The Crab Shack

Located on the tiny (but touristy) island of Brigantine, NJ is the Crab Shack. The crab shack has a store front where it sells its fresh seafood proudly on display and a back room converted into a small dining area with about 8 tables. Ask if they’re serving and someone will take you behind the normally closed door what looks to be like your seriously beach-obsessed grandmother’s dining room.

We’ve actually been here once before about a year ago, and the waitress who took care of us then took care of us this time. The menu is noticeably extensive for the restaurant seeming to be a side-business the store front. Clean and quiet, it’s a great place to get away if you’ve been surrounded by shoobies and their crazy children all day on a crowded beach. The biggest downside? Flies.

We started off with the hush puppies ($5.99). They came out blazing hot (Chris burned himself) but with no plates for us to eat on. We precariously picked from the basket. The little balls of deliciousness were well-seasoned with onion, salt, etc. with a crunchy outside (cornmeal?) and a soft, almost gooey inside. These are not your Red Lobster hush puppies. I loved that they were flavorful but not overly salty. 

For my entre I ordered the fresh caught tuna-steak (medium rare) with wasabi ($16.99) with a side of baked potato and corn on the cob (from an option of about5/6 sides). Chris ordered their 1lb lobster roll which they’re famous for.

I got a big ol’ hunk of tuna steak with what looked to be some sort of house seasoning sprinkled on it. The seasoning tasted like it was based off an Old Bay-esque seasoning with notes of oregano/thyme. The steak itself was delicious even though it was much closer to well-done than medium rare, but I wish it wasn’t so timidly seasoned just on the top. I will say that the wasabi dipping sauce was a nice addition, very strong, but helped cleansed the palate for pure tuna tastes. My potato came still wrapped in foil which I didn’t like, but I DID like how moist it was. Sometimes you get potatoes that have been neglected in the oven or on a heating plate that are dried up and not flaky. I gave my corn to Chris.

I actually had the lobster roll a year ago when this blog first got under way. I'm glad we finally came back. I've known about the Crab Shack for a few years since one of my best friends used to man the front of the store every summer, but it was only my third time eating their food. The lobster roll at the Crab Shack is pretty impressive. It is served on a large doughy kaiser roll with crisp iceberg lettuce. The bread itself is nice and stretchy and the bread hinge that is created by cutting the roll does not rip. I believe this makes their lobster roll that much better. Because the roll stays together, the fresh giant lumps of lobster don't fall out the back when you bite into the sandwich. The lobster is tossed in a light mayonnaise sauce and then it is hit with some Old Bay seasoning. The simplicity lets the fresh seafood shine through.

The lobster roll was served with fries and coleslaw.  The fries were pretty good, freshly made, crispy and already salted (once again, not over salted).  The slaw was more interesting. I think the Crab Shack throws some sweet pickle into their slaw. Their slaw had a certain bite that only comes with a fresh pickle and their slaw ended up having a relish element to it. Delicious. The corn was corn, unfortunately their was nothing special to it. It did taste fresh though. 

It’s worth the trip off the glitzy restaurant bubble that is Atlantic City, and is not much more expensive than a casino buffet. It’s quiet and quirky with charming pieces of hardware and knickknacks that you’d expect from a place just two blocks from the beach. Perhaps not the most romantic place for a date, but if you’re already settled and just want a (tasty) change of paste, head on over to the Crab Shack. 

Christopher

Authors' note: This entry marks our first in our 'Silver Spoon' entries- the restaurants we visit and review that are notably higher scale than our usual diner go-tos. Who says that NJ doesn't have fine dining? Who says Philadelphia is a terrible food city? 

Located in a quiet strip mall on Kressen Road in Chris's hometown of Cherry Hill, is the appropriately named Christopher restaurant. With the spotlight on their famous crab cakes, the restaurant focuses on three areas- seafood, steak (angus, certified) and pasta. The menu is no frou-frou with those as the only options. The decor, at least on the side where Chris and I were seated was also succinct as we pull up and see (or not see) that all of the curtains were let down and we could not even hope to glimpse inside. Intimidated, we walk in and are eventually greeted by a nice man who would end up being our host, our waiter, and then the floor busser.

