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Capitol Lounge
If your visit to the nation's capitol has you wanting to meet Capitol Hill staffers, then heading over to the Capitol Lounge is going to be high on your list. The Lounge is a popular venue for both staffers and locals alike. Adorned in political memorabilia, there is normal dining/bar seating upstairs, outside seating when the weather cooperates, and shuffleboard and pool downstairs (with another bar!). Some consider it a dive, others call it a sports bar. You may just call it your new home for happy hour. The CCR was out celebrating DC Beer Week and happened upon the Capitol Lounge, who had a special running all week long honoring beers from cities that helped to kick off the whole East Coast microbrew movement (Baltimore, Philly and NY). Pairing beers from those cities with special sliders, it was only appropriate that they pair the Baltimore beers with, what else, crab cakes! How were they? Read on to find out!
Crab cake sliders are not part of their regular menu, although there is a fried mini crab cake appetizer available. I would imagine that the sliders are made of the very same crab cakes, just put on a slider bun. It is possible that they might make this a permanent offering if interest is high during beer week, although if you ask nicely enough, I'm sure they can turn the normal appetizer into a slider. Just for you. They also have a can of Old Bay in case you want some extra spice (which you do), and we'd also recommend asking for a side of lemon.
As you can see from the admittedly blurry picture, the crab cakes are a bit thin. OK, very thin. The crab cake has a consistency of McDonald's hash browns, where the meat is minced. It's a bit hard to say what kind of quality crab this is, as the lower grades are typically nothing but shreds, and it is a sacrilegious act to chop up jumbo lump. There are a few bread crumbs in there to hold everything together, and the spicing used is on the minimum side, peppered with some parsley for color. The sliders also came with a garlic mayo, which was ordered on the side for the sake of this review, but still pretty tasty.
Despite the fact that the crab didn't have much flavor, we really liked these sliders. They didn't pretend to be something that they weren't, and the flavor didn't overstay its welcome. The crab cakes were nice and moist, perfectly cooked and gave off a nice buttery flavor that pairs well with the slider bun. Sprinkle some Old Bay and squeeze some lemon on top, and it's quite lovely. We even tried part of one with some hot sauce on top, which was also pretty tasty.
Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Capitol Lounge
- Address: 229 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003
- Neighborhood: Capitol Hill
- Restaurant Type: Local
- Website: http://www.capitolloungedc.com/
- Review Date: 08/16/2011 6:25pm
- Atmosphere: Moderate to Busy
- Item(s) Ordered: Crab Cake Sliders
- Cooking Style: Fried
- Other Styles Available: No
- Available by mail order?: No
- Price: 9.00
- Order Type: Sandwich
- Crab Content: Mix
- Filler: Minimal
- Spice: Minimal
- Overall Impression: Very Good
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Rating (out of 5 crabs):
