Lunch at The Crab Claw – St. Michaels MD

…continuing with my coverage of our family road trip to the Delmarva Peninsula this past September.

We’d begun exploring the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels Maryland…but it was time for a lunch break!

Location, location, location!  When you have a restaurant located right next to a major tourist attraction like the Maritime Museum, it pretty much guarantees a steady flow of diners.  The Crab Claw has a waterside location on the town’s harbor, in an area known as Navy Point.  The location was originally a marsh that was filled in with oyster shells.

The Eastern Shore Clam Company, a clam and oyster shucking business, was located here in the 1950s.  Local watermen brought their daily catch of oysters, clams or crabs here for processing.  In 1965, the Jones family turned the location into a restaurant called The Crab Claw.  Today it is still owned and operated by the family.

While it was a ‘shoulder season’ and about 1 PM, The Crab Claw was fairly busy.  The restaurant does close during the winter season…but its opening again this coming Thursday.

The ladies both had a bowl of soup as their primary lunch item.  The first soup shown above is called ‘Half and Half’…half cream of crab soup and half Maryland crab soup. ($11.50 LY/$12.50 TY) ‘Half and Half is very popular in the Chesapeake Bay area.  The second photo is of the Cream of Crab Soup. ($11.50 LY/$12.50 TY) I didn’t hear any complaints from our wives but I know that Laurie would rather have a rich…standing spoon dense…bowl of New England clam chowder

Bill was at it again…loving his seafood and trying appetizers.  Consequently the table was graced with an order of Clams Casino. ($16.95) They were OK but not but not close to top notch.  They aren’t listed on the current on-line menu.

Then Bill ordered the Fried Oysters...5 to the order. ($17.95) He thought that they were alright but I can’t verify his input as I just don’t ‘do’ oysters… Pricing hasn’t changed as per the on-line menu. 

So I ordered what I knew that I’d probably enjoy…a platter of Fried Clam Strips. ($23.95 LY/$24.95 TY) They were certainly an improvement on any clam strips we can find in East Tennessee!  I’d give them an 8 out of 10.

Bill had to experiment and order a Fried Soft Crab Sandwich.  It came with French fries and coleslaw. ($26.95) This is a seasonal dining option and is sold at MP/Market Price.  He thought that it was a decent offering but just the look of it gives me the ‘hebbie jeebies’. 

I just had to include a photo of the pile of Hot Steamed Maryland Blue Crabs on a nearby table.  These crabs were hot steamed and seasoned by the dozen, then piled on the table of 8 diners.  Blue crabs are priced daily… If I had to guess, it looked like about 3 dozen crabs in the pile!

Blue crabs are Maryland’s State Crustacean.  Its scientific name translates as “beautiful swimmer that is savory”.  Its meat is sometimes compared to the sweetness of lobster meat.  Blue crabs are Maryland’s most valuable commercial fishery, with the annual catch from Chesapeake Bay accounting for more than 50% of all seafood landings.

So of course, we didn’t stop with our ‘light lunch’!  What the heck, it was a vacation for everyone… So Bonnie and Bill split an order of Key Lime Pie which came with a side of soft ice cream. ($11.95) They thought that it was very nice…

I’d seen a plethora of listings in Maryland for Smith Island style layer cake and I thought that we should give it a try. ($11.95) FYI, Smith Island Cake is the Maryland State Dessert.  Traditionally, the cake consists of 8 to 10 layers of yellow cake with chocolate frosting between each layer and then slathered over the whole creation.  To be honest, it was pretty, but at least this version of ‘Smith Island Cake’ didn’t wow us.  It was OK.

To learn more about The Crab Claw Restaurant in St. Michaels Maryland and to view the current rather extensive menu, just go to Home (thecrabclaw.com). 

This yacht was one of two moored neat The Crab Claw.  I couldn’t spot a name on this vessel but it is a ‘Navetta 68’, built in Italy by Absolute Yachts.  It’s not really my style but these yachts are quite luxurious.  To view some optional layouts and decor, just go to Absolute Yachts, the Italian company specializing in building luxury yachts.

The “Starr” is more my style.  This 82 foot long motor yacht was built in Taiwan by Horizon Yachts back in 2006.  She was originally named “Andrea V”, then “Silvana”.  She was last refitted in 2014.  She can accommodate up to 8 guests in 4 suites with a crew of up to 4.  I’d love to cruise the Intracoastal Waterway in a vessel like this… All it would take for that to happen would be for us to win the lottery!

