Koopers in Fells Point had a "Surf and Turf Sliders" special one night that was fantastic. Mini-crab cakes and pieces of steak on little ciabatta rolls with horseradish sauce and lettuce and tomato too, if my memory serves me correctly.

I know it's a special, so it wouldn't do for publication, but every time I walk by I always hope they'll be having it again.

Bring it back, Koopers!

My brain hurts from thinking about it! Most places I can think of that do "interesting" things with crab cakes are out of state! But, I do have one - The Crack Pot advertises a "Hawaiian" crab cake and a "smoked" crab cake. I guess those could be thought of as "interesting"...

How about calling us "y'all". It's all encompassing, except there is a bit of a quibble about whether y'all is singular and all y'all is the plural.

Gee whiz, I think adressin' people as folks is goshdarn awrighty! Those sound like maverick crab cakes, don't they? Just like me and John McCain. I think the good folks of Baltmore are tired of the samey-same old daggone crab cakes and really want some of these mavericky cakes, maybe with dill. Dill baby dill! Instead of talkin' 'bout crab cakes how about we talk about how John McCain knows how to win wars, ya know, like that one over in Viet Nam! We won that one good and that's why we'll win in Iran too!

Here's a twist I always enjoyed. Angelina's used to have somehting on the menu where they'd take one of their lump crabcakes and stuff it into a fresh, plump, hallowed out tomato. Talk about heaven.

Don't know if the new management over there still does that, but it was a fabulous twist on an old favorite that wasn't over the top.

Pierpoint's smoked crab cakes

Pierpoint's smoked crab cakes

Gertrude's "Can't Believe They Aren't Crab Cakes" Zucchini Cakes (I can believe it, but I still like them. Excellent crab cake for a vegetarian!)

Gertrude's Crabettes (mini crab cakes with East-meets-West thing going on)

Aren't you going to say what your three examples are? I'm guessing that one of them is the smoked crabcake at Pierpoint.

Yes. EL

You used to call us guys? Didn't notice. Did I miss a complaint?

I went to a women's college, and it took them 2 years to break me of calling everyone "guys". After I graduated, took about 3 weeks before I started saying it again.

How about Largelings?

I don't know if anyone has noticed but I always call you groms in my Thursday post. I don't think anybody gets it.

How about calling us "y'all". It's all encompassing, except there is a bit of a quibble about whether y'all is singular and all y'all is the plural.

I believe the plural is "all y'all".

Pigtown, you can trust me on few things, but you can trust me on this: "Y'all" is singular. "All y'all" is plural.

It ain't in Baltimore but Jerry's Seafood in Lanham makes a "crab bomb" that may qualify as fancy crabcake

I don't mind being "you guys" - I say it all the time! I don't even mind being "dude" anymore (I have a 16 y.o.). There really isn't anything (that you can print anyway) that would offend me.

Just don't address us as "My Friends ..." puleeze!

I don't quibble about the plural of y'all. Other people do. I know what the proper singular and plural forms are.

Bucky and Hal,

Bingo!

also, HEY Y'ALL seems to be growing in popularity down here too.

don't want to offend the Owl on the eve of Funtastic Thursday by suggesting the term RtSO first offered up.

Hey you folks, or all y'folks, groms and gromettes, ... ? .... shoot, I forgot what I was going to say.

Does a "crab fluff" count?? I haven't seen one on a menu lately, but they must still be out there.

The Crackpot in Bel Air closed before I got to try it: didn't EL's review say something about 10 kinds of crabcakes? Is the Loch Raven place still open?

I appreciate the discussion about the grammar of the group. If it is true that "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindgergarden," I will always be a Texan, where we learned that they simply forgot to print the "all's" in the Dick and Jane books. We also learned that "grits" is singular while the proper plural is "mess o' grits." That means that grits is good, but a mess o' grits are better.

plonkmonger - you cracked me up.

A crab fluff is crustacean porn prep.

Gertrude's "build your own" menu offers a crab cake with several different sauce choices.

The crab cake with chipotle and orange sauce is really good and would certainly be classified as fancy. I've also tried the mango chutney aioli sauce and it's very "fancy", too.

Their crabettes are really nice, too. They have ginger and garlic and some sort of chile pepper. Tasty!

Have you noticed how I've bowed to pressure and no longer address you as "guys," the way I would if I were talking to you?

Oh, EL, just go with your roots and call us y'all.

MD Canon- I am fairly sure that they still have Crab Fluff at Gunning's. At least they did the last time I was there, which I think was a year and a half ago.

Miss Shirley's Cafe has a Crab Cristo on its fall menu---crabcake, smoked ham & swiss cheese, sandwiched in french toast, deep-fried and drizzled with creamy honey mustard & citrus aioli. Make me yearn for those late night snacks at Gampy's!

Can't we include Ocean City here? I mean EVERY Baltimorean knows about it??? That being the case let me just tell you that years ago Fager's Island had a crab cake enhanced with garlic. I know this is not your ordinary seasoning but it was created by John Fager's oldest daughter, Jessica, and it was delicious. Not sure it's still on the menu BUT I have the recipe!

