A Beer and a Bushel at CFUNITED

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A Beer and a Bushel at CFUNITED

There's really only one true reason I return to Maryland every year,... Steamed Crabs (apologies to Michael Smith ;) You've never had'em until you've had'em in Maryland. Get your hands all , pry open the backfin, whack on the table to crack open the claws, suck out the "mustard", and wash it back with a cold one. That's the way to do it. All your CFUNITED buddies will go insane when they smell the aroma wafting off you as you head back for more ColdFusion talks!

I've plotted a course from the CFUNITED Marriott Hotel to Joe's Crab Shack up the road in Gaithersburg off the Rockville Pike. I plan to memorize the route in case of lunchtime craving. The website looks a little too glitzy for my taste, as I usually prefer the little mom & pop shops where they sell'em by the dozen or by the bushel out the back door.

When I'm in Dundalk east of Baltimore, my favorite crab place is Ross's Crab House on Merritt Boulevard, and on the Eastern Shore I like to stop by Harrisons on Tilghman Island. Here's a long listing of Crab Houses closer to the Chesapeake.

The veterans out there will manage, but if you don't even know what a Jimmy is then you're gonna need some help:

How To Eat Maryland Steamed Crabs

If you know of a small crab house near Rockville, please drop a line!

posted on 23 June, 2005 at 4:32 PM.
ColdFusion, Restaurants | Comments (19)

Comments

Steven et all,

Just took entire family to Joe's Crab Shack for my wife's birthday... highly recommend it...

See you at CFUnited...

comment by phill.nacelli, posted at 6/23/05 2:49 PM

Steven,
You might try out "Eat Bertha's Mussels":
Bertha's
743 South Broadway
Baltimore, MD
410-327-5795

Hours (Dining Room):
Sun-Thu 11:30AM-11PM
Fri, Sat 11:30AM-Midnight
(The Bar is open until 2AM each night)

I don't recall if they have crabs, but if you want to get mussels - you go to Bertha's.

Or if you want late night eats, try "Never on a Sunday":
(410) 727-7191
829 N Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21201

It's a greasy spoon known only to the locals - only blocks aways from where I used to live. They burned down the year before I left Baltimore, but according to my friend's it is even better now that they rebuilt.

comment by Peter J. Farrell, posted at 6/23/05 3:37 PM

Bertha's, the pearl of Fells Point. Many a memory there from college days. Next door to the Green Turtle if I recall, and up the street from the Horse You Came In On...

Baltimore I know well, Rockville not so. I'm an East Baltimore native, so I'm sure I've hit every dive and greasy spoon from Essex to Highland town, and there was that one time next to John Waters at the bar across from the Charles Street Playhouse...

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 6/23/05 3:50 PM

Didn't know that you were a native Steven. I was/am not - born and breed Minnesotan. I went to school at Johns Hopkins and lived in the Mt. Vernon area when I was getting my Bachelors. Ironically, that seems ages ago - yet I can still count the years back to Baltimore on one hand.

comment by Peter J. Farrell, posted at 6/23/05 3:55 PM

I'm from naptown (that's annapolis for all you outsiders) and every restaurant down there has great crabs. I'd stay away from joe's as it's a chain and you can't be sure your crabs will be pulled from the Bay. In my opinon the best places are on the water, have there own docks with boats and pots, lots of picnic tables lined with newspaper, a roll of paper towels for each person and a bucket of brew.... anything else has to be fake :)

comment by jonese, posted at 6/23/05 3:57 PM

Yep, I've been in MA over a decade now, and I sure miss the real Bay. Dundalk High School and Towson State University were my stomping grounds.

I agree with the small places near the water as good places to find crab houses, but Rockville remains a mystery to me.

Back in the 80's I used to work in the summer on a commercial crab boat near Crisfield. A 42 footer named Miss Ann that had 700 pots where the Pocomoke Sound meets the bay. 4am to 4pm hell or high water, literally, 6 days a week for $350. There's many days when I'd love to trade places for that again.

Grew up crabbing on the piers in Merritt Point Park and Chesterwood on days that I didn't find so suitable for school.

You know, we could always get a couple dozen carry out and tailgate at the hotel :)

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 6/23/05 4:09 PM

Sadly, I'm not attending CFUnited this year. I'm a one man shop and my wife is still doing post graduate work. Tuition was the most important concern followed by housing, food and student loans.

I wish I could be there with y'all and meet everyone face to face for the first time. I'll throw back a couple of brews in all y'all's honor next week.

