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Looney's Pub
Looney's Pub was started down in the Canton section of Baltimore back in 1993. The vision was simple: open a place with great food, lots of beer, things to do while hanging out with your friends, and be able to watch any sports you want on the televisions. Things must have gone well, because ten years later, the Bel Air location was opened. Now Looney's has 4 locations, the other two being in Maple Lawn and College Park. Looney's Pub has won some accolades over the years, the most recent being the Harford Award in 2013 for their contributions to economic and civic life in Harford County. With the promise of awesome food, we set our sights on the beloved crab cake. Read on to see if the crab cake is on par with the expectations set!
As mentioned, Looney's Pub has 4 locations, with Looney's Pub North in Bel Air, MD being the subject of todays review. LOTS of crab on the menu, which is quite sizable. The crab cake-related items would be the Crab Balls and Crab Cake Sliders on the appetizer menu; the 6oz Crab Cake and Crab Club on the Hot Sandwiches menu; and the Crab Cake Platter and Steak & Cake combo on the Dinner menu. Except for the Steak & Cake, all prices are market price. Many other menu items incorporate crab meat or crab imperial, so check the menu for details!
For the purpose of this review, we went with the 6oz. Crab Cake from the Hot Sandwiches menu, which consists of a broiled crab cake on bread or crackers, with a side of fries and your choice of tartar or cocktail sauces. Our server didn't ask us which sauce we wanted, nor did we ask for one. But what sauce came out was more of a remoulade, or quite possibly a mixture of tartar and cocktail sauce. No lemon wedge on the plate, so if that's your thing, be sure to ask for one. There are also shakers of Old Bay at the table, should you need a bit more spice in your life.
The crab cake consists of lots of average size lumps of crab, and not too many broken pieces, bound together by a mayonnaise and Dijon based binder. Some breadcrumbs and spices round out the mix, and the cake appeared to be topped with panko. Lots of crackers served on the side.
The flavor of the crab meat was nice and sweet. The binder had a very creamy texture to it, and had a nice balance of spice. The most predominate spice that hits on the front end was the Dijon, with some of the other spices lingering after the bite. While the panko topping added a bit of a dry crunch to a very saucy cake, it seems a bit disconnected and unnecessary.
We really liked this crab cake, but we had to base our rating on what it could have been. What came out was barely warm, and ice cold in the center (busy kitchen or not, this is unacceptable, and we almost deducted half a crab off of the rating for it). Getting past that, we felt that the crab cake was a little saucier than it should have been. While the flavor of the crab is the main star, the texture of the sauce coupled with the Dijon flavor were fighting for attention as opposed to accentuating the flavor. Other than that, we felt this was a pretty solid crab cake!
Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Looney's Pub North
- Address: 312 S. Main St Bel Air, MD 21014
- Neighborhood: Bel Air
- Restaurant Type: Local Chain
- Website: http://www.looneyspubmd.com/
- Review Date: 01/04/2014 8:23pm
- Atmosphere: Busy
- Item(s) Ordered: 6oz Crab Cake
- Cooking Style: Broiled
- Other Styles Available: Yes
- Available by mail order?: No
- Price: 13.99
- Order Type: Sandwich
- Crab Content: Jumbo Lump
- Filler: Average
- Spice: Average
- Overall Impression: Very Good
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Rating (out of 5 crabs):
