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Michael's Cafe
One of Baltimore Magazine's Top 25 Crab Cakes of 2013! Michael's Cafe dates back to 1984, when the Dellis family opened a restaurant where they focused on quality, service, and atmosphere. Fast forward 30 years, and that winning combination, in addition to a world-famous crab cake recipe, has Michael's Cafe going strong, recently completing their third major renovation that adds an inside lounge and an outdoor patio. Considered one of Baltimore's top crab cakes year after year, we just had to stop by and pay our respects. Was the hype worth the trip? Read on and find out!
Michael's Cafe has crab cakes all over the menu. In addition, they are also available for mail order. At the restaurant, you can get crab cakes any way you would like. As an appetizer, you get 4 mini crab cakes. Sandwich and entree/combos offer choices of 5 oz and 10 oz crab cakes, broiled or fried. No matter what your appetite or hankerin', you will certainly get your crab cake fix here! For our review, we paired a 5 oz crab cake with a slab of baby back ribs.
At first glance, you may regret getting the single 5 oz crab cake. Yes, it looks small. But break it apart. You'll see that it's mostly jumbo lumps of crab, barely held together by a creamy sauce of mayonnaise and breadcrumbs. No large pockets of binder are to be found, this is about as much crab meat as you can pack into one crab cake.
The first bite is glorious. Sweet Maryland blue crab. Light. Airy. Delicious. You taste the crab, then you taste the binder, which emits a nice, bready flavor. Fortunately, but in some small way, unfortunately, that's about where things level out. There is some spice in the mix, but it only makes itself known on the back end, well after you've taken a bite. It's a nice reminder of what you just consumed. But it's lacking. You want more depth of flavor. You want the spice to be a bit more present, singing backup vocals as opposed to breaking down the instruments after the band has left the venue. Add a touch more spice, and you've got a surefire winner. Still a respectable crab cake worthy of your very own taste test!
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Additional Info
- Restaurant Name: Michael's Cafe
- Address: 2119 York Rd Timonium, MD 21093
- Neighborhood: Lutherville-Timonium
- Restaurant Type: Local
- Website: http://michaelscafe.com/
- Review Date: 09/01/2014 7:20pm
- Atmosphere: Busy with a wait
- Item(s) Ordered: Baby Back Ribs & Crab Cake Combo
- Cooking Style: Broiled
- Other Styles Available: Yes
- Available by mail order?: Yes
- Price: 32.50
- Order Type: Combo Platter
- Crab Content: Jumbo Lump
- Filler: Minimal
- Spice: Minimal
- Overall Impression: Very Good
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Rating (out of 5 crabs):