BTW, if you'll ever in Montréal - drop me a line and we'll do a mini-pub crawl.

comment by Peter J. Farrell, posted at 6/23/05 4:17 PM

ill take that one step further, and thats the salisbury/ocean city area... crisfield, the home of the crabbers... deal island... we get them off the dock here and not just any blue crab, but JUMBO's now thats nice.

anyway, if you are ever over here ... the spot you are looking for steve is called "The Red Roost" its a country 10 miles away from salisbury, in whitehaven, and just miles from my golf course... you gotta check it out, if you get the chance.

tw

comment by tony of the weeg clan, posted at 6/23/05 10:08 PM

in fact, a nice night out at a crab place for a bunch of cf people might be nice... anyone want to hit that up one of the nights, or are things pretty filled with stuff already during the night?

tony

comment by tony of the weeg clan, posted at 6/23/05 10:09 PM

I'd have to second the "avoid Joe's Crab Shack" comment. It's probably good enough for those of us not near the ocean, but you'd be much better off finding a mom and pop place. I've heard Rockville is fairly suburban so I doubt you'd have much of a chance of finding a good mom & pop place there.

Not to mention they do this dumb dance routine thing once an hour at Joe's. Yeah, they've got flair...

Tony-- the schedule seems to be pretty booked-up even in the evenings for the conference unless a lot of people are staying through the weekend AND don't have other plans. I'm pretty much all booked-up from the minute I arrive until the minute I leave on Sunday evening myself.

Stephen: I found a bunch of places by doing a bit of Googling.. perhaps some of these links will be helpful?

http://dc.about.com/od/restaurants/a/CrabRestauran...

http://www.cantlers.com/

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2660913-washington_restaurants_and_bars-i

http://www.digitalcity.com/washington/dining/venue...

comment by Brandon Harper, posted at 6/23/05 10:43 PM

i figured time would be nutso, so yeah, maybe next time...

and heck, i need to leave friday anyway, as its my wife's grand opening (pending health dept. final inspections) july 1st, and i CANNOT miss that.

so ill be missing most of friday :(

anyway... its all good, the dinner company is getting hot!

http://www.mydinnercompany.com (wifes new company)

:) tw

comment by tony of the weeg clan, posted at 6/23/05 10:45 PM

True, the CFUNITED schedule will be packed even until 10pm each night with the BOFs and networking events.

And thanks for all the feedback, especially about Joe's Crab Shack!

At least in my case, the good news is that I'm staying in Maryland for the whole July 4th weekend so I'll be able to sit down with a couple dozen sometime before heading back to Boston. I'm fairly certain I'll be rockfishing with some family out on a charter boat, too.

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 6/24/05 6:32 AM

Cantlers that's the one we used to go to. Just as i described above...if you find time it's worth the drive.

comment by jonese, posted at 6/24/05 8:00 AM

Bethesda Crab House
4958 Bethesda Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 652-3382

neither fancy nor cheap but very convienent for most business/pleasure trips you may have in that area.

comment by William, posted at 6/26/05 7:50 PM

Thanks! Several people recommended against Joe's, so the Bethedsa one sounds like something I'd be interested in.

comment by Steven Erat, posted at 6/26/05 8:43 PM

So, is anyone interested in scheduling an informal meet at the Bethesda Crab House? It's only about 15 or 20 minutes away from the hotel.

comment by Damon Gentry, posted at 6/27/05 2:10 PM

There is a crab house in the derwood area. It is basically between Rockville and Gaithersburg. The name is Steam N. Blues. I don't know of a website, but the info is below....

Steam N' Blues
(301) 977-2722
7217 Muncaster Mill Rd
Derwood, MD 20855

They have a nice deck out front that you can pick on. Not as "corporate" as joe's is. It is locally owned and a little out of the way.

comment by dcevy, posted at 8/27/05 10:22 AM

There is a new crabhouse in Rockville at the Ramada Inn. It's called Crab! I went there last weekend with my wife and kids and probably had the best crabs I have ever eaten. I have eaten crabs from Delaware to Hatteras and these were by far the best. Ordered a dozen large and I have never seen larges this big and heavy. They serve true apple cider vinegar and real melted butter. The spiced jumbo shrimp were out of this world! No more Baltimore or Annapolis for me, I finally have a crab place in my back yard.

comment by Great Crabs in Rockville, posted at 8/9/06 7:41 PM

Steven-Tried that place in Rockville at the Ramada too, Crab I believe......crabs were kind of expensive but well worth the price. Jumbos were outstanding, ate 5 and I was stuffed. Check it out the next time you roll through!

comment by David Jasnowski, posted at 8/11/06 9:16 PM

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I live west of Boston and work as a Software Engineer with ColdFusion and Flex, specializing in Linux. Recently I graduated in Professional Digital Photography from CDIA.