Someone wrote: : I was at Crisfields the other day and they (gasp!) now take : credit cards!! I was there Saturday night, and was also surprised to find they take credit cards. Alas, you'll need one, as their prices are still up in the stratosphere. Their crabcakes are really very good, but the price ($16.95?) can't justify two smallish backfin cakes, a small pile of mediocre fries and a mound of outstanding cole slaw. The friendly waitress (who has undoubtedly worked there since they opened back in the year 1216) didn't charge my wife and mom the standard $2.50 charge to split the platter. The crab imperial at $17.95 is a higher quality meal. Served in a classic crab-shaped porcelin imperial dish, it is pure lump crabmeat with only enough sauce and seasoning to hold it together and enhance the sweet flavors of the meat. I'm not sure how it would be possible to make a better crab imperial, but I sure wish I could have gotten about 50% more on my plate. The seafood bisque, as usual, is superb. At $5.95 for a decent sized bowl, you should consider it a delightful insurance policy that you won't leave hungry. There are chunks of fresh seafood (including lobster) in a wonderful cream-based reddish bisque, and this soup has always been one of the restaurant's highlights. It's hard not to criticize Crisfields, as they charge prices that you'd find in the most lavish of restaurants, but the joint looks like Joe's Diner. That having been said, I'm usually pleased (albeit broke, and sometimes not full) whenever I walk out. This almost merits its own thread, but I'll throw it in here: for dessert, it is obligatory that you make the trek down Georgia avenue to York Castle for their homemade ice cream. This little jamaican takeout, located in a decrepit strip of stores between the beltway exit and the 16th St ramp, has some of the finest ice cream in the Washington area, and *nobody* knows about it. They make their own ice cream, and feature some really wonderful flavors such as 'Irish Stout with Moss' (whatever the hell that is), 'Grape Nut' (don't scoff until you try it), 'Soursop', etc, along with all the standards -- Cookies and Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip, etc. York Castle deserves some publicity for their outstanding ice cream, and I encourage readers of this newsgroup to try it next time they drive past the Georgia Avenue exit on the beltway. Good luck finding it -- even though it's right on Georgia, it's still tough to see.
Washington, DC