From Craig Leban, Philly.com > If there’s a sense that Junior’s Seafood Shack was sort of thrown together at the last moment – from the plastic cups to the nonexistent online info – that’s because it was. One moment, Joanne Goldberg was peering out these windows at the stunning sunset over the bay, telling her husband, Roy, he should convert his office into a restaurant. A month later Junior’s Seafood Shack was born.
Junior’s > 9315 Amherst Ave, Margate NJ
The small rooms, still with their wall-to-wall office carpeting and set up with tall tables and plastic buckets for BYO wines, sit down the dock from Junior’s Doughnuts & Dogs, which Goldberg also owns.
A kitchen remained from it’s long-ago days as a restaurant. (Remember Bruce Lim’s Red Chopstix?)
All that remained was to find a chef. And Goldberg lucked out when his ad was answered by Dennis Moesta, who spent two decades in Louisiana, where he cooked in Baton Rouge at the well-known Cajun seafoodery Ralph & Kacoo’s.
The Southern influence is unmistakable in the crispy cornmeal crust for the fresh local flounder.
And there’s a whiff of bayou zest, too, in the boil that poaches those peel-and-eat shrimp, as well as the steam (with a hint of hot sauce) that opens the net of steamers. Two generous crabcakes for $21.95 also have a Louisiana vibe, with sweet lumps on display with peppers and green onions, and a tangy streak of rémoulade.
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