Nothing Says Love Like a Good Dose of Crabs

I stopped eating long enough for a picture.
Please ignore the sheen of butter on my chin.

Let's have a little chat about love. February is the month dedicated to love. This is due to the Hallmark invented, pressure inducing, overly commercialized, Valentines Day. Here's the thing. I'm over Valentines Day. Over it. I find as I get older, my wishes for sappy, romantic, over the top gestures wanes. I like getting flowers, I do, but really, at the end of the day, those fucking expensive roses are just going to sit in my house and rot. I guess it's that my priortities have changed. I'm more about experiences than stuff. So when my husband asked if I wanted anything for Valentines Day, I laughed my ass off. It was a hard no. Don't buy me some stupid flowers or overpriced chocolates. You know what we can do? Have a date night with lots of food and booze and just us laughing and enjoying each other like we do. 

So, my husband suggested we go for all you can eat crab and ribs at Bookers BBQ and Crab Shack because he knows I love eating shellfish with buckets of butter and a bunch of wine. If you would like to see the tumultuous history of my love/hate relationship with crustaceans, click here . 

Bookers has been in Calgary for about twenty years and it's shocking that Trev and I haven't made it there yet. It's located at the edge of downtown, near the river in a historic, hundred year old building. We booked through Open Table which is great because it has a spot to warn them that an annoying Celiac will be coming to ruin their shift. Trev also called ahead of time and felt very confident that they were on the ball.

The restaurant has a pub/sports bar feel so it's cozy and warm. We were a little bit early for our reso but they had no problem slipping us into a booth. We were immediately greeted by Karen, our server who was very knowledgeable about what Gluten Free items were available. There were a lot of options on the menu and I was happy to see it. However, I didn't go there to eat a burger. I wore stretch pants and a top I was willing to ruin with butter splatter so I could eat the shit out of some crab. 

Is there anything that says 'love' more than this?
Note: Trevor's drink is in the picture because I wouldn't put down my wine glass.

The All You Can Eat dinner was $56.95 per person and this changes according to the current market value. It includes unlimited ribs, sides and (of course) crab legs. We had the coleslaw for a side and it was awesome. Trev started with the ribs but I was all crab all day. He said the ribs were great and although I could have them, I wanted to leave maximum room for crab. After we ordered, the General Manager, Falyn dropped by the table and made sure I knew what BBQ sauces I could and could not have. She even gave us a history of the restaurant and the story of the original owner and his daughter which is also a story of love.

Soon after that, and by soon I mean that I drank a glass of pino grigio, so like four minutes or so. Our first order of crab and ribs showed up. The next two hours is a blur of shells, butter and laughter as Trev and I celebrated our love with the least sexy meal you can eat. It's so us. At one point, a hunk of crab fell down the front of my shirt into my tiny push up bra. We both looked down, looked at each other, shrugged and muttered 'get it later'. This is true love people.

The carnage of love.

Karen kept the crab and wine coming and didn't even judge me when I asked for my fifth round (yes...of both). She was charming and professional and made the experience so much better. She's a better person than I am, I SO would have made fun of me. The crab legs were a great size and each order came hot and often.

It's a total travesty that Trev and I have not been to Bookers BBQ and Crab Shack before now but I promise you, it's now on my list of loves. So brace yourself Bookers and ramp up the crab inventory, this Celiac will be back to shame eat herself into a coma very soon!