By Alaina Loughridge - Photos by Wen Mcnally
Crab Shack
This is truly a tough job, but someone has to do it and no one was more
delighted than I when I got the opportunity to sit down for a feast at the Crab
Shack. I am telling y’all now, what a feast!! I sat down with our fearless
photographer, Wen McNally, and my lovely assistant, Jimmy Prosser, for a
meal that we will not forget anytime soon! This was two days ago and I am
still just fat full of good food. I know Jimmy and Wen feel the same way, as
we all just could not stop eating. Let me get to it!
Justin Fowler, the Director of Operations, got us a hidden corner in the
sprawling complex that is the Crab Shack. So easy to get lost there, the staff
use walkie talkies to coordinate their efforts. With three kitchens and a lot of
staff (I mean a lot of staff), there is a lot to coordinate and it’s hard to shuck
and jive over literally three and a half acres of land, employees, customers,
a gift shop, an alligator pond, several cats that are fatter than I am, and a
boat dock. I’m telling you there is a lot going on at the Crab Shack and the
employees got it down. Just another day at the beach y’all.
We started out with cocktails! My favorite part of any dining experience!!
The Flanigan Flamingo arrived in a tall, pink take-me-home-with-you yard
cup. Made with rum, strawberry, rum, pina colada, rum, banana and rum,
this refresher is super sweet and delish.
While simultaneously sucking down the Flamingo, I was fending off Jimmy
with my straw as the Monkey Around with Rita arrived. Delivered in a takehome
monkey-coconut-piggy bank (I know it sounds bizarre, but people I
am telling you now, just do it), this Key Lime Margarita was tart and just
sublime.
I am not an alkie (lie), but when the Big Kahuna arrived, a rum, pineapple
juice, rum, orange juice, rum, grenadine and rum cocktail, I was in heaven!
At this point, I was threatening both Wen and Jimmy with straws to back off!
MINE!! Now, on to the food…
We started out with an appetizer of the Creekside Nachos. My God! Created
with chopped pork, Captain Jack’s BBQ sauce, cheese, chives and jalapenos,
with a light drizzle of sour cream, it took an enormous amount of restraint
to wait for Wen to take the picture. Jimmy and I were both screaming at her
to hurry up! Worth the wait, but it was tough to stop shoveling the Nachos in
our face, knowing more was to come.
The next appetizer up was Deviled Crab. I am not a huge crab cake fan,
as normally I find it with too much crumbs and not enough crab. Not so in
this case. It was a great mix of both and dipped in a homemade remoulade
sauce. Yum!
The entrees were coming, and in the interim of restraint, I noted that the
Crab Shack has a variety of sauces that are all homemade: They offer (and
sell in their gift shop), cocktail sauce, hot sauce, bbq sauce and a jerk sauce
that is just epic!
Wen, Jimmy and I were all happily sipping away when IT arrived: The
Captain’s Crab’s Sampler Platter and the Alaskan King Crab Platter!
WOW!!! We all just had a moment of silence to honor the meal placed before
us. Our stomachs growled and off we went!
Starting with the Sampler Platter, it had everything on it! Literally everything.
Mussels, Crawfish, potatoes, corn, Shrimp, sausage, Snow Crab, Rock Crab,
coleslaw - and I think I saw the kitchen sink in there. The platter was so large
that when they placed it on the table center piece, Jimmy, who was sitting
across from me, was lost to my vision. Not a bad thing there, but where to
14 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | APRIL 2018
start? Crawfish! Let’s get into it. It was juicy with lots of meat involved that
required little effort to get to. The mussels (which I have never been a fan of,
but I take it for the team) were tender and had a delicate flavor that made
them stand out. I tried everything but kept going back to those mussels! In
between mussel happy land, I do love me some Low Country Boil, so I dug
into the potatoes, sausage, shrimp and corn. I know how to make me a mean
LCB. It is easy to overcook the shrimp, undercook the potatoes and have
corn that will make you unhappy. Well, the Crab Shack knows how to make
a mean LCB too! The corn was perfect. The potatoes were soft and happy,
the sausage was seasoned, but not so much you cringe and the shrimp were
perfectly timed. Sigh in happiness. Butter was everywhere and Jimmy was
cracking the Snow Crab and Rock Crab (not my forte there) for me. The Rock
Crab was a lot of effort, but totally worth it. Drop that bad boy in butter and
life is but a dream. The Snow Crab was easier and meatier. Equally delicious.
At this point, butter and cocktail sauce was literally everywhere! Thank
goodness for that trash can in the middle of the table. It’s not a normal dining
experience anywhere you go, but when you are elbow deep in seafood and
butter, you gotta love it!
While all of this Sampler Platter happy mess was going on, we were
simultaneously digging into the Alaskan King Crab Platter! They don’t call it
an Alaskan King for nothing. I’m not going swimming in Alaska anytime soon,
but if I do and if I saw a live King eyeballing me, I would walk on water out of
its sight! This thing was a monster! Or a ‘knuckle buster’ as Jimmy called it.
I made him do all the dirty work and he did. With gusto! This platter was just
immense. Another moment of silence was noted and another round of drinks
were ordered (when we do this, we do this right).
I will not lie to you. That King was a son of a bitch to get into, but worth
every moment of watching Jimmy do it. He is a pro and before long I had a
HUGE piece of crab in front of me on my plate. It was so good that it did not
need butter (what?). It’s true. This AK was thick, heavy and just flat out worth
every cuss word Jimmy said getting into it. A moment of storytelling, food
eating silence please…
At this point, the three of us were still looking at mounds of food and were
so full we couldn’t even make eye contact as we rubbed our individual food
babies in our bellies. We were all at the point of being uncomfortable, but the
team! We had to do this for them!!
Then Justin came in with dessert! NO!! YASSSS!!! Key Lime Pie and a
New York Cheesecake drizzled with chocolate. Well, damn. We grabbed our
forks and went for it. I loved them both, but the chocolate got me on the NY.
It was a light, fluffy thing with just enough chocolate to make you have “just
one more bite.” I also enjoyed the Key Lime, but hey, chocolate will win with
me hands down every time. To each their own.
We were almost in a coma at this point. Wen had to go to the airport. I told
her to call Breezy. No kid is that important. Jimmy had already called his
couch and made an appointment.
I couldn’t even think straight.
I couldn’t remember where I
parked or if I had even driven my
own car there. All I could think of
was if I could fit one more bite of
any of it into my food baby!
All jokes aside, what a great
meal! The service was great,
the food was overwhelming,
the cocktails were beachy fun,
the company was fantastic and
of course we can’t forget the
view! Wait, is there a back river
out there? I can’t recall. I’m still
rubbing my food baby!
Go get your happy on at the
Crab Shack. Located at 40 Estill
Hammock Road and open seven
days a week at 11:30am.