Aye Captain!

Remember that moment when you discover a little gem of a hole-in-the-wall that either a native of the area gave you the inside scoop on or you stumbled upon it out of pure luck?

I had that moment the other day when our good friend and neighbor, a lifetime local, informed us of a little gem of a hole-in-the-wall.  I must admit, situated on a busy and worn out road between an oil lube shop and a liquor store, I would never have noticed, let alone stopped and entered this place, were it not for a trusted friend informing me it was okay to proceed.  This little gem is just a short ten minutes from our house, next to an enormous peace sign that I never noticed before either (shows how oblivious I can be when you see the size of it in the photo below).

Our little local crab-house has all the character you would expect and desire out of a place bearing the words crab-house in it's title.  From the moment I called their number to see how their catch was that day I knew I would be in good hands .  I called and asked for Mike and when he wasn't available at that moment I went ahead and made my inquiry.

"What sizes do you have today?"
(The local informed me this was a semi-code for verifying if they had anything worth purchasing that day.  As in, they would straight out tell me, because I mentioned the locals name, to wait for another day if it wasn't up to snuff.)

"We've got all sizes today, medium is $XX per dozen, large is $YY/dozen and extra large is $ZZ/dozen."

"Okay, I'm feeding 8, how many would I need?"

"If it's gonna be your main course and not much in the way of sides, then five or six a person is good."

"Okay, then.  Three dozen extra large, please."

"Alright."

"How do I cook it?"

"We can cook it.  Just tell me what time you want to pick it up and I'll have it ready."
(Insert Like button here.)

"5:45, and lots of Old Bay, please."

Upon completing my order I asked for the gentleman's name.

"Mike."

"Oh?"

"I'm Mike's son."
(Liking it even more as my heart flutters for family-run, particularly when dealing in the classic industries like fishing.)

We enjoyed our first savory feast from this new favorite locale with friends the other night.

Fortunately our mealtimes rarely consist of hammer-like utensils, and for good reason, our poor dining table would have been beaten to a pulp otherwise.   The kids abundantly enjoyed beating the shells with their seafood mallets.  Significantly more so than pulling out the sweet crab meat once they pulverized the shells under the enthusiastic energy of their little hands holding and swinging their hammer-like objects.

A splash of summer memories while huddled around the dining table on a cold and snowy night.  Aye Captain this was a winner of a wintertime meal.

Peace sign crossing that somehow I failed to ever notice prior to having it pointed out to me.  Clearly I need an eye exam or a course in general-awareness-of-oversized-obvious-objects-right-in-front-of-me.