Wholesale clubs are definitely an experience, especially when you get to the food isles. Free samples, nuclear-fallout-shelter-sized packages, super-sized carts, and just about anything you could ever want in bulk (along with a few things that you never knew you wanted in bulk). When it comes to the food, there is the age old question, "Will I like this enough to eat it for the next 5 months?" Or maybe "Will my party guests unfriend me on Facebook if I serve them this?" Especially around the Mid Atlantic region, serving crab cakes will make you the party host of the year. The only problem is that they need to be good. Are the crab cakes they sell at BJ's good enough for your party? Let's find out!

What name is more 15.00 associated with crab cakes (and crabs in general) than Old Bay?  Made by McCormick right here in Baltimore, Old Bay seasoning (originally named "Delicious Brand Shrimp and Crab Seasoning") has been around for over 70 years.  Make no mistake, it is superbaisle on everything from crabs and shrimp, to french fries and mac and cheese.  So imagine our surprise when we noticed Old Bay Brand crab cakes in the frozen food aisle.  Not just an off-brand that uses Old Bay, but the actual brand.  Surely these must live up to the box promises of "premium restaurant quality" jumbo lump crab?  Well, we took the bait.  Read on to find out if they live up to the name.

What hasn't been said about the Phillips empire?  We here at the CCR have reviewed many of their products, both at one of their restaurants, as well as their retail offerings.  Love them or hate them, they are a big part of the Maryland seafood scene, and are here to stay.  Locals tend to write them off as being too "touristy".  Those very same tourists have heard nothing but good things about Phillips, and come to our town intent on sampling their offerings.  Either way, you will have had them once in your life, and could use them as a baseline for all things seafood related.  

BUT --  you read the label on the box a little more closely.  Coastal cakes.  What does that mean?  Crab cakes are advertised as such, and often time are described further as 'jumbo lump' or 'lump'.  Just to be clear, the coastal cakes are the "lesser" offering.  Made from flake and claw meat, as opposed to the prized backfin and jumbo lump.  Clearly, based on crab classifications alone, they can't be better.  Can they?  This, dear readers, is what we set to figure out.  Follow along and join us on an eye opening quest.

Earlier this summer, the CCR stopped by Phillips Harborplace in Baltimore to review their famous crab cakes.  Needless to say, we weren't that impressed.  But while grocery shopping one day, it occurred to us that because Phillips is such a large franchise in the area, that maybe, just maybe, overall consistency between retail and restauraunt products is what they're after.  

Phillips has a few retail offerings relating to crab cakes:  the Maryland Style Crab Cakes (being reviewed), the Maryland Style Crab Cake Minis, and the Coastal Crab Cake.  The picture on the box looks fairly similar to the crab cakes at their restaurants.  So how do they compare?  Read on to find out!

SeaPack is a familiar frozen seafood company that you've most likely come across in the grocery store, and probably grew up on. They are most notably known for their shrimp products, ranging from popcorn shrimp to jumbo butterfly shrimp. So many shrimp products that they'll keep 'ole Bubba Gump happy for at least a month. We've always known that they have a Maryland crab cake, but haven't been able to find them in the stores yet. So imagine our surprise when we find the mini crab cakes in one of our local Giant stores! We took one for the team to get this week's review, so read on and see how our experience was!