Weekly reviews of crab cakes around the MD and DC area

Vagabond Sandwich Company

Fresh ingredients and creativity. A sandwich with no rules. These are all things that we can get behind, and all we have to do is pay a visit to the Vagabond Sandwich Company. Located in downtown Bel Air, the Vagabond Sandwich Company is scratch cooking their way into your bellies based on a concept from the 1940's. And they support the local farming community by offering local products for sale alongside theirs. You can find crab cakes in a few forms, although the proper crab cake is a wrap, and not a sandwich. Is that enough to make us follow the vagabond trail to their doorstep? Let's find out!

As we mentioned in the intro, crab cakes aren't available on the regular menu at the Vagabond Sandwich Shop. Maybe as a daily special, but you'd have to check with them. As far as the posted menu goes, you can get crab cakes with the McHenry Burger, the Surf & Turf sandwich, a Crab Cake wrap, the Crab Cheddar grilled cheese, or the Crab Bites appetizer. This review is for the Crab Bites, which are three 2oz crab cakes served with an Old Bay remoulade.

The Crab Bites are made up of lump crab, held together by a mayonnaise-based binder, some bread, and spices. The binder is more mayonnaise than bread, which makes for a saucy cake. While the crab is lump, there are decent sized chunks of crab throughout the mini cake.

As for flavor, we felt this was a very good effort. While the crab meat is nice and sweet, the spicing end up fighting for your attention with the crab. At first, you get the crab flavor, then the spice takes over and lingers for a bit after you've finished the bite. Despite this, the cakes are still pretty tasty. They've managed to attain a nice balance of crab and binder without any large pockets of just binder. Unfortunately, ours got a bit too fried, but frying the bites adds a nice crust to the cake. Maybe next time we'll try the McHenry burger or the Crab Cake wrap, as their other food is good enough to warrant a return visit!

Vagabond Sandwich Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Additional Info

  • Restaurant Name: Vagabond Sandwich Company
  • Address: 111 Thomas Street Bel Air, MD 21014
  • Neighborhood: Bel Air
  • Restaurant Type: Local
  • Review Date: 06/02/2015 12:54pm
  • Atmosphere: Moderate
  • Item(s) Ordered: Crab Bites
  • Cooking Style: Fried
  • Other Styles Available: Yes
  • Available by mail order?: No
  • Price: 7.99
  • Order Type: Appetizer
  • Crab Content: Lump
  • Filler: Average
  • Spice: Average
  • Overall Impression: Very Good
  • Rating (out of 5 crabs):

    4-crab

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