Cafe Soleil is a restaurant located in the Club Quarters hotel, just outside of Farragut Square within the Golden Triangle district, and 2 blocks from the White House.  For 12 years, they have been serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week to hungry tourists and locals alike.  With as long as they have been around, and the neighborhood they are located in, you have to bring your A-game when it comes to the discerning food palates in our nation's capital.  Should these crab cakes get the presidential seal of approval, or should their recipe get vetoed?  Stick around and find out!

Cantlers Riverside Inn has been serving fine seafood to the Annapolis area since 1974.  Watermen, boaters, and tourists alike can agree that this establishment is the embodiment of a Maryland seafood house -- no frills, just good food.  A little bit hard to find, this place has a perfect perch on the waters of Edgewater, not far from Annapolis harbor.  They have a solid steamed crab, but what we really want to know about are their crab cakes.  Well let's find out!

While situated near water and not on a dock (as the name may imply), Canton Dockside is one of Baltimore's newest crab houses.  The outside patio is as you would expect with a crab house: wooden picnic tables that get laid down with brown paper before a tray of Maryland's finest are presented before you.  Go inside, and the crab house feel takes on a more upscale feel.  Family owned and operated, Canton Dockside was listed by the Baltimore Sun in 2011 as one of 15 crab houses that you need to visit this summer.  If they know crabs, then one would figure they know crab cakes.  Do they?  Let's find out!

Captain Billy's has been around since 1947, located right on the Potomac River, near the same spot where a young Billy used to sell crabs.  Today, it is a thriving restaurant with a nice deck overlooking the river.  So you might be asking yourself, just where is this Captain Billy's?  It's down south.  Way down south.  You know where Waldorf is?  Keep going.  Skip La Plata and, yup, keep going.  Don't worry.  There's a large billboard by the side of 301 to tell you where to turn.  The other option is to come by boat.  But you're on your own for those directions!  Either way, you've made it here with crab cakes on your mind.  Was it worth the trip?  Let's find out!

So, you're driving up Boston St in downtown Baltimore, or maybe you're just riding along on the Water Taxi, when suddenly, there on the corner, is a building shaped like a boat. Yeah, you know the one. Since 1978, the Captain James Landing has been serving crabs and quality seafood to residents and visitors alike. Steamed crabs always hit the spot, but if it's nice out, then you can just cross the street and enjoy them on the Crab Deck. But we're setting sail for crab cakes. Should we set sail, or abandon ship for them? Let's find out!