Back to the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in my next post.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what we had for lunch!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

St. Michaels MD – Maritime Museum

St. Michaels offers a variety of activities and attractions.  In my original planning for this family road trip, I’d listed a number of possibilities for our little group.  The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, located along St. Michaels’ waterfront was high on the list.

The impressive Dodson House is located along the waterfront on the museum’s property.  This 3-story brick structure was originally built as a story and a half house ca 1851 by Thomas Dyott.  In 1886 hotelier Richard Stearns Dodson expanded the home…adding that triple deck porch…and started renting it out to summer visitors.  At one point Dodson planned on turning it into a hotel, but neither he nor his son ever did.  It continued as a residence for the family for many years.

Another eye-catching home located on the Museum’s property is the “Eagle House”.  It was built on the site of a former steam powered saw and grist mill…which was rebuilt twice due to fire and explosions.  The Dodson family acquired the site in 1893 and this home was built on it.  The entry tower of the structure is capped by a golf eagle… The original eagle for the home probably came from the top of a steamboat or tugboat pilot house ca 1907.  That’s a logical conclusion since this once was the home of retired steamboat captain Edward Napoleon Dodson.

This more modest home was built ca 1856.  The Higgins house was named after its last owner before it was acquired by the museum.  The double porch with sawn baluster and bargeboard ornamentations were added in 1886 when the house was owned by the Dodson family and was used for summer vacation rentals.

These 3 homes have stood along the St. Michaels waterfront for over 130 years now.  Back in the day the harbor would have been crowded with oyster tonging skiffs and canoes to large commercial sailing vessels.  The Dodson family also operated a steamer, the “Olive”, to bring visitors across Chesapeake Bay to visit the town… Twice each week a steamboat would arrive from Baltimore.  Today these harbor side homes are being preserved by the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum as their administrative offices.

This is a 2007 replica of the shallop used more than 400 years ago by Captain John Smith from Jamestown Virginia.  He used a modest boat like this one to explore the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributaries.  In the 1600s, a “slallop” was an open wooden workboat or barge that was small enough to row but which also could be fitted with a sail or two. 

Captain Smith’s shallop was probably about 30 feet long and 8 feet wide but it probably only drew less than 2 feet of water.  This was critical as so many of the tributaries are quite shallow.  On the other hand, Smith described his boat as an ‘open barge’ that could carry up to 3 tons of cargo.  This replica was built to help celebrate Captain Smith’s exploratory accomplishments...

This was the former home of Eliza Bailey Mitchell.  She was abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ closest sibling.  The left portion of the home was built in the early 1800s and the right portion was built by the museum to resemble the original/typical parlor and hall style home of the era.  The home has been restored and refurbished to help interpret the lives of both enslaved and free Black laborers…through the lives of the Bailey-Mitchell family and Douglass.

Frederick Baily aka Douglass lived in St. Michaels in the mid-1830s.  He and his sister, Eliza, were both enslaved by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Auld.  Eliza was Frederick’s friend, playmate and teacher.  Eliza and her husband Peter, a free Black man, lived in this home for many years.  It had stood on the Perry Cabin Farm owned by the Hambleton family.  Peter had previously been enslaved by the Hambleton’s.

Another small home is this log house.  It sits in the middle of the Museum’s Heirloom Garden.  It was past the growing season but it was still interesting.  Volunteers maintain these gardens which feature rare, unique and historically accurate plants and herbs.  Segments of the garden include a tobacco bed, 17^th, 18^th, 19^th and 20^th century beds, plus a nature bed and an herb bed.  A local Eagle Scot planted yet another bed which contains flowers that attract bees and other pollinators…

The plantings in these garden plots have been extensively researched and they reflect the kitchen and medicinal gardens that were cultivated by Indigenous Americans, enslaved and free Africans as well as by white Europeans who lived in the area over the centuries. 

If you would like to see a list of the plants that are included in the various garden plots, just go to Heirloom-Garden-Plant-List-Aug2020.pdf (cbmm.org).

This unusual looking structure is the top portion of the former Hooper Strait Lighthouse.  The lighthouse was built in 1879 to help guide boats trying to navigate the shallow and dangerous shoals of Hooper Strait.  The strait provides a passage for boats from Chesapeake Bay across Tangier Sound and other locations along the Nanticoke and Wicomico Rivers.

