OCEAN CITY – Thirty years of nostalgia.
That’s what the owners of Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack say customers can find at their new establishment.
On June 16, Jeremy Brink, Melissa Bunting and Rush Stehley opened the new Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack within the Food Lion shopping center off Route 611. Paying homage to the former Captain’s Galley seafood restaurant in West Ocean City, the eatery features crab cakes, along with house-made sandwiches, burgers, salads and more.
“We’re extremely proud of everything that comes out of that kitchen, every single day,” Brink said.
The three proprietors are no strangers to the restaurant industry. Brink, co-owner of Ocean 13, and Bunting and Stehley, employed with the Taustin Group, have been involved in the local hospitality scene for years.
But Brink said he and Bunting – a childhood friend – have been looking to open a new restaurant for some time. Joined by Stehley, the group saw their dreams come to fruition last month with the opening of Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack, a name derived from the iconic West Ocean City establishment once located on the harbor.
“Captain’s Galley was sold to the Taustin Group, and the Taustin Group wasn’t looking to do anything with the name or crab cakes,” Brink explained. “So we acquired the name through them.”
Brink and Bunting also recognized the Taustin Group for their support.
“That’s where I started my career, was at Captain’s Galley … I practically grew up there,” Bunting said. “It was something people missed. So we saw an opportunity to bring it back, and Cole [Taustin] was kind enough to allow us to acquire it.”
After finding space at the Food Lion shopping center, Brink said the team worked to renovate the interior and develop a menu that features Eastern Shore specialties. In addition to crab cakes, menu items include meatloaf sandwiches topped with a homemade tomato-bacon jam, a Chesapeake sandwich with blackened chicken and homemade crab dip, and a firecracker shrimp po boy, to name a few.
“It’s the typical Eastern Shore fare, but we jazz it up with our own flair …,” Brink said. “Our idea was to do big, beautiful sandwiches you can’t get anywhere else. I have a background in cooking, and we have a really great chef back there. Between all of us, we came up with a bunch of cool, different specialty sandwiches.”
Brink added that menu items are made from scratch using high-quality ingredients, and several products are sourced from local companies. The restaurant’s street corn, for example, uses local corn from Thompson Farms Produce, and their cocktail sauce is made from George’s Bloody Mary Mix.
“We’re part of this community, so we try to support our community,” he said.
The owners say Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack features daily specials, which are posted on the restaurant’s website and Facebook page. There’s also plenty of kitchen space to make and ship crab cakes, an operation they hope to implement in the fall.
“We’d like to get into the whole shipping aspect, and we definitely have enough room back there to add it to our operation,” Brink said.
Bunting said since opening Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack, she has seen old customers from her time at the original Captain’s Galley. She said she is eager to continue serving the community and hearing the memories they made at the former establishment.
“Captain’s Galley was a place that people went to for their weekly dinners, to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, that one nice dinner while on vacation,” she said. “There was a lot of generational patronage there, so people were happy to see us open up.”
Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and closed on Tuesdays. While the restaurant caters to carryout, limited seating is available.
To order online, view the menu or learn more about Captain’s Galley Crab Cake Shack, visit thecrabcakes.com or the restaurant’s Facebook page and Instagram account (@crabcakeshack). Customers can also call 410-213-CAKE (2253).
“There’s something for everybody,” Bunting said. “And it’s just really good food.”
