Friday Photo: Crab-Stuffed Potatoes, T. Oliver’s Seafood and Soul Food

Looking for something to grace your holiday table this season that doesn’t involve turkey or a spiral ham? The crab-stuffed potatoes at T. Oliver’s Seafood & Soul Food at the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg are one of my favorite dishes.  They’re made of Asiago cheese, lump crab, and Hellman’s mayonnaise pocketed into baby red-skinned potatoes that are broiled until bubbly and charred — in other words, they’re bite-sized creaminess with a hint of sharpness, baked into a cozy potato shell.  I routinely crave these little guys for a Saturday lunch, steaming hot and sprinkled with just a bit of salt.  Recently, I took a dozen to my boyfriend’s family for Thanksgiving to share, and they were so popular that we actually forgot to broil them — we gobbled up a dozen potatoes raw, straight from the genius egg carton packaging.

Also check out T. Oliver’s stand for whole seafood and other holiday crowd-pleasers, such as shrimp salad, citrus “mojo,” codfish cakes, clams casino, oysters Rockefeller, and fresh calamari.  All prepared foods, according to stand manager Jim Woltman, are made to be as hassle-free as possible: either grab and go from the hot foods case, or buy it chilled, heat, and serve.

T. Oliver's Seafood and Soul Food, Broad Street Market, Harrisburg

Crab-Stuffed Potatoes, T. Oliver's Seafood and Soul Food

Crab-Stuffed Potatoes: $8.75/dozen, $4.75/dozen

T. Oliver’s Seafood and Soul Food
Brick Market Building
Broad Street Market
1233 North Third Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
717-234-5000

Wednesday, 7AM – 2PM (limited vendors)

Thursday-Friday, 7AM – 5PM

Saturday: 7AM – 4PM

Friday Photo: Pennsylvania crab shack

Fairfield, Pennsylvania, August 2011

So, I know I grew up eating liver ‘n onions, Central-PA proud, but I’ve still never seen crabs served on a cafeteria tray before Dave & Jane’s Crabhouse in Fairfield, PA.  For $36.95 a person, enjoy all-you-can-eat crabs, Alaskan crab clusters, and steamed shrimp along with salad, soup, hush puppies, and broasted chicken if you think you have room, which I did not.

If the sound of your mallet-whacking, crab-cracking, seafood-slurping neighbors aren’t enough to break the atmosphere, you also won’t be bothered by this restaurant’s fluorescent lights, Styrofoam tableware, and tables covered with brown paper that can be easily removed, along with your mess, once you leave.  As you wander out, delusionally full with seafood, you will undoubtedly be surprised to see green rolling hills around the parking lot and not crashing waves about some dark ship’s hull.

Yar.