Eat at Joes: it's a Place not a Direction by Eddie Applefeld

A new restaurant has opened in the Hunt Valley Towne Center, the fifth location in the state.  It's Eat at Joes, actually located on the eastern part of the parking lot.  Other state sites are Arundel Mills, Greenbelt, Gaithersburg and Abingdon.  The corporate headquarters is in Houston.

The place is fun, loud at times and heavy on the seafood, with of course other entrees from which to select.  They serve the same menu for both lunch and dinner.  Hours are 11 to 11 Sunday through Thursday and 11 to midnight Friday and Saturday.  You can eat in the bar area, where there are 5 tv's.

There's seating for about 315 and that includes the outside deck.  The deck can be enclosed during the colder months.  You'll also find a small retail outlet near the front door.  It sells Eat at Joe's merchandise.

What makes the restaurant a little different is that every 45 minutes disco music is played and suddenly the wait staff are dancing around the room.  If you're brave and energetic, which I was for about five minutes, you can join it.  It's fun and probably will aid in digestion.

For appetizers you can try the bucket of shrimp, the New England clam chowder or the calamari.  There are at least nine more appetizer choices.  For your main dish they offer such entrees as grilled salmon, blackened red fish, stuffed snapper, maui mahi, a seaside platter, Caribbean feast or the fisherman's platter.  Other items include pasta, cheeseburgers, salads, ribs and ribeyes.

And here's one more important point about the addition of this restaurant.  They are employing about 140 people, full and partime.  The economic impact of that shouldn't be overlooked.   

For more information go to joescrabshack.com.