I wish I was enjoying the end of the summer visiting my in-laws. No, I am not being sarcastic. Yes, I have very nice in-laws. No, seriously, they are nice.
I must admit though that one of the reasons I would like to be visiting them and not vise-versa (other than my house currently looks like a tornado ripped through it) is food, specifically crab cakes. They live only about thirty minutes from the best crab cakes I have ever eaten.
Woody's Crab Cake Sandwich
They are almost entirely crab meat. This is not your typical bread and binder cake that contains some crab. No, this is crab with just enough other ingredients to hold it together. Yum!
I order mine broiled, although you can get it fried, to help myself feel healthier about my meal. You see, I usually also order the crab bisque:)
The crab bisque is an indulgence. It is rich, creamy and full of crab. It has just a slight overtone of Old Bay type seasoning. They used to serve it with a side container of the seasoning or some seasoning sprinkled on top of the bisque in your bowl, but I have not had either in a while. It is beyond delicious anyway.
My husband’s milk allergy prevents him from indulging in the bisque. He has the Maryland Crab Soup instead. If you are not familiar with Maryland-style crab soup, it is basically a vegetable soup with crab and Old Bay type seasoning. Woody’s has lots of vegetables and lots of chunks of crab. Again, Yum!
My husband often orders the Steamed Shrimp instead of a crab cake anymore (he and my daughter usually end up sharing the shrimp and the crab cake). The shrimp are succulent and coated with Woody’s special seasoning. They are a hit in our family (and the ladies at the table next to us the last time we were there).
It is a crab house. They do sell whole crabs. We have never had them. Why? The cost. My husband has really wanted some the last few trips, but we can not afford to buy a dozen for just less than the price of a bushel from a local fish vendor. My in-laws live too close and we are too poor.
The restaurant has a fairly casual, relaxed atmosphere with a bar separating two main dining areas. The tables are covered in brown paper with rolls of paper towels on each table. It is very kid friendly. So if you are looking for cloth napkins, a dress code, and no one under 21, this is not your place.
If you love good seafood with a nice, friendly atmosphere, this place is worth a visit. It is not very far off of Interstate 95 between Baltimore and Philadelphia.
If you live no where close, but want to try the best crab cakes, they deliver. You can go to their website and place your order. They come well packaged and frozen. The speedy delivery is not cheap, but it is cheaper than a trip across even part of the country.
Again, currently we are too poor to do this, but before I was a stay-at-home mom, I would buy these for family on special occasions, like birthdays. They still taste very good when you fry or broil them yourself.
The irony of my wanting to go to my in-laws is that I am the one who introduced my husband and my in-laws to Woody’s. They did not know it existed before I took them there and I am from West Virginia. How did I learn about it? Oh well, that is not a story for my food blog…maybe my other blog one day. Why did I take them to it? Well, the food is excellent and I found a coupon in my in-law’s newspaper – I love a good coupon…
[…] am the first to admit that I am spoiled. After eating Woody’s Crab House crab cakes over the years, I find that I am intolerant of the crab cakes that most places serve. I […]