From A Past Issue Of The New Orleans Menu Daily Originally published July 30, 2007 Ten Best Crab Cakes The crab cake, universal though it may now be around town, is a relative newcomer to New Orleans. Its home is really Baltimore, where the Chesapeake Bay crabs are identical to ours. My criterion for a great crab cake is simple: lots of lump crabmeat, and not much of anything else. If there is a binder, it should fade into the background. A little herbaceousness along the lines of green onions, bell pepper, or tarragon is also nice, but also has to play second string to the flavor of the crabmeat. 1. Anatole. 600 St. Charles Ave., 274-0105. Chef Raymond Toups was the guy who brought the Rib Room's crab cake into being, and he's improved on it it in his own restaurant by adding even more and bigger lumps of crabmeat, along with a delicious seasoning. Good sauce, too--like a light remoulade. 2. Rib Room. In the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel, 621 St. Louis, 529-7045.  The original solid-crabmeat crab cake, using a little pureed shrimp to hold the lumps together. Nice herbal component in the flavor. 3. Ruth's Chris Steak House. 3633 Veterans Blvd., 888-3600. This is a killer of a crab cake. Not only is it made almost entirely with insanely large lumps of crabmeat, but they send it out sizzling in a little butter, the way they do their steaks. Problem: I question whether the crabmeat is local. 4. Windsor Court Grill Room. 300 Gravier, 522-1994. The sauces and garnishes have changed over the years, but the crab cake itself in the Grill Room has always been one of the market leaders, chunky with crabmeat and nicely seasoned. The current edition has sauces of avocado and mango. 5. Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse. 716 Iberville, 522-2467. This crab cake doesn't look as impressive as some others, but it's made entirely with Louisiana jumbo lump--which tastes a lot better than the imported stuff. The garlic and lemon aioli is a nice finish. 6. Commander's Palace. 1403 Washington Ave., 899-8221. A hockey puck of solid crabmeat, held together while being cooked only by one of those metal  rings the Waffle House uses for hash browns. Problem: they don't have them on the menu all the time, or even often. 7. GW Fins. 808 Bienville, 581-3467.  GW Fins is the city's best upscale seafood specialist, and the only thing surprising about their crab cakes is that they're not a standard item in their menu. They apepar often enough, however, especially during the summer. (In fact, they're the centerpiece of a crab dinner that runs all July.) They're very good, with a slightly Asian flavor (although the crabmeat itself is local) from the lemongrass beurre blanc. 8. Ralph's On The Park. 900 City Park Ave., 488-1000. This one isn't solid crabmeat, but the additions are so good that it makes the eating as fine as those that are. They slip in some roasted mushrooms tossed with a truffle oil, and the flavors that lends to the lump crabmeat make this a unique delicacy. 9. Morton's Steakhouse. 365 Canal  (Canal Place Mall), 566-0221. The super-premium steakhouses have also come to be super-premium crab cake houses--a development eased, for the corporate bean counters, by the availability of gigantic lump crabmeat from Asia at prices much lower than local crabmeat. The crab cakes here--both the big one you get as an entree or the little ones they serve as bar snacks--are impressive to behold and eat. 10. Cafe Giovanni. 117 Decatur, 529-2154. One of the biggest crab cakes, made with a predominance (if not a totality) of lump crabmeat, it's really big enough for an entree.   Did I miss a good one? Let me know at tom@nomenu.com. © 2007 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com