Crab Cake Review Info
Hello and welcome to a joyous exploration of the regional culinary delight known as the crab cake. With such a popular dish, there were bound to be so many variations on the same basic premise of crab, mayonnaise, and spice. Some add a touch of mustard to the mix, some fill it in with bread crumbs. Some prefer it with cocktail and/or tartar sauce, others like it with lemon.
It is these variations that makes it hard to compare one crab cake to another. Our goal is to not decide for you who has the best crab cakes in the area, but to give you enough information about the numerous offerings to allow you to decide if you would rather try one over another. Maybe you are in town on business and want to know who even offers crab cakes. Perhaps you have lived in Baltimore your entire life and never knew that the small corner bar offered some of the best cuisine in the city. Let us show you around so you can see where you might want to visit next!
How
The Crab Cake Review aims to try one new crab cake a week, provide at least one picture of the item being reviewed, and to offer information about the crab cake in question. Pictures are taken with a pocket digital camera without permission of the restaurant (but in all honesty, I paid for the food, so I should be able to document it). Any post-processing is to adjust for poor quality lighting and the lack of flash. This mostly involves adjusting the brightness or contrast, and sharpening the picture a bit. The pictures may come out a little blurry or low-fi, but taking professional camera equipment along for the ride will make us stand out!
When
The usual method of operation is to patronize a restaurant like any other customer, as we wish to be treated like any other customer. Knowing if a reviewer is present (or even who they are) may cause the restaurant to act "on point", and we wish to keep things as close to reality and normal operation as possible. No special favors for us, dear readers! Preference is towards the times when a restaurant is known to not be overly busy, but at the same time not completely dead. Crab cake specials will always facilitate a visit at some point!
Where
Because the Baltimore/Annapolis/DC area is best known for crabs and crab cakes, I limit my visits to restaurants in these areas (unless there is a popular vote to visit somewhere remote). The DC area is more or less contained within the beltway, but not restricted to. Baltimore can go as far north as the MD border, but will try to contain the Eastern border to Columbia/Ellicott City, using Rt 29 as a fuzzy border. The Eastern Shore will be the Western border, which will include the stretch of beach from Rehoboth Beach, DE down to Assateague, VA. Parts of southern DE may also be included.
How the restaurants are picked are up to my discretion: usually how I'm feeling that day, how far I want to travel, where I am that day, and if a place is so popular amongst the local folklore of having the best crab cake that I just HAVE to try it.
Who
The Crab Cake Review not sponsored by any restaurant, organization, or business. I am but a single person, running around the area trying various crab cake delights for the mere sake of having fun and sharing my experiences. If a restaurant happens to contribute to the Crab Cake Review, then this is done anonymously and I have no knowledge of it.
As far as my qualifications go, I probably have none. I am not a chef, and have only worked menial jobs in the restaurant business: prep, expo, bus boy, steamer, dish dog. I do enjoy cooking at home, and always love a challenge in the kitchen. You could call me somewhat of a foodie: I do enjoy the finer things in life, but can still slum it with the best of them.
So why does that make me the authority on crab cakes? It doesn't. Then again, I do love me some crab cakes. And after you eat enough of them, you can start to tell the differences between them. And it is these findings that I present to you.