By the time dinner rolls around, my Southern Maryland home, with an ineffective AC unit, is hot enough to drive this woman out of the house and into a restaurant. With my visiting parents, I took a suggestion from my new editor to go to Fitzy’s restaurant. Fitzy’s is perched on the end of Newtown Neck about 15 minutes from my home. I had the distinct feeling of deja vu’ as the setting was so similar to the Dolphin Marina in Harpswell, Maine. Water surrounds the little peninsula and the restaurant has windows all around to let you enjoy the islands that pillow the horizon and sailboats that skim along in the windy waves. I had the expectation that Fitzy’s, located in a working marina, would be a crabber’s bar. It is nothing of the sort.
Danny Fitzgerald, son of the original Fitzy, showed me around. Danny is an impressive man. Ruddy and white-blond from the sun, he stands about seven feet tall. Okay maybe not that tall, but I’m already 5 foot 10 and it takes a lot of height to impress me. He told me that the original building was destroyed during hurricane Isabel in 2003. Clean and newish with butter-yellow siding, the two-story building is large with two wings. One wing houses a dining room and the other a bar. The bar room is complete with two pinball machines and a 75 cent pool table that my kiddos loved. There is an outside tiki bar and tables in the sand for beach party nights when bands play. Upstairs, there is a room for private parties of as many as 50.
Fitzy’s isn’t cheap. The price of a dinner ranges from $15 to $30 but the food was delicious and the portions large. We started with a pound of steamed shrimp that were spiced with Old Bay and cloves. Each shrimp was huge and tasty. Things just kept getting better. The broiled crab cakes were big enough to share and I loved that you could really taste and appreciate the crab meat. (Not a single shell, by the way.) My Dad had a broiled cod and my husband had salmon. Both loved their meals. My favorite part of the meal were the hush puppies dipped in honey. They were moist and just a little spicy.
Heather, our waitress was chipper and attentive. She introduced herself and made a point of moving around the table to take orders and give specials so that even my father (83) could hear and be heard. I can’t say enough about her amazing service. She was so attentive that she literally offered her back as a place for my hubby to sign the credit receipt. (He declined.)
I hope that some of my Maine friends will come visit if they can stand the heat. If they can’t, we’ll get out of the kitchen and go to Fitzy’s for a game of pool, a drink and some hush puppies.
Creative Chaos 