Originally Posted by TMOliver

Because within 50 miles of Houston are substantial commercial crabbing operations (Blues), and in the area are a number of restaurants which do a decent job with the dish....

A couple of classics, crab au gratin and lump crabmeat sauteed in butter, remain at "about as good as you're gonna get" in the back room at Gaidos in Galveston, and the legendary (Are they still with us?) "barbecued" (not barbecued at all) crab over at Sabine Pass still lurks in my memory.

The tendnecy to "dilute" crab with bread crumbs, corn bread, and other adulterants is hardly new or limited to Texas. Major guilt should be assigned to a handful of food service purveyors which supply restaurants and hotel dining rooms with "pre-made" crab cakes and similar menu items (and to the folk who buy from them).

A resturant should never serve a dish for which it's incapable, unable or unwilling to purchase the components required and to prepare them "on site".