Joe’s Crab Shack Opens to Line

I'm an urban camper. I seldomly see stars. I have never seen any wild life other than maybe a rat digging in the garbage or a feral cat or two. But I have eaten trail mix while camping. And I have definitely used a sleeping bag and made a makeshift tent.

No, today I wasn't camping for smores. It was all for the love of crab.

Crabs are basically deities in my family. Miller Street! Even quarterly crab-fests. Yup... once a quarter we create a buffet to honor our crustacean friends, consisting of everything from Dungeness claws and snow legs, to crab cakes and crab guacamole. Butter and lemon everywhere.

So when Joe's Crab Shack, which officially opens today at 11am in the Courtyard by Marriott on Broad and Lafayette, said people could win free crab for a year (or even a year!) I knew it was time to go camping. I've camped for everything from sneakers to PlayStations, but never for food. And the food absence is only because we have a newborn and I couldn't justify traipsing into the city for a cronut.

But this is different. This is a chance to camp in Newark. And this is for crab!

But on the way to bond in line with fellow crab lovers, something remarkable happened. At the wee hours I was reminded of why I love our underdog of a city. Broad and Market, a whipping post if there ever was one, was full of LIFE.

Way before the sun could even think to shine, there at our crossroads stood teachers, students, airport workers, bankers, bakers, seamstresses, nurses...life. Everyone either shuffling to their towers or other parts of the city to breath life into every section and sector. So clean and efficient, not any of the misnomers often portrayed either by folks with misguided angst or fear of the urban unknown.

That is what camping is all about, isn't it - to lose yourself, only to find it again, but in a happier and more peaceful place? Thank God for crab!

The first person on line was spotted Monday afternoon, Greg, who travelled from Long Island and who is excited to travel once a month to Newark for his bucket of snow crab. He was joined later that night by a local high-rise resident who rolled her lazy-boy onto Broad Street to spend the night.

Joe's Crab Shack officially opens at 11am. They softly opened this past weekend for training. They will have a daily Happy Hour Monday through Friday from 4-7; Tuesday specials and more to come.