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Whether you are one of those people who are driven to distraction by the ubiquitous Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Café radio jingle, or find it foot-tappingly catchy—or one of the very rare few who have never heard the radio ad—there is no contesting the fact that the ditty offers a brilliant narrative of one of Montauk’s classic summer resort eateries.
The banjo tune may be a bit hokey, but it wouldn’t do the Crabby Cowboy—on East Lake Drive in Montauk (in case you haven’t been listening to the lyrics)—justice if it wasn’t. The song hits all the important highlights of the Crabby Cowboy: it’s on the water, family friendly, across from the Montauk airport, serves a mix of seafood and barbecue dishes, and has great onion rings. What more do you need to know—other than the address and telephone number, which are in there too, and now burned into the brains of East End residents after four years of regular play?
Crabby Cowboy owner Rick Gibbs wrote the jingle himself and doesn’t pretend the joint is anything other than what his lyrics proclaim. The Crabby Cowboy (a name nodding to both the seafood and barbecue offerings) is as old-school as it gets. Housed in cavernous barn-like building with broadly spaced banquet tables inside and wooden picnic tables outside, the Crabby Cowboy is not plush.
At night, there’s a fire pit for adults to sit around with cocktails, and an ice cream bar to keep the kids satisfied. The waterfront is lined with boats and, as the song says, there are often planes zooming low overhead to land at the airstrip across the street. There are no reservations taken and Mr. Gibbs and wife, Laurie, brag of having accommodated parties of 25 people at the drop of a hat.
And if you do have a party of 25 people, Mr. Gibbs is pretty confident that his kitchen will be able to keep them all happy. The menu at Rick’s, as advertised, is that of a classic seafood shack and barbecue joint with touches of good old American comfort food. The lineup is carefully chosen with an eye to satisfying just about anyone.
Seafood is prominent on the menu—it’s Montauk, after all—and barbecue basics come in giant, family-style portions. Then there are standards like mozzarella sticks and Caesar salad, steaks and burgers (including veggie burgers) and an ample kids’ menu.
“If you can’t find something you like here, you must want Chinese food,” said Mr. Gibbs, who works in the kitchen at dinnertime alongside longtime chef Bryan Coote. “That’s why we did seafood and barbecue and all the other stuff. We wanted everyone to be happy.”
For starters, there are Rick’s “World Famous” onion rings, which are a big seller. Mr. Gibbs said they’re so beloved because he slices them super thin before frying.
Buffalo wings, jalapeño poppers, fried calamari, shrimp cocktail and steamed mussels are also on the menu. Steamers and clams on the half shell come from Montauk’s working baymen. Pressure steaming is the key to the great steamer clams, Ms. Gibbs said, noting that she eats at least two orders a week.
There’s also clam chowder, Manhattan and New England style, and Caesar salad. Appetizers run from about $8 to $11 and are big.
Child-friendly items are also plentiful. There’s plenty for kids to choose from, including chicken or fish nuggets, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese and other pasta items. All kids’ dishes are $8.95.
For dinner, the seafood menu is long: lobster in the rough; lobster rolls, crab cakes, fried, broiled or baked stuffed flounder, fried shrimp, calamari, grilled tuna steaks, a clam bake bowl, steamers, shrimp scampi; king crab legs; mussels and stuffed shrimp. Seafood entrées are priced from $19 to $25, except for market-priced steamers and lobsters.
The barbecue is Southern style, smoked for 18 hours and tossed in a sauce concocted by Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Coote. Piles of pulled pork, St. Louis style ribs, half chickens and combo platters are all $21 and are big enough to feed at least two people with normal size appetites.
Grilled rib eye steak, oven roasted chicken and bacon cheeseburgers, as well as the aforementioned vegetarian burger option, round out the menu.
Ms. Gibbs said that the cheeseburgers are coveted in Montauk and draw locals from all the way across the lake on weekdays.
The Crabby Cowboy may not be long for this world. Mr. Gibbs has submitted an application to East Hampton Town to replace the restaurant and a cluster of surrounding efficiency apartments with a condominium complex. But the project is likely a long time in the offing and the Crabby Cowboy is still scheduled to open its doors as usual next summer.
Still, if you want to see what that eerily compelling jingle is all about, you probably should go now. Mr. Gibbs said the Crabby Cowboy will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week until Columbus Day and on weekends after that as long as business is good. Ms. Gibbs suggested that diners call in advance to make sure they’re still around, since her husband is prone to rash decisions.
435 East Lake Drive, Montauk; 668-3200
Lunch and dinner served seven days until Columbus Day, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Master Card and Visa accepted.
No reservations
Handicapped accessible.
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