between gambrills and EC, you'll find jailbreak in laurel, right where 32 meets route 1. i recommend it all the time. great beer, great kitchen, chill atmosphere.

crooked crab is a good in-between location as well right off 32 and telegraph road (170), though the beers there tend to be more on the hoppy/crafty side compared to jailbreak, so really good if you're into that sort of thing. they don't have a kitchen, but lots of places deliver to that location.

if you want to meet in glen burnie, which would probably be about twenty minutes drive for the both of you, pappas and olive tree have nice bars and fairly conventional comfort food menus.