08.23.06
Some Folks Like To Get Away
Everyone who has the means gets out of New York City for as much of August as possible. The city empties. Traffic lets up. Business is slow. New Yorkers generally head out to the Hamptons in Long Island or down the shore in Jersey. Cab drivers often head back to the old country to see the family they left behind in Senegal or Bangladesh or Hungary.
But I am not a typical New Yorker. Nor am I a typical cab driver. My family hails from Chicago, but I spent my formative years in Maryland. And, like a good Marylander, I vacation in Delmarva (the DELaware MARyland VArginia peninsula).
When I was a kid, it was Ocean City, Maryland. But the family has moved on up to Bethany Beach in Delaware. So Melissa and I drove the five plus hours down through gnarly traffic last week, and we hit the beach. Melissa isn’t the one who dubbed the Freedenberg family “The FEEDenbergs,” but she knew what she was in for.
We aren’t the kind of family that sits on the beach drinking beer all day and then goes in for a sandwich or orders a pizza. We spend most of our beach time discussing what to eat next. In fact, we spend most of our eating time discussing what to eat next.
And being Marylanders for the three decades, a crab feast was the first thing on the list. For the past few years at the beach, we’ve dined at Mickey’s:
Mickey’s is officially north of the Maryland border, but it’s basically identical to a real Maryland crab shack. The only difference is that they don’t have Old Bay Seasoning on the table. However, that’s easily remedied by sneaking in a contraband container of Old Bay in my mom’s purse. The crabs are always steamed just right.
They’ve been getting smaller and smaller every year thanks to environmental degradation in the Chesapeake Bay and over-crabbing, but the meat is delicious no matter what the size. It just means even more work picking the meat during the only meal you can starve while eating:
Here, mother of Famous Fat Dave models some crabs and fried shrimp for the camera. Notice the open-mouthed pose at the right. You can see where I get it from. She’s the Hungry Mommy:
Not to be outdone, father of FFD tries his hand at some fried shrimp spokes modeling. A real crab feast always has a little fried chicken thrown in. My dad manages to model it without it actually being in his own hand.
I know they come out of waters a long way from the Chesapeake, but we ordered some King Crab Legs too. They are mentioned in the Famous Fat Dave theme song. Also, I just finished watching the second season of Deadliest Catch, so I considered it my civic duty to eat a few so that these crazy fishermen shall not have died in vain:
When the meal was done, this is what just one end of the table looked like:
Afterward, we were all ready to go into Ocean City for some frozen treats to wash the spicy Old Bay off our tickled tongues:
Now that she’s got the hang of it, my mom can’t stop modeling food. Although she didn’t realize that she was on camera in the photo on the right. While I was taking a picture of my mint chocolate chip scoop, you can see her in the back cheersing with her spoonful of ice cream:
We did spend a lot of time at the beach house though. The next night we decided to bring home a lobster dinner. Again, I know Maine is nowhere near Delaware, but we were all in the mood for seafood. Melissa was apparently in the mood to dance with hers:
She’s a Marylander, it’s true, but she’s also Thai. So she knows her way around a lobster. That, and she likes to eat the eggs. You can see her on the right searching for the tasty Eastern delicacies. Her dad would be proud:
Then she realizes she’s on camera so she decides to stop eating lobster eggs and just act cute, though I don’t think there’s anything cuter than eating lobster eggs:
Tracy, my sister-in-law, is originally from Massachusetts so we were hoping she’d bring some extra crustacean expertise into the family. She brings a lot to the table, but a knowledge of shellfish is not one of them. My mom, being a mom, picked Tracy’s lobster meat for her:
Alas, Tracy is not a fan of crabs. She tried gallantly to aquire a taste knowing she was marrying into a Maryland family, but she’s since given up. Still, we couldn’t resist having another crab feast:
Tracy got a filet of sole to eat as well as the spiced shrimp (we ate some of those too), and the rest of us had the pile of blue crabs and Old Bay:
My mom, being a mom, was in charge of handing out the crabs:
Tracy and Josh’s pride and joy Milo isn’t old enough to pick his own crab quite yet, but he seemed to like the little bits his dad Josh gave him (although he seems to like everything, including blue cheese). He is old enough to play with the hammer though. Looks like he’s going to grow up to be another crab-loving FEEDenberg:
Go to www.famousfatdave.com for fried whiting and king crab legs, egg cream ice cream and deviled eggs
What kind of son would I be if I posted those photos of my mom with all sorts of food in front of her face, called her The Hungry Mommy, and I didn’t put up at least one shot of her looking like herself
Jeremy said,
August 23, 2006 at 9:12 am
oooo that’s a foxy lady. I wish I could meet her on JDate!
