The Crab Trap
Of course, after all the raves I've heard about The Crab Trap, it was one of our must-eat destinations during our weekend in AC. We followed the directions given by our GPS gizmo. It took us through downtown AC and some very pretty beach/bay towns---it was a very pretty sunset drive through Ventnor and points south.
We arrived at 7pm and the parking lot was pretty full. We were advised that there was about a forty-minute wait, which of course felt like eternity to our empty stomachs. We received one of those coaster pagers. A lot of people took their pagers and grabbed pre-dinner drinks at Crabby Jack's, a bar situated at the end of the parking lot and overlooking the bay.
Eventually, we do get called for our table. The Crab Trap is a rather large restaurant with different rooms. It looked like a live performance was seting up in the main room, but we were seated in a different room. "Order what you want," was DJKung's pronouncement, and so we did.
The wine list was decidedly very middle-of-the-road. I got the house pinot grigio, which was rather muddy and did not work well with the food. DJKung got the house merlot, I think.
Bread basket. The little rolls do bring to mind the Philippine pandesal. Some overly sweet mini blueberry muffins were also included.
Treasure chest; this includes three lobster puffs (top) and three mini crab cakes (bottom). The lobster puffs were light and you could taste the meat in them. The crab cakes were rather ordinary.
Fried shrimp appetizer with a sweet fruit-based sauce. DJKung's dad liked it.
Steamed littleneck clams in white wine, butter and garlic sauce. These were tiny, yet briny and flavorful little suckers. The sauce was good too, and it was too bad there were no hard rolls or crusty bread to go with them. DJKung's dad and I agreed that the broth was rather sandy (!).
Trio of soups; these are three little ramekins of their specialty soups: Maryland-style crab soup (left), creamy crab bisque (top) and Manhattan style clam chowder (bottom). Of these, I liked the clam chowder the best; the clams were sharp and briny, in lovely contrast with the veggies. The bisque was on the lean, floury side (I like mine super-creamy). The Maryland crab soup (tomato based) was just a strange thing, and tasted more like a sweet pasta sauce than anything.
For our mains, I got crab, DJKung got oysters, and his dad got fish. You get to choose two sides with your entree.
The baked crab imperial ("Voted Best on the Shore!") piqued my interest, because it had a very classic roaring-twenties sound to it (like waldorf salad). I wasn't sure what it was, and the waitress simply described it as crab in a ceramic dish that was very good.
Crab imperial is a casserole whose primary ingredients are crab meat and mayo/white sauce, topped with crumbs or cheese, and baked. So not so fancy after all. But, like the waitress promised, it was very good. The portion was chock-full of sweet lump crabmeat and the mayo was not overpowering. It was even better the next day! I ordered this with some french fries and coleslaw, which was a bit overkill with all the mayo in the crab.
DJKung ordered the Long Island oysters (background) and the PEI oysters (foreground). Just from appearance, not all of them were as plump as I would've liked. One also tasted distintively off. The rest were a briny delight.
DJKung's dad got the Patagonian toothfish (aka Chilean seabass). The fish was sweet and very fresh. I am forgetting what sides he had with this dish ... I believe it was sauteed cauliflower and zucchini (not pictured). Cannot recall what the red stuff on his plate was.
DJKung remarked at how different it was eating dinner here compared with lunch/twilight dinner. Not only are there less crowds to contend with, but the menu selection seemed better. It seemed that the dinner prices were a tad steep when considering what we got.
