Food

Take Home a Memento From Crisfield Seafood This Weekend

The 80-year-old restaurant is holding an estate sale after closing for good in December.

Crisfield Seafood is holding an estate sale this weekend. Photograph by Scott Suchman

One of the most charming elements of Crisfield Seafood, the 80-year-old Silver Spring institution that closed last month, was its impressive collection of beer steins, oyster plates, and quirky paintings. At the restaurant’s estate sale this weekend, you can take home a piece of the place forever. 

The sale runs from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday, January 18 and  Sunday, January 19. A few larger objects will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, but most small items will sell on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Vintage beer steins at Crisfield. Photo by Ike Allen.

At most restaurants, this would mean a lot of sturdy plates and silverware. At Crisfield, it means late owner Lillian Landis’s beer steins collected from her world travels, and those distinctive old-fashioned oyster plates. 

The Landis family owned Crisfield for three generations, preserving the interior largely in its original condition since the restaurant opened in 1945. But the family’s fourth generation has dispersed and isn’t as interested in maintaining the business, co-owner John Landis says, so the family decided not to renew their lease. 

After the family announced the impending closure in December, lines of Crisfield fans eager for a final bite of crab and shrimp Norfolk formed along Georgia Avenue. If that’s any predictor of how busy the estate sale will be, better show up early on Saturday to score an oyster plate.

Crisfield Seafood, 8012 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring.

Ike Allen
Assistant Editor