If there’s one thing American chefs do better than the French it’s crab cakes. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen them offered on a menu in France. (Please let me know if I’m wrong.)
On a recent visit to Florida, I was thrilled to devour a luscious, meaty, lightly dressed crab cake at Cap’s Place, the oldest restaurant in Broward County, which opened in 1928. You can’t get to Cap’s Place by car unless you’re a resident in the Lighthouse area. You park in a city lot, and the Cap’s Place boat picks you up at an appointed time.
When you reach the “island,” you walk a short distance to enter the restaurant bar through the restroom door. There’s nothing presumptuous about this place.
Now on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, Cap’s has entertained some of America’s most famous people. From the Rockefellers to the Clintons.
You might expect more for its multi-million dollar location on Florida’s Intercoastal Waterway- a prime piece of real estate. But it’s a nostalgic step back into Florida’s past at its best.
Tales have it that Cap’s Place was a popular hangout during prohibition. When the authorities arrived to raid the place, rum barrels were inconspicuously dumped over the docks.
