Weekly reviews of crab cakes around the MD and DC area

Jack's Bistro

Jack's Bistro Crab Cake Jack's Bistro Crab Cake Crab Cake Review

Jack's Bistro is located right around the corner from O'Donnell Square in Canton, and bills itself as offering innovative American cuisine.  Innovative is most certainly right!  While some menu items stick around (like the chocolate macaroni and cheese, and the burger made of nothing but bacon), others get replaced often, so there is always a reason to go back.  If you can't figure out what to have for dessert, they are known for their peanut butter and jelly shots.  So now that everyone is drooling, let's get back to our focus here -- crab cakes!  Wipe the drool on your leave, and read on to see how the experience was!

Jack's Bistro Crab Cake is a single platter served with a side of Dijon and horseradish sauce, warm potato salad, and grilled white corn/tomatoes/sherry vinegar.  We substituted the potato salad for the Gouda/jalapeno/bacon grits (yes, they ARE as good as they sound!) for a small fee.  If you require lemon, be sure to ask your server.

The Bistro Crab Cake is made with lump crab meat, bound together with a Maryland style binder, and served fried.  The menu didn't mention if the option of being broiled was available.  As you can see from the picture, ours was a bit too fried.  We did see another order of the crab cake come out, and wasn't nearly as cooked as this one.  So ask to see if a broiled option exists, as it might.

Due to the over-frying, the crab meat on the outside was a bit dried out.  But for the most part, the crab meat has a nice, sweet flavor to it.  Nice and moist on the inside with hardly any filler at all.  The fried edges give some texture and flavor, but turned out to be a little greasier for our liking.  The breading holding everything together on the inside has a nice flavor and complements the crab meat very well.  Some spicing, but it's all very subtle.  Would have hoped for some of the Dijon/horseradish sauce as part of the binder.  If it was, the flavor didn't make itself known.  Not to worry, the crab flavor is what you came for, and this crab cake delivers.  

Jack's Bistro Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Additional Info

  • Restaurant Name: Jack's Bistro
  • Address: 3123 Elliott St Baltimore, MD 21224
  • Neighborhood: Canton
  • Restaurant Type: Local
  • Review Date: 09/15/2012 7:24pm
  • Atmosphere: Busy
  • Item(s) Ordered: Bistro Crab Cake
  • Cooking Style: Fried
  • Other Styles Available: No
  • Available by mail order?: No
  • Price: 18.75
  • Order Type: Single Platter
  • Crab Content: Lump
  • Filler: Average
  • Spice: Average
  • Overall Impression: Very Good
  • Rating (out of 5 crabs):

    4h-crab