G&M Restaurant, Baltimore

On July 7^th, 2007, Karyn and I were driving from Boston to our new home in Durham, North Carolina. As we approached Baltimore, we called one of Karyn’s friends to meet up for lunch. We were sent to a rendezvous at G&M Restaurant and Lounge.  

Arriving first, we poked around a bit and saw that the parking lot was packed; everyone always says that a restaurant with a packed parking lot is an omen for good food ahead.

After being “greeted” by a surly hostess, spying tired 1980’s décor and bumping into some of the motorcycle riding clientèle, our expectations were pretty low.

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Luckily our good friend, Baltimore native and crab cake connoisseur Kate, arrived and assured us that G&M would blow our doors off with the quality of the food and that “window dressing” isn’t what keeps this place in business; tons of fresh lump crab meat is.  

As it turns out, G&M Restaurant and Lounge  is one of those rare places that has such good food that they just don’t care about the periphery. Who needs a fancy sign when you have the best crab cakes in Maryland? After being seated we ordered Yingling beers and three orders of the Crab Cake plate with various sides (coleslaw, crab soup, and homemade applesauce).

When our food arrived, I must have looked quite perplexed because Kate responded with a statement that sounded canned from having to tell dumb northerners over and over again, “down here we never bread our crab cakes; if you want bread, that is what the basket is for.” The crab was two massive mounds of lump crab meat held together by a slightly rich binding sauce with not a single bread crumb to be found. I must say that having had the authentic version I can’t imagine having it the other way ever again. The crab meat was in huge clumps, the binding agent was just that, enough to keep the lumps of crab together, but not stealing the show from the real winner, the flavor of the crab itself. I also like how the top of the “cake” was crusty and a tad charred from the broiler.  

If you are anywhere close to Baltimore, stop by G&M.

www.gandmcrabcakes.com

Contributed by Blair