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For residents of the Delmarva Peninsula, at least those over 21 years of age, there may not be a more relaxing thing on a hot summer day than steamed crabs and a cold beer. Like Route 1 and heavy traffic, crabs and beer just go hand in hand.
Now one of the Cape Region’s favorite destinations for crabs and a frosty brew is formally opening its new home Wednesday, March 19. Lazy Susan’s, a fixture on the southbound side of Route 1, has moved across the highway to the northbound side and into a completely new and expanded facility.
Susan Fluharty, the restaurant’s namesake, runs Lazy Susan’s along with her husband, George, and daughter, Missy Murphy. Susan said she was happy at the old location but the move across the highway – and owning the building – just couldn’t be passed up.
“The opportunity came up that this property was for sale. It went to auction and we were lucky enough to come in at a bid we could negotiate with,” she said. “It wasn’t a planned plan ahead of time, although we admired this property for quite a while.”
Despite the new digs, Murphy said there are no big plans to change the menu or the atmosphere, although Lazy Susan’s will add some fried foods such as hush puppies and french fries, as well as possibly having a soft shell crab sandwich during the summer.
“We don’t want to change what makes us ‘us’ by any means,” Murphy said. “Our main focus is still crabs; it’s just that this building gives us more opportunity to do more crabs and have a little more space.”
The space offers an expanded kitchen, separated from the restaurant by an expanded outdoor deck, with eight burners and steam pots for steaming crabs. On the outdoor deck, overhead fans will keep customers cool on hot days.
Fluharty and Murphy said regular customers liked the new restaurant, which had a soft opening toward the end of last year.
“ I think the response was fabulous when they came in,“ Fluharty said.
“We had that month when everyone moved in and got used to it. It’s the same people, same employees, same menu, just different walls,” Murphy said.
Lazy Susan’s will be celebrating its 24th year in 2008, and the new facility held its first major event on Saturday, March 8, a benefit for the American Cancer Society in honor of Linda Wildasin, a bartender at Lazy Susan’s for 21 years who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Murphy said the event raised around $11,000 for the cancer society.
Contact Ryan Mavity at ryanm@capegazette.com.
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