Crab Cakes

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

Faidley's storied crab cake will compete for the title of best sandwich in America on a new Travel Channel show debuting on June 6. In eleven episodes, "Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America" will introduce viewers to 30 iconic sandwiches in 27 cities. Faidley's crabcake will represent Baltimore in an episode in the Mid-Atlantic episode, which is tentatively schedule to air on June 27. Using his own BITE SCALE (B=Bread, I=Interior, T=Taste, E=Eating Experience), Richman samples and judges the three most mouthwatering masterpieces a region has to offer.

Longtime crab house Obrycki's will close its Pratt Street doors next year, ending a six-decade run of serving seafood to tourists and Baltimoreans. Obrycki's will open again in March. But when the crab season concludes in November, the family's Fells Point restaurant will close for good, according to Robert M. "Rob" Cernak, who operates the business with two sisters. Cernak said the family decided to close "for quality of life" reasons. The Cernaks expect to open a smaller crab house soon at the planned slots parlor near Arundel Mills mall.

Good old Rusty Scupper. The Inner Harbor restaurant with the sweeping views opened way back in 1982. It has grown. Two major renovations have added private rooms and a 1,200-bottle wine cellar. In commemoration of its 30th anniversary, the Rusty Scupper is offering a fixed-price, two-course lunch for $19.82. The special, which runs until the end of April, features items from the restaurant's original menu. Appetizer choices include a cup of cream of crab soup, a cup of Maryland crab soup, Scupper house salad and a traditional Caesar salad.

My Crab Cakes Ingredients: 1 lb. crabmeat 2 tsp. melted butter 4 tbs. mayonnaise 1 tsp. mustard 1 beaten egg 1/2 tsp. Old Bay Sprinkle and add some bread crumbs, or 1 slice of bread, torn into small pieces. Instructions: Form all into large hamburger-size pieces and place on a plate in refrigerator for a few hours. Spray a tinfoil-covered cookie sheet and place in oven at 350 degrees until light brown on both sides. --Pat Keefe, Pasadena Crab Cakes Ingredients: 1 lb. lump crabmeat 2 eggs 1 tbs. Worcestershire sauce 1 sprinkle Tabasco sauce 1/2 tsp. Old Bay 1 tsp. Horseradish 1 tbs. honey mustard 4 slices bread, no crust 1/4 cup mayonnaise Instructions: Mix all ingredients except crabmeat.

Joan Rivers played the Hippodrome on Friday night. Rivers apparently wanted a Maryland crab cake before the show. And, after some back-channel communications, it came to pass that the Prime Rib delivered a crab cake dinner, along with a floral arrangement and a bottle of red wine, to Joan Rivers' dressing room before the show.  I know for a fact that Joan Rivers is a nice person because my neighbor Cookie Hymer told me so. Cookie was a manager at...

It's Italian and it isn't. The new Josephine's at 2112 Fleet St. is a mid-range Italian restaurant, says owner-chef Ellen Davis; but specialties include a filet Chesapeake - tenderloin with crab and basil hollandaise - and a crab cake. If Angelina's (the Harford Road Italian restaurant famous for its crab cakes) comes to mind, that's not surprising. Davis has worked in its kitchen, as well as the now-closed Stella's in Hampden. As for the Italian food, it ranges from lasagna and meatballs to torta rustica, capellini with red bell pepper pesto and stuffed shells with ricotta, mozzarella and Gorgonzola.

I have a problem with crab cakes. I have been using the recipe on the back of the Old Bay Seasoning container, and the cakes always fall apart. I've tried more/less eggs, more/less bread, more/less crab, etc. Crab cakes present all sorts of frying problems because of their moist constitution and irregular surface. I am ever mindful of the sage advice of my cooking idol, Marcella Hazan: "Wet things won't brown." To that, I add: "Wet things won't allow the formation of a sturdy enough crust to keep the thing from falling apart."

Angelina's restaurant on Harford Road, long known for its crab cakes, is now sending them as gifts all over the United States. The cost for six crab cakes, shipping and handling is $118. They can be frozen if not eaten in a couple of days. For more information call (410) 444-5545 or (800) CRABCAKE.* New in Cockeysville in the Cranbrook Road shopping center: Fazzini's Italian Kitchen. It's a small establishment, only 35 seats, with a thriving carry- out and delivery business. But co-owner Nick Schweitzer, who used to own Pizzapeel on 33rd Street, says everything is homemade: pasta, bread, meatballs, sauces -- everything.

THESE PLUMP, INVITING crab cakes have been pared down to reduce calories but not taste. I developed this recipe out of dieter's desperation. I hungered for a real Maryland crab cake but the only recipes I could find called for eggs, bread crumbs, mayonnaise and, worst of all, frying in oil.Crab meat in itself is not fattening. Four ounces has about 125 calories according to Noreen L. Eberly at the State of Maryland Department of Agriculture.These spicy crab cakes use crumbled, toasted "diet" bread instead of bread crumbs and egg substitute instead of whole eggs.

