Every chef has a Sistine Chapel. For David Burke, some might say it’s his inventive cheesecake lollipops with bubble gum foam or the sumptuous steaks at Primehouse. Those people would be wrong. Without a doubt, the man has a way with crab cakes. I’m a sucker for the dish, so I certainly couldn’t pass up his rich and delicious Maryland Crab Cake Panini (with Old Bay French fries and petite salad, $15.95) at David Burke at Bloomingdale’s. But the piece de resistance, without a doubt, is his Pretzel-Crusted Crab Cake ($18) at David Burke Townhouse (formerly davidburke & donatella’s). The description mentions that it comes with poppy seed honey and kumquat-jalapeno jam, but that really doesn’t do it justice. The dish is a solid block of crab meat held together by a perimeter of thin, crunchy pretzel sticks, with tomato confit on top and the honey and jam on either side, to alternately season your bites. The dish is a bit filling for an appetizer (I think you’re expected to share. A novel concept for me. I get greedy with crab cake.), and it’s far larger than anything you’d expect to see at a restaurant like Townhouse. The crab cake was lighter than any I’ve ever experienced and simply melted once I took the first bite, so the pretzels gave it a nice accompanying crunch. I was partial to the poppy seed honey, of the three accompaniments.
It’s been going on three months since I got my first taste, and David, honey, I can’t get it out of my head. There are still plenty of culinary frontiers for me to explore in New York so I suppose for now, I’ll just continue to dream about your delicious, generally out-of-my-reach restaurants. Oh wait, what’s that you say? A $20 Sunday menu at Townhouse? I think this is true love.
Posted by: Nicole Price Fasig
Price: $$$$
Location : 133 E. 61st St. (btwn Park Ave. and Lexington Ave.)
Type of Food: American Nouveau
Veggie friendly? N
www.davidburketownhouse.com
Tags: American, Food Crushes, Seafood, Upper East Side
I think this is my fave post so far
[...] friends. According to Grub Street, the spanking new Bowery eatery of Daniel Boulud, who is to Kim as David Burke is to Nicole, is not only open in friends and family mode, but is actually accepting walk-ins at the bar! And, [...]
[...] rank it on par with the best crab cakes I’ve tasted (though Nicole, of course, maintains that David Burke’s reigns [...]
[...] no secret that I’m a big fan of the pretzel-crusted crab cake, so I was thrilled to find it on the David Burke Townhouse RW menu. What really sets that menu [...]
Actually, David Burke & Donetella, was on 62nd Street between Lexington & Park and is now David Burke’s Fishtail.
David Burke Townhouse is on 61st