Phillips or Embers?

I%26#39;ve been going to OC for about 13 or so years. We always ALWAYS go to Philips and I do love it there. But I recently learned that they do not support the Maryland fishermen and import their blue crab from elsewhere, which kind of upsets me. Is Ember%26#39;s any better? Or are they both pretty much the same and maybe there is another all you can eat buffet somewhere that has about the same foods? Money doesn%26#39;t really matter much.

Phillips or Embers?

I admire your sense of Maryland patriotism, but you may be a little confused on the blue crab ';import'; issue. For crabcakes and other recipes that call for crabmeat, Phillips imports Asian swimming crab, which is not blue crab. Many other restaurants do the same, using crabmeat supplied by Phillips processing operations in southeast Asia.

But as for the whole, blue crab you order steamed and spiced with Old Bay: It%26#39;s the same animal, whether it comes from Maryland, the Carolinas, Florida, Louisiana or Texas. Most Maryland restaurants (including Phillips) supplement their supply of local blue crabs from the other states simply because there wouldn%26#39;t be enough to meet demand if they relied solely on Maryland crabs. At times, they may find there are *no* Maryland crabs available.

Crabs brought in from other states often mean the restaurant is paying more for them than local crabs due to higher transportation costs. The only advantage to a restaurant by ';importing'; them from the other states is that they have them available to serve to you, not that they%26#39;re somehow able to cut their costs of obtaining them.

Phillips or Embers?

have you tried the bonfire? very good food but they will not have as much seafood as phillips on the buffett. have not tried embers. for a good crab cake try captins galley in west ocean city.

Thanks, Tubman. I don%26#39;t quite remember where I had read about the Philips/blue crab thing. Which restaurant would you suggest?

I prefer Phillips. I think the one we go to is actually in Deleware.

I%26#39;ve never been to the one closer to the boardwalk.

Thanks Tubman, I have touched on this on another post. I%26#39;m not sure where this rumor started. Phillips has fronted a lot of money to help with the replenishment efforts of the Md. blue crab. If all the crab places in MD relied on only crabs from MD commercial waterman they would all be out of business! The supply isn%26#39;t there.

Sorry, I%26#39;m off my soapbox now. I don%26#39;t like the Ember%26#39;s at all. We either go to Phillips or the Bonfire. I like Bonfire the best, hubby likes Phillips because they have crab imperial on the buffet.

Not to throw this too off-topic, but I%26#39;ve posted the link to the City Paper article on Phillips before. http://tinyurl.com/s4nrn

And for crab fans, here are two more articles I found which give some good insight into the state%26#39;s crab industry:

Crab picking: http://tinyurl.com/3yvcp2

Research to improve crab breeding (note the aforementioned contribution by Phillips): http://tinyurl.com/2u2tud