Big Daddy’s Crabcakes Restaurant

Wahhh :(I still miss this place more than ever.

I want to scream crab cakes, mac & cheese, lobster bisque with crab meat, the best you will ever eat, run do not walk! Have you ever tried to write a review and twenty things popped into your mind all at once due to the excitement? Slap, get a hold of yourself DJ, you’re writing a review not your final will. Okay, I feel better and I will start at the beginning… Crab Bites… slap…
On our way to Atlantic City for the day, my husband’s coworker had mentioned we should exit the expressway and check out Big Daddy’s Crabcake Restaurant. Hey you don’t have to tell me twice when he said they have the best crab cakes around.
Trouble with this was it is basically meant for take out and when we arrived the few tables that were there were filled to the brim. Knowing we were heading to AC and not wanting to share my food with the one armed bandits, I suggested we stop on our way home, maybe we would be lucky enough to nab a table, if not we could take it home, hubby agreed but was muttering obscenities towards his coworker friend who was not even there. Ha!
They do a robust business and as luck would have it, they were very busy on our return trip, but it was not the end of the world this time as we were heading home. Well, if you have read my reviews before you do know that I over order and I want all of it and now. Little did I know how huge their portions are and the prices are unbelievably low.
Let’s start with those crab cakes they are so famous for, the Big Daddy crab cakes are named for the owner’s grandfather and it is their own special recipe, pure and complex flavors combining nothing more than huge crab cakes of jumbo lump crab and seasonings, sauteed and so creamy and good, each bite has you wanting to hold it in your mouth forever. They also have a lightly breaded and seasoned Maryland crab cake with Old Bay seasoning which is fried and creamy and has just enough filler to keep those puppies together. Third is the Cajun crab cakes which we did not try but I will be back again and soon and these will be on my list.
My head was turning like crazy checking out each order that was plated or boxed to go, their fish and chips looked wonderful and the looks and sound of the fried jumbo shrimp BLT will have me running back. Their jumbo fried shrimps were barely breaded and crisp, the nice part of being at home is I can have them my way and that is to dive them into drawn butter, I like to taste the shrimp not cocktail or tartar sauce. By the way I noticed you can buy some of the food prepared and not cooked to finish off at home, they also have coconut shrimp and steamed shrimp.
Their soups, bisque’s and chowders are all homemade, like everything else is and amazing, I’m serious! Now mind you soups and sides are priced for dining in or by the pint, quart, etc. to go. Also any order can be ordered individually or as a platter which gives you two homemade sides. We took home one pint of lobster bisque and clam chowda and I’m still dreaming about it, so full of flavor, velvety and lots of clams. The seafood gumbo has a nice kick to it and is loaded with seafood, okra, rice, fish and tomatoes, it will not make your nose run and your eyes water but it is a perfect balance and allows all the flavors to come through.
Big Daddy’s has jambalaya and Maryland crab bisque which we did not buy, next time, but their New England clam chowder actually took me back to Massachusetts, it’s one of the best I have had in a long time. They have salads, but you have got to be kidding me with all of this great seafood on board, it would be a sin.
They offer quite a few sandwiches and my eyes kept darting towards the barbecued pulled pork with baked beans and Cole slaw, you all know my weakness for a good BBQ pork sandwich, one day I will cave in. They have all kinds of crab sandwiches and wraps but nah, if you were so kind as to leave all this breading out of my crab cake, I’m not about to ruin a good thing.
Last but not least are the homemade sides, if you skip the homemade mac & cheese then you are skipping some of the best you will have. They make a great Cole slaw and baked beans, I’m not into Old Bay fries, even though I use the seasoning all the time, but their sweet potato fries were awesome. They also have grilled veggies, garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed string beans, potato salad, roasted peppers and a spinach bake.
The entire staff is so friendly and accommodating, they are closed on Monday. My only gripe was when they refused to discuss building a Big Daddy’s next door to my house.