THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 6, 1995 TAG: 9504040133
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: ON THE TOWN
TYPE: Restaurant review
SOURCE: SAM MARTINETTE
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Gene and Lola Perry have a lot of nerve offering Maryland-style crab cakes right here in Hampton Roads. After all, those may well be Virginia crabs served up deep-fried to a crispy golden brown or taking a steam-bath in the 60-gallon steamer located in the back of the new Crab Daddy restaurant on East Little Creek Road.
One can forgive them, I suppose, for using the family recipes provided by Gene's mother, Carrie Louden, who works with the Perrys, having moved to Hampton Roads from our neighbor state to the north. Perry is a descendant of watermen on both sides, he said last week. His father's side of the family fished out of Deltaville, Va., while his mother's family worked out of Fisher's Creek, Md. Perry's mother shucked oysters and picked crabs for the original Phillips' Seafood Restaurant on Hooper's Island, Md.
Gene Perry worked as a commercial fisherman as a youth, leaving him with little appetite for seafood until he was in his 30s, he admitted.
``I was always a hot dog and baloney man,'' Perry said.
He and his wife Lola were in the car business for 25 years at the location that now serves as their restaurant. He took me on a tour of the kitchen, which used to be a bay for changing engines in automobiles.
``I got tired of the car business getting so negative and started looking at seafood restaurants with an eye to converting this place,'' he said.
The former S&L Motors, situated about a half-block from Chesapeake Boulevard on Little Creek Road, closed last summer to make way for Crab Daddy, a 1,200-square-foot restaurant that caters to ``the working man,'' as Gene Perry puts it. Blond wood, a white tile floor and plenty of windows make for a cheery atmosphere, no less so for the attentions of Gene himself, who makes the rounds to every table, showing off the homemade crab cakes, the jumbo shrimp, and like as not, offering a sample of the Crab Daddy homemade soups.
The Cream Crab soup is thick and rich, with chunks of crab ($2.50 a cup/$3 a bowl), and there is usually a soup of the day, such as the lima bean soup with ``slippery dumplings'' that I sampled last week. My friend David Puryear and I had a half-pound of steamed shrimp ($7.95 or $14.95 a pound), which turned out to be the 16-20 count jumbos from Louisiana, huge shrimp that were firm and tasty.
We chased the shrimp with crab cake sandwiches ($6.95 with fries), also quite good and certainly filling. Based on what I saw delivered to other tables (although it was lunch and there were a lot of crab cake sandwiches going out), the portions are large and the presentation is simple but appetizing.
Other sandwiches include a shrimp salad or fried flounder ($5.95). ``Dinners'' (served with hush puppies and a choice of two vegetables) include two fried crab cakes or crab meat in butter ($12.95); a half-dozen jumbo fried shrimp or four shrimp stuffed with crab meat ($14.95); a seafood platter of two fried shrimp, two fried oysters, a crab cake and some fried flounder, or steak and jumbo shrimp ($17.95); and fried flounder ($10.95, or four pieces of honey-dipped fried chicken ($9.95).
Crab Daddy also offers a fried oyster platter ($12.95 for a half-dozen), softshell crabs (two for $14.95, in season) and a Delmonico steak ($12.95).
Gene Perry said he will sell steamed crabs when the season begins, including ``Maryland-style'' fried hard crabs.
``First you steam the crab, then you take the shell off and clean out the crab,'' he explained. ``Then you pack it full of fresh crab meat and fry it.''
Crab Daddy, with its nautical artifacts, family-style atmosphere and friendly service, seems to be off to a good start although Gene Perry admits that he is learning something new every day.
``We think this will work,'' he said. ``There aren't a lot of sit-down seafood restaurants on Little Creek Road. Of course, we've got to make a living.'' by CNB