Being in the nation’s capital this last week has caused me to reflect on many things, including…crabcakes. Baltimore is the land of crabcakes, but the crabcake trail heads south to the capital. I flew in and out of BWI because the trip began and ended at my sister’s house in rural Maryland.
My first order of business after getting a car was to head north into Baltimore, where I intended to go to Faidley’s, the most famous purveyor of Baltimore’s signature dish. Though the business dates back to 1888, the famous crabcake arrived as recently as 1987.
I had been to Faidley’s at least ten years ago to have the crabcake, but I wanted another. I couldn’t find a parking space nearby and didn’t want to traverse the neighborhood, so I kept going down to DC, intent on having a Maryland crabcake somewhere, at some point..
The next day, we landed at The Hamilton, in DC, in my favorite corner of the city, where Pennsylvania meets 15th St. The Hamilton Hotel sits behind the famous Willard Hotel, and the restaurant at The Hamilton is maybe my favorite in town. I absolutely love everything about the place: its look, its location, and mostly, its buzz. It is happening.
We settled into a booth by the window, and I ordered the crabcake, which came with tartar sauce, coleslaw, and fries. (The full report on this and all meals in DC will be in the next newsletter. Sign up on the home page here, top right.) The original Maryland crabcake is different from our poached version. I prefer our improvements. Theirs is held together by actual magic. I see nothing in it but crab. And it is always a mound, and always broiled. A little boring, maybe.
Ours is pan-seared in the “real” versions, more of a one or two-inch circle and flattened like a puck. There is more “stuff” inside ours, and it too is held together by magic, but there is some other binder here. To put it bluntly, ours is better. We improved on the original, but I am sad that its arrival here has sort of usurped our original way to use the same crab. We call it stuffed crab.
In the old days of the West End, stuffed crab was on every seafood restaurant menu, and it was delicious. Tiny bits of vegetables were mixed with claw crabmeat and stuffed inside a shell. Then the government got involved and made the use of actual crabshells problematic. Little foil shells were substituted, but it wasn’t the same. Then, restaurateurs wanted to make it bigger, so they increased the breading and made a giant mound of crab stuffing. Then it somehow became breaded and deep-fried, completely bastardizing what used to be a signature menu item in New Orleans seafood restaurants. Now the only restaurant I’m aware of serving the original stuffed crab (which is now somehow back in the crabshell) is Fury’s in Metairie. In the shell, and broiled. Not overbreaded. Blue Crab used to do this, but they have morphed closer to the others in overstuffing and deep-frying. Too bad. It was perfect.
I stopped at Mr. Ed’s after my arrival back here, just to clarify my thoughts on all this. Mr. Ed’s has a most ordinary crabcake. It is overstuffed with mostly breading, but it is not deep-fried. At least points for that. Shreds of claw meat are occasionally spotted in this. It was not a good reminder of our original dish.
This crabmeat that we are lucky enough to share with our mid-Atlantic neighbors is the best in my experience. I’m happy we have options for the treat of consuming it. My preference is Crabmeat Maison, which leaves it mostly in its natural state.
But when it comes to eating it warm, I’m going with the outstanding Mr’ B’s version of the Baltimore original crabcake, with its jumbo lumps popping out all over, or the best version of our signature crab dish, the stuffed crab at Fury's.