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Mamie's Cafe
When you walk into Mamie's Cafe, you are instantly transported from the strip mall that it's located in to Grandma's kitchen and living room. Gone is the overshadowing glances of the Home Depot, the line of cars at Wendy's, or the throngs of cars flying by on Route 22. Originally located in Hampden, Mamie's Cafe is now located just off of 95 in Aberdeen. The Cafe is an homage to old fashioned home-cooked meals, and friendly service with a smile, where every meal ends in with a complementary dessert (offered for here or to go). The sign out front adds "with love" to the name. Do the crab cakes get the same love that the customers do? Let's find out!
Crab cakes are available as a single or double entree, served with your choice of two sides. They are also found in the Fried and Broiled Seafood Platters, and items made with crab meat are found throughout the menu. Our crab cake came out broiled, but you can ask for it to be fried, assuming the crab cakes found in the Seafood Platters are the same ones they serve as an entree. They are listed as lump crab cakes, so they could be different.
Mamie's crab cakes are huge! Our estimations put it at around 6oz, and packed with a 50-50 ratio of jumbo lumps and broken pieces. All of that crab is held together with a mayonnaise base, along with some bread, spices, and parsley for color. A surprise was that it was finished off with lemon juice. Usually we like to squeeze our own on, but Mamie's is all about service!
The crab meat had differing flavors. The large lumps were big and meaty, but a few had a bit of a light fishy flavor, which is usually the signature flavor of the Blue Swimmer crab. The broken pieces had a light sweetness to them. Nothing that will blow you away, however. While it added a nice bit of moisture to the cake, the binder really didn't have much of a flavor to it. The spicing was light, and you really couldn't taste the bread in the mix. You mostly just tasted crab, which is usually a good thing, but in this case, some spices would have made the flavor a bit more interesting.
All in all, it wasn't a bad crab cake. Certainly better than most. And while we understand padding out the real crab with the Blue Swimmer, it needs to be a bit fresher so there aren't any off flavors to ruin what was placed in front of us. And adding more spice would incorporate layers of flavors that accentuate and compliment each other, keeping our taste buds interested throughout the meal.
On a side note, the stewed green beans were tasty, and the free dessert that you could take with you was a nice touch. The portion sizes are huge, and the service was excellent. We'll have to go back and try one of their other offerings. This place is always busy, and it must be for a reason!
Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Mamie's Cafe
- Address: 939 Beards Hill Rd Aberdeen, MD 21001
- Neighborhood: Aberdeen
- Restaurant Type: Local
- Website: http://www.mamiescafewithlove.com/
- Review Date: 05/28/2014 6:14pm
- Atmosphere: Moderate
- Item(s) Ordered: Jumbo Lump Crab Cake
- Cooking Style: Broiled
- Other Styles Available: No
- Available by mail order?: No
- Price: 16.96
- Order Type: Single Platter
- Crab Content: Jumbo Lump
- Filler: Minimal
- Spice: Minimal
- Overall Impression: Average
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Rating (out of 5 crabs):
