seafood at the shore

[mod_grl]

I'm staying in AC for a few days next week. I am looking for some seafood restaurant recommendations in the area. I am interested in good and fresh down home cooking, not particularly fancy or expensive. I'll have a car so I can travel to some of the surrounding towns if that's where the good eats are to be found.

[Rosie]

There are some very good restaurants in Cape May if you want to drive there. 410 Bank Street and Ebbitt Room just won the Best of the Best for South Jersey in the 2003 Readers' Choice Awards in NJ Monthly.The Lobster House won for Best Seafood, South.

[dumpling]

There was a place I think in Cape May -Godmother's. If that's still there it had some killer seafood fra diavolo.

[dumpling]

There was a place I think in Cape May - Godmother's. If that's still there, it had some killer seafood fra diavolo. My friend also had another shrimp dish with which she was in love.

[Randi]

I've been wanting to post this, so now is as good a time as any...since the subject has come up!

I was down in south Jersey 2 weeks ago, staying in Somers Point and I brought some eGullet print outs to guide me to some decent places to eat.

One place that was recommended by Rachel and Jason was GREAT. It's called Crabby's and it is west of Atlantic City just south of Mays Landing. (1413 Highway 50, Belcoville, NJ - 609-625-CRAB) We went on a Saturday night around 6:30 PM and there was no problem being seated. (by the time we left it was busy, but still no wait.)

It's a very casual, basic kind of place - in fact the name is "Crabby's Suds & Seafood" if that's a clue Most of the tables are wooden picnic tables with the backless benches attached. Not the best for "diners of size". (That would be both me and my dining partner that evening). But they knew when they saw us that they should guide us to one of the 3 regular tables with chairs. I give them credit for that (it's not something I take for granted.)

They had paper covered tables and rolls of paper towels for each diner - which sure came in handy! Not that we intended to copy Rachel and Jason, but just as they did, we ordered the Crab Sampler and an order of garlic crabs. (the Crab Sampler because "combo plates" were invented for ME...since I want to try some of this and some of that, and the garlic crabs so I could compare them to the ones at the Hard Shell Cafe, in Marlton).

The Crab Sampler was awesome! There were King Crab legs, Dungeness Crab, Snow Crab and Blue Claw.

Each more delicious than the next. The king crabs were our faves but the dungeness a close second and the snow, surprising huge and tasty! The blue claw was ok, but I didn't have the patience I usually do for cracking and cleaning after the huge easy-to-extract legs of the other 3 varieties.

The seasoning was just right, the value good for the money - $33.95 (up from Jason and Rachel's $25 or so, as I recall). And plenty for the 2 of us.

The garlic crabs ($3.50 each for large) I wasn't thrilled with. The garlic was mostly in the butter served with them. The garlic crabs at the Hard Shell Cafe are totally smothered in minced garlic and oil. (it's a garlic orgy!) which stays with you for days. OK, so maybe that's not necessarily a good thing...but...I do crave them now and then and HAVE to have them! (And they are "all-you-can-eat" and that means less pressure to really dig out the difficult bits.)

We also got a 1/2 pound of steamed shrimp ($10.99) for something different to eat with the crabs. They were a good size and pretty tasty!

Some of the appetizers sounded good, but we didn't try them. They had salmon stuffed scallops ($9.99). stuffed mushrooms with crab imperial ($9.99) and jalapeno shrimp poppers ($6.99) to name a few.

They've got clams and oysters on the half shell, "Land and Sea Delights" and several pasta dishes.

They have a fresh strawberry dessert called "Crabby's Strawberry Delight" but they don't describe it, but we decided to give it a try. Had we known what it was, we might not have ordered it and that would have been a huge mistake as it totally hit the spot after all that crab/salt/butter/garlic. It's a big bowl of fresh, wonderfully sweet strawberries with a large dollop of sour cream beside them and a mound of granulated brown sugar. Refreshing and delicious!

They offer all-you-can-eat specials Sunday through Thursday (Sun- Blue Claw, M-Dungeness, Tu-Snow Crab, W-Blue Claw, Th-Snow Crab & Shrimp - served 6-9 weekdays and Sunday 3-6 pm)

The next night we tried another place, much closer to our hotel called Schooner's. (It was not memorable - we got more crabs and they just didn't measure up). We stuck around for their "open mike night" and my friend performed, so it was a nice evening out, just the same.

Many thanks to Jason and Rachel. And if anyone else can recommend some seafood-in-the-rough places anywhere in NJ, I am SO THERE!

Randi

[sandra]

The Lobster House in Cape May also has an outside area where you can order at the window or shell bar and sit facing the boats - during the daytime this is more fun than eating inside - also the fish store they have is good...

[percyn]

Bump !!

Anyone been to Crabby's lately? I am thinking of going over this weekend.

[mascarpone]

My wife and I will be in the area for July 4th(Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood, Cape May), and therefore, I am bumping up this thread. Any new places, or developments at the old favorites?

[MLZeats]

My wife and I will be in the area for July 4th(Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood, Cape May), and therefore, I am bumping up this thread. Any new places, or developments at the old favorites?

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Ditto for me the following week.

[ChrisOC]

The Crab Trap in Somers Point is the old standby. All of the locals I know head there when friends or family come to visit. I also enjoy Smitty's Clam Bar in Somers Point. Take out on the dock at the Lobster House in Cape my is fun. For a nice breakfast in Ocean City, I like Arlene's on Asbury near 7th, on the west side.

I keep hearing about a place in Leeds Point called the Oyster Creek Inn I haven't tried it yet but it has been getting lots of good reviews on Chowhound.

Chowhound

[KatieLoeb]

If you don't mind a short drive northward, I've heard good things about Gertrude's in Ventnor. It's BYOB to boot. Chef owner is Neil Elsohn, formerly of Water's Edge in Cape May. If you ever dined there, some of the old favorites are on the menu at Gertrude's.

[mascarpone]

If you don't mind a short drive northward, I've heard good things about Gertrude's in Ventnor.  It's BYOB to boot.  Chef owner is Neil Elsohn, formerly of Water's Edge in Cape May.  If you ever dined there, some of the old favorites are on the menu at Gertrude's.

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I looked at the website for Gertrude's, and there are no prices listed. Does anyone know this info?

[mascarpone]

We went to Oyster Creek Inn at Leeds Point. We both ordered the specials, and everything was fried (including the lobster tail), which made the meal quite heavy. My favorite thing on the menu was the clam stew; otherwise the particular meals that we had were somewhat disappointing.