Charlotte sun herald (Charlotte Harbor, Fla. While the game does use it. Chuck Robbins KB2973.kdf My. Old Friends: Essays in. Kirk Douglas / Chuck Jones (1995. He raised the funds for the production from friends. The program was noted for the high level of the consistent. Html chuck e cheese com. Big Fish in Dearborn, the crown jewel of late seafood restaurateur Chuck Muer's dining empire, has closed after decades in operation. On March 12, 1993, Susan’s parents — Palm Beach restaurateur Chuck Muer and his wife Betty, both 55 — left the Bahamas on 'Charley’s Crab,' a 40-foot-long boat, along with lifelong friends.
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They called it the 'storm of the century.' But that was in 1993, and by now we know we were in for bigger, badder storms before the end of the millennium. Still, that unnamed freak March tempest killed as many people in Florida as Hurricane Andrew and left $500 million in damage, even dropping snow in the Panhandle, by the time it finally moved out of Florida. It took with it a 40-foot sailing ketch called Charley's Crab. No scrap, no bit of flotsam, no article of clothing was ever found from that boat, and after two desperate SOS calls, the four people who were sailing it just off the coast of Palm Beach were never seen or heard from again.
Chuck Muer was trying to get home from the Bahamas in time to make a party that night. It's a weird irony that his lost body may have been devoured by the descendants of the same fish Muer purveyed into a $65 million fortune with his chain of seafood restaurants.
I like to imagine him now in some Alfred Prufrockian incarnation as 'a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.' Muer started out in the '60s with one restaurant in Detroit and eventually parlayed it into the C.A. Muer Corporation, with a half-dozen Charley's Crabs in Florida and 20 restaurants like The Grand Concourse and Gandy Dancer flung in a wide arc across the U.S. But since his death, Muer's family enterprise has been swallowed up by a much bigger fish. A few years ago the whole caboodle was sold to Landry's Restaurants, which owns, among other things, Rainforest Cafe. Charley's Crab is now a Jonah in the belly of one humongous whale.
Pal's Charley's Crab
1755 SE Third Ct., Deerfield Beach.
Lunch 11:30 a.m. till 3:30 p.m.; dinner 3:30 till 10 p.m. nightly. Sunday brunch menu 11:30 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. Call 954-427-4000.
So what happens to a $65-million family seafood chain when it merges with a $746-million megalo-corp of more than 300 restaurants?
There are four Muer outposts left in Florida -- one Charley's Crab each in Palm Beach, Deerfield, and Lauderdale, and Chuck and Harold's in Palm Beach (Muer opened Chuck and Harold's on Royal Poinciana Way, in partnership with Harold Kaplan). The food at Chuck and Harold's is still good enough. But judging from our last meal at Pal's Charley's Crab in Deerfield Beach, others may not be faring as well.
Muer's original idea was to create a group of upscale but comfy seafood restaurants in waterfront locations. Some were set in carefully renovated historic buildings. Steve Ellman, who once worked as a waiter at the Charley's Crab in Jupiter (Landry's closed that restaurant a couple of months after taking it over) remembers Chuck Muer as 'a real glad-hander.' Savaria residential elevator troubleshooting manual.
'The company was run on the Japanese model,' he says. 'We were all supposed to be part of the big happy Chuck Muer family. A lot of that 'power of positive thinking' kind of thing. The food was pretty good, not brilliant or particularly inventive, but it drew on family recipes.'
Some of those recipes, like the ones for their chunky gazpacho, fish paté, cole slaw, and black bean soup, achieved a level of local notoriety. Ellman thinks that ex-Muer employees filched the gazpacho recipe, whose secret ingredient was rumored to be Seven Seas Italian salad dressing, and gave it to C.R. Chicks (whose gazpacho, incidentally, is still terrific.) Other Muer graduates went on to open their own restaurants -- like Spoto's in West Palm Beach .
Pal's Charley's Crab is looking pretty dowdy these days. The waterfront building built in the '50s for Pal's Captain's Table was turned into a Charley's Crab in 1988, and it hasn't been renovated for years (one clear sign of distress: a few of the letters on the building's big neon 'Pal's' sign are burnt out). Inside, the restaurant showcases a wall of sliding-glass doors overlooking the Intracoastal, and it's a pretty view, particularly with the bridge lit up at night. The furnishings are retro-'80s-hotel-lobby, from the tropical-psychedelic carpeting to the faux-painted-bamboo chairs; you feel like you've been thrown back into some awful adolescent family vacation, when dinner meant over-baked fish fingers at the Day's Inn. On a recent Sunday night the place was two-thirds empty at 8 o'clock; the occupied tables ranged from stylish young couples to old coots; a pianoman was playing easy-listening pop. We made a dash for a small outdoor patio, which was marginally more pleasant and screened from the screaming children at the restaurant next door by a bit of tall fencing. Adding supports in cura.
Things started out pretty well at Pal's with a basket of warm jalapeño biscuits and poppy seed rolls served with soft butter and crab-boursin spread. Appetizers include cold king crab legs with mustard sauce or hot ones cooked Szechwan style ($12), cherrywood smoked salmon ($12), a crab and avocado timbale ($14), baked oysters ($14 for a sampler of six), crab cakes ($11), and Mussels à la Muer ($8) in garlic, white wