My First Crab Broil at Azur’s Crabfest Wednesday
Taco Tuesday has a ring to it, but on Wednesday night there’s more to celebrate. We’ve made it past Humpday and are cruising our way toward the weekend. Luckily, D.C. has lots of Wednesday deals to help us celebrate. My Book (who are we kidding) Social Club decided to reunite this week after a long hiatus with a feast at Art and Soul’s Pig and Oyster Roast. Unfortunately, that will have to wait ’til another week, because at about 2:00pm I got a call that it had been cancelled due to the weather. In the time it took me to gripe that the sun was shining, I’d come up with a plan B: Azur’s Crabfest Wednesday. Azur just opened in April and the Crabfest has only been going on for about a month. Lucky for me, word hasn’t spread yet and I was able to snag a reservation for six of us just hours in advance.
While I’d read on a bunch of blogs that Crabfest was happening this summer, I hadn’t heard much from folks who had been. As much as I’d like to keep it my little secret, I suppose I owe it to you to tell you about a good thing when I find it. As we arrived, the first thing we noticed was the decor (which Julie immediately pointed out was all from West Elm!) The tables in the downstairs bar were stylishly decked out for a full on crab feast, complete with buckets and mallets. Although inside, there’s a lot of natural light so you don’t feel like you’re totally missing a sunny day. Or in our case, you can watch the rain storm (okay Art and Soul, you were right).
The oragami Crabfest menu features drink specials, including two specialty cocktails and two beer options from D.C. Brau. Of course we were drawn to the cocktails. Priced at only $6 for a fun cocktail made with house-infused vodka, they are a total steal. Our favorite was the old bay infused vodka with don ciccio and figli mandarine, compari and pineapple juice, finished with a salt and old bay rim.
The tomato and basil infused cocktail (think flavor of a Bloody Mary with the texture of a gin and tonic) was hit or miss with our crowd. Their full beer, wine and cocktail list was also available. I hope that they rotate some of their other cocktails onto the Crabfest menu throughout the summer because there were definitely a few others I had my eye on (mezcal! squid ink tequila!!)
For dinner, I recommend the whole broil (priced at $65 for a half-dozen or $120 for a dozen) served with potatoes, corn on the cob, kielbasa, hush puppies drawn butter, cocktail sauce and garlic aioli and finished off with a slice of key lime pie. The half-dozen will serve 2-3 people, depending on appetites.
You can also order blue crabs a al carte for $40 for a half-dozen or $75 for a dozen. Not a crab fan? Don’t like getting your hands dirty? The full menu is also available (warning: I heard the moules frites left something to be desired).
Of course I’ve never had any problem getting my hands (or face, or dry-clean only dress) dirty, so I dove right into the crab broil. Or at least I tried. You see, although I’ve eaten my share of lobsters, I’d never picked a crab. Luckily, I had Maryland girls on hand to give me a step-by-step and explain the important debates surrounding crabs: pick or pile and whether to eat the lungs.
The crabs were moderate in size, but I was amazed at how little meat you get out of those babies. Luckily, the platter also included three big links of sausage, perfectly spicy, two half ears of corn and a generous helping of potatoes, all sprinkled in old bay. The hush puppies were excellent, and came in handy to sob up the juice in the bottom of the shell in the absence of bread.
The chef was generous enough to send all six of us slices of the key lime pie, which was surprisingly one of the better key lime pies I’ve had. Or maybe I just appreciate Key Lime pie more when I’m not eating it three times a day? Regardless, it was a nice finishing touch to an awesome meal, and I will definitely be back for more.
