Maryland took over New York this weekend at the first annual Hammer & Claws Blue Crab Feast.

Taking place at the Tunnel in Chelsea, the Maryland Crab feast brought the Chesapeake Bay to the shores of the Hudson. The event was thrown by Josh Morgan, owner of Choptank - a NYC-based Maryland-inspired restaurant. Diners loaded their trays with heaps of blue crabs, hot dogs, cole-slaw, corn on the cob and a variety of desserts. Mallets helped bust through the hard crab shells to get to the lump crab meat within. All you can eat and unlimited beer and cocktails – it truly was a feast.

From an event planning stand point, my take:

• Excellent venue. It leant perfectly to this event. Plenty of space for various bars and food tables along with tons of room for the communal tables. The brick walls coupled with the stung lights made you feel like you were at an outdoor picnic.
• Plan more carefully for number of attendees and amount of food available. We went on Saturday night. Doors opened at 7 for an event from 7-11. We got there at 8:10 and they were out of crabs. We waited an hour before asking if we could come back Sunday for lunch. We learned that in the first hour of the event they went through the entire amount of food they served during lunch. But – people eat more at dinner, they drink more so want more food and look at an evening event as more of a party. We never saw the cupcakes that were apparently there. And when we went back on Sunday the pudding desserts were gone within an hour and a half.
• The staff was fantastic. People were hustling to clean up, put out more food and answer questions. When we asked to come back and not wait longer they could not have been more accommodating. 5 stars to the staff!
• Bigger cups for cocktails. I understand not wanting people to get inebriated, but a shot-glass sized cup is too small.
• Music was a perfect fit. The bands all had a sound that made you feel like you were in Maryland at a beach bash. Although, the decibel level was a tad high for a venue that didn’t absorb sound. Our voices are a bit scratch from trying to talk over it.

Were you at the event? What did you think?

Hammer & Claws Check-in

The Band

Hammer & Claws Blue Crabs

Rick’s Picks Beans and Cole Slaw

Before

After

The Scene

Beer and Cocktails…cocktail was the size of a shot glass

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