How the best, and possibly largest, crab cake in Lexington is made
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For more than 10 years, Tony’s of Lexington has been known as one of the city’s top fine-dining restaurants.
The menu features USDA Prime steaks, seafood and pasta that keep local foodies coming back. But one dish, an appetizer that has not changed since day one, has fans expressing online their devotion to the popular downtown Lexington restaurant:
“Holy smokes... TRY THE CRAB CAKE! It’s the best ever!”
“This is too (sic) die for!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“This is by far the best crab cake I have ever eaten!!!! It is huge too!!”
We all know you can’t believe everything you read online. But in this case, the answer is absolutely yes, and seeing is believing. This monster of a crab cake — coming in at 8 ounces — is the best in town, and possibly the largest.
Tony’s Jumbo Lump Crab Cake ($25) is served with house-made mustard aioli, hot smoked paprika and garnished with shaved carrots and fennel.
It’s about the size of a softball, or at least a baseball, and has become one of the things that has made Tony’s a destination for celebrations and steaks.
“I love being a steakhouse that only has seven steaks. And that’s a huge thing for me, just because there are so many different options on the menu,” said David Johnson, director of operations for Tony’s. “But there are certain items (like the crab cake) that I would put them up against a lot of places, anywhere in the country.”
What makes Tony’s crab cake so good?
But what’s the secret to Tony’s being so different and so much better than other restaurants? Johnson said there are three reasons why their crab cake stands out: how little filler they use, baking instead of pan frying, and the delicate mixing of the ingredients.
“It’s not a mix, it’s a fold,” said Johnson. “You want that lump crab to really keep its density and its fluff.”
That’s something you can see when you plunge your fork deeper and deeper into the mound of crab. And try as you might, you will not see filler, just more and more crab. You will taste a hint of what little binder is used to keep the cake form, but there is way more crab in the dish than filler.
The creamy Dijon sauce has notes of what you would find in a traditional seafood dish with tangy lemon or citrus, and it isn’t an overpowering or spicy flavor that you tend to see with a lot of crab cakes today. Being such a large portion of crab, this helps make the dish feel less heavy.
“Tony (Ricci, the owner) is not a big sauce (guy) and all the type of things — it’s buy a quality product and prepare it the way you think it needs to be prepared, and let that product stand for itself,” said Johnson.
Both the sauce and the crab meat mixture are made daily, in-house, in big batches. On a typical night, the kitchen will prepare about 100 orders, 150 when they are busy.
When the crab cake appetizer was created, Johnson, who started as a server at Tony’s of Cincinnati, said he remembers the chefs concentrating on baking instead of pan frying, which is how most restaurants prepare the dish.
“When we first started, Tony would train the staff, ‘If you have somebody that comes in here from Maryland and says, ‘I don’t need that crab cake unless I’m in Maryland.’ You come tell me and you’ll send them one,’” said Johnson, remembering the feedback afterward was very positive. “It’s able to fend for itself.”
How is Tony’s crab cake made?
And so, since Tony’s of Cincinnati opened in 2010, the crab cake has not changed and has been a staple at the other locations (Lexington in 2015, Indianapolis in 2018 and Bowling Green in 2023).
Two, 4-ounce scoops of the secret crab mixture — with a nice ice cream-like ridge around the bottom edges — goes into a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes.
What comes out is the crab cake, sizzling on the bottom and ready to be plated as one of the best appetizers in Lexington. If you’re looking for a change of pace, it can serve as an entree, Johnson said, but don’t count on any other alterations with the dish.
“What kind of mutiny would I have if we changed the crab cake?” Johnson laughed.
Tony’s of Lexington
Where: Victorian Square Shoppes, 401 W Main Street.
Hours: 5 p.m.-9 p.m. Sun.-Thur.; 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.
Online reservations: tonysoflexington.com
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
