Restaurant: The Masthead

Location: 104 West Pier Street. Oxford, MD 21654. ph: 410-226-5171

Date: May 25, 2014

Cuisine: American Seafood

Rating: Great view and great crabs

In the late 70s and early 80s our family ate routinely (on summer weekends) at one of the three restaurants in Oxford Maryland known as “Pier Street” (after its address).

This crab oriented seafood establishment features primarily outside dining on the water and in those days crab men would bring up bushels of live blue crabs to the attached dock where they were transferred immediately to the boilers for conversion into “hardshells.”

The name has changed, but the outside dining remains virtually unchanged, featuring long picnic tables, a great view, and a lovely breeze.

The current menu.

Maryland vegetable crab soup. Not quite as good as at Hollys, but still good.

Chicken salad.

House salad with fried cornbread. lol.

Softshell sandwich. A deep fried blue crab on a bun!

Fish and chips.

A dozen blue crab hardshells. These are spiced with “old bay” and steamed. As this is still May, the crabs are tiny and expensive, but they are delicious!

The Masthead isn’t and never was a fancy establishment.

Tools for crab eating: mallets, more old bay, vinegar.

And this is where the crabs (and other shellfish) are steamed. I seem to remember the boilers were much bigger in the “old days.”

Tasty feller.

The pier ain’t what it used to be either. Some storm wiped it out and they never replaced it.

The Masthead might not be fine dining, but it does have great ambiance and still features some of the freshest versions of one of the world’s greatest crab!

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