OK, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I found myself looking forward to an Artscape crab cake last night. And that's just sick.
Please understand. I love jumbo lump crab cakes, well seasoned and with a minimum of filler. I like them broiled. But when you order them in a restaurant, you have to give the owner your first born to pay for them, given the price of jumbo lump crab meat. ...
Continue reading "The sad demise of the Maryland crab cake" »
This Top 10 started with a query by the editor of AirTran's Go magazine.
I thought fancy crab cakes with an interesting twist would make a good Top 10, but I quickly realized that you can only make a crab cake interesting in three ways: How you season it, what you sauce it with, and what you serve with it.
I also realized that most of the list would come from fine-dining restaurants downtown because tourists want crab cakes. So no matter what kind of restaurant you are -- Italian, Asian fusion, genteel Southern -- if you're in the harbor area, you have to offer one. But you don't have to be boring about it.
Remember, these are fancy restaurant crab cakes. If you want to see the Top 10 list of crab cakes in general, click here.
And here's my list of Top 10 fancy crab cakes with an interesting twist: ...
Continue reading "Top 10 fancy crab cakes with an interesting twist" »
Call it the G & M Effect. This was actually first pointed out to me by chowsearch, although he didn't call it that. One reason G & M's crab cake has gotten so much press over the years is not only because it's good but because the Washington Post first called it a find, and then other media went there whenever they were making up "best" lists because you have to start somewhere, and now even national publications like Where the Locals Eat give it their "Best Crab Cake" award when they probably haven't tried many others.
It's not just G & M. The same crab cakes turn up again and again in the media best lists because you can only try a certain number, and you have to try the ones that people are talking about, or they'll wonder why those crab cakes weren't part of the story. ...
Of course, the obvious one is don't mess with somebody else's favorite crab cake; but less obvious is that there are many more places that have excellent crab cakes around here than I thought. Out of well over 100 comments on my two crab cake entries, I thought this one from Mike was the most insightful:
Kudos for taking on a topic that I suspect has as much to do with personal history and loyalty than culinary reason.
I also hadn't thought much about the role of the media in all this, and how much a crab cake's reputation becomes self-perpetuating. I mean, who would think to order a grilled crab cake at Sip & Bite, even though it's only $6.50? Richard tells us it's better than G & M's and Timbuktu's. ...
(Sun archives)
Call me a coward, but in the interest of harmony, I'm going to give you three lists here. One is going to be Top Ten Best Crab Cakes, Readers Choice. The next will be Top Ten Best Crab Cakes, Recommendations Based on My Own Long-Term Experience and Other Sun Foodies'. These are the ones, apologies to Robert, I would try if my rich uncle came to town and was willing to pay while I took him around on a crab cake odyssey.
Finally, the list that may be the most useful to true crab cake aficionados who already know that Faidley's has great crab cakes and want to think outside the box: The Top Ten Best Crab Cakes I've Had in the Past Year.
Here we go: ...
(Jed Kirschbaum/Sun Photographer)
Continue reading "Top Ten Best Crab Cakes" »
My daughter called me last night to ridicule me for my post on crab cakes. She pointed out my cowardice by saying that I usually respond to at least some of the comments under an entry, but on this one, ...
I'm feeling a little wild and crazy today, so I've decided to tackle the Dreaded Crab Cake Question. As you can imagine, any restaurant critic in Maryland is constantly asked where to find the best crab cake. This isn't a question that's easy to answer.
Do you like crab cakes that are nothing more than lump crab meat ? Or is the right filler important? How about seasoning? Do you like them broiled or do you think a true crab cake has to be fried, even if it isn't so good for you?
The other problem is that I may have been to the restaurant that has the best crab cake, in fact I probably have because I've been to so many, but not ordered the crab cake. It's too boring to describe crab cakes week after week in reviews.
All I'm asking of you is...
(Photo courtesy of the Costas Inn)
No, I'm not going to answer it today. But I thought you'd be interested in how others answer it.
Thanks to Andy Segall for pointing out this article on the subject, which appeared in the travel section of the St. Petersburgh Times this Sunday.
Ten crabcakes. Five days.
Clearly an amateur if that's all she can eat.
It's a fun story, with recipes, and the best part is the scornful comments by (I presume) real Marylanders at the end. After all, what do foreigners -- or should that be furriners? -- know about our local food?
(Andre F. Chung: Sun Photographer)
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