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Capt.
Billy's Crab House & Restaurant
"Virginia is for Lovers" but "Maryland is for Crabs." Although the later may not be the official slogan of The Free State, it nonetheless speaks the truth about our northern neighbor’s most famous food. And no place better exemplifies a Maryland crab house than Capt’ Billy’s, a large waterfront emporium just 90 minutes from Richmond. The late Capt’ Billy--officially George William Robertson Jr.--would have been the first to admit that cooking crabs isn’t brain surgery. Oh sure, the captain had his secret seasoning recipe—the traditional Old Bay plus two others—but he would tell anyone who asked that the taste "comes down to the crab itself." Where they are caught has a lot to do with the taste. The Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River and their tributaries are the best sources. And the fresher the better. Although blue crabs are available year-round, the best time to eat these "beautiful swimmers," as William W. Warner called them in his Pulitzer Prize winning ode, is between Memorial Day and Labor Day, when they are delivered to the restaurant within hours of being plucked from the nearby waters. About 20 local watermen fish exclusively for Capt’ Billy’s, including some, such as Doug Mattingly, who are third-generation suppliers. Mattingly, a tan, 22-year-old who sports a gold earring and necklace, nets crabs from a trot line and from 350 pots in the Wicomico and Patuxent rivers in the pre-dawn hours and tends bar at Capt’ Billy’s at night. Mattingly’s grandfather, Jim Boy Jones, also takes all of his catch to the restaurant. Since Capt’ Billy’s death in March at age 69, from a rare form of gall bladder cancer, the 350-seat restaurant on the edge of the Potomac River has been run by his stepdaughter, Celene Graves. The only thing missing is the white-haired Billy’s smile and story telling. The crabs are as delicious as ever. If you eat only one meal at Capt’ Billy’s, it should be a dozen (or more) hard-shelled crabs. Prices change daily, depending upon the supply. Prices earlier this summer were: Crabs: $23 a dozen for mediums, $24.95 for all-you-can-eat, and $28 a dozen for large. Other steamed crustaceans available are Alaskan king crab legs, $10 a pound or $27.95 unlimited; shrimp, $19,95 unlimited; combination of crab legs and shrimp, $27.95; combination of crabs, crab legs and shrimp, $30.95. But there is more to Capt’ Billy’s than hard shells. If someone in your group—and that’s the best way to go, the more the merrier—is queasy about eating hard-shells, urge them to order the crab salad ($8.75). The only thing wrong with this beautifully presented dish is the dish—the plate is too small to handle the overflowing mound of backfin crab meat, which is held together by a delicious mayo-based dressing and surrounded by strawberries, oranges, tomatoes and pickle, resting on a bed of lettuce.
The scallops were broiled perfectly, with just a slight crust, which I have found is not an easy trick, which is why I frequently order them out. (Joe’s Inn in The Fan is another place that knows how to do them right.) Other crab dishes are two crab cakes, broiled or fried ($16.75), lump crab meat baked in lemon and garlic butter ($13.75); crab baked in a rich imperial sauce ($15.75)--my all-time favorite place for that dish, though, is Phillips-by-the-Sea, on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md.)—and soft-shelled crabs, a true delicacy, when in season. More entrée choices include those great scallops, fresh or blackened ($13.95); lobster tails broiled, stuffed with crab imperial or with steak (market price); shrimp, stuffed and baked in imperial sauce ($15.95) or lightly dusted and fried ($14.95); a platter of fried seafood ($16.95), a 12-ounce New York strip steak, grilled or blackened (16.95) and half a fried chicken, dipped in honey ($8.50). This a great place to take kids, and not just for the food. Because of all the noise created by grown-ups hammering on those crabs, the sounds of playful or cranky youngsters are easily drowned out. And if the smaller ones aren’t up to eating a full portion, they can choose a "boat" of clams, shrimp or chicken legs ($4.50 to $5.50) or a hot dog, hamburger or cheeseburger. There also are baskets of fried seafood and chicken ($6.75 to $9.75), sandwiches, soups including crab and oyster stew, salads, appetizers, side dishes and a la carte portions of entrees. Beer and ice tea arrive by the glass or pitcher, and there is a full bar, which features the "backfin," another one of Billy’s legacies, a "wicked water" made from three blended rums. Because of the propensity of a few customers to wash down huge quantities of crabs with a proportionate number of drinks, the restaurant has installed a "blood alcohol tester" at the front door, where for half a buck drinkers can blow into a straw and find out whether someone else should drive on the return trip. (The Maryland state employees who collect a toll on the bridge over the Potomac not only relieve Virginians of $1.50 on the way home—there’s no toll northbound--but also watch out for drunk drivers.) Capt’ Billy’s has been serving up crabs for nearly half a century, and some of its employees, such as waitress Mary Hanson, have been there for more than a decade. The new owner has been working at the restaurant since shortly after her mother married Robertson, when Celene was nine years old. When Robertson was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, he bypassed his own eight children in favoring of selling the restaurant to his stepdaughter.
