Sometime within this whole revelation we hear commotion at the back door. We are excited to see who the other guest(s) will be. In walks a dad and his teenage son, obvious bikers by their classic bike attire and mud splattered shoes, legs and clothes. They, like most others, are riding in the opposite direction from us and ran into rain, while also having to change a flat tire. They live in the D.C. area and are riding the towpath in just two days, after being dropped off in Cumberland, Maryland and riding home. I am inspired by him and impressed that he has recently begun to ride again because of Covid and now he and his son are out a having priceless time together before the son leaves for college in the fall. In our typical fashion, we pepper him with questions. He is getting ready to go find newspapers before cleaning up. 

“Why newspapers?” we ask in unison.  

He explains something about how the paper helps absorb water, therefore crumpling up newspapers and putting them in wet shoes will dry them out. We are curious if it will work on bike gloves too, so he graciously offers to bring us newspapers to try.

Our next question, since he lives in Maryland, is what exactly are crab fries? We have just heard about them but are curious as to what they are. Is this a must have while in Maryland? He disappoints us by saying they usually just have Old Bay seasoning on them. It’s dinner time. He leaves on his newspaper run and we clean up our journaling mess; little scraps of paper are everywhere.  

Not having many options for dinner, we go to Tony’s Pizzeria, just kitty-corner to where we are staying. But the opposite corner of our earlier outing. We have many questions about the menu. What are their crab fries like? What’s on a pickle pizza? Do they have red wine? Is their gnocchi house made? What is the pink Alfredo? After all our questions are answered to our satisfaction, we order a Mediterranean salad, crab fries (with actual crab!), pickle pizza and two glasses of wine.

Our waitress is a hoot, she pulls up a chair to sit and talk to us, reminding me of the head waitress I worked with in college, who also would make herself at home and chat up her customers. Our waitress is giving us advice on our upcoming ride. She says that the better part of the towpath is already behind us and it’s a more challenging ride from here. While warning us about the GAP and riding up the Eastern Continental Divide, we wonder if we should have more wine. 

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Getting ready to leave we see our new biker friends, the father/son duo, in a booth. We walk up to say hello and the dad instantly feels bad because he thought he steered us wrong on the crab fries. We are happy to report we still ordered them, and we have leftovers to share. At the same time, a fresh hot order of Nutella dots arrives at their table and they offer to share with us. Little fried pieces of pizza dough with Nutella drizzled over the top are actually pretty good. We learn that the owner, Tony, is from Italy and the recipes in his restaurant are all from his grandmothers’. These interactions are what I am craving. Finding like-minded people, having shared experiences and building relationships; even short lived, they’ll stay with me forever.  

(The following is the recipe inspired and created from the crab fries eaten at Tony’s Pizzeria in Williamsport, MD)

“Crab Fries” Recipe & Photos by Tiffany Haugen

When you can’t decide between Crab Fries and Dill Pickle Pizza, what do you do? Order them both! “It’s for research purposes only,” I told myself. Well, that and the fact I was on a cycling trip averaging 40+ miles a day. One of the things I love most about long distance bike trips is the necessity to eat like a football player. Although my trip spanned 4 eastern states, the most memorable food state was Maryland. 

Marylandians are very proud of their blue crabs and their ability to pair Old Bay Seasoning with just about anything. I welcome every opportunity to try seafood in different locations just so I can bring back new ideas for this column. The Crab Fries from Tony’s, a quaint, family-owned pizza joint, in Williamsport, MD did not disappoint. The Dill Pickle Pizza may show up sometime soon as well, maybe with clams? 

Crab Fries

1 24-ounce bag CrissCut fries or fries of choice

2 cups shucked, pre-cooked crab meat

1 cup grated cheese (Jack, Colby or mild cheddar)

1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons fresh dill or cilantro

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning Chives for garnish

Hot Sauce

Red Pepper Flakes, optional

Bake fries according to directions on package. In a small bowl combine sour cream or Greek yogurt with dill or cilantro and granulated garlic. When fries are done, remove from the oven and turn on the broiler. Toss fries with 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning. Sprinkle grated cheese evenly over the top of the fries and put under the broiler until cheese begins to melt. Remove from the oven and distribute crab evenly over the cheese and return to the broiler to warm up the crab, about a minute. Do not leave unattended or overcook the crab. Drizzle with the sour cream or yogurt mixture, a few red pepper flakes and chives, serve with hot sauce.