be any higher recommendation?