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Bull on the Beach
When you hear the name Bull on the Beach, you instantly think of summertime and, of course, being 'downy ocean, hon!' If you aren't from around these parts, the Bull on the Beach is a family owned and operated restaurant that first opened up in Ocean City, MD back in 1980. Their boardwalk location has since become an OC institution, and two other locations have followed. If you're ever looking for a taste of the ocean, but don't want to drive 3 hours, then Bel Air might be a lot closer. At least for us, which is a good thing, as they have what we like -- crab cakes! Read on to see if their crab cakes are worth the trip, or just a lot of bull!
The Bull on the Beach has 3 locations -- 2nd and 92nd Sts in Ocean City, and one all the way up in Bel Air, MD (the location we chose for this review). Each location has similar, yet slightly different, menus. Each menu does offer a crab cake in some form. The Bel Air location offered both a crab cake sandwich and entree, of which we opted for the sandwich, which came with our choice of sides (we chose fries, of course).
While the crab cake is made up of mostly broken pieces, the size of those lumps was still pretty decent, and there were also a few larger lumps in the mix as well. All of that crab meat is bound together with a mixture of mayonnaise, Dijon, breadcrumbs, and spices. While you could somewhat see the texture of the breadcrumbs, the cake was mostly made up of crab meat, with just enough sauce to hold it all together.
The crab meat had a nice, sweet flavor to it, while retaining a slightly meaty texture and flavor. The sauce is kept in check by offering a stage from which that crab meat could sing. You can definitely taste the spice, which makes its presence known, but works well enough with the crab flavor that it doesn't overpower.
Overall, we really liked this crab cake. The crab tasted like decent quality crab, the moisture levels were spot on, and there weren't any extraneous ingredients that don't belong in a crab cake. At first we really could taste the Old Bay, but as we went through the crab cake, the Dijon actually started to become more and more aggressive. Not so much that we couldn't finish our meal, but enough that its distinctive flavor was easy to pick out of a lineup.
The biggest disappointment in ordering the sandwich was the bun itself. The bun was a kaiser roll that, while light and fluffy, folded faster than Superman on laundry day once we picked the sandwich up and took our first bite. In addition to that, there was too much lettuce and tomato on the sandwich. It may not seem like much, but with the juice from the tomato slices, in addition to the moisture from the lettuce, contributed to the bun failing miserably. It's enough to ruin an otherwise pleasant experience, so we'll recommend opting for the crab cake platter on your next visit.
Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Bull on the Beach
- Address: 2306 Churchville Rd Bel Air, MD 21015
- Neighborhood: Bel Air
- Restaurant Type: Regional Chain
- Website: http://bullonthebeachoc.com/
- Review Date: 10/22/2013 1:29pm
- Atmosphere: Not Busy to Moderate
- Item(s) Ordered: Maryland Crab Cake Sandwich
- Cooking Style: Broiled
- Other Styles Available: Yes
- Available by mail order?: No
- Price: 11.99
- Order Type: Sandwich
- Crab Content: Lump
- Filler: Average
- Spice: Average
- Overall Impression: Very Good
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Rating (out of 5 crabs):
