When the Search for Food While Traveling Goes Awry

It's true. Sometimes in unfamiliar places, the search for Yum can take an unwanted direction. Let's face it - when you put "Bloody Mary's and Crab Cakes on the Water" into Google Search, it's only going to take you just so far. Here's the third and final part of our Long Island Trip.

The search for YUM Sunday food goes awry

This doesn't happen to me. I'm not a planner when I travel - I like to see where the wind blows me. But I usually have a good food find ready in any possible wind direction. Sunday, I was caught off guard.

We took a beautiful morning drive out to Oak Beach where Tim spent a lot of time growing up at his family's beach house. It was the perfect day and Oak Beach was a little piece of paradise that I can't even begin to describe.
The entire time we were there I was wishing we had brought a picnic lunch. Exactly: Chicken Salad Sandwiches on Bulky Rolls with lettus and tomato, Salt and Vinegar Chips and some kind of juice to drink....let's make it a Nantucket Nectar.
After a beautiful walk on the beach it was clear my cravings were not going to appear before us, so we jumped in the car and I jumped on Google. By this time, my hankering for beach picnic food was long gone -as I stated before, I was onto a HUGE craving for Bloody Mary's and Crab Cakes.

We stopped at a local place Tim remembered going to when he was younger, but that turned up only a small deli concession type deal. No bloody mary's. We moved on. I was on a mission.

Google steered us directly to my exact wishes at Captain Bills Waterfront Restaurant. Only a five minute drive away. However, when we arrived there was ONLY valet parking on the pier. We refused to get valet for Sunday lunch and circled the block and found our own spot. We walked up and I was so excited - mere seconds away from a delicious beverage and seafood!

We walked in and sat down at the bar. A large, delicious looking bloody mary was at the opposite end of the bar awaiting it's lucky recipient.
However, it turns out that Captain Bill would not serve a normal menu, even a bar menu, until 1:30pm (almost an hour away at this point!) Our only option was a ridiculously fancy Sunday brunch. FAIL.
We left.
By this time we were STARVING and I had let a Bloody Mary slip right out from under my nose.

The next search suggestions left us out on the next pier staring at Molly Malone's Pub or the Chowder Bar. I made a quick split second decision (I was about to have a grumpy, hungry husband on my hands) and we went with the Chowder Bar.

In another situation, I would have LOVED this place. And I really did try while we were in there. But, you couldn't see the water, it was a little dark, they only had beer or wine (NO BLOODY MARY'S!) and the crab cake sandwich I had was a bit greasy and made my tummy sick for hours afterwards. The chowder was really different too. It had just a little bit too much of one spice in it but I couldn't put my finger on which one it was. It was basically a neat little diner with tons of character - SUPER COOL. Don't get me wrong - I would recommend this place. Just to someone in a different food mood than what I was in!

Needless to say, I got an 'F' for the Search for YUM Travel on Sunday. Lesson learned- try not to get hung up on one craving when you don't know where to satisfy that thirst!

P.S. I finally got a bloody mary on the ferry back to New London. It was delicious :)

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