Captain Jack’s Seafood Buffet

FOOD

Regular crab legs and Cajun crab legs give Captain Jack’s its clearest seafood starting point. Both are hot-bar offerings, so the crab feast has two preparations rather than one. Around them, the buffet continues into baked shellfish, cold seafood, fried dishes and fish entrées. That depth within seafood is the attraction: crab remains prominent, but a seafood dinner here can include several kinds of cooking and a substantial selection of shellfish beyond legs.

Mussels in garlic butter lead the hot shellfish beyond the crab legs. Stuffed clams and oysters Rockefeller belong alongside them, with fillings and baked preparations moving the meal beyond cracking shells. Crab imperial, crab cakes and crab macaroni and cheese put crab into separate dishes. The macaroni and cheese is the comfort-food member of that group; the cakes and imperial give crab another role within the hot seafood selection.

The cold bar holds half-shell oysters, peel-and-eat shrimp and green-lip mussels. That is a different seafood proposition from the filled and baked hot dishes. Peel-and-eat shrimp retains a little of the involvement of a shellfish dinner, while the oysters and mussels widen its range. The salad selection includes crab salad and tuna poke. Greens and vegetables complete the broader salad offering alongside those seafood choices.

Hot shrimp comes as coconut shrimp, Cajun shrimp and shrimp Creole. Coconut, Cajun and Creole preparations give the same main ingredient three different directions within the buffet. Fried oysters, fried scallops and clam strips extend the fried seafood group, with calamari adding another shellfish choice. Shrimp fried rice is available as well. It is a shrimp-rich spread with fried dishes, seasoned preparations and a rice dish all represented, rather than one shrimp entrée doing the whole job.

Stuffed flounder, Creole catfish and fried grouper bring three different fish dishes to the buffet. Mahi mahi, swordfish and salmon broaden that part of the buffet further. The seafood also reaches the soup bowls: she-crab soup and clam chowder are both included. Between the fish, shellfish and soups, the buffet has a seafood meal well beyond its headline crab legs. Lobster is on the separate dinner menu and is outside the unlimited buffet offering.

Prime rib brings carved beef into the dinner, with steaks and barbecue beef extending the land dishes. Fried chicken and chicken Alfredo provide poultry in two quite different forms. Roasted garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, fried okra and hushpuppies supply Southern accompaniments for meat or seafood. The potatoes bring another garlic preparation, while the casserole and okra add recognizable country dishes. Prime rib is the main beef attraction beside a buffet otherwise heavily occupied by seafood.

Ricotta cheesecake is a particular dessert to notice among the cakes and puddings. Bread pudding and banana pudding give that selection two familiar spoon desserts, while cobblers and ice cream expand the sweet finish. There is plenty of seafood earlier in the meal, but dessert has its own range rather than a single obligatory cake. Buffet selections remain subject to availability. The buffet brings shellfish, carved beef, Southern sides and dessert into the same unlimited dinner.