These days I let someone else do the hard work of crab picking while I focus my eating on crab cakes. Since I was in Annapolis yesterday I decided to cut across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Kent Island for dinner and try The Narrows Restaurant, which is famous for its crab cakes.
The Crab-Eating Process
When I first moved to Maryland, I went to a crab feast with some co-workers, and while it was a pleasant afternoon spent hammering away at crab parts with a little wooden mallet, as a food-ingesting activity it was a total failure.
I quickly realized that I was expending more calories trying to wrest the miniscule fragments of meat from the shells than I was actually taking in, making it a net loss from a nutritional standpoint, so since then I've focused on crab dishes where someone else does the shelling for me.
Crab Cakes
Crab cakes are actually fairly simple, consisting of crab meat, some filler or binder, and spices such as Old Bay Seasoning. But even so there's wide variation in the crab cakes served in Maryland and much good-natured argument over who has the "best" crab cakes.In my own limited experience I've come across 3-4 basic varieties. I prefer the light-tasting, lightly-handled lump crab crab cakes where the focus is on large chunks of crab, of which The Narrows' crab cake is a good example. Then there are varieties that use somewhat shredded crab, which have more of a spongy consistency. The cakes can be broiled or fried.
There are spicier versions of both, and finally there are the somewhat unique specimens of G&M's and Timbuktu near BWI Airport, which are huge mounds of strongly seasoned imported crab meat which people either love or hate.
In an article online, Chef Paul Shiley of The Narrows provides his restaurant's recipe, and it's basically just jumbo lump crabmeat, cracker meal, egg, mayonnaise, and a dash of some seasonings. An interesting point is his claim that Maryland (with perhaps 2% of the country's population and 10% of its crab production) consumes 50% of the crabs in the US.
For an impassioned treatise on the crab cake, you should read Henry Hong's entertaining article in Baltimore City Paper from earlier this year. Here's his photo of a crab cake from Breezy Point Seafood:
In an article online, Chef Paul Shiley of The Narrows provides his restaurant's recipe, and it's basically just jumbo lump crabmeat, cracker meal, egg, mayonnaise, and a dash of some seasonings. An interesting point is his claim that Maryland (with perhaps 2% of the country's population and 10% of its crab production) consumes 50% of the crabs in the US.
For an impassioned treatise on the crab cake, you should read Henry Hong's entertaining article in Baltimore City Paper from earlier this year. Here's his photo of a crab cake from Breezy Point Seafood:
The Narrows
So did The Narrows' crab cake live up to it's reputation? Well, kind of.
It's a very good example of the more restrained variety of crab cake, with nice large chunks of crab meat and most of the character coming from the light browning on the bottom and outer crust. I thought it was broiled, but Chef Shiley's recipe calls for deep frying; either way, it has a light, non-greasy taste. Their traditional vegetable-based crab soup which I had for a starter was also very good.
So did The Narrows' crab cake live up to it's reputation? Well, kind of.
It's a very good example of the more restrained variety of crab cake, with nice large chunks of crab meat and most of the character coming from the light browning on the bottom and outer crust. I thought it was broiled, but Chef Shiley's recipe calls for deep frying; either way, it has a light, non-greasy taste. Their traditional vegetable-based crab soup which I had for a starter was also very good.
It's probably not worth the hour-long drive for me to Grasonville (especially not when the Bay Bridge has a long line at the toll booths) just to get a crab cake. With that said, Kent Island has a number of good restaurants because it's located where traffic used to back up for Marylanders returning from Ocean City, and The Narrows is situated on the water. I'd like to go back sometime during the daytime when it looks like the view will be spectacular.
At $18 for a crab cake and a salad, The Narrows also isn't all that cheap (but then again, we got a light dusting of snow yesterday so maybe crabs aren't exactly in season). The Verdict
I'm not likely to drive the long distance simply to get a crab cake at The Narrows Restaurant, but it's an excellent specimen of the lump-crab style, and it's worth trying again when I'm in the area and especially when I can appreciate the view.
Further Exploration
Sorting out the contenders from the pretenders is left as an exercise for the reader, but here are some crab cake emporiums culled from the City Paper article and Chowhound.com. Proceed at your own risk:
Angelina's Restaurant, Baltimore (restaurant is now closed, but crab cakes can be ordered online)
Breezy Point Seafood Co., Rosedale
Cafe de Paris, Columbia
Duda's, Baltimore (Fells Point)
Faidley Seafood, Baltimore
G&M Restaurant, Linthicum Heights
Gertrude's, Baltimore
Greenmount Station, Hampstead
Jerry's Seafood, Lanham and Annapolis
Mama's on the Half Shell, Baltimore (Canton)
The Narrows Restaurant, Grasonville (Kent Island)
Manor Tavern, Monkton
Oceannaire Seafood Room, Baltimore
Pappas Restaurant, Parkville
Pierpoint Restaurant, Baltimore
Roma Cafe, Cockeysville
Timbuktu, Hanover
I grew up in Annapolis, and somehow find myself at the narrows at least once when I get back there. I will agree that the narrows has a good crab cake, but for me, the cream of crab soup is what makes me pay the bridge toll :) I wish I could find that recipe!
ReplyDeleteEverytime we drive to Ocean City we stop into the Narrows for their crab cakes. I absoltuely love them! Soemtimes the Bay Bridge traffic can be long, but the Narrows food makes it worth the wait.
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