Is your Maryland crab cake true blue? Only a small number of restaurants in Maryland reliably make their crab cakes from local crabmeat, and the state does not require restaurants to identify the specific source of the meat in crab cakes. True Blue, a new  labeling and promotion initiative from The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), hopes to give restaurants that do use Maryland crabmeat a claw up on those that fill their crab cakes with inexpensive imported meat from Indonesia and Venezuela.

Joan Rivers played the Hippodrome on Friday night. Rivers apparently wanted a Maryland crab cake before the show. And, after some back-channel communications, it came to pass that the Prime Rib delivered a crab cake dinner, along with a floral arrangement and a bottle of red wine, to Joan Rivers' dressing room before the show.  I know for a fact that Joan Rivers is a nice person because my neighbor Cookie Hymer told me so. Cookie was a manager at...

Boston Mayor Thomas N. Menino has a crab cake dinner coming courtesy of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The two mayors wagered a seafood dinner on Sunday's AFC Championship game between the New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens. Menino pledged lobster if his home team lost, and Rawlings-Blake promised to fork over crab cakes from J.W. Fairly Seafood in Lexington Market — a bet she didn't expect to pay out. And for much of the game, it looked like she wouldn't have to as the Ravens kept pace with the Patriots.

When politics and sports mix in Maryland, crab cakes are almost always on the line.  And so it is this year, with Rep. Andy Harris placing a friendly wager with New Hampshire Rep. Frank Guinta on the AFC Championship game this weekend. Both congressmen are Republicans, both represent their state's 1st District and both are first-term lawmakers in Washington.      Harris is betting a dozen Eastern Shore crab cakes on the Ravens. Guinta is wagering New England clam chowder on the Patriots.

These are not "Maryland-style" crab cakes! That's what the online seafood store The Crab Place says about its crab cakes. "Maryland-style uses foreign crab meat to replicate an authentic Maryland crab cake. Maryland-style is found in franchise restaurants across the country. CrabPlace.com crab cakes are 100% real Maryland crab cakes. We are one of the few companies still producing them this way. " It took us a long time to find an online seafood company that handles Maryland-caught blue crabs.

If you have tickets to the Harbaugh Bowl and like tagging yourself on Facebook, then I've got a news item for you. The Ravens will debut a cool piece of technology called the Ravens FanCam at Thursday night's game at M&T Bank Stadium. Before the game, a 360-degree, high-definition camera will snap a photograph of the crowd at the stadium. It has a resolution of 10 billion pixels, so every person in attendance can be found in the photo. The Ravens will put the photo on Facebook so fans can find themselves and tag appropriately on Facebook.

Angels Aemke of Wilmington, N.C., was seeking the recipe for the famous crab cakes that were served at Angelina's restaurant in Baltimore. She had a friend who used to send her these wonderful treats, but now that the venerable restaurant has closed (and was recently sold), she was hoping to find the recipe so that she could make the crab cakes at home. Jo Ann Nuetzel from Parkville sent in a recipe that was printed some years ago in The Sun and was reported to have come from the owner of Angelina's, the late Robert Reilly.

After 15 years of satisfying the culinary whims of concer greats such as Pavarotti, Springsteen and Sinatra, backstage caterer par excellence John D'Anna has learned a valuable lesson he'd like to share.It has nothing to do with soothing out-of-control egos or filling outrageous demands for exotic food and drink. Instead, it applies to anyone faced with feeding a horde of hungry people:Don't run out of food!Obvious, you say? Not really . . . at least, not if you're feeding the hundreds of musicians, crew members, friends and hangers-on that make up a touring star's entourage.

Ray Rice is easily my favorite player to cover on the Ravens. I love the way he plays. I love the points he scores for my fantasy football teams. And I love the way he handles himself in the media: equal parts goofy and serious. Playing at a Pro Bowl level again this season, Rice is getting more and more attention these days. He has been featured in segments on ESPN and NFL Network in recent weeks, and he just did a fun interview with GQ. Highlight No. 1: Rice showed up at Rutgers as a freshman wearing a purple hoodie with his own picture on it. “You've got to realize, where I'm from -- New Rochelle High School versus Mount Vernon High School -- that's as big a rivalry as there is. We beat them my senior year and there was this great picture of me running over some guy. It got put on a purple hoodie and I wore that hoodie everywhere.” Highlight No. 2: Rice explained why to him, Baltimore isn't just “crab cakes and football.” “They say 'crab cakes and football,' but that doesn't really work for me. I'm allergic to shellfish, so I can't do crab cakes.

Carroll Hospital Center Foundation recently presented scholarships to five local students to help assist them in pursuing their college education. Libman Nursing Scholarships were awarded to Brittany Harman, 25, of Woodbine; Denise Maurice, 46, of Westminster; and Ricky Teuscher, 26, of Manchester. Each received $2,000 for tuition, books and fees at Carroll Community College for their pursuit of a degree as a registered nurse. The scholarship was established in 2003 by Frank Herbert Libman.