Making the Famous Crabcakes from Monterey Bay Fish Grotto!

Hi family, it’s so good to see you. I’m so glad that you dropped by today because we got a great show for ya. We like to bring you delicious foods, we also like to highlight when we have great restaurants that we want to let you know about, so that you can partake of them. Well, Glenn and Lisa Hawley have the Monterey Bay fish Grotto in Mount Washington and they were here, I think it’s about two years ago. Hard to believe it’s been that long, but they did swordfish and it was just a great program. Well, they had a second restaurant in Monroeville and they’ve decided to build. So, it has just opened up in the last couple of months and we’re going to show you, we could send a camera over there we want you to see how wonderful this place is. They’re my special guest, plus they brought their Executive Chef, David with them, and he’s going to show us, this is my favorite thing, every time I go there I have to have this, their crab cakes. There are none like them anywhere. I’m telling you, they are the absolute best. They’re sharing the recipe for these spectacular crab cakes today on our program. Aren’t you glad you dropped by? I’m so glad you did because you know what? That’s one of those things that you get when you’re having a company and you want something just fabulous that you’ve never made before, something really unusual. These crab cakes are so full of crab and they’re not full of filler. I hate when I get those and it’s all mouthful of bread. This is a mouthful of crab every time. Plus they have a menu that is just incredible. It is so well balanced, you can get all kind of things if you’re not particularly fond of crab, although I can’t imagine. But anyway, they’re here and they’re very special guest for me, and I’m so glad they could come by out of their busy schedules, and we’re gonna get started in just a minute with the Monterey Bay Monroeville Mall Special, and we’re featuring crab cakes right here in the At Home kitchen. Stay with us, we’ll be right back in just a minute. Here’s today’s At Home Definition, Crab, crustaceans, animals with a shell, with 10 legs, the front two of which have pincers. Crabs are noted for their sweet, succulent meat and are the second most popular shellfish after shrimp in the US. If you’ve got a helpful hint or definition we’d like to hear from you. Send your hint to At Home Hints, Cornerstone Television, Wall, Pennsylvania, 15148-1499. Well, as you can see our Executive Chef is here, David Indorato. Very nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you Arlene.

So glad that you could be with us today.

I’m glad to be here.

And I know you’ve been with the Hawleys for a long time at the Monroeville Store, right?

Well, I’ve been at the Monroeville store since it opened.

Wow

I’ve been with them for a year and a half, two years at the Mount Washington store also.

So you’ve been there a long time. Where did you graduate from?

I graduated from New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier, Vermont.

Great, so you know what you’re doing? Doesn’t say this on here for fun, he’s earned this. Show us what you’re gonna do with the crab.

Today we’re gonna be doing our crab cake recipe. One of the first things… Sorry. We need to do is we need to take one egg. And we’re gonna crack it. Take the whisk, and we are going to beat it until it becomes frothy.

Just one egg? Just one egg. One egg per can. And once it becomes nice and frothy, we are gonna add one teaspoon of Worcestershire.

Worcestershires. I can’t say that right. I say Worcestershire, I can never get it right.

And one of mustard.

Just plain yellow mustard?

Plain yellow mustard.

No Dijon or nothing fancy, huh?

No, just plain yellow mustard.

Sometimes I think if we add too much of the flavors it takes away from the taste of the crab.

Yeah-

Like if you use a powerful mustard.

That’s the one nice thing about this recipe is it’s very simple.

Right.

And it doesn’t add too much to it.

Extra.

And you still do get the flavor out of the crab. And we need five tablespoons of mayonnaise.

Five.

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Wow. Does that kinda hold it together too with the egg?

Yes. That and the breadcrumbs that we’re gonna add to it later.

Oh later, all right.

Yes. And approximately two tablespoons of parsley.

Fresh is always better, isn’t it?.

Fresh is always better.

I think so too.

What’s your favorite most thing to make?

I like to make a whole bunch of things.

Do you?

But-

You like seafood obviously, right?

Yes, I do enjoy making seafoods.

Sure.

I like to do a lot of things with parrotfish, parrotfish is one of my favorite fish.

