Joe's Crab Shack

For my third dinner in Nashville I wanted to try something different from barbecue so I walked east from the hotel to 2nd Street and then north towards where it intersected with Broadway.  I had to cross 2nd Street a couple of times because the sidewalks were closed in parts.  I didn’t see anyone else walking the streets.  It was a bit cold and windy.  I had originally heard about Joe’s Crab Shack when looking up restaurants near the hotel using Mapquest.com.  I had already tried one seemingly out-of-place restaurant that day, Fiesta Mexicana, and it was pretty good so I thought I’d try a seafood place.  I guess it wasn’t entirely out of place since Nashville has the Cumberland River and Joe’s was fairly close to it.  The place was hard to miss.  On the south end of the building housing the restaurant lighted orange letters said, “Eat at Joe’s” and below them was a painting of an old sailor (Joe?).  It had another lit-up sign on the north corner of the building that said, “Joe’s Crab Shack.”

I entered the restaurant and it was very large with high ceilings, much larger than a mere shack.  It looked like it had tables on the upper floor.  There was a large bar area.  They seated me in a large open area that I’m guessing could double as a dance floor.  There was a stage along the back wall but it wasn’t in use this Wednesday evening.  A sign said they had live music on Friday and Saturday.  Hanging from the ceiling were seashell mobiles that looked like chandeliers.  Above me was hanging a model of a great white shark, though it looked more cartoonish than scary.  Above the stage on the wall were clocks that supposedly gave the time in different places.  They had clocks for Houston, Prince Edward Island, Disco Island (?), London, Green Bay, “Bay of Pigs”, and Nashville.  They didn’t look like they had the right times.  In fact, many looked like they had stopped.

The server came by and gave us a large menu.  It had many items in multiple sections.  There were all kinds of seafood: crab, shrimp, cod, tilapia, “surf & turf”, sandwiches, appetizers, burgers.  I asked the server about the crab-stuffed shrimp, inquiring whether it had dairy.  After checking she said everything on the menu had dairy except the hamburgers and fries.  Soon after, an older server, possibly a manager or chef, asked if he could help.  I ask if he could cook some tilapia in oil and he said, “Sure.”  He offered to spice it up with Cajun spices and serve it with fries.

My first course was a simple lettuce and crouton salad with a strawberry vinaigrette from which I easily picked out the croutons.  Not long afterward they brought out my fish on a large colorful plate with pictures of crabs around the outside.  The fish had red spices sprinkled on it and it was very good, cooked just right, though not heavy like fried fish.  The fries or “chips” were also good, fried until they were golden and crisp.  I ate slowly, enjoying the meal.  More customers came and were seated but the place never got crowded, not even half-full; it was just so big.  Maybe it gets more crowded on Friday and Saturday for the live music.  They played some music over the PA system including the Macarena to which a couple of servers briefly danced.  They were still very attentive, refilling my water and asking if I needed anything.

After I finished they brought me my bill.  Despite making a non-menu item special for me, they charged me for the relatively low-priced Fish & Chips ($10.99).  I tipped them extra for being so accommodating and then I walked back in the cold wind to the hotel.  It was a great meal for a seafood restaurant in a land-locked state.