The Washington Crab Shack, a recent addition to Washington’s menu, offers a place in which seafood buffs can enjoy local products, cooked in a variety of ways.

According to owner Tony Tripp, who also owns Washington Crab and Oyster Company, the local seafood retail market has done well. Tripp noticed a demand for “a good place to eat local seafood” — a demand that has had no supply, until now.

“People around here know what local seafood and know what fresh product is,” said Tripp. “I just felt strongly about handling the local product.”

According to Tripp, he feels that, by handling a volume of the products, he can afford to get local seafood cheaper while keeping quality high.

“That’s what led me into this,” Tripp said. “I started looking real hard about two years ago.”

Tripp was unable to integrate such an establishment into the crab company due to facility restrictions, causing him to back away, initially.

“Then the facility on John Small came open,” Tripp said. “I pursued it and went ahead and picked it up last October. We opened up in November.”

According to Tripp, his assumptions regarding the local market were right on.

“We have had a tremendous response,” Tripp said. “We have done very little advertising. We haven’t put out a lot of information on our opening. It has mostly been word of mouth and that’s the best kind of advertisement. People seem to be very excited about us being open there.”

According to Tripp, the Washington Crab Shack, proven to be a popular destination among seafood lovers, offers local products fried, steamed and grilled.

“That’s what is different, I guess,” Tripp said. “We’re not fancy; we’re on Styrofoam, but we are selling high quality seafood. You’re there for the food and there’s a laid back atmosphere in a good clean environment.”

According to Tripp, through connections to direct processing as well as not using chemicals to process the seafood, the quality remains extremely high at an affordable price. This summer, Tripp said he plans to get into more steamed products such as country boils or steam pots.

“I want to get more into the outdoorsy, family style type eating where you get a group of people coming in, 4 to 8 people or more, and just relax — good food and good company and just relax,” Tripp said.

During the summer, Washington Crab Shack operates from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

Washington Crab Shack is located at 1212 John Small Avenue in Washington.

For more information or to place an order, call 252-974-2722.