Sunday August 20th, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. We had a group in Friday night that was celebrating a new citizen. We presented the new American with a certificate honoring his first meal at Catfish Deweys as a new U.S. Citizen and then his wife dragged him up on stage to lead the entire dining room in the Pledge of Allegiance. A pretty special moment and a Catfish Deweys first. ___________________________ _________________________ Sunday August 6th, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 1:20 PM Heading in now for tonights country hoedown. Weather forecasts were for a rainy day today, but I'm happy to report breezy and partly cloudy. I'll try and get some fresh photos from the show. As of this note, there are 71 days until Stone Crab Season! _______________________ ____________________ Thursday July 27, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 9:05 PM Hooray! The canvas went on the awning frame this morning. And after only nine months! As soon as I figure out if it's a boy or a girl, I'm going to name it. I'm leaning toward Wilma if it turns out the new awning is a girl. ______________________ __________________ Sunday July 23, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 1:45PM Finally... progress on replacing the awning that was ripped off in hurricane Wilma. The awning company finished the frame and attacheched it to the building. I suppose sometime early this week the canvas will be attached. Needless to say, we're hoping this one doesn't get blown off very soon. Getting ready to head in now... today is all you can eat snow crab legs, and that means a busy night. ______________________ __________________ Tuesday July 4, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 1:00PM Happy Independence Day! We celebrate the birth of our nation. The document that started the process, the Declaration of Independence can be read here. or copy and paste this address into your browser window. http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/document/ _______________________ ____________________ Tuesday June 27, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 12:15 PM Well, as you may have noticed, I haven't been keeping up with this thing lately. Had a three day spell in Holy Cross when a hernia repair went sideways with a small complication, but everything is fine now, and each day I'm closer to 100%. (And any lawyers... not interested.) We still get calls about stone crabs, but stone crab season won't reopen until October 15th, so for the next few months my posts here may be a bit spotty. In addition to our farm raised catfish, the big item now is our Alaskan Snow Crabs legs. Normally, a dinner of two pounds of them goes for $21.95, but on Sunday and Thursday we run them as all you can eat specials for $23.95. Evidently, the most dangerous job in the world, Alaskan crab fishing, doesn't deter our customers because Sundays and Thursdays are still "busy-season" crazy days. So... I'd like to remind everyone that on Monday andTuesday we run our all you can eat shrimp special. Large (21-25) fried shrimp and steamed peel-n-eat shrimp are all you can eat for $15.95, and Wednesday is Bar-B-Que night... all you can eat Baby Back Ribs for $16.95. Another question we get is about reservations. We normally don't take reservations. The exception is our monthly hoe-down where we reserve tables around the stage. We also will reserve for large groups of ten or more aytime, but less than that just come on in. This time of year the only days where we run a wait for a table are Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The long lines (which always humble me) that wrap around the building are on hold until stone crab season reopens. By the way... stay safe, keep your hurrican larder full and let's all hope we get a bye year. ____________________ _______________ Monday 5-29-2006 Memorial Day Posted by Dewey Jr. 12:30 PM Everyone at Catfish Deweys wishes everyone an enjoyable holiday today, and hopes we all take a moment to reflect and give thanks for all those that have given their lives in defense of this nation. ____________________ ________________ Monday 5-22-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 12:00 Noon Well, that's it for fresh stone crabs folks. The stone crab season opens back up in mid-October. I don't plan on buying any frozen stone crabs but we still have our very popular special on Alaskan snow crab legs. Every Sunday and Thursday large Alaskan snow crab legs are featured as the all-you-can-eat special for $23.95. ______________________ _________________ Tuesday 5-16-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 10:30 AM STONE CRABS !!! We will be getting the last delivery on Wednesday, 5-17-2006. Monday, the 15th was the last day they could pull traps, and we've got a boat full allocated to us, but they won't be delivered until tomorrow. They were caught yesterday, sorted, and by the time they are all graded, cooked, boxed and iced it will be late today. Then, early tomorrow, they start the long journey to our coolers so we can serve them to you. This is as fresh as they come. ______________________ ___________________ Tuesday 5-9-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 12.20 PM Mother's Day is this coming Sunday, so I'd like to wish all the beautiful Moms out there a wonderful and happy Mother's Day! (Happy Mother's Day, Nan!! :-)) We normally open on Sundays at 4:00 PM, but on Mother's Day we open a little earlier. The doors will open at 2:00 PM this Sunday and we expect to have an excellent supply of stone crabs too! This will be just about the last opportunity to get fresh Florida stone crabs this season. Monday, the 15th is the last day they can pull traps for stone crabs so there is a chance we will have supply for the early part of next week. I'll keep you posted on that, but in the meantime, remember Mom! ______________________ ________________ Saturday 5-6-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:40 AM We've been getting plenty of stone crabs all this week, and today we're expecting a delivery fresh from the Keys, and what's even better news, the price has dipped downward once again on the large stone crabs. Not a whole lot, but a slightly lower price is certainly better than slightly higher! The Air-Sea Show on Fort Lauderdale beach is today and tomorrow where over a million people will cram themselves together on the beach to see the jets (Blue Angels, F-15, F-14, F-16, B-1-B, B-2, F-117) the ships and the mock Marine assault with LCAC's and Cobra gunships, the B-52 drop a stick of watermelons on a target offshore, Navy SEAL parachute team, Army parachute team and a whole lot more, so have fun today and tomorrow, Fort Lauderdale! __________________________ __________________ Monday 5-1-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:50 AM Well, we don't have many stone crabs for tonight, but for Tuesday and Wednesday it looks like they are lining up nicely. Remember, season ends May 15th, so fresh Florida stone crabs will be available for only two more weeks. _______________________ _________________ Saturday 4-22-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:45 PM Stone crabs good for Sunday, mediums, large and jumbos, though if you're coming for the jumbos, come earlier rather than later. I'll be on an excursion in the Caribbean all next week, unrelated to work, so it may be a while before I post again. ______________________ _________________ Monday 4-17-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday, yesterday. What a beautiful day it was, here in South Florida... clear (and I mean crystal clear) blue sky, mid 80's and last night it was about 63. We have more stone crabs coming tomorrow, and a side note... there's 28 days left for Stone Crab Season. ________________________ _____________________ Thursday 4-13-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:30 AM Easter Sunday weekend approaches and I must remind everyone we will be closed on Easter Sunday. We have an excellent supply of medium stone crabs lined up through Saturday, and a fair amount of large... however the jumbos suddenly seem to have vanished. That may change, and it might be a result of this particular weekend (Good Friday and all...) but if I can add any jumbos into the pipeline I'll post up here without delay. If none appear, then it's going to be mediums and large, and my wishes for a happy and wonderful Easter Holiday. ____________________ _______________ Saturday 4-8-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 10:45 AM We have jumbos, large and mediums coming today, and what's more... the price has moved downward, so our price at the table is a little lower across the board on stone crabs. I can't say if this is a supply/demand anomaly, or if this is a trend for the remainder of the season, but either way this is welcome. _________________________ ___________________ Wednesday4-5-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:30 AM We'll be good with stone crabs today and tomorrow. Starting to gear down too, a bit, so the long waits are not as long as they were. I am humbled by how many folks waited patiently to eat all through this busy season, and though the waits are still there most nights, they are not as long as before. (In this photograph (click here) you can see our wait line well before sunset. You can also see we are still in repair-mode from the hurricane and we are still waiting for our new awning over the front.)Most locals know this pattern and will start venturing out again soon, so if you're a visitor here and want to mingle with the local population around good seafood, now is the time and this is the place. _______________________ ________________ Tuesday 3-28-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:10 AM We should be receiving a good amount of medium, large and jumbo stone crabs today, and there's more in the pipe line for tomorrow. The weather is still beautiful, so I'm hoping this helps offset a negative factor in stoone crab suply. That factor is, as we approach the end of the crab season (May 15th) many of the smaller operators call it a season and rack up their crab pots. I'm not sure why this is. One could imagine that the larger operators force them to do this in order to keep the supply deliberately smaller. You see, this is the time of year when the crazy, wild business is slowing up... meaning overall demand for stone crabs is dropping. If the supply remained the same, while demand shrinks, they wouldn't be able to keep the prices way up in the stratosphere. Perhaps there is the basis for a murder/mystery novel here, where a small, pot smoking stone crab fisherman refuses to pull his traps the last six weeks of season because he's also obligated to smuggle a load of cannibas and the evil mega-crabber has him done in. Hmmmm... If John D. MacDonald was still alive it would be a Travis Magee story. I wonder if Carl Hiaasen reads this blog? LOL "Stoned Crabs" _____________________ ________________ Saturday 3-25-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 4:00 PM This cold front (we're going to the mid forties tonight, frost in north Florida) has kept most of the stone crab fleet moored, consequently we got only a few mediums and large in for tonight. It's highly probable they won't last the night, so if you're coming for stone crabs tonight, come earlier rather than later. Tomorrow, Sunday, looks really grim... we may not have any stone crabs at all on Sunday, but if that changes I'll put up a note here to that effect. The good news is, the sky is a bright, clear blue and if you're out in the sun the solar warmth feels good in combination with the crisp air. The beaches are packed, the ocean water is this sublime clear blue... out further where the Gulf Stream is closest you see a deeper, darker blue; the natives are friendly and the visitors in heaven. There's sailboats, power boats, wind surfers, jet skis and para-sailors. Every half hour a big white cruise ship sorties out of Port Everglades for somewhere in the Caribbean. It's absolutely beautiful in South Florida in March and today is a picture of weather perfection. _____________________ _________________ Tuesday 3-21-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 12:00 Noon Just got confirmation we will be recieving medium, large and jumbo stone crabs today, and more lined up for tomorrow. Weather channel shows fair conditions over the next few days... some rain... some wind, but to me it doesn't look too bad for fishing boats, so I'm hoping stone crab supply will remain good through this weekend. ____________________ ________________ Monday 3-20-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 12:35 PM Ever since Captain Mike, formerly our primary and most reliable stone crab supplier, retired, aquiring stone crabs has been a challenge. In fact, it has developed into a system best described as fishing with 7 or 8 lines in the water. You don't know which line will get a bite, but hope at least one does. And almost never does a line get a bite on Sunday or Monday, but today we did snag some medium stone crabs for this evening. We sold out of all yesterday, but we should be good to go on mediums for tonight. Still keeping all other lines wet for tomorrow, but I'll let you know later how well that went. __________________________ ____________________ ***CORRECTION*** Correction to my Thursday note below about winning best place for stone crabs in the Sun Sentinel City Link. What we won, was top spot in the "10 things we can't live without" article. We were noted in the piece for our Alaskan Snow Crab Legs all you can eat special on Thursdays and Sundays. Big photo of the crab legs too. It wasn't about our stone crabs, but that's okay... I can barely aquire enough of them as it is. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Update to Saturday post. 1:15 PM Large stone crabs did in fact arrive today! Yay! We're good on mediums, large and jumbos. AYCE offered for all three, as well as single portion dinners. Side note: Not sure if you want a two pound dinner of stone crabs or the all you can eat? You can order the two pound, and convert it into an all you can eat if you like. Just tell your server. ~~~~~~~~~~ Saturday 3-18-2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 11:45 AM We have plenty of medium stone crabs coming in today and a fair amount of jumbos. Interestingly, the large stones were in short supply. We have some, but it looks like they will be offered only as one and two pound dinners. ______________________ _______________ Thursday March 16, 2006 Posted by Dewey Jr. 9:45 AM I've been remiss in keeping you up to date, but it has been terribly busy. However, for those of you that have been coming in, you know we have been able to maintain adequate supplies of stone crabs. I have more coming in today, and more lined up for Friday, so things look good. Scott, the foodrunner, told me last night he had read in the City Link paper (part of the local Sun Sentinel) that Catfish Deweys won a "BEST OF" category... best place for stone crabs! Now I know we do a good job with stone crabs, but that is the priciest food item in South Florida, and years ago when I made the decision to carry them, it was with considerable reservation, because we are, after all, a very humble catfish restaurant and I wasn't sure an item four or five times the price of everything else on the menu would fly. But it has, and I am very grateful to all of our loyal friends that come for catfish, and stone crabs and always make it a point to look for me and say hello. For example, last night I was back in my closet of an office with my head buried in this computer, bank statement, credit card statements slogging through the checkbook reconcilliatioon when I came out front to get a glass of ice water and people came up to tell me hello and all sorts of things. It makes all the work seem worthwhile. It's good for the ego, I'm here to tell you. Thank you all, most sincerely.
