Blue Crab Legacy
What serves as a perfect meal after an athletic day of waterskiing and boating on the Severn River? Freshly steamed blue crabs with all the fixings from the local crab house, of course! Captain James Norton, the first captain to hoist the Maryland flags above the Ritchie Highway Crab House cherished these family crab feasts. He knew all ages would get a kick out of cracking and picking crabs from Nana to even the youngest grandson. These Traditional Maryland Crab Feasts brought pride in James’s eyes as he demonstrated the removing of the top carapace and scraping away the inedible parts of the blue crab. The process was exact and even his mother, Evelyn, sat in attention for the lesson.
The love of the feast took James on a dream of supplying a fresh catch to his fellow Baltimore Crab Fans. Since he had many years in the restaurant business as a Vice President of Food & Beverage for the Holiday Inns, he decided to start his own restaurant as a crab house with the finest blue crabs, salads, soups, and crab cake recipes. In fact, many of these recipes were borrowed from his mother. Time-honored, trusted, and traditional, these recipes, along with a passion for hospitality created a crab house like no other. He fired up the steamers of Ritchie Highway Crab House back in 1995.
Each year passed with a renewed fervor to keep those crab feasts true to the early day’s excitement around the picnic table. Captain James teamed up with crabbers from the Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of America to ensure 12 months of the year, he had the finest crabs. In fact, The Crab Depot received a rightful place as a go-to spot for authentic steamed blue crabs and sides in the Baltimore region. Once the calendar turned to January 2007, however, Captain James’s health started to turn for the worse and he searched out another experienced restaurant entrepreneur to take over the “ship.” Captain Greg Daley, well versed in hospitality and seafood gladly purchased The Crab Depot and promised Captain James to continue the Blue Crab Legacy.
With a renewed drive to reach surrounding communities, even to Ocean City, Captain Greg opened multiple brands connected to The Crab Depot to reach a wider market of blue crab fans. Crabcatering.com for bringing the steamers to your venue and Mid-Atlantic Crab Co. for wholesaling crabs, shrimp, and crawfish, to “The Crab Depot Crab House,” for shipping to all 50 states with a new streamlined website. In fact, the business flourished as the internet grew into premier importance in every American’s daily life. Captain Greg nurtured his son Max to accompany him with the demands of business growth. Surrounding businesses have now teamed up with Greg’s desire to offer the finest seafood on a national level.
The company has matured into a business that supports a resilient, hardworking crew and serves as a “home” to Pasadena and surrounding communities by holding crab feast fundraisers for local charities. The calendar has finally turned to November of 2026, marking 31 years since the first day of The Crab Depot. Captain Greg shares how he keeps his crew in check each day to deliver the finest Chesapeake Bay and beyond seafood. He smiles, scans over the fleet of crab trucks and says, “Let’s meet up again today to see how we can do it even better.” And so, the steamers turn up, and the crab smell continue to bellow from The Crab Depot’s Crab House.
