I’m going to be in Edgewood MD just outside of Baltimore this weekend, and am hoping I can find some great Crab Cakes. Of course I can drive into Baltimore proper, but if there is something just as good closer that would be great to know. Any area Dopers have any ideas?
Around that area it’s going to be difficult to find a place that doesn’t serve crab cakes.
I don’t make it up that way very often, but I’ve had acceptable crab cakes at Gus’s Pizza and Grill on Pulaski Hwy, and different, but not necessarily better ones at Box Hill Pizzeria. I’ve heard good things about Pelican Cove. These are all within about 1/2 mile of each other.
The beautiful thing about crab cakes is even when they’re not great, they’re still pretty good (okay, to be fair, I’ve had some terrible crab cakes that were literally just a few strings of crab meat mixed in to a mound of bread crumbs, but no restaurant in Baltimore is going to try to serve you any of that bullshit).
Timbuktu near BWI has my favorites, but it is South of Baltimore, and Edgewood is a good bit North. They are damned good crab cakes, very large and not a lot of filler.
If you do go into the city, Faidley’s in Lexington Market is a Baltimore tradition.
Both places have websites.
I don’t know any places up near Edgewood, but I would imagine there is something good up that way too.
If you strike out on crab cakes, look for a Pit Beef stand, we do that right in Maryland.
Chaps on Pulaski Highway is just North of the city and not too far from you. It’s not fancy, just an old pit beef stand, but damned good!
Try the horseradish 
I’m jealous! They don’t have crab cakes in Japan where I live. I always have to get my fill when I visit the U.S. on business. Maryland crab cakes with a bottle of Louis Roederer are what life’s little pleasures are made of!
Although it isn’t in Edgewood, one of the first times I was in Baltimore, I was taken to Faidley’s Seafood. At that time I didn’t know just how famous the place was for crab cakes and only found out when I looked it up on the internet. They use lots of fresh crab meat with very little filler used as binding. You can ask for it broiled or fried as well. (Try both.) Be warned this is not a “proper” restaurant; Faidley’s is a seafood purveyor within a food market called Lexington Market, very famous with locals and tourists alike. It has an eat-in section where you can place your order at a counter and you have to take your tray with your food to a stand-up table and eat standing up. Definitely not a place to have a relaxing meal with family and friends, but more of a place to experience great crab cakes on the go.
If you’re looking for a nice sit-down meal, I would recommend Rusty Scupper. Again, not in Edgewood, but in a beautiful location overlooking the Inner Harbor marina in Baltimore. I did not have the crab cake as my main plate but rather as an accompaniment to another dish I had, so it was rather small but delicious nevertheless. They are broiled rather than fried, with a good amount of seasoning. I think I might have preferred Faidley’s crab cakes but Rusty Scupper has other great seafood, a great selection of wine, and a beautiful ambiance as well.
Top 25 best crab cakes around Baltimore
You probably won’t go wrong with any of them.
I like Phillips if you’re in the city.
We always make a point to stop here when I fly into BWI.
Yes, I really wanted to give Timbuktu’s crab cakes a much stronger, if not, emphatic endorsement, but since there is such a subjective element to it, I held back.
They are damned good, and I’m glad to see someone else chime in about them.
Faidley’s. Also, Faidley’s. If they’re not open try Faidley’s .
LOL
The little old lady who developed their recipe is gone now, but they still follow it.
The jumbo crab cake is the way to go. 
Faidley’s has the whole Lexington Market experience going for it, all those different food stalls, I usually swing by the chicken stall and get some fried chicken livers doused in hot sauce too.
The people suggesting Phillips and Rusty Scupper are making me cringe.
This, this, a thousand times this.
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a crabcake at a Baltimore restaurant. If I knew of a good recommendation, I’d mention it. I mainly just came in to say to avoid Phillips.
ETA: if you’re getting actual Maryland Blue Crab, especially jumbo lump, expect to pay for it. The price of crab meat has gone way up in the last few decades. If a place is offering a “Maryland jumbo lump” crabcake for less than $20 or $30, it’s almost certainly a fake (foreign meat, not jumbo lump, lots of filler, etc.).
Thanks everyone. I’ll be getting in the car in about a half an hour and should be there around 8 tonight. I’m not sure what kind of spare time I’ll have so I may have to ask the concierge what is good that is close. If we have spare time though I’ll be using these suggestions to get my fix.
Faidley’s, definitely. Only issue is that it’s in the Lexington Market, and there is so much great food there that you may be sidetracked. 
Ignore the infidels. I’ve been eating Phillips crab cakes for decades and they’re great.
You’ve gotten some good suggestions, but they’re all in Baltimore. Md. 2 runs between Edgewater and Annapolis. Just before you cross the bridge, behind Coconut Joes, is Mike’s Restaurant and Crab House. As you cross the bridge, just outside of Edgewater is Yellowfin which has great food. Better yet, go to downtown Annapolis, just a few miles outside of Edgewater. There are a lot of great restaurants. They are all retry good and serve crab cakes. My wife’s fave is Federal House. There is a Phillip’s there, but I’m pretty sure they don’t use Maryland crabs, which is weird as they’re right on the water.
The Chesapeake has been over-fished for crabs and most of them are now brought in from the Gulf area.
I haven’t eaten Crab Cakes at every restaurant in the Baltimore area, but I’ve never had a bad one.
The Blue Crab numbers in the Chesapeake fluctuate from year to year based on a wide range of factors, and it is a managed fishery, so it really depends on the limits set by Fish & Game on how much native crabs turn up in the restaurants.
They make their decisions based off of how cold the previous winter was, salinity of the bay that varies each year, conditions of swamp grasses, and a long list of variables.
Besides, I can’t tell the difference in taste from a Gulf crab, a Chesapeake crab, or one from Thailand.
BTW,
Phillips is a chain restaurant, you might as well go to a Red Lobster or a Long John Silver’s if you are going to eat there.
The little mom & pop operations, and the locally owned joints are more indicative of Maryland seafood in how it is prepared, and they tend to purchase from local sources when available, it’s seasonal.
In the winter, every place in the region will be serving Gulf crabs or Thai crabs bought from the big seafood distributor in Jessup, MD.
So, I almost posted something a few hours ago that I may have to go home empty handed. I’m here with my son for a Lacrosse tournament, and When we got done for the day at about 5 after he showered he was “starving” and couldn’t wait until we coordinated things with other families. I took him to a Wawa for a sub. Of course I have no will power and had to get one myself. I have to leave right after our last game tomorrow to meet my other son in Pittsburgh to meet with the coaches at a college there. So I thought I had missed my chance.
Last night when we got in late several of us went to a local Tex Mex place really close to our hotel. It was really good, and I noticed that they also had Crab Cakes on the menu. Of course I didn’t want to spoil my experience with a lousy version from a Tex Mex place.
I ended up talking to some locals in a few places and they all said to go to the little Tex Mex place. It is owned by a local guy who opened this place, but also knows how to make great Crab Cakes.
Since my son is a sixteen year old athlete he was hungry again a few hours later, and a few other families were going over and we joined them. I grilled the waiter and he swore that they were excellent. Since I had already eaten once (and I’m no longer a teen boy with that metabolism) he said he would get me the sandwich version without the bun for about half the price of the entree (one instead of two). Yes it is local lump crab, no fillers, broiled, owners personal recipe.
It was amazing! Since I haven’t tried the other recommended places I can’t say how it compares, but it was head and shoulders above anything I’ve ever had before.
Two of the things Baltimore is known for are crabs and lacrosse. Nice that you got both.
And hookers. Won’t someone think of the hookers?