I ordered their 'famous' crab cakes. All I can say is that I'm not sure why they're famous, because they weren't delicious and after two weeks I can barely remember any good quality about them. The crab pieces themselves were not large, and there wasn't a good crisp on the crusts. It was very soft, and eventually mushy and boring. My potato on the side frankly was more exciting- but then again what's not to love about twice-baked potato? It's difficult for me to find a vegetarian version of anything multiply-baked and I enjoyed the option. The portion was small, but not unexpectedly so.

Our busy waiter rushed over to our table after giving us a few minutes to look over the menu and we ordered our starter: fried calamari (this seems to be our bread and butter for appetizers, besides the complementary bread and butter). I need to begin with a compliment for our starter. It might have been the best cooked calamari I've been served. The outside of the rings were feather light, not very greasy, and even the rings on the bottom were crispy all the way around. The inside was, figuratively, like butter, and almost as rich. The one problem with the dish, however, was the seasoning. It was predominately salt. Actually, salt was the only thing I really tasted. Then again, that's the only downside the dish had. The marinara sauce that it came with was fresh and cut the saltiness back. When thinking about the plate as a whole instead of nit-picking, it was delightful.

For my main dish I had the "Filet Mignon With Fresh Grilled Shrimp" for $28.95. I need to lay down that the best steak that I get on a semi-regular basis is the beef from a restaurant called Famer Brown's in Waterloo, NE. I judge most of my steak off of beef from Nebraska, simply because that's what I grew up with and I honestly believe it's the best. That being said, the steak at Christopher was good. It was tender all the way through, lightly seasoned, and the chef did a knockout job of letting the quality and natural flavor of the steak speak for itself. It was a refreshing piece of meat that was well rested and retained its juices nicely. I asked for it to be cooked medium-rare and it came out more on the medium side, but I'll count that as a minor oversight since I really don't think it affected the overall tenderness of the filet. Now, the real star of the show was the shrimp. These three little guys were...perfect. If nothing else, they were the best cooked and juiciest shrimp I have ever had. They made the super market shrimp cocktail rings taste like pink rubber bands. I'm looking forward to getting more shrimp the next time I visit. The meal also came with a double baked potato. This potato had a shadow cast over it in comparison with the rest of my entreé. The only thing I really liked about it was the sour cream note really came through and added some needed zest to the rest of the plate. God, that was some good shrimp.

Riding the high of Chris's meal, we decided to order dessert. I decided that we shouldn't penalize the whole experience just because I didn't particularly enjoy my crab cakes. To be fair, I consider myself a relatively picky eater when it comes to crab just because I've been blessed to live (and eat) in the Chesapeake area of Maryland and then the Jersey Shore where blue crabs abound. Anyways, our waiter brought us out our dessert options via representations-on-a-tray instead of a menu, which I've seen at some upscale restaurants. However, instead of the deserts being perfect plastic versions of themselves or freshly cut slices, these pieces had seemed to be sitting there all day. The fluffiness of the cakes were gone; their icing starting to lose their brightness and melting off the edges. However, the power of our waiters descriptive words broke through the somewhat unapetizing desert mirage and we decided to order the red-velvet cake - an all-time favorite of mine. Like the rest of meal, there were distinct ups and downs.

The frosting? Delicious. Truly a thoughtful blend of a tangy cheese and sugary goodness. There wasn't too much that overtook the cake, and it left me wishing I could run back to the kitchen and lick some off the KitchenAid mixer. As far as the cake, I feel as if Christopher was trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I have a pretty firm understanding about how a red velvet is constructed traditionally, and the chemical reactions involved with cocoa ultimately give the desert its deep rich red color. This cake was a bright pink at most, and tasted like a pound (albeit moist) cake that had food coloring.

Overall, what a strange place with many ups and downs. Having read many mixed reviews on it, I wished we were able to, in the end, make up our minds about it. It's not as bad as some haters make it out to be - no, we didn't see any rats, and the service was good- but nothing about it changed my life. Except for that shrimp. Since Christopher, no shrimp has compared.