OMG- Is the person who prepares the fluff a crab fluffer? I can't even imagine what that would entail.

Well, there's always "Eggs Chespeake" served at many, many locations for brunch: eggs benedict with a crab cake instead of Canadian bacon...

Angelina's dish was the Crab Brian if I remember correctly. They hallowed a beefsteak tomato and stuffed it with a crabcake.

There wasn't a better meal in the summer time. Have not been there for years though so I do not know if they still have it. But I too thought it was an interesting way to serve a good Crab Cake.

I work with Morton's and they serve their crab cakes (and miniature crab cakes) with a mustard mayonnaise sauce. Not sure that is a unique enough twist, though.

I've never been to The Crackpot, although it is less than 5 minutes from my house. As far as I can tell, it is still open (off of Loch Raven Blvd.). Does anyone even order those strange concoctions on their menu (Mexican Crab Cake, Hawaiian Crab Cake, Cruise Missile Crab Cake, etc.)? Just doesn't sound appetizing to me.

Kenneth, you were close on that Angelina's crab cake dish that Donny B mentioned.

It's not called the "Crab Brian", it's called the "Crab Brendan." I believe it's named after the son of the former owner (when the Reilley's owned the place). But I could be mistaken.

They take a large Maryland tomato, stuff it with a large Maryland crab cake, put it under the brioler for a little bit, and out comes one darn good meal.

Donny B was right, that's an excellent, yet delicate twist on a crab cake that doesn't ruin it. That crap at the Crackpot is junk.

The best part about the Crab Brendan at Angelina's is that afterwards, you can go downstairs to their Irish Shabeen and listen to Irish folk music and drink Guiness the rest of the night.

The use of "guys" in referring to a group of people is as annoying as using "hey" in place of "hello." About a month ago on the Today show, their resident consumer watchdog told Matt, Meredith and Al that they all used "hey" when tossing the focus back and forth. Matt claimed he was surprised by this after watching the clip review and said he'd be careful in the future. Nothing's changed.

Okay, so how we remove this informality from our speech? Would it be so terrible for waitrons to address a table as "folks"? Or, if it's a party of the same gender, "ladies" or "gentlemen"? Personally, I like getting surprised looks when, as I exit the bus, say "Thank you, sir." And the last time I was at a restaurant and the waitron said "Can I get you guys anything from the bar" I said "Why don't you first take the ladies' order ... dude."

I saw an ad for this last night:
Jumbo Lump Crab Burger
Fresh, tender, premium crab cakes, seared to a golden brown. Accented with sweet and spicy chile sauce.

The ad was for a local place called Ruby Tuesdays. It sounds delightful.

I don't understand why there is a need for anything in addition to "you". Doesn't English cover that sufficiently? Imagine this conversion where the words in parentheses are just eliminated, not replaced by some other tool of redundancy:
Hello (folks)
Can I get you (guys) anything?
Would you (douche nozzles) like some more coffee?

Oh no no no! In my part of the South, using "y'all" as the singular is just illiterate. (Note the "all" part of the word.) Singular remains "you." If you're addressing a large group "all y'all" could be acceptable. When I see someone on TV or the movies using "y'all" singular, I figure it's some "Yankee" (as they still say down there) trying to sound Southern and not knowing what they're doing. But I've been in MD for 13 years now, so maybe it's some newfangled aberration.

KristinB, don't try to figure out Baltimorons, there's a lot of toxic waste in the soil here.

I HATE being called "guys." When a server does so, I immediately ask him/her not to do so and either say "ladies" if we're all women or "folks" if we're mixed company. I also suggest that the server's tip could depend on it.

Piano Rob has no doubt noticed that in "Lost," just about every time Kate and the doctor meet each other, just by chance, in the jungle, the dialogue invariably starts with:

"Hey."

"Hey."

using "y'all" as the singular is just illiterate

Guilty, then.

I'm not a Southerner. I just worked a signficant part of my career around Texans and they used "y'all" as singular and "all y'all" as plural.

We could ask Mr. McIntyre to opine. We all trust his judgement, don't we?

"The use of "guys" in referring to a group of people is as annoying as using "hey" in place of "hello." P Rob - I am guilty of both. But if everyone in my world responds in like, am I wrong or am I just adapted to my environment?

What if they are saying "hej" rather than "hey"? Same pronunciation, but hej is Swedish.

IKEA changes folks, you know.

Lissa - Milan Hejduk, but he's Czech.

You want McIntyre to comment on the various forms of "y'all"? Why not ask Stephen Hawking to fix your screen door?

You want McIntyre to comment on the various forms of "y'all"?

I thought that might be where the "moderate" in "moderate prescriptivist" came into play.

Someone mentioned a new dish at Miss Shirley's that includes crab cakes, and so I headed over to find that they actually have THREE dishes that include them as well, including a "Crab Bites" appetizer.
Crab cakes were very very good with little breading and a hearty crabby flavor.
YUM!