Crabcake, Montrose

Montrose resident Ronald Campanaro and his partners have named their new restaurant Crabcake, which is a dish featured on their menu.

Campanaro, who is the chef, and his wife, Alyssa, spent some time traveling in the U.S. about 15 years ago and one of their stops was in Maryland, Campanaro recalled last week.

“There were crab cakes everywhere,” he said. At the time he was preparing for his first executive chef job and, “I wanted a killer crab cake on the menu,” he said. “We won Best of Westchester that year.” He explained that the award was chosen by readers of “Westchester Magazine.” “I’m very proud of that,” he said.

A crab cake sandwich is featured on the menu at Crabcake, which opened six months ago in Montrose.

Crabcake’s menu is divided into four sections. Steam Buckets offer lobster, clams, mussels and Red Russian crab legs, which Campanaro said are imported from Russia and weigh about one-and-a-quarter pounds per leg.

Hand-Held are Crabcake’s sandwiches which feature crab cake, butter poached lobster, Pickle Brine Chicken, champagne battered shrimp, or a prime beef burger with Vermont cheddar cheese. The butter poached lobster roll consists of the neat from a whole, one-and-one-quarter pound lobster, Campanaro explained.

There is a children’s menu and a series of side dishes including hand cut French fries, fennel apple slaw, cheese covered Mexican corn, avocado and Heirloom tomato salad and a side salad. Daily specials are also available.

Campanaro has owned portions of four restaurants in the past where he had also served as a chef.  He previously served as chef at Taste restaurant in Buchannan. “We had a good following already,” he said, adding he and his partners decided to open their new restaurant in neighboring Montrose.

It took about nine months of renovations before Crabcake was ready to open, Campanaro noted.

On its website Crabcake describes itself as “A Gourmet Seafood Kitchen.” Customers come to the counter and order and the meal will be brought to the table if they decide to eat in, Campanaro said. The restaurant also offers its patrons the options of take-out and delivery and catering services are available.

Campanaro and his partners are slated to extend their reach next year by operating a food truck that Campanaro plans to bring to various events serving a variety of food.

Campanaro explained how the namesakes of his restaurant, crab cakes, are created. His crab cakes are mostly crab. Campanaro said. “I use two different types of crab,” he said. The Colossal Lump crabmeat is folded into the cakes at the end of the process, which begins with the forming of the cakes using Super Lump meat “which has tons of flavor,” he said. “You have some good texture going on.” The cakes also consist of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper, some hot sauce “and a few other little things” that Campanaro wants to keep secret.

“This is the real deal,” he said. \

Campanaro explained why his new business has been successful. “We’re just putting out great quality food and putting smiles on people’s faces,” he said.

Crabcake is located at 2081 Albany Post Rd. in Montrose. For more information, call 914-219-8822 or visit https://www.crabcakeny.com. The restaurant also has a Facebook page.

Neal Rentz