YouLikeThat said,
August 23, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Great post, FFD. Drooling. I am counting down the days until I go to DelMarVA this weekend. I may have to get me some crabs. Steamed ones, I mean. I love the female ones, b/c of the sweet roe they have sometimes. Do you know if they charge extra for those?
Joe said,
August 23, 2006 at 8:26 pm
You have to love the Delmarva crab shacks with the giant rolls of brown paper towels at the end of the table. Once you’re gone, they wipe off the table and put a new layer of paper towels down.
Actually – everytime I’m in the area, I always have to try “fishing” for crabs. Some string (or a regular fishing pole) with a chicken neck tied to it. I usually go from the pier at the Cape Henlopen State Park (great place). Catching them is much harder than it looks.
Also – when you’re in the area, did you ever stop at La Tolteca (http://lastoltecas.com/)? Regional chain of Mexican places that really has some wonderful food – I highly recommend it.
The Hungry Mommy said,
August 24, 2006 at 1:05 am
So long as men can breath or eyes can see
So long lives this and this gives life to thee
Abbey said,
August 24, 2006 at 3:41 am
I have to ask – is the shirt you’re wearing in the first photo from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (aka the “polar bear capital of the world”)? I was born in Churchill and grew up in northern Manitoba, and there isn’t much fine dining up here, but we do have fresh pickerel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickerel) which is delicious. There’s not much up here, but at least the fishing’s good.
Administrator said,
August 24, 2006 at 6:26 am
Abbey,
Nope. Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland, USA. And those bears on the shirt are Greatful Dead bears because the student government who designed the shirt (my brother’s class of 91 who you can see pouring some Old Bay in this very post) were the only ones who were deadheads. That shirt confuses a lot of people.
I looked at that Pickerel. Pike! Sounds great. I gotta make a trip though Canada.
SkippyMom said,
August 28, 2006 at 2:40 am
I LOVE your blog! My Mom is a New Yorker (Brooklyn) and Dad is a Marylander….so I grew up for a great appreciation for all food New York and a love (and talent for picking) blue crabs!!!! YUMMY!
The sizes were horrendous there for a few years (our two times out this summer proves that the population is coming back! and were heavy with meat), not to mention expensive! but we are die hards and saved our pennies for the occasional All You Can Eat at Cap’t Pells in Fairfax, VA (where we live now) The place may be far from the water, but they are fresh everyday – complete with brown paper, mismatched tables and wobbly chairs – but the crabs are HOT, the beer is ICE COLD ….oh, just reading your blog made me want to go back….mmmm
Yes, crab picking isn’t for the faint of heart – but well worth it! Oh, and shame shame on having those shabby king crab legs on the table (but the comment about the show was hysterical!))
Thanks so much for the blog!
The Hungry Cabbie: The Eating Adventures of a NYC Yellow Cabbie » Sacramento Boulevard!!! said,
January 25, 2007 at 12:32 am
[...] And it was tasty indeed. It was much easier to find big bunches of meat than back home near the Chesapeake. But I have to say Monteray dungeness crab, if that was a typical example, doesn’t compare to Maryland blue crab for taste or overall experience. But hey, no one ever told me they were competing. [...]
RaymonWazerri said,
April 20, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Hey,
I love what you’e doing!
Don’t ever change and best of luck.
Raymon W.
Marty said,
August 3, 2007 at 1:05 am
Oy! Dave!!! Eating such TRAIF!!!!!!!