As you know, this week I went to Back Forty for their crab boil, held every Tuesday during the summer. I arrived late. Dave and my parents were sitting in anticipation…
To whet our appetites, these arrived:
fried codfish balls with a piece of yuca (manioc, cassava, whatever your word of choice may be) inside. They were delicious, and brought me back to my days in Brazil, where cod fish balls are a popular appetizer/bar snack. Before we were even done with the balls, our server arrived with a huge metal bucket filled with crabs and dumped them out onto the table.
Along with the all you can eat crab, comes an ever-replenishing supply of tasty sides: the codfish balls; some deliciously seasoned green beans; and some boiled, herbed potatoes. For those with patience (my mom and Dave) the meal was comprised of a long series of carefully picked out bits of crab meat. For those without (my dad and me), it was more of a smash, eat, and burn out. The aftermath:
One thing was for sure, we were all overdressed. We should have gone clad in ratty old T-shirts, instead we all left with our (mostly nice) clothes covered in crab juice and flecks of red from the spice rub that came on the crustaceans.
Dinner ended with a piece of mixed berry cobbler each, accompanied by a small shot of ice wine. Before dessert, we were all able to wipe our hands off with some hot towels, but that didn’t stop Kuma from attacking my hands with licks when I arrived home.
If you like crab, or simply want to have an evening of eating with your hands and pounding your food with a wooden mallet, then get your reservation requests in on Back Forty’s website as close to 10am on Wednesday as you can (that’s when they open the lines for the crab boil the following Tuesday). Good luck. And, whatever you do, don’t wear white.
