Crab Cakes!!

Location: Mill Creek, off the Patuxent River, MD
Date: October 17, 2006
Current position: N 38 20 13.49 W 76 30 09.09

In our travels around the Chesapeake, we like to periodically get off the boat and sample the local fare. We'll dinghy in, have a nice walk around town, and pick a local restaurant to visit if the mood strikes.

Periodically, we'll splurge and sample the local crab cakes - occasionally, we're pleasantly surprised, but to be honest, most of the time we're at least mildly disappointed.

The best crab cakes we'd had to date were homemade by a friend in Deltaville, but these babies are just not available to the general public. This seems patently unfair to us, so, in generous display of selfless sacrifice, we continue to search for the best crab cakes available for the rest of you.

When we visited Mill Creek last year, we noticed what we thought was a small marina with maybe a little store or restaurant on the side. We never did get around to visiting it because we took all our walks in the county park on the other side of the creek.

We had recently heard that it was a nice little restaurant, so decided to dinghy over to have a walk, and to check the place out. Unfortunately, being Monday, it was closed. We did notice something curious, though - there was sign in front that said "Reservations Recommended". This seemed a bit strange to us, as this little place is at the end of a point with a single road going to it and it looks like not much else is happening there.

As we walked, we passed another couple, also out for their evening walk, who asked if we were from "that really pretty sailboat" at anchor. We said yes, and they said it was too bad the restaurant was closed because they make the best crab cakes on the entire Bay. As we dinghied back to the boat, we had a nice chuckle as the thought struck us that these may have been the owners of the restaurant, trying to build a bit of trade. Still, we thought, sometimes these tenuous leads are worth checking out, so Julie called and made a reservation for the following evening.

Wow. Nirvana. Bingo, we found 'em! We're talking great huge chunks of crab meat, no discernable filler, perfectly seasoned, fist-sized works of art. It would be fairly easy to run out of superlatives in trying to describe these succulent, juicy, and flavorful little discoids from heaven.

Sated, and secretly considering another visit, just to verify that they really were as good as we initially thought (one does have a responsibility to validate the repeatability of such a momentous event, doesn't one?), we planned on spending the rest of the week here.

Unfortunately, when we got up on Thursday morning, after a week of FAST connectivity, we both had really slow connections. Gotta work, so "no connection - no can stay"! We weighed anchor at 10:30 and, with tears in our eyes and regret in our hearts at the missed opportunity, bade our delicious new found friends adieu, and headed back to Solomons where we knew we could work.

So, if you're ever in the Solomons, Md. area, sail a little further up the Patuxent, under the bridge, make the next left into Mill Creek, and visit Clarkes Landing Restaurant. We have no idea how to get there by land but it's listed as Hollywood, MD, and make a reservation.

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel