Jimmy's Famous Seafood Archives

July 29, 2019 — Chesapeake Bay crabs have been so plentiful this year — a 60 percent increase over last year, according to an annual population survey — that locals such as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) have cheered the bumper crop as a sign of good stewardship for the bay and its fisheries.

And yet market prices for blue crabs seemed barely to move at all.

Around the Fourth of July — when crabpicking reaches its peak — prices for premium male crabs known as jimmies were about as high or higher than they were last year, at $325 and up for a bushel.

Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore — a restaurant that has been in a running feud with PETA over whether to eat crabs at all — was advertising Friday a price of $79 for a dozen crabs, dining in only.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

September 7, 2018 — After People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) targeted Maryland’s blue crab industry in an ad campaign last month, seafood restaurant Jimmy’s Famous Seafood is fighting back to protect its livelihood.

“It’s our livelihood and the Maryland blue crab is the bloodline of Maryland.…Tens of thousands of jobs depend on the Maryland blue crab economy on a daily basis,” John Minadakis, owner of Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Dundalk, Maryland, told SeafoodSource.

To that end, Jimmy’s launched a scathing Twitter campaign that, in part, accuses PETA of slaughtering kittens and puppies. The restaurant also posted a billboard featuring a photo of its steamed crab with the statement: “SteaMEd crabs. Here to stay. Get Famous.”

In late August, PETA placed a billboard near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, home to several seafood restaurants such as Phillips Seafood, McCormick & Schmick’s, and The Oceanaire Seafood Room. The billboard, which includes an image of a Maryland blue crab, states: “I’m me, not meat. See the individual. Go vegan.”

“Just like humans, crabs feel pain and fear, have unique personalities, and value their own lives,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. “PETA’s billboard aims to give Charm City residents some food for thought about sparing sensitive marine animals the agony of being boiled alive or crushed to death in fishing nets simply by going vegan.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Chesapeake Bay blue crabs are booming this year — so why are they still so expensive?

MARYLAND: Seafood restaurant wages war with PETA