Thirty-two hundred feet. That’s roughly the distance between the two contenders for this week’s crab-cake title. One, Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro, sits at the very beginning of the St. Pete Pier. The other, Teak, occupies the top floor of the building at the very end of the Pier.

Fresco’s, which has been around since 2003, has a beachy vibe with views of the Municipal Marina, where, over the years, the boats have gotten progressively bigger and grander. As for Teak, which opened in 2020, the optimal view is looking westward toward the St. Pete skyline, which, over the years, has gotten progressively bigger and grander.

Both restaurants have crab cakes as appetizers. For good measure, we added a salad to each of our orders.

FRESCO’S WATERFRONT BISTRO

The preferred seating here is outdoors on the expansive patio. But it’s mid-June, so c’mon. Fresco’s has a charming indoor dining room, with planked floors and a curved bar in one corner. At 6:30 Monday, the AC was working just fine.

We were the only customers in the room, but had the mild misfortune of sitting directly beneath a speaker pumping out ’80s music. It wasn’t blaring, but it was loud enough to make me cringe at “Love in an Elevator,” smile at “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” and break into an after-dinner shoulder shimmy to “My Prerogative.”

Our server, a young woman named Kim, was pleasant and attentive. I ordered the Crab Cakes ($22) and the House Salad ($11) with sesame ginger dressing. (Let me take a moment here to say that I appreciate restaurants that price in round numbers.)

Appearance

The crab cakes vaguely resembled burger patties ready for the grill. Not an ideal image, but not a problem, as I was all but certain they used crab meat. Plus they were drizzled with remoulade sauce. I was pleased to see a scoop of slaw on the plate.

Taste and Texture

The crust of the crab cake gave way easily to the fork. The lack of exterior crunch accentuated that the filling was on the mushy side of the crab-cake spectrum. The meat was mostly shredded, with little in the way of lumps, although the cake mixture was not over-breaded. All told, it had a pleasant flavor.

After a bit, I started assembling bites with crab cake and the lightly mayo’d slaw, which provided tang and extra crunch.

The salad featured a winning combination of greens, red onion, carrot shavings and tomatoes, sliced long and slender. (A small thing, but this method made the tomatoes less seedy, amplifying their flavor.) Bleu cheese crumbles on top were a welcome addition, as were the little pepita seeds. We had asked for a side of ranch, a safety valve if we didn’t care for the sesame ginger. The latter won the day. The ranch remained in its container, untouched.

TEAK

Well before this Wednesday dinner, we knew it was would be a success — that’s because we were joining our friends George and Diane, who we hadn’t seen in 40 years.

At 6:30, we were seated at a four-top by the west-facing window. With the unfettered sun beaming through, management had lowered the translucent blinds to lessen the glare.

Instead of waiting until the end of the meal and that potentially tense moment to see if someone reaches for the check, we quickly agreed to settle our own tabs. That’s a good way of doing it, people — even after four decades. Especially after four decades.

We ordered Floribbean Crab Cakes ($20), a Teak House Salad ($16, full size); and Tuna Tar-Tacos ($24), for Bonnie. I got a 3 Daughters Beach Blonde Ale, 16-ounce draft ($7).

Appearance

The large rectangular plate made these brown orbs look kinda puny, but apparently that’s meant to exude a fine-dining vibe (which disqualified something as jejune as coleslaw). The crab cakes sat in a key lime remoulade and were topped by a cute cluster of micro-greens.

Taste and Texture

The crust was heartier than the competition’s, and there were more lumps of crab within. I liked that the filler included little pieces of pepper (red and green), which added mini-moments of brightness.

While the cakes looked compact on the plate, their thickness made for a surprisingly ample app. The remoulade didn’t give off much key lime flavor, but all the same it made for satisfying dips.

I’ve had the Teak House Salad before. I dug it then and I dug it on Wednesday night. It blends its greens with generous helpings of strawberries and mandarin oranges. The “roasted sesame pineapple ginger dressing” had a notable saltiness, which provided a welcome counterbalance to the the dressing’s overall sweetness.

And the Winner of Combing For Crab Cakes on the Pier Is …

Teak.

A close contest between two contrasting restaurants. Both are well worth patronizing when you visit the Pier.