Yah! Crab again!

This is one of those nights where we debate for 20 minutes about where to go, each of us on our phones/computers trolling UrbanSpoon for a good dinner idea. I had found a few but they were downtown. This seems to always be a bone of contention for Mike as he HATES driving downtown. But I managed to sucker him into this one, probably because it’s not in a busy area, and we’ve been there before. Not cheating here- we’ve been before for a fundraiser- only had a few drinks and a morsel or two of finger food.

Shortly after my great adventure to Red Lobster I decided I have an affinity for crab now. This leads us to Bookers Crab Shack for dinner, just across from the old Cecil Tavern and the Drop In Center downtown. Brutal location for parking, even figuring out how to get in is stupid, but we managed. When you walk in there is what appears to be a host stand, but no one standing, hosting. The bartender looks at you, but makes no effort to seat you – or even speak to you. At this point we determine we should seat ourselves. Takes a while for anyone to notice us and come over. Then the girl who introduces herself as our server gets our drink order, and leaves menus but never returns. A different lady seemed to take care of us. Bizzare. Keiths, please! Lovely, it’s flat. Boourns. Although they have a pretty extensive drink menu so I feel like beer on tap isn’t their biggest seller. Mike gets a Peppered Vodka Caesar. And loved it. At this point I don’t much care how flat the beer is and get excited about our dinner!

My starter was crab cakes with a red pepper aioli. (Aioli just means mayonnaise, in case you didn’t know). They were alright. We’ve had better, we’ve had worse. They were so dense, and reminded us very much like a raw fish stick. Decided that the crab cakes at Vintage are way better. Mikes starter was a bowl of Chicken Gumbo. I think it was love at first bite. It’s funny too, because sometimes when we order “different” things the conversation turns to what it would be like to visit the foods origin city. So then we had a long chat about New Orleans, how cool that would be of a vacation, and what the hell I would eat down there! So I tried the gumbo, and it just tastes like tomato soup. Oh WAIT! Its sooo spicy!! Hits the back of my throat, ohhh it burns… Another hint that he loved the gumbo? He didn’t crumble up the crackers provided into the bowl. (A sign the soup is only so-so is when the crackers are dumped in).
I went all out and did the ribs and snow crab combo. I’m getting the hang of this crab thing, because for the second attempt I don’t need to use the shell cracker thingy. I must have super strong fingers . The ribs themselves were amazing! But the sauce was gross. That makes for a shitty impression overall, as I ended up scraping off the sauce and eating them basically plain. Boring. And Mike’s entrée? Jambalaya. Do you know what that is? Thicker Gumbo. HAHAHA. He had the same dish twice practically. Good thing he loved the first one hey? We were way too full for dessert, as we usually are, so instead we pile in the car and undo our belt buckles a notch.
Bookers earned itself a spot in our repertoire for sure, and even though its downtown, I’ll bet I can convince him to make the drive. All I have to say is Pepper Vodka and Gumbo .