Two platters so nice that we had to think twice before we included them both in the 27th Anniversary TastyNes countdown. Our concert promoter pal Paul Manna bumped into Nestor at Costas Inn in Timonium and was given the royal treatment of Crab Imperial and Oysters Rockefeller in the new space at the racetrack.
Nestor Aparicio discussed his 25th anniversary of the crab cake tour, where he sampled crab cakes in 24 counties and municipalities. He highlighted his preference for Costas Inn’s Crab Imperial over crab cakes, praising its unique cream spinach and oysters Rockefeller. He mentioned promoting local businesses like Clavel and the Philadelphia Pretzel Company. Nestor also shared his experiences with various crab cakes, including Coco’s and Old Salty’s. Christine and Paul Manna confirmed that Costas Inn’s Crab Imperial recipe is a family secret, primarily developed by Nestor’s mother and Pete, not Nestor’s father.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Crab Imperial, crab cakes, Costas Inn, cream spinach, oysters Rockefeller, local businesses, Maryland cuisine, crab soup, Clavel, Philadelphia pretzel company, Fiesta Mexicana, Dundalk, Timonium, Greek recipes, Pete’s recipe.
SPEAKERS
8
Christine, Nestor Aparicio, Paul Manna
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Sister love over. But these, this right here is my plan, unbelievable. So what I would tell you is, part of my tastiness is I was going to do, it’s my 27th anniversary. 25th Yeah, yeah, yeah. So 25th we did 25 crab cakes in 25 days in 24 different counties and municipalities. Okay, so there’s 23 counties plus a city. Wow, I did so I did one in every case, Kent County really only has one restaurant, Denton, Kent narrows, or Kent on the Eastern Shore, where all the chicken coops are on the way to, like Delaware. So, and he had a great burger at this place in Denton, Denton, but I’ve been all over the state. And the next year I did 26 crab cakes different places. And I did breweries because I wanted to drink beer. So I drank beer last year. I kind of like took off a little bit and chilled out this year how I did oysters last year, all locally, different ways. This year, I was going to do crab soup. I was going to do Maryland or cream of crab, right? And I’m like, I don’t want to eat that for a month. Let me reconsider. And then I started thinking about all these local businesses, and I’ll give you some in the last couple days that I have promoted Clavel. You ever been there for tacos, phenomenal, right? Vibe too. I love the Philadelphia pretzel company that sells my pizza John’s up in Bel Air, but I love the Philly pretzel factory pretzels. So these are like places that I go out of my way. There’s the Fiesta Mexicana over in golden ring, right on Route seven in Rosedale. I go there for my trace Lake Chase cake. Now he makes great burritos and everything, but it’s my thing. It’s where I go to get my thing. The spinach at Costas unbelievable. The cream spinach is unbelievable. It’s different than any other kind of cream spinach you’ve ever had. I’ve been eating in Dundalk for 15 years. It’s great. Crab Imperial is something that I got as a boy in the 80s and 90s. And I don’t know that I had crab Imperial for a good 20 years. And I don’t know why crabs, crab cakes, crab melts, but never crab Imperial. And about three, four years ago, I started ordering these mushrooms here at Costas. These are the stuffed mushroom caps. Is what they’re called on the menu. And really what it is, it’s just crab Imperial thrown down into a mushroom. And what I told Pete here a couple weeks ago and his night you were here, actually, we ran each other. Paul, yeah, I told him, people ask me about the crab cake tour and going to get in crab cakes places. And I had a Coco’s crab cake yesterday because it’s their 40th anniversary. I’m gonna be there on Wednesday. Love their crab cakes, right? Yep. Will you go say something Coco’s? That’s your thing? I think so. I love Cocos. Yeah, yeah. If I yes,
Paul Manna 02:57
if I had to choose now, that’s probably the best one that I’ve had. Everybody likes their crab cake. A little different.
