OLD CRAB HOUSE Memories

[chesapeak]

Someone asked me about Gablers Crab House in Perryman.MD and this is what I responded.

Tell me about your old crabhouse

 
GABLERS CRAB HOUSE was so old school and so unique.. They were there since like the 1920s. Located on the north side of the bush river next to the Amtrac Train Bridge. Old time crabbing families supplied the crab house for years.  Old Blue Blood money type families supported and frequented the place.  In the 70s they had probably 20 tables that each held 10 people. No AC. No ice. Wooden Floors, wooden shutters with screens, no glass anywhere.  Each day as the crabs came into the dock outside, they looked at their reservation sheet and the best crabs they unloaded went to whoever made the oldest reservation.  The second best went to the second reservation etc etc .  My wife and I had a 7:30 every friday night reservation that lasted probably 10+ years into the 1980s . There were people ahead of us that had 20+ year reservations.  Even with a reservation made 10 years in advance we would some nights get only their 3rd or 4th best dozen.  That was fine because you could only eat 2-3 maybe 4 crabs.

[doomdealer]

I really miss that place, and the long neck Natty Bohs.

[Crabslayer]

Kozy's Tavern Highlandtown.  The Best Fried Hard Crab.  $1.25  Circa 1960s

[tattoo]

Walt's crabs . THE KING OF CRABS in Philly , a great place , nothing fancy , when they brought out your crabs they were so big only 3 could fit on a cafeteria type tray , miss that place

[jack1747]

 Gordon's on Orleans Street

[rj]

 old Obrycki's, (I believe it was Pratt st),   Bud Paulino's, (Lombard st)    Bo Brooks  (Blair Rd ) 

[evinrude 130]

The Corrall Inn in Dundalk, sit down place too.  Augies on Millers Island. Augies was the best place for carry out. The crabs were put in bags and rock salt thrown on then as each dozen was placed in bag.  Both gone.

Schultz's is still in Middle River.

[BlueTip4Me]

  Crab Smashers, somewhere on the East coast of Florida around Daytona or New Smyrna in the Intercoastal. I was very young but remember it being old Florida, concrete tables with a hole with trash can in center on screened porch.The odd thing about this place is you had to be a member with handwritten card and all, something like $2.00 per year for family. I believe it was a way that they could sell beer without the usual license. Great family memories with parents and sisters.

[Derwood]

Cracked Claw in Urbana, MD.

I went here one or twice a year as a kid when there was a "special occasion" (like my grandparents being in town) and it was always a real treat. It was one of the only times we'd ever go to a restaurant. I remember there being peacocks in the front area and that you could bet on horse races. I was too young to pick up on much else, but to this day when I think of "crab house" that's the restaurant that comes to mind.

I also went to a small place in Tenleytown, DC a few times. I think it was on Wisconsin Ave and it was pretty cramped, with only like 8 tables inside and two on the front porch.

[Steve]

Parker's Crab Shore, Colonial Beach, VA, overlooking Monroe Bay on the Potomac River.

As a child and teenager, our entire extended family (grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc.) rented a house every year in Colonial Beach during summer vacation. Spent the week(s) boating, having fun, and eating steamed crabs at Parker's Crab Shore (my grandfather would set up an open tab there for all of us to use whenever we wanted something to eat)...

It's one of my fondest memories and is the main reason this website exists today.

[rdbeard]

Tall Oaks  restaurant in  Pasadena md gone now but the crabs and the fried hard crabs were great

[samiam]

Not a dedicated "crab house", per se, but Langley's Corbin House, in Corbin City, NJ, on the Tuckahoe River, served a massive amount of crab in various forms. Campbell's and Hickman's in O. C. turned out a lot of crab on a to go basis, as well.

[bgfishhook1]

     Long gone but not forgotten " HOPKINS CRABS OUTSIDE OF PORT DEPOSIT "  
  We used to drive down there and get a dozen of his crabs and eat them right
  there at one of his picnic tables outside under the trees. Ah Drinking beer and
  eating fresh steamed crabs, I can't think of anything better than that ! I am
  going to try to find a picture of this old broken down place that we had so
  much fun at .

   BGFISHHOOK1

[Hoffa]

 :)bgfishhook1, thanks for posting that. I have been trying to remember the name. Been there many times.

[bgfishhook1]

   Been there many times too and we went to the Crab feasts at the American Legion just up the road before you got into Port Deposit Maryland . I stopped in at the Legion and asked if they were going to have Crab Feasts again and they said no, they said that they stopped all of those dinners. I really liked there Oyster feeds they had, Oysters Steamed , on the half shell, My favorite and they had them in an Oyster Stew, too. You can't find any of them places anymore, they were everywhere about 30 years ago, man that food was good. Like I said gone but not forgotten !   There was another place on the Pulaski highway called " PORTERS BLUE GABLES " this is yet another place that has vanished.  Does anyone know of a place where you can sit down to a pile of Maryland Blues and feast ??  I would love to know where it is !


  BGFISHHOOK1  

[Oak Orchard]

DiNardos crab house on the 400 block of Lincoln St in Wilmington, De.  Think they closed in the late 80s.