The Eat Spot

I met my friend Summer for lunch downtown at The Eat Spot.  Despite its generic name, this restaurant is not your typical place to grab a bite.  A number of menu items are calling my name, and I hope to return soon. 

The atmosphere is good, it's you typical downtown restaurant with the tables closely situated to one another.  A self-described gastropub (which I know is a trendy term, but for some reason the word makes me think of gas--the embarrassing kind--and snobby hipsters), the atmosphere is not too intimidating.  Our server was extremely nice, which is the true measure of a place's atmosphere.

I had the Carolina Crab Cake Sandwich, and while I'm not sure what makes it "Carolina" it was pretty good.  It wasn't the best crab cake I've ever eaten, but it was good for lunch and good for the price.  It came on a Kaiser roll, with bacon, romaine lettuce, Roma tomatoes, and what is described as a Dijon "tartar" sauce (with capers!).  While I liked the sauce a lot, it did not taste very tartar-y. 

Also, while I liked the bacon, lettuce, and tomato, I'm wondering when someone decided crab cake sandwiches needed these "traditional" sandwich fixings.  What happened to lump crab, a few breadcrumbs to hold it together, tartar sauce if you wanted it, and a roll?  The additional toppings are merely to distract from the fact that most restaurants' crab cakes can't hack it served the "old" way. 

I love crab cakes.  Yes, even those that require toppings.  If a menu has crab cakes on it, that is what I will order the first time.  Which I probably shouldn't do, because even wonderful restaurants sometimes have a less-than-inspiring crab cake and it can sour my opinion of the entire establishment.  I have had to train myself (and sometimes I am successful) to give restaurants another shot.  This is one such restaurant I am looking forward to trying again.

They make their own fries, chips, and PBR onion rings (yes!).  Next time I've decided to try the SBLT (shrimp, bacon, lettuce, and tomato) with the grit fries...I'm intrigued. 

What made me the happiest with this restaurant was that it is among the slowly expanding number of establishments who offer gluten free items.  The menu says gluten free bread is available!  I'm always looking for places to take Mom, who has celiac disease, and am definitely putting The Eat Spot on the list.