The boat in front of the lighthouse is the H.M. Krentz.  She is an authentic working skipjack.  She is one of the newer vessels built for Maryland’s wintertime commercial oyster dredging fishery.  She is 70 feet long, carries about 2,000 square feet of sail and she was built in 1955.  That wide open deck is necessary for for oyster dredging under sail.  Off season, the H.M. Krentz provides tours and she can also be chartered.  To learn more, go to Skipjack Tours | Sail the Chesapeake Bay Aboard The Historic Skipjack H.M. Krentz (oystercatcher.com).

The old Hooper Strait Lighthouse is a ‘screwpile’ lighthouse.  It was built on special iron pilings which were tipped with a screw that could be turned into the muddy bottom of the bay or estuary to a depth of 10 feet or more.  This is the second lighthouse that served boaters at Hooper Strait.  Ice destroyed the first on in 1877.  By 1966 structural deterioration and automation led to the Coast Guard to plan its razing.  With help from others, the Museum stepped in to save the structure.

The bell tower to the right of the lighthouse was originally located in Scotland Maryland where the Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay.  The Point Lookout lighthouse and this bell tower both served to warn sailors of the perils in the area.  When fog hides a lighthouse’s beacon, bells provide an audible signal to guide them.  Big bells like this one…1,100 pounds…provide warnings that carry for a long distance.  This bell tower was originally constructed ca 1884.  In 1965 the US Coast Guard closed the Lighthouse and fog bell tower.  The bell tower was relocated to the museum in 1968.

This is a view from the lighthouse which shows the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s working shipyard.  At one time the shoreline of Chesapeake Bay was littered with scores of small shipyards where shipwrights built and maintained scores of wooden boats and larger vessels.  These shipyards and their skilled shipwrights provided a huge boost to the areas commercial growth…while continuing the skills needed to build seaworthy wooden water craft.  Of course, over the decades most of these shipyards and their skilled craftsmen no longer exist.

The Museum’s working shipyard preserves and continues the mission of a working waterfront.  Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s shipwrights and their apprentices preserve and maintain the museum’s floating fleet of Chesapeake Bay vessels as well as its historic small boat collection.  The Shipyard also offers hands-on education programs and it provides construction, care and preservation of historic boats for other organizations and clients.

This second view from the historic Hooper Strait Lighthouse gives visitors a glimpse of 2 important museum display buildings.  The structure to the right features “At Play on the Bay”.  It provides a timeline and exhibits that show one of the most dramatic changes in Chesapeake Bay’s uses over the past century.  It has gone from a waterway that was primarily a place to work to a place where people come to play. 

The building at the left of the photo features the “Small Boat Shed and Maryland Crabmeat Company”.  Once located in Crisfield Maryland, the Maryland Crab Meat Company was one of the state’s largest crabmeat packing operations.  In addition to information about the crab meat business, the shed features a number of skiffs and small boats used in the Chesapeake Bay fishery.

FYI...the land based 'boat' in front of the building at the right is the Thor.  Kids can play in Thor's wheelhouse.  This boat was actually built in 1912.

Why did I include this photo in a post about a maritime museum?  Mostly because I like boats and yachts and it was dockside at the museum.  Perhaps it was there for the wedding that was being set up on the property next to the harbor.  In any case, the 70 foot long “Steel Away” motor yacht was recently spotted in the Caribbean Sea at Vessup Bay in the US Virgin Islands.  I like the design of these ‘older’ yachts so much better than the sleek new ones…

Actually part of the broad offerings from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, the tour boat “Patriot” is a replica of the type of steam ferries that brought visitors to St. Michaels from across the bay in the 1930s.  This ship is 65 feet long and 26 feet wide.  The “Patriot” and her crew provides narrated historical cruises…weekends during ‘off season’ when we were there but daily seven days a week ‘in season’.  

The 70 minute historic cruises along the Miles River provide visitors with views of historic mansions, estates and wildlife.  Fares for visitors in April of 2024 are as follows: adults - $27.50; seniors - $25.00.  The rates for children are two-tiered…more for teenagers and less for the younger set.  To learn more, just go to https://www.patriotcruises.com/.

In the next post, we’ll take a lunch break and then in subsequent posts I’ll begin exploring the exhibits at the museum, both those in the buildings shown, and those actually on the water.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Around the House and the Neighborhood

…taking a break from the narrative and photos from our September road trip.  This time it’s all about nature, food and personal dietary choices, weird though they may be.