Ah, I don’t think I ever had that.

And we’re gonna mix this all together so we get a nice even color.

Sure. And I know you’re really particular, I know that Glenn and Lisa are really particular about the crab that they use.

Yes.

Because you just don’t wanna… That’s the thing I have the most biggest problem with crab cakes. It’s like bits of crab, it’s not lumps or chunks of crab. And I know that you, every time I go there you have chunks of crab in your cakes.

Well, one of the things we do is when we fold the crab cake into the mix, we try and to it gently.

You don’t stir, do you?

No, we don’t stir, we don’t beat it up, we try to do it gently and fold everything nicely so we keep those nice big chunks. But once we’ve got these ingredients mixed, we’ll take our crab meat.

Look at that.

And we want to drain it.

Look at that crab meat, that is incredible. There’s not even any little bits in there, is it?

No, no. In the jumbo lump crab meat you won’t find many shells. You might find one on occasionally, but for the most part you don’t find-

But you still have to drain it though because there’s some moisture?

But you still have to drain it because there is some moisture that you do want to get rid of.

Yeah, ’cause that would just water that down that make them soggy, huh? Right. Exactly. Now we’re gonna take some fresh breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs we made for, we just took a loaf of white bread, cut the crusts off and just grounded in robo coop cuisiner. So they’re nice, they’re fresh, they’re moist, soft.

Yeah, you don’t wanna dry out the breadcrumbs to do this, huh? It just gives you a dry product, right?

That gives you dry product. And if you’re using a dry bread crumb, you end up having to use more, so you end up losing a lot of the flavor in the breadcrumbs. So this helps keep it.

Oh, you put them all.

Drop it in with the crab meat.

Onto the crab.

And you shake it… ‘Cause that coats that, right?

It coats the crab. So you wanna mix that in to the crab. And try not to break it up in the process. Then we take this and we add it to the mixture.

Oh man.

And then best to get a rubber spatula. And we’ll just fold this.

Just lightly, huh?

Lightly fold it all in.

Whoa.

You wanna make sure you wanna get down underneath the center to mix, get all the-

Actually you’re folding not stiring.

Correct. No, we’re folding.

Sure.

Trying to keep all of those nice big lumps whole.

I tell you. And you make these, these are fresh every day at the Monroeville and at Mount Washington too.

Correct.

At the restaurant and I tell you. You know what, I’m gonna let you go ahead and finish those. Keep working. I’m gonna go join Glenn and Lisa. They’re over in the dining room. Come on with me, we gotta meet these guys. They seated, Glenn you’re fine, you’re fine. Good to see you, buddy.

A pleasure. How you doing nice to see you, Lisa? How are you? Oh, we’re so glad that you came, that you could be here with us today, and you brought the chef. Chefs are always… That’s a grand thing for us to have a chef in my kitchen. My kitchen too. Yeah, but you got a chef in your kitchen.

Live in. Glenn, we’re so glad that you got your new place open. Monroeville is open.

It was quite an endeavor, little bit of a challenge, sure.

We prayed a lot, didn’t we?

Absolutely.

We all prayed a lot and God was always faithful. I have had… I was at the Monroeville, the old restaurant and I’ve been to Mount Washington and I just love the new place. I love it because there’s just a wonderful feeling there for me.

We were able to, from the first restaurant that was on the top of the building, we were actually then Mount Washington came second.

[Arlene] Oh, okay.

So now we were able to incorporate some of the things that we saw at Mount Washington, like the Palm trees.

[Arlene] Sure.

And incorporate those into a new building and use some of the colors, the blues and the whites and the coppers.

The atmosphere.

Very beautiful.

You know what, when you go there, it’s like, you’re in another, if you don’t get to go to the tropics very often, when I go to Mount Washington and all the trees and same with Monterey, you just feel like, wow, you’re taking a step out of where you live, where your every day is to some place you wanna be.

Exactly.

And you know that you can’t because everything, the service is excellent, the food.

We sent our cameras ’cause I wanted you to see and here you’re gonna tell us what we’re seeing here.

[Lisa] Totally.