Robertson was born in Baltimore, which is to crabs what Paris is to sauces, and reared by his grandmother at Popes Creek, where she ran a store and his uncles, Paul and John Drinks, owned Drinks Crab House and both answered to the sobriquet of "captain." The summer of 1939, when Billy Robertson was nine years old, he sold crabs from the shore by his uncle’s restaurant. Two years later he had earned enough money selling crabs on the shore and beer from his grandmother’s store to buy his first boat. At age 14, he dropped out of school and began the life of a waterman, which despite the success of his restaurant, remained his first love. In 1951, at the age of 21, Billy opened his first restaurant, called "Robertson’s," in competition with his uncles. But there were plenty of customers for all, because in those days, the attraction to Popes Creek was not limited to the food. Southern Maryland was "wide open," and the slot machines brought as many customers as the crabs. Three years later, disaster struck Popes Creek when Hurricane Hazel touched down on Oct. 15, 1954, destroying all three restaurants that were operating there. Robertson, whose original building had been across the street from the river bank, took advantage of the adversity by building his new restaurant on the water, on land next to his uncles’ establishment. When his uncles retired, he bought their place and for a while operated both restaurants. (The cove’s third restaurant, Pier III, remains independent of the Robertson clan.) But in the early 70s, Robertson succumbed to the lure of the water, gave the restaurant to a stepson, Joseph, and returned to fishing and crabbing with his other grown sons. In 1987, after his stepson had sold Robertson’s to a non-family member, Captain Billy returned to the restaurant business, opening up a new place, "Capt. Billy’s," next door. Over the years, the restaurant provided Robertson with a comfortable income, which allowed him to pursue interests in athletics, automobiles and travel. He was a member of the Duckpin Bowling and Softball halls of fame, owned race horses, and a used car dealership. His restaurant was, and is, a magnet for athletes. Its walls are adorned with autographed pictures of Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles and NASCAR drivers, and photos of Billy in Moscow, Warsaw and with Masai tribesmen in Kenya. He also shared his good fortune with local organizations, and after he was diagnosed with cancer last year, he sponsored a golf tournament that raised $170,000 for the American Cancer Society. In leaving the restaurant to his stepdaughter, Captain Billy chose someone who is "just like him," Celene Graves says everyone says of her. Except for a short stint working for the federal government after graduating from high school, she has been working at the restaurant since she was 14. "It’s no flashy job by any means," said Graves, who said she has "done it all—washed dishes, cleaned crabs, tended bar, fixed the toilets and cleaned up the puke." She is at the restaurant six days a week from nine in the morning to after the doors shut at night. Graves said the restaurant, which has two kitchens—one on a porch for the steamed crabs--doesn’t employ "chefs," but rather has cooks who, like her, were "raised up in this place." So too were some of the waitresses, who greet many customers by name. On a busy Saturday, the restaurant will serve as many as 100 bushels of crab—depending on size, that could be about 8,000 crabs—and it orders those broom-handle sized hammers 500 at a time. Graves has made one concession to the possibility of having a life outside the restaurant—Capt’ Billy’s now closes on Mondays, and a sign urges customers to go next door to Capt’ Billy’s II, which is leased. This review first appeared in 64 magazine in August, 2000. |
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The
most popular entrée, other than the steamed crabs, is the Captain’s
Sea Food Platter ($19.95), available broiled (my choice) or friend. When
I had it on one of my three visits this summer—who wouldn’t go
back-- it consisted of a crab cake, three large shrimp (a bit
overcooked) half a dozen oysters, 10 scallops, a slice of flounder, a
baked potato and sweet cole slaw. The fish changes daily.
"They
say I’m just like him," said the 40-year-old Graves, who called
the late captain "my father, my friend and my teacher."