For the first time ever, we have had Red-Winged Blackbirds at our feeder!  I suspect that it’s because our feeder is more open to those birds who haven’t adopted woodlands as their home.  The lot behind is now clear cut for the new home that’s being built and we’re left with just a narrow fringe of bushes and tree cover.

Generally Red-Winged Blackbirds prefer being near or at wetlands…either fresh water or salt marshes.  They have been known to gather in loose flocks of over a million birds.  The full number of breeding pairs across North and Central America may exceed 250,000,000 in an ideal year.

We’re always happy to see a Northern Flicker at our feeder.  They are very shy and are easily spooked.  The Northern or Common Flicker is a medium-sized bird in the woodpecker family.  It can be found in most of North America, parts of Central America and even on Cuba and the Cayman Islands.  Unusual for woodpeckers, this species does migrate to warmer climates in the winter.

OK…what to do with a leftover salmon patty?  When we first had them for dinner, we thought that they were just OK.  We’d purchased them from Fresh Market.  How to step it up a notch for breakfast?  I heated it in a frying pan with butter, then topped it with a slice of cheddar cheese, placed it on a slice of buttered toast and topped it with a couple of easy over eggs.  Sadly, it didn’t help…but I did finish it.  In the future we’ll make our salmon patties the old-fashioned way…from a can as per old time recipes.

Who doesn’t love spring!?  Our forsythia bush with its flowers and new leafs popping out was very eye-catching especially when viewed against the backdrop of Laurie’s bright red quince bush.

Laurie’s Lenten roses are always the first flowers to bloom in the spring.  Of course these plants are not closely related to the rose family.  It is part of the ‘hellebores’ genus of 22 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants.  One real plus for us is that these ‘roses’ tolerate shade well.  In nature the largest concentration of these plants are found in Europe’s Balkan Peninsula. 

Our grape hyacinths are spreading and they really add a pop of color in the early spring.  They are commonly called 'hyacinths' but they really aren’t related to that species of plants.  Grape ‘hyacinths’ are part of the Muscari genus of perennial bulbous plants that were originally native to Eurasia.  They are naturally found in woodlands or meadows but they are commonly cultivated in a variety of settings.  They don’t require much feeding or watering in the summer and they do well in full sun light or light shade.  There are 79 recognized species of Muscari related plants.

Given the medicines that I take, the only ‘safe’ green vegetable I can eat is iceberg lettuce, mainly because it not only lacks Vitamin K but also just about all other vitamins as well.  So when I really crave greens or a salad, I have to make do… In this case Laurie’s salad consisted of the lettuce, sliced carrots and yellow squash, topped with a Mexican blend of shredded cheese and balsamic vinaigrette.  I ‘cheated’ a little with a few slices of pickled jalapeno and instead of the balsamic vinaigrette, I went for Marie’s Blue Cheese Dressing.

The salads were our accompaniment to a pair of strip sirloin steaks that I’d grilled on our Weber gas grill.  There was a little pink and they were very tasty but I needed to grill them for about a minute less to achieve perfection.

OK…this is a bit weird.  The top bowl of cereal is Laurie’s.  It’s a bowl of one of the Cheerios varieties and as is her norm, she tops it with Splenda and dried cranberries, then she pours a modest amount of half and half milk over the cereal.  I do agree that her bowl of cereal is more appealing to look at than mine is... 

I do drive her crazy with my food peccadillos or peculiarities, and the way I eat dry cereals is no exception.  First of all, I put my dried cranberries on the bottom and then cover them with a mix of a local Food Lion brand cereal with Special K Oats and Honey.  I like the ‘treasure hunt’ aspect of eating cereal, seeking those dried cranberries at the bottom of the bowl as I eat.  I also load my cereal with the half and half milk so I have leftover milk to slurp when I finish my cereal.  Weird I know…but at my stage and age there’s no turning back.

Why half and half milk?  It’s simply because at the most, we have cereal once a week, more likely once every 10 days.  Regular or 2% milk would spoil and be wasted.  However the shelf life of half and half milk is a month or more.  

There was some real excitement in one of the Tellico Village neighborhoods!  Imagine looking out your front door or living room window and spotting a group of Guernsey’s wandering along or grazing on your lawn!  That one cow is looking directly at the person with the camera…thinking “What?”  

As no udders are visible, I do believe that this group consisted of a bunch of trouble making boys that were looking for greener pastures…  They were rounded up with no injuries, either to themselves or the local wranglers.  And to think that some folks worry about deer in their yards! 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Dinner at Ava’s – St. Michaels Maryland

 …continuing with the photos and narrative from our family road trip to the Delmarva Peninsula this past September.

There are a lot of restaurants in little St. Michaels Maryland, several of which I noted in my last post.  Of course we ended up in a restaurant that we didn’t mention as we wandered around the center of the town.

The group decided on another option, Ava’s Pizzeria and Wine Bar… As it turns out, there are 3 Ava’s locations, with the other two being in Cambridge Maryland and in Rehoboth Beach Delaware.  It is part of a small restaurant conglomerate that includes a Hammy’s Burgers and Shakes in Rehoboth Beach and two Theo’s Steaks, Sides and Spirits.  One Theo’s is located in Rehoboth Beach and the other was right under our nose in St. Michaels.

Like almost every other restaurant…or business for that matter…Ava’s is located in an old former home.  As a result, the dining areas are based separate rooms throughout the house.  The bar and the main floor dining areas were quite busy and we were seated in a room on the second floor.  We had the room to ourselves for about half of our meal.  Laurie, Bill and Bonnie were at our table when I took this photo.

Our little group did indulge in a couple of adult beverages.  They included a Fig Mule ($15.00), a RAR Groove City Hefeweizen ($8.00), and 2 Devils Backbone Vienna Lagers. ($8.00) Nice profit margin on the beverages!  Laurie did enjoy her Fig Mule…

Bill ordered a Caesar Salad to accompany his pizza. ($11.00) Laurie ordered a Wedge Salad and as iceberg lettuce is permissible with my medications, we shared it. ($12.00) The salads were OK but not too impressive despite the prices.  Four other salads are offered on the menu, 2 of which with chicken are truly dinner salads.

As a starter for the table, Bill also ordered the Route 33 French Fries. ($8.00) We had a choice of parmesan cheese, Old Bay or bleu cheese toppings…and we picked the latter option.  Good fries and we all really like blue/bleu cheese.

Eight starters are listed on Ava’s menu.  Examples include Wasabi Oysters ($19.00), Ma’s Meatball (1 for $5.00) or 3 Ma’s Meatball Sliders ($17.00), and New Orleans style BBQ Shrimp. ($16.00)

Bonnie and Bill ordered a thin crust Boardwalk Pizza as their entrée.  It is a cheese pizza with a blend of mozzarella and provolone cheeses.  They added Italian sausage and mushrooms. ($21.00 with the added toppings)

Ava’s menu features 3 thin crust pizzas, 7 specialty pies and 8 Detroit style Sicilian pizzas.  I personally question the existence of a Reuben Pie ($19.00) that is topped with corned beef, gruyere cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing…

Laurie ordered a thin crust Margherita Pizza.  It was made with fresh homemade mozzarella cheese, milled tomatoes and basil. ($14.00) I didn’t have any pizza and the group shared both pizzas.  They thought that the pizzas were very good…

The 8 Detroit style deep dish pizzas on the menu include the “Pig Pen”. ($20.00) It features crispy prosciutto, chopped bacon, sweet caramelized onion, gruyere cheese, and crème fraiche. 

I just didn’t feel like pizza and since Ava’s has plenty of options on the menu, I strayed from the table’s trend.  This was Ava’s Seared Short Rib dinner. ($29.00) As you can see it consisted of red wine braised short rib/beef, mashed potatoes and glazed carrots with au jus.  It was quite tasty but I thought the beef should have been tenderer.

Ava’s also features 7 other entrees besides my short rib dinner.  Five of those entrees feature pasta.  For those who prefer sandwiches, there are 6 options, included a Caprese Panini. ($14.00)

There are two dessert options on the menu and both feature beignets!  One version comes with a trio of dips for your beignets and the other doesn’t… We ordered them without the dips. ($7.00) They were pretty good if not up to the standard set by Café du Monde in New Orleans.

All in all, Ava’s was a very nice place to eat.  Service was pleasant and competent and the food was above average.  Although a bit pricy, we weren’t surprised.  After all St. Michaels is a huge upscale weekend getaway and vacation destination for the big cities on the other side of Chesapeake Bay.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what was for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave