The city of Baltimore is forever in my heart and after spending time with Debi recently, I’ve become inundated with cravings for–surprise surprise–a good, old Baltimore crab cake. I spent a good chunk of my childhood and young adulthood in the Charm City, and whenever we were craving crab cakes, we went to one place and one place alone–Pierpoint Restaurant in Fell’s Point. It’s a local institution where Chef Nancy Longo has been serving up Maryland classics (like her legendary crab cakes) since 1989. Going there as a kid always made me feel so gloriously grown up because there were linen napkins on the table and nothing to color on. Chef Nancy used to come out and say hello to us and it made the whole experience feel even more special. Truly, no other crab cake in my life has ever compared to Chef Nancy’s. We have a family rule: we always order a crab cake appetizer at a restaurant to see if it holds a candle to the ones at Pierpoint and they never, ever do; theirs are that good.
Since Connecticut is a bit of a trek to satisfy this Pierpoint crab cake craving on a whim, I had hoped to at least find some Maryland crabmeat at my local grocer to make my own, but alas, they didn’t carry any. So I picked up some pre-made ones for lunch which will have to do…for now. Luckily for me, there is a fantastic fish market a quick drive away that carries fresh jumbo and sweet crab claw meat from Maryland so I can try my hand at Chef Nancy’s recipe which I came across here.
Baltimore will always feel like “a home” to me and I love that I can “re-visit” it with a simple bite of a crab cake…even if they’re not Pierpoint’s. And with that, I think I’ve made a successful argument for a return visit to old, Baltimore…if only for an order or two of crab cake perfection.
-Michaela
No Comments