Bel Air's most recent restaurant, the Main Street Oyster House, has a good bit of history to it, as well as boasting Harford County's longest oyster bar. Yes, this very location dates back to the post civil war area, and has been home to John's Barbershop, a watch repair store, the original headquarters of the Aegis newspaper, and most recently, the Dark Horse Saloon. But a new era has come into this very location, and bills itself as an upscale seafood venue. If you've been here during the Dark Horse days, things seem very familiar, yet slightly different. But with new management and identity in place, were the crab cakes on par with what an upscale seafood restaurant should be? Read on and find out!
Part of the original 42 lots of Bel Air, the Main Street Tower's location has been many things over the past two centuries. A hotel, another restaurant, a barber shop, a stationary store, and a pool hall, amongst other things. But since 2002, it has been Main Street's family-oriented Italian restaurant and lounge owned and operated by the Buontempo family (who also own a pizzeria on the same block). Despite being mainly Italian, they do offer one of the region's favorited delicacies -- crab cakes! Read on to see how they were!
Bel Air's Open Door Cafe is the quintessential Main Street business. Only, they're not on Main Street. Opened in 2006, the Open Door Cafe strives to be a good standing community member, and also serve you the best food possible made from scratch. Voted Best Breakfast 2013 by the Harford County Dining Guide, and Zagat rated, the ODC strives to provide affordable fine dining while helping to build the community. Given the fact that they are always busy, we just had to try their crab cakes. Read on to see how they were!
Pat's Pizzeria, or Pat's Family Restaurant as you may also know them, started out in Pennsville, NJ back in 1974. Since then, Pat's has grown to be a regional pizza chain in the MD/NJ/DE/PA area. They've always been known as Pat's Pizza, but in 2004 they felt that they had evolved enough that they upgraded their dining rooms and altered the name to be Pat's Family Restaurant. Their pizza speaks for itself, and when the pizza is good, the other menu items tend to follow suit. Did this pattern stay true for their crab cakes? Let's find out!
I don't think Red Lobster needs any introduction. The thought of going there for crab cakes has always been a joke around the office. With all of these excellent crab cakes in the area, why would anyone go to Red Lobster for them? We were surprised that they serve live lobsters and fresh fish. But crab cakes are a bit dubious. Were they good enough to make us "seafood differently"? Let's find out!