One thing that our friends keep asking us is if we've been to Pappas yet. It's always been on the list, we just hadn't gotten around to it. When you talk about crab cakes, Pappas' name is sure to always come up. Since 1972, they've been a Baltimore institution, offering quality food at a fair price, with a focus on customer service. Their crab cakes are huge, and have been featured Baltimore Magazine, the Baltimore Sun, and in 2009, the Baltimore City Paper crowned them Best Crab Cake.  Located up in the Parkville area, they're well outside of downtown, but still in the heart of suburban Baltimore. So with the rave reviews coming in from all ends, we set out to see what the talk was about. Follow along as we take a journey to crab cake town!

Pasquale's has been serving fine Italian food to the Kingsville area for over 20 years. The goal at Pasquale's is to provide high quality, authentic Italian food made from the finest and freshest ingredients, in an effort to keep their customers satisfied. If you happen to drive by their restaurant, you'll notice that there is normally a sandwich board on the side of the road advertising homemade cream of crab soup, and, you guessed it, crab cakes! Drive past that sign enough times, and you'll eventually find yourself inside, placing that crab cake order. Was it worth the stop? Let's find out!

Pat's Pizzeria, or Pat's Family Restaurant as you may also know them, started out in Pennsville, NJ back in 1974. Since then, Pat's has grown to be a regional pizza chain in the MD/NJ/DE/PA area. They've always been known as Pat's Pizza, but in 2004 they felt that they had evolved enough that they upgraded their dining rooms and altered the name to be Pat's Family Restaurant. Their pizza speaks for itself, and when the pizza is good, the other menu items tend to follow suit. Did this pattern stay true for their crab cakes? Let's find out!

Pelican Cove is a restaurant in Abingdon, MD (just outside Bel Air) that bills itself as a fine seafood restaurant.  But fret not, it's not all white tablecloths, matire d's, and valet parking.  No, it's about as fine seafood as you would want up around these parts, with a nautical theme.  It's not just seafood, as they do have your other standard restaurant fare on the menu as well, including steaks, chicken, and pasta.  And, naturally, they have crab cakes.  So we fought our way past the lure of Wine World, past the whimsy and challenge of Putt Putt Golf & Games, and ventured in.  Were they worth the trip?  Read on and find out!

Looking past Faidley's and G&M, the one name that has been synonymous with Maryland crabs/seafood is Phillips.  Since 1956, Phillips has been churning out seafood for Maryland tourists, starting out in Ocean City, MD and branching out to not only multiple locations in Maryland (Baltimore, Rockville, and Ocean City), but along the Mid Atlantic seaboard as well (Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Washington DC, Myrtle Beach).  In addition to sit-down restaurants, they also operate seafood buffets, express stands and airport locations as well as grocery/retail and foodservice divisions.  Certainly anyone with this kind of success, especially in an area known for its seafood, specifically crabs, must certainly know what they are doing.  The sign outside of their Baltimore location boasts "Maryland's Favorite Crab Cake".  But is it?  Continue on to find out!