Waterfront Crabby Lady Restaurant is charming, no-frills dining — JLB review

On a drizzly summer afternoon in a tiny fishing village overlooking Goodland Bay, Crabby Lady Restaurant turns into a charming and magical place.

It must be something about the way a man with a cigarette in his mouth and an unbuttoned floral shirt strums a guitar in the corner.

Or the way the afternoon rain dribbles down from the vinyl weather curtains and drips into the brackish water bellow the deck, and how tiny crabs skitter from side to side on a tangle of branches sticking out of the bay.

And then I swirl another bite of Key lime pie in a bright red strawberry drizzle, and everything feels just right.

In the Know:Crabby Lady Restaurant relaunches in Goodland

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The waterfront restaurant has a long and winding history.

When Crabby Lady first opened more than 25 years ago, it shared space with a bait shop on the northern edge of Goodland, which is just a few miles east of Marco Island. Capt. Butch Cameron, an avid fisherman and well-known crabber, named the place after his crab boat, and he ran the restaurant with his wife for nearly a decade.

It sat idle for five years after that, before new owners reopened it as Marker 8 restaurant. Most recently, though, it was Marker 8.5 before Hurricane Irma made landfall in September, causing extensive damage and closing the place for almost a year.

Hurricane Irma:Some area restaurants not reopened after storm

And now this latest chapter has come full circle.

The restaurant is back in the Cameron family name. Butch Cameron died four years ago, but his son, Greg, refurbished the place and reopened Crabby Lady on July 1.

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It's the kind of place you stay a while.

Partly because the credit card machine goes down when it rains, apparently.

But also because I'm in no hurry to leave when my waitress, with a delightfully Southern accent and the manners to match, keeps bringing me another Crabby Lady Ale.

"It's like a cross between a Bud Light and a Budweiser," she explained, and I about fell out of my chair and into the bay.

But honestly, I can't think of a better brew for this place.

It tastes like you might imagine (light, easy-drinking, a little skunky), but somehow it paired nicely with a heaping pile of Old Bay blue crabs.

They're laborious things, tossed in Old Bay and glistening with melted butter, so I decided to take my time. Goodland is a crabbing community, evidenced by the rows and stacks of crab traps you pass on the drive in. The blue crabs are locally caught, although I wish Crabby Lady would own that more. It should be on the menus. On the walls. On T-shirts. When you're that close to the water, I want to know exactly where they come from, who caught them, when they were harvested.

Still, I rolled up my sleeves and got to cracking for those salty-sweet lumps of meat, sending tiny little shards of shell every which way, some of them probably landing in my beer and in my bowl of seafood bisque.

That bisque, flecked with little white seafood threads, was wonderfully creamy and finished with a sprinkling of parsley. It's also one of Crabby Lady's signature dishes. It's easy to see why when it's drizzling outside and there's a breeze sweeping across the bay. I'm more likely to cozy up to a warm bowl of bisque on those days. I lucked out.

On the hot and sunny days I go for the smoked fish dip — delicately smoky and so, so Florida.

There's nothing fancy about Crabby Lady, where mounted tarpons and crabs serve as the only decor on the dark, wooden walls. Faucets pop off in the bathrooms. Fried shrimp so dry and bland that I'm sure they must have sat out for too long.

But it's the atmosphere you go for, that neighborhood bar where residents cruise up in their golf carts and order a bucket or two of Bud Light.

And where one of the waitresses is mysteriously Russian? 

You do go to Crabby Lady, though, for the Key lime pie. The kind that's bright and tangy in a muted way, the kind that doesn't make you pucker. Its fluffy meringue top has been torched just so, giving it browned and toasted peaks. A buttery, crumbly graham-cracker crust rested in a strawberry drizzle (not that it needed it).

And I remember then how happy I am with a slice of scratch-made Key lime pie.

Suddenly the credit card machine had started working again, and my waitress finally brought my final receipt. But then a musician had arrived and the rain had stopped, and so I went in for another few bites of the pie, content to stay a little while longer.

Jean Le Boeuf is the pseudonym used by a local food lover who dines at restaurants anonymously and without warning, with meals paid for by The News-Press or Naples Daily News. Follow the critic at facebook.com/jeanleboeufswfl or @JeanLeBoeuf on Twitter and Instagram. 

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Crabby Lady Restaurant

123 Bayshore Way, Goodland

• Food: ★½☆☆

• Atmosphere: ★★☆☆

• Service: ★★☆☆

• Price: $$-$$$

• Call: 239-500-2722

• Web: crabbylady.com

• Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday

• Noise level: Moderate

• Etc.: Outdoor seating

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Sample Menu

Breakfast

• Three egg omelet, $7.99

• Pancakes, $5.99

• Butch's breakfast, $14.99

Lunch

• Shrimp salad, $13.99

• Fried basket, $15.99

• Burger, $10.99

What the symbols mean

Our new stars system, explained

★ - Fair

★★ - Good

★★★ - Excellent

★★★★ - Exceptional

$ - Average entree is under $10

$$ - $10-$15

$$$ - $15-$20

$$$$ - $20-$25

$$$$$ - $25 and up