These are great pictures of the brand new Monterey Bay Monroeville Mall. Where are we here?

[Glenn] Well, actually we’re.

[Arlene] Outside, huh?

[Glenn] Yes we’re outside, we’re looking at it right at the front as you’ve come in the front entrance. That’s a copper wall to the left.

[Arlene] Yeah, that’s the water wall.

[Lisa] The water wall. It’s beautiful.

[Arlene] And then?

[Lisa] The host of stand, we have it, it’s the front entry go up the steps to the main dining room.

[Arlene] Isn’t that gorgeous?

[Lisa] Is something like an aquarium but we didn’t wanna deal with the fish.

[Arlene] There’s the trees we’re talking about.

[Glenn] Regular Palm trees, right. That’s to give you that coastal cuisine feel.

[Arlene] Yeah, you light them from underneath which just lights up and the colors are magnificent. The walls are painted, the wood quality, the shine and Polish on the wood.

[Lisa] We wouldn’t just surround you in warmth when you came in.

[Arlene] And there is a wonderful room that you added to this restaurant, I don’t think you have in Mount Washington, do you?

[Glenn] Well, we have a wine room at Mount Washington that you’re seeing now, this one is a little bit larger and it’s actually at the end of the dining room so that more guests can see it.

[Arlene] And you told me that an Amish man built.

[Lisa] Yes, the Amish man built table-

[Arlene] Actually built that rack that goes wall to wall, doesn’t it?

[Lisa] Hmm.

[Arlene] Look at the kitchen. It is so spectacular because, yeah, I understand it’s the one of the first air conditioned kitchens around, you actually put air conditioning in it.

[Lisa] Yes, absolutely.

[Glen] Correct.

[Arlene] And it’s right in front of a new annex that they put on the Monroeville mall.

[Glenn] Exactly.

I tell you, that’s an experience. You have a wonderful room. We saw that Paul and I, you were kind enough to invite us to come when, even before it was open, we went for the VIP dinner and we enjoyed ourselves so much. But you have this wonderful room that is just saying, “Have your party here.” It is such a nice room, pleasant. How many would that hold? How many people could you have for a party there?

Well, the backward room will hold about 55 people. So we can put in individual rooms though, it can be broken into two. So we can hold up to 18 on one side and about maybe 40 on the second side.

On the second side.

So we can actually do that. And then the Wine room itself holds 32 people.

So you could have a private dinner in that Wine area?

[Glenn] Correct.

[Lisa] In the Wine room.

And it is totally enclosed in glass, right in the center of the dining room. It is spectacular, I tell you. But I was thinking this time of the year, when everybody’s getting ready for parties, whether they be big or little, if you have a small corporation, maybe you wanna take your family out for a really nice dinner and maybe don’t want them all scattered over the dining room. They could go into this wonderful little banquet area and have a party with your family. I’m telling you besides the food, it’s spectacular to be there, just the atmosphere. And it’s just a nice place to hold something like that or a corporate party.

Certainly. That’s probably one of the major changes from the first location.

[Arlene] Sure.

So we couldn’t do the private parties.

Right. We’re gonna take a break, when we come back, we got more with David in the kitchen and with the Hawleys here at the table. Don’t go away, we’ll be right back. Well, if you’ve just joined us, I want you to know that you’ve missed crab cakes, Monterey Bay crab cakes, we already showed you how to make them, you missed them. But if you get the newsletter, that recipe will be there because Glenn and Lisa Hawley are here with us today and their Executive Chef from their brand new restaurant in the Monroeville Mall area of the Pittsburgh area, you folks who fly into Pittsburgh a lot, you know what, this is worth looking for this restaurant, go to Mount Washington or come to Monroeville. It’s very convenient, easy, just say I wanna go to Monroeville Mall and they’ll take you right to it, because this is a brand new restaurant, great ambiance, atmosphere is good, the food, the service, I can’t tell you how good the service is. And that’s remarkable because you had people stay with you even when you were down.

Oh.

For those couple of months when you were in construction, they stayed with you.

We kept 85% of all the employees.