Nestor Aparicio 03:04
I’m East Baltimore, so the cost is crab cake to me, okay, has the Old Bay and what I remember my mother making, okay, yeah, the Cocos is more Country Club, a little bit more of a mix. I would even say like a Pappas or a wetter crab cake. But everybody has their thing. I was down at old salties, which is in hoopers Island. It’s on my list. You must go to Blackwater refuge. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the state. The Harriet Tubman trail that this maniac run in the country is trying to get rid of black history in Maryland, in their country. But go there. Great crab cake, unique out of the water, all of that. But I have just decided, and I told pete this, and I’m going to make an admission. I love crab cakes. I think the suicide bridge crab cake on Eastern Shore. I almost featured it. I didn’t, but it’s delicious. I featured it before the hobbit in Ocean City, which is similar to the Coco’s crab cake in style. I love the Timbuktu, Greek crab cake that has pimento in it. Your Box Hill people might have that going on too, like fade leaves, but faith leads is a mustard for crab, completely different. But I like that. Completely different. I love it. It’s great. I was there last week. Crab Imperial, to me, is better than any of them. So that that would tell you where my palate is, that I love crab Imperial more than I love any crab cake. I get that, yeah, and I so that, and I love Costas crab Imperial. So the crab Imperial comes on the mushroom caps. You can get it on fish. You can get it with a steak. The night I was here with you, I had crab Imperial on a steak. I had, like, a surf and turf kind of thing, right? So if you order the crab Imperial, if you’ve never had crab Imperial in your life, this is the place to get it. You can get it on a mushroom. You can get it you can get in Dundalk or Timonium, and you can get these wonderful oyster Rockefeller. I can’t decide which one I like more, so I’m saying both. So there, and if that is a flag for you to know. Get a crab cake at Costas or not, go to Dundalk to get crabs, and only come here for the State Fair this weekend and get the crab, whatever you want to do. But if you’ve lived your life and you had before, a month ago, when I saw you here without having these are the two things I brought you, right? I don’t think it was the mushroom. It was ate it all. Probably I ate it all when you came. I don’t blame her. I think your wife was in on it when he was in audio, loved it, loved it. So this is my jam. So when people say, Oh, Chris, sit down. Christine, here we get you on here. No, no, man, this is family here. I mean, I’m honorary Greek, you know, as long as I don’t say any Scott, all in the air, they love me here, and I get full lock you. So is that that’s the extent of my Greek. I dated a Greek girl for a little while, so she taught me some things. How are you? I’m good. How are you. I was just explaining to him how people always want to ask me, would you feed your crab? I’m having one every day this week, so they’re all different. I was at fade leaves last week. I’ll be Coco’s. He loves Coco’s different. I love your crab cake because I’m East Baltimore and I like the saltiness of the CoCo or the Costas crab cake, but they this here,
8Christine 06:07
to me, Ariel stuffed mushroom caps. I
Nestor Aparicio 06:10
love crab Imperial more than I love any crab cake. Why is that? Can you I don’t what makes formula, what? What is this? What is Greek secret is absolutely, is this like GP 66 Greek, Greek, Greek
Christine 06:26
secret, Pete’s the one with the recipe. So
Nestor Aparicio 06:29
8how much did your dad have to do with the recipes here?
Christine 06:32
My dad, it was more my mom and Pete behind the scenes in the kitchen, really? Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 06:39
I gave your dad too much credit. He got all the love for the credit him for the
Christine 06:43
crab Imperial. I have to give that to mom and Pete.
8Nestor Aparicio 06:46
Well, the crab Imperial, to me, is better than any crab cake anywhere. It’s my thing creamy. It’s why it’s like number seven on my list of all the places I go. I’m not featuring
06:57
seven, seven. Well, Whoa,
Paul Manna 07:01
she’s leaving now.
Nestor Aparicio 07:04
8I’m featuring gumbo, okay? I’m featuring coconut shrimp with Blueberry, raspberry jalapeno sauce, and then the top four. I’m not telling anybody what I’m doing, okay? Because, I mean, I’m not telling anybody what I’m I told everybody I’m doing your oysters, rock. People mention how good the cream spinach is here and how uniquely special.
Christine 07:25
They love it. We have the appetizer with the pita bread. It’s delicious. You never used to do that. No, that’s sort of right, because it’s always a side. They’ve always been able to get as a side.
Nestor Aparicio 07:34
People get spinach and artichoke dip. Paul, that spinach and artichoke tip. I like it. Not quite your thing. I want the spinach and the cream spinach. Here is what I want. It’s a favorite. I don’t do crab dip either. It says crab dip. I’m out really. I know the difference. I want something good,
Christine 07:53
something different. You can get crab dip anywhere, but I don’t want cream spinach has a little bit of
8Nestor Aparicio 07:58
pretzels. Everybody does the pretzels. That’s crab dip. I want crab Imperial. Difference between getting that crab stick in a sushi, to me, that is the that is the difference. We had a crab Imperial. You’re being like a king here.
