Wachapreague, Virginia, AKA “Flounder Capitol of the World”, AKA “Little City By The Sea”, is also the home to the Island House Restaurant, one of Virginia Eastern Shore’s most picturesque waterfront dining spots. Located on our seaside, along the salty banks of a deep inlet from the Atlantic Ocean, not far from some colorfully named towns like Horsey, Painter and Modest Town, Wachapreague is a tiny Victorian-era town. Tiny as in population 232 per the last census. Although it’s known East Coast-wide for superb fishing and its super-popular annual “Marlin Catch and Release” tournament, for my husband, its main claims to fame are the fabulous crabcakes and elegantly presented , fresher than fresh, soft shell crabs served at the Island House.
Which brings us to last Sunday, a sunny and warm but not too warm day, perfect for a little drive and a late lunch. And hubby had a hankering, a hankering that he felt could only be satisfied by a sauteed lightly in butter, aromatic with “Old Bay” spice, flecked with tiny pieces of chopped parsley, served only when golden brown, delicious to the very last morsel, big fat crabcake from the Island House. Served with the crunchiest coleslaw ever, fresh green and purple cabbage sliced paper-thin, their creamy house slaw dressing drizzled on top, self-toss at the table, making their coleslaw the best around these parts. And who was I to deny such a hankering, I who could so easily envision some of their sweet potato wedges, deeply orange, sprinkled lightly with sugar, an appetizing aroma wafting up from a smidgen of cinnamon ? Yep, let’s do it.
The sea and seafood and the visitors who come for same are the lifeblood of Wachapreague, thus the little marine-oriented businesses you pass driving in on Main Street– the bait and tackle shops, a detached garage converted to a colorful ocean-going kayak shop, a couple of bed and breakfasts, a quaint little general store, decorative decoys painstakingly handcarved. Down the little side streets, a mixture of Victorian homes and traditional style cottages, some for sale. And along the shoreline facing Atlantic Avenue, a busy marine railway, a large public boat ramp, a big private marina, the smaller Town marina, the weathered cedar-sided Coast Guard station and VIMS, the renown Virginia Institute of Marine Science, which has pioneered so many of the state-of- the- art clam and oyster aquaculture practices used not just in Virginia but nationwide.
And of course, smack-dab on the inlet’s shores stands the Island House Restaurant, tall and proud, sporting weathered cedar shingle siding, ready to delight the senses. And not just taste but sight, smell and feel. An al fresco lunch on one of its multi-level waterfront decks yields not just a delicious meal but a chance to bask in the sun, soft and tangy sea breezes tickling across the skin, fish jumping and geese honking as they head down the inlet, boats passing to and fro as they return to or launch from the boat ramp, shorebirds soaring and calling nearby, the faint glitter of sand on Cedar Island far away. We especially love the sight of boats in the distance as they travel the narrow channel which winds through the great swaths of deep green marshland, creating the optical illusion that they are not really floating in water but instead actually glide along on the grass itself. This is because, as you gaze towards the horizon, you can no longer see the blue inlet waters, only the great salt meadows of fertile green marsh grasses stretching on and on and on, a truly beautiful sight, and as boats head back in from the Ocean they seem to be just sliding across the grass, white on green, towards port. But enough about fish and geese, boats and marshgrass, lunch was served, time to savor those crabcakes and sweet potato wedges.
(Posted by Marlene Cree, licensed Virginia agent with Blue Heron Realty Co., 7134 Wilsonia Neck Dr., Machipongo, VA)