That’s incredible, that is just incredible. That tells me a lot about you as a boss. I mean really you treat people well and that’s great. We have to get back. David, what are we doing over there? How are the crab cakes coming?

Crab cakes are doing well. I’ve taken them, I’ve just portioned them into six crab cakes. Just taking a spoon and pulling.

[Arlene] So that one pile makes like six.

[David] Yes. Just taking a spoon and pulling them out of the bowl and trying to keep the lumps as whole as we can. I’m gonna throw them in a 425 degree oven.

[Arlene] 425.

And we’re gonna

[Arlene] How long?

let them cook for about 10 to 12 minutes.

10 To 12.

And they should be a nice golden brown.

Yeah.

And we’re done.

Can’t wait.

Now, what else are you gonna make over there?

Right now I’ve started working on a smoke salmon appetizer. Basically we have smoke salmon, which you can buy at your local grocery store.

[Glenn] Anywhere pretty much, huh?

Even online if you need to.

And you have to loosen that up for that to look nice, don’t you?

Well, what I do-

[Arlene] For serving portion.

What I do is we get it, we have it sliced. And what I’ll do is I’ll pull the individual slices and I’ll fold it over a little bit and roll it up.

[Arlene] Oh he does it fancy.

Make a rose out of it.

[Arlene] Oh a rose.

Of sorts. And just to make it look nice on the plate.

[Arlene] Sure. And what are you putting around it then?

Right now, around it here I am putting some toast points so we can have something to put the salmon on.

This would be a great idea if you’re gonna be entertaining for the holidays that you can put together no time at all, right?

Correct, exactly.

That’s just like-

The beauty of a recipe like this that is you can get all kinds of flavored smoked salmon now.

[Arlene] Ooh.

Astromy flavored.

Really?

Some of your higher end, your McGinness Sisters will have a higher end type of product with all kinds of flavors.

Well, that’s interesting. I never knew that. I thought all smoke salmon was smoke salmon, but that’s great. It’s readily available now where it didn’t used to be. While he’s finishing that, let’s talk some more. What kind of, you said something about during the holidays, you have like lunches, you do lunches?

Where we were open for lunch. And during the holidays we do, we have a lot of guests that come in to do lunch and Christmas parties.

[Arlene] Oh how nice.

And they’ll use the banquet room. They’ll call and they’ll make, talk to our banquet coordinator, Kelly. And they set everything up for you. All you have to do is bring your presents, come in, we’ll take care of everything for you.

Wow. And tell me about the menu, what do you have to offer like on a luncheon menu? What would you.

Well, the banquet menus, actually all our menus we give six entree choices. So we give four fresh fish, a chicken and a steak.

[Arlene] Wow.

And actually the guest gets to choose at the point they get seated. You don’t have to pick for your party ahead of time.

Oh, it takes the stress out of planning a party, doesn’t it?

[Glenn] Correct.

That’s Wonderful. I just make David work a little harder, that’s all.

How many of those do they want? But that’s why he get the big bucks.

But you know quality of food is so much better that way.

Correct.

Sure.

We feel because it’s being prepared for you and not preordered not. And you held in some oven.

Because there’s such ambience and there’s such atmosphere there, don’t go thinking, “oh, I’m gonna rush in there and grab something quick”, because everything is freshly prepared, correct?

[Glenn] Right.

[Lisa] Absolutely.

And so it’s an event. It’s not like I have to get something, do eat and get on my way. You wanna go there when you’re having a celebration, an anniversary. Just a intimate Christmas party with just five or six people. It’s an event that might last for an hour and a half, two hours. And you don’t mind it because there’s service is so good, there is such caretaking, you feel so pampered. We took some friends one time and they told me they felt like for that brief time that they were in the most exquisite restaurant in the world eating the finest food they ever tasted.

Well, that is-

There’s the good housekeeping, right?

Really, thank you.

Yeah. And we had to agree ’cause Paul and I we love to come there, we thoroughly enjoy it. And as I said, the food is always up to standard. We’ve never had a bad meal there, not at all.

It’s been a gift.

It is.

It truly is a gift to us. And we wanna convey that to our guests that come.

Sure, absolutely. Well, I understand you have a nice full line of desserts.

We have probably a top pastry chef in the city, Jim Lazeration. He is dedicated to his part of the profession. And he’s been with us for quite a long time now. Puts out-

I heard he is like a perfectionist, huh?

[Glenn] Very perfectionist.

Has to be perfect.

When I get in the kitchen, I come by it’s little of this, little of that, and he’s always telling me, “move aside”.

[Arlene] Get outta the way.

[Lisa] It’s precise. You know what I think when you bake, it has to, it’s precise.

Well, it is a science. Yeah, it’s totally different than cooking.

Cooking.

Anybody will tell you, you can throw a lot of this or a little bit of that or whatever when you’re cooking, but when you bake you better have those eleven agents right or that cake’s not coming up anywhere. It’s just like a pancake.

[Lisa] Wait till see what we brought.

Well, they did. Jim couldn’t be with us today but maybe we get him some time to come over. But he sent something. Now tell us what he sent?

He sent a carrot cheesecake. So it’s a carrot cake cheesecake.

Carrot cake cheesecake.

It’s not a cheesecake flavored carrot cake, it’s a carrot cake layered in cheesecake. So it’s layers. And I know that David’s gonna, he’s gonna be sharing. I can’t even wait. That’s the most beautiful cheesecake I’ve ever seen, there’s no cracks on the top. It’s like the most perfect all around, beautiful, big cheesecake. And he’s gonna garnish it, dress it up. And when we come back, we’re gonna be served by David and we’re all gonna be partaking of this fabulous fabulous crab cakes. And then I think he’s got carrots cooking over there. He’s got an Asian slaw, and this cheesecake that’s outta this world. We’ll be right back in just a minute. Well, here we are with our Executive Chef from the Monterey Bay, Monroeville, and the owners, Glenn and Lisa Hawley. Can I tell you what you have to see this finished. This plate is like everything you ever wanted to eat all one time. We have to show you the crab cakes first. Look at the big chunks of crab. I’m telling you, that’s exactly what you get when you go to their restaurant. And he’s got some carrots that he did. They’re kind of like a unusual with a little bit of…

They’re sort of a candid carrot, but they’re done with sugar and club soda.

[Arlene] Club soda.

And they’re steamed instead of blanch. So it’s got nice sweetness to it.

Then we have little Asian slaw in there with some fruit in it. And then I told you he was bringing a dessert. What is this Glenn?

[Glenn] It’s a carrot cake cheesecake, little caramel topping.

There’s layers of carrot cake, and there’s layers of cheesecake with a gram cracker crust. And then you just garnished with some?

I just garnished with some hot caramel and some brown sugar whipped cream.

Brown sugar whipped cream.

Yes.

And spread mint? And spread with mint.

Now who’s the guy that does this, I wanna talk to Jim.

Our Pastry Chef is Jim Lazeration.

Jim, this is fabulous. And we’re all, we can’t wait. The whole place is like groaning, but the other thing I wanna say, thank you, David you did such a great job. There’s so much to talk about today and we’ve had such a good time. But I wanna mention that should have reservations.

Reservations are always recommended.

Yes, because you’re not always packed but in the evenings you usually are.

Most of the time, but okay we can accommodate you, squeeze you in.

And also there are gift certificates available. This is a great, I’ve had birthday gifts, in fact one of my good friends gave me a birthday gift last year and I’ve had other gifts. We use them up and we enjoy them. And the number for reservations or to call about gift certificates is 412 374 5830, right?

[Glenn] 8530.

Oh, what did I say, 58?

[Glenn] That’s right.

Let’s do it again. 412 374 8530. Would you believe I rehearsed that and I still got it wrong. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you Arlene. It was such a pleasure.

You guys are such a delight. Thank you, David.

[David] You’re welcome. Thank you as always because you’re our family and it just wouldn’t be the same without you. We’ll see you the next time on At Home.

[Announcer] Furnishings provided by Levin Furniture featuring Lane’s Country Living Collection Food provided by Jordan Banana Company, wholesalers of fresh food and vegetables in Dravosburg, Pennsylvania.

[Announcer] Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.