The Starboard Raw / The Starboard Claw
Many love to watch an oyster get shucked — the largess of a calciferous shell in a steady hand, the sweep of a carefully-handled knife in an insulated glove, and the final reveal, a slick oyster dripping of brine, ready to be slurped, cooked, doused, or grilled. We review Starboard Raw and Starboard Claw together because they essentially are the same seafood-inspired restaurant, Claw focusing on crab dishes and a plethora of seafood and land option dishes, and Raw focusing on oyster and steamed seafood – the rest of the menus are similar and the mood of the restaurants is welcoming and casual. Both include standard coastal seafood and land lover offerings, and plenty of drink options. Claw presents steamed blue crabs by the dozens (pick your size and quantity), but no oysters; Raw presents oysters by the dozen (pick your variety and quantity), all of them fresh and ready to eat on the go or at your table. Raw almost doubles as a night club as well, walking the fine line between bar and restaurant, certainly attracting a young crowd most summer evenings. A variety of craft beers, seltzers, crushes, and every other libation you can ponder round-out a pleasurable experience that is pure Starboard: fun, lively, energetic, and now part of the growing Starboard fabric of Dewey Beach. Stay with the seafood and coastal inspired dishes because the land options are generally standard bar fare, and the ubiquitous (around Delaware) Starboard logo (remember to visit the gift shop across the street) features the well-known smiling shark with either a lobster or oyster dangling from his mischievous mouth, not Bessie the cow. Raw and Claw often are dining-warm-ups for the across-the-street sojourn to the famous Starboard, so there will be no interruption in your drinking, as long as you keep it in the Starboard family.