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Weekly reviews of crab cakes around the MD and DC area

June 11, 2014
Published in Crab Cake Reviews
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Alewife

So where do you go when you want to pre-game for a show, but want a wide selection of beers to choose from? That's right, you go to Alewife! Located in the Theatre District, Alewife is a gastropub that focuses on highlighting Maryland cuisine. And getting to choose from 40 draft and 100 bottled beers isn't such a bad thing, either. You can't get much more Maryland than a crab cake (or the Blackened Snakehead, AKA "the Frankenfish"), so we decided to stop in and give them a try. Read on to find out how they were!

Crab cakes are available or Lunch, Dinner, or Late Night. The Lunch/Late Night menu offers Crab Cake Sandwiches topped with Bibb lettuce, tomato, and house tartar sauce on a brioche bun, served with french fries. Dinner features a double entree served with buttered corn cream, fried green tomato, and a micro salad with IPA mustard vinaigrette. All prices are market price.

The crab cakes are Maryland style, which binds large lumps of crab meat with a bread-based binder. Lots of large lumps in the cakes with very few broken pieces, and a sweet (but not too sweet) flavor. The binder is moist, and lightly spiced, with a hint of Dijon in the background.

Very nicely done! Great care was taken when mixing the crab and the binder to keep those precious crab lumps whole. The crab itself had a decent flavor, but wasn't too sweet. We've certainly had sweeter crabs this year already, but it was still good nonetheless . The binder was a bit of a disappointment. It had great moisture, and the flavor accentuated the crab while remaining neutral, but the only spice we picked up was a hint of Dijon. It really could have used a bit more spice in the mix to keep things interesting.

Additional Info

Restaurant Name: Alewife
Address: 21 N. Eutaw St Baltimore, MD 21201
Neighborhood: Theatre District
Restaurant Type: Local
Website: http://www.alewifebaltimore.com/
Review Date: 06/07/2014 7:16pm
Atmosphere: Busy
Item(s) Ordered: Maryland Crab Cake
Cooking Style: Broiled
Other Styles Available: No
Available by mail order?: No
Price: 34.00
Order Type: Double Platter
Crab Content: Jumbo Lump
Filler: Average
Spice: Minimal
Overall Impression: Very Good
Rating (out of 5 crabs):

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Restaurant Name

Name of the restaurant at the time of the review. Using proper, advertised name and not any nicknames. Stadium names will be used, as the stands there are permanent (at least for the current season). Festival/Event stands will use the business name.

Address

Physical address of the restaurant. In the case of a chain, the establishment visited will be used.

Neighborhood

Name of the neighborhood/area that the restaurant is located in. More useful for big cities like Baltimore. Smaller locations will have just the town/city name used.

Restaurant Type

Local = Single establishment/location
Local Chain = Multiple establishments in the same town
Regional Chain = Multiple establishments in the same geographical area
National Chain = Multiple establishments across the country
Stand/Kiosk = Stadium, festival or event that does not have a physical address/permanent location. Stadium names will be used, as the stand will be assumed to be permanent, at least for the current season. Stands at festivals/events will use the business name.

Review Date

Date and time the review took place. Time often refers to when I sat down at a table, not specifically when I took my first bite of crab cake.

Atmosphere

Approximation of how busy the restaurant was at the time of the review. May have an effect on the quality that goes into the crab cake and overall experience. If food is made to order but the kitchen is slammed, then food may be rushed out the door. Conversely, if going to a stand on a slow day, food may be pre-cooked and then warmed up upon ordering.

Item(s) Ordered

Menu name of the item ordered. There may be multiple versions on the same menu, or the same item may be named differently if the menu changes on a regular basis.

Cooking Style

How the crab cake was cooked. Not always obvious, at which case a best approximation is made. Typically either fried or broiled are the most popular cooking styles, others may be available and will be indicated as such.

Other Styles Available

Indicates multiple versions of crab cakes are offered on the menu. Does not list which other styles are available, as that list can get to be a bit unmanageable. Fret not, my loyal readers! The CCR will make an effort at some point in the future to return and review it. For science!

Price

The price paid at the time of review. May not reflect the price if you visit the same establishment, especially if the crab cakes are "market price" or on a daily special. Every effort will be made to indicate the regular price in the body of the main review.

Order Type

Single Platter = single crab cake + at least one side
Double Platter = two crab cakes + at least one side
Combo Platter = two crab cakes of differing styles + at least one side
Sandwich = single crab cake on a bun
Appetizer = ordered off of the appetizer menu
Single = single crab cake and nothing else
Store Bought = bought at a store, but may also refer to carryout from a restaurant that also does mail order
Other = anything else that does not fit the above, expanded upon in the body of the main review

Crab Content

Description of crab contained within the crab cake. This definition is a bit subjective both to what the reviewer considers the crab content to be, and what the restaurant does. Even if jumbo lump is being used, for example, it is possible for those jumbo lumps to be broken up into smaller lumps and/or shreds. Origin vs end product can be different, but in the end its all crab. However, if a jumbo lump crab cake comes out with nothing but shreds, then the CCR does not view this as a jumbo lump crab cake.

Therefore, the CCR will use the following definitions in its reviews to assess the end product, despite the restaurants claims (which will be noted in the main body of the review):

Jumbo Lump = large lumps of crab meat present, often the size of a sugar cube
Lump = large lumps of crab meat that often have a finger-like shape to them
Mix = mixture of lump and shredded meat
Shredded = no lumps of crab meat, all shredded meat

Filler

Assessment of the amount of filler used, not the actual ingredients used. Minimal shows signs of bread crumbs and the like being used, whereas Too Much indicates that the cake has hardly any crab at all.

Spice

Assessment of the amount of spices used, not the actual ingredients used. Minimal indicates the slight presence of spices (such as Old Bay) or flavors other than the crab meat (may come from the mustard and/or mayo being used), whereas Too Much indicates that the flavor of the crab is undetectable.

Overall Impression

A personal assessment of the crab cake after some thought and reflection. The CCR tries to be fair and objective in all of its reviews, but that does not mean that the reviewer won't have some sort of opinion as to how good the crab cake is compared to all of the others out there. Please note that this is subjective, and use the pictures, main review and user comments to determine if the crab cake in question is worth trying for yourself or not. (And post your experience in the comment section as well!)

End FAQ