Miss Charlotte's Crabcakes, Kenilworth - Closed

[youngfood]

From today's Toddchat:

Quote

.. First things first: the crabcakes.

They’re marvelous.

All lump meat, no filler, mixed with good amounts of mayo and mustard, molded into thick, fist-sized patties, lightly breaded and dunked in hot oil. The outsides are a gorgeous light amber (the color of high-grade maple syrup) and curiously dimpled (for more surface crunch); the insides are creamy and lush.

The Deluxe Crabcake Dinner comes with two of these, along wth two sides (excellent candied yams and mac ‘n’ cheese, tasty steamed okra, a pile of collards larded up with spicy sausage, and what might be the richest, most luxurious cole slaw you’ve ever eaten).

Anyone else been?

[DonRocks]

From today's Toddchat:

Anyone else been?

Alex MacLennan has raved about this place in the Hill Rag here and here (photo here).

Does anyone know Miss Charlotte's last name? Or is the owner just a homesick North Carolinean?

[Michael Landrum]

Anyone else been?

I've eaten there frequently in my forays east of the river, and Todd has it spot on. Great place and by far the most authentic regional (including real DC's Southern overtones) restaurant in the city. Crab cakes are the traditional Baltimore/Eastern Shore eggy batter-dipped style that I am sure Joe H. can wax more eloquently upon, and the crab is fresh, sweet, real Jumbo Lump or Lump Blue Crab (what they call "Lump" is really Jumbo)--and just as generously included filler-lessly in the cakes as at Bobby's, if not more so. If anything, their crab is a little "dirtier" (i.e. more "mustard," coral, and juices) than Bobby's, and that really adds a great "dock" flavor to what I love about Charlotte's crab cakes--the creaminess inside. The best part is their house sauce which as far as I can tell is mayo, French's mustard and paprika.

And the pie--really effing great.

[youngfood]

Picked up some pretty good eats from here last night. It didn't quite measure up to my lofty expectations, but it was worth the stop off on my commute home and I'll go back again.

First off, I think Todd misspoke when he said the "Deluxe" Crabcake Dinner is lump crab cakes, as the menu suggests otherwise and the lump crab meat comes in a different dinner platter, I think "Supreme" or something.

Anyway, the crabcakes were quite good, as largely otherwise as advertised - almost no filing, dimpled shape so as to allow for more crispy crusting, very creamy and meaty, and dark on the outside from the fry. Mine weren't the color of any type of maple syrup but were almost a chocolate brown, but perhaps they got a bit of a longer fry than was intended. The flavor is good, as Michael describes, somewhat "dirtier" than some, but not too much so. Overall, we liked, didn't love them, the main complaints being somewhat heavy on the fry and the concern that we ended up with nonlump meat. I'm going to give them another chance again soon though, as I thoroughly enjoyed these utterly unpretentious crabcakes and the folks at the shop were as friendly as can be.

For sides, we tried the collards and the mac. Both were above average. The greens were slighly overdone and somewhat wet (probably typical for the environment) but had a nice bit of spice and meat to them. The mac was the real deal, but not a must try. Must better than some, but probably no better than most homemade versions. Next, time I'll try the coleslaw and yams.

I'm looking forward to a return visit as I think the expectations game somewhat undermined my first trip.

ETA: they are a cash only operation, so make sure you have something besides plastic in your wallet if you go.