THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Everything about Uncle Sam's in Uptown Central Park is big.

The locally owned restaurant occupies a huge space, formerly home to the ill-fated Shark Club.

The menu is extensive. The portions are ample. And the restaurant's ambitions seem equally grand, with casual eats downstairs, buffet-style white-tablecloth dining upstairs, a Sunday brunch, five separate bars and plans for an on-premises brew pub.

I visited three times in the past week, and I feel I've barely scratched the surface.

First, a friend and I tried a casual lunch downstairs, in a modern red-white-and-blue space with a fun, industrial feel. We ordered off the menu and were rewarded with generous platters of fresh, nicely prepared, all-American food.

A crab cake sandwich ($9) would please even the snootiest of crab connoisseurs. The cake was so large it overlapped the edges of the Kaiser roll it sat on. It was all fresh-picked blue crab, held together with a minimum of delicate white sauce and pan-fried until just golden and warm throughout. No filler.

The sandwich came with crisp lettuce, a nice tomato round, a pickle slice and a side of hot, fresh fries, unadulterated by greasy coatings or spices.