When Executive Chef Dylan Elhajoui joined Shorenear seven months ago, he gave it about two months before shaking things up, with the Blue Lump Crab Cake as one of his first additions to the menu. Light, refreshing, aesthetically pleasing—it fits right into the Shore milieu, he says. But more importantly, in his eyes, he’s giving people the crab cakes they deserve. Elhajoui paints what he says is an all-too-common picture for diners: you go to a nice restaurant and see crab cake on the menu. You order. “And you’re excited,” he says, himself growing animated at the thought. But biting into the dish, you get a mushy mouthful of binders and fillers and disappointment. “Where’s the crab?” he asks. That’s a problem diners will not have with his crab cake, which he estimates—conservatively—is “at least 95% crab, probably more.” Sourcing blue crab from Indonesia, Elhajoui largely lets the crab speak for itself, using only a single egg as a binder and lightly seasoning with preserved lemon, dill and, to round it all out, some celery seed accents. “It’s a little surprise,” he says. “Gives it that earthiness that brings you back.” Drizzled with a carrot coulis and served with a salad of butter lettuce, vinegar slaw and avocado, the dish isn’t complete until artfully plated. “You eat with your eyes first,” says Elhajoui. “You want something to excite you before you start.”