The Baltimore crab cake is jumbo lump blue crab held together with almost no filler and broiled, not fried, so the sweet meat does the talking. The no-filler version is the local point of pride.
Crab cakes grew out of the Chesapeake's 19th-century oyster-and-crab economy, when Baltimore was the world's leading seafood-packing port. The Maryland style, jumbo lump bound with just egg, mustard and a little binder, then broiled, became fixed as the gold standard. Faidley's at Lexington Market, selling crab cakes since 1886, is often credited with setting the no-filler benchmark that locals still defend against fried, filler-heavy versions elsewhere.
4 editor picks for Maryland crab cake in Baltimore, ranked by editorial score. All Baltimore signature dishes · Maryland crab cake across every city.
Faidley's Seafood ★ 4.7
downtown · 119 North Paca Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Faidley's Seafood at Lexington Market has sold its jumbo lump crab cake since 1886, a stand-up counter where you eat the city's benchmark cake off paper.
Thames Street Oyster House ★ 4.6
fells-point · 1728 Thames Street, Baltimore, MD 21231
Thames Street Oyster House in Fells Point runs Baltimore's deepest raw bar, with chef Eric Houseknecht's Eastern Shore crab cake and a lobster roll.
Gertrude's Chesapeake Kitchen ★ 4.4
downtown · 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218
Gertrude's sits inside the Baltimore Museum of Art, where founder John Shields cooks the Chesapeake canon of crab cake and Maryland crab soup.
True Chesapeake Oyster Co. ★ 4.4
hampden · 3300 Clipper Mill Road, Baltimore, MD 21211
True Chesapeake Oyster Co. in Whitehall Mill is chef Zack Mills's bay-to-table room, serving its own Jerome Creek oysters and a jumbo lump crab cake.