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Dogfish Head Alehouse
Dogfish Head is known locally for their finely crafted beers. But a recent venture for them is to expand their Rehoboth Beach alehouse to other locations, namely Gaithersburg, MD, in addition to Fairfax and Falls Church, VA. Now you don't have to endure beach traffic just to sample the latest and greatest on tap from DFH. And being some crab cake lovin' people, anyplace that serves crab cakes and guarantees delicious beer, well, we just can't say no. So how was the visit to Montgomery County? Let's find out!
Entree is available as a single or double, served with beach fries and wood grilled asparagus. Comes with a side of remoulade, ketchup (for the fries) and a lemon wedge. Tabasco is also available. Crab cake sandwich is also available, served on wood grilled ciabatta bread along with a side of remoulade sauce and beach fries.
The crab cake itself is just lump crab cake and shreds, leaning more towards shreds than lumps. Compared to other crab cakes, this cake comes out rather flat. Most likely from the pan frying/sautéing. While light on sauce and filler, there are red peppers and scallions located within.
The crab itself has some decent flavor, even if not the signature Maryland Blue flavor. The scallions give the cake pockets of onion flavor, and the red peppers give the crab cake some crunch. The Old Bay could be mixed in a little better, as parts of the cake were a little saltier than others. Overall, this crab cake is not bad, but the end result is a bit crunchy and dry. My suggestion would be to go a little more on the sauce, and to not flatten the cake like a hamburger while cooking, as forcing those juices out of the crab cake dries it out a bit.
While the asparagus looked a bit wilted and dead, the wood flavor from the grilling really came through and made them very enjoyable. Be sure to hit them with a small squirt of lemon. As for the beach fries, it was like OC was served on my plate. Definitely worth going back for.
The crab cake was a nice effort, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. DFH should stick to what it is they do best, which is brewing high quality beers. Definitely get the fries on the side, even if your entree doesn't come with them (or just order a big honkin' plate of 'em!). Next time, I'm looking at their wood grilled pizzas or possibly one of their hamburgers. But most certainly copious amounts of DHF beer.
Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Dogfish Head Alehouse
- Address: 800 W. Diamond Ave Gaithersburg, MD 20878
- Neighborhood: Gaithersburg
- Restaurant Type: Regional Chain
- Website: http://www.dogfishalehouse.com/dogfish-head-alehouse-gaithersburg.html
- Review Date: 08/11/2011 2:02pm
- Atmosphere: Not Busy
- Item(s) Ordered: Single Crab Cake Entree
- Cooking Style: Sauteed
- Other Styles Available: No
- Available by mail order?: No
- Price: 16.00
- Order Type: Single Platter
- Crab Content: Lump
- Filler: Minimal
- Spice: Average
- Overall Impression: Average
- Rating (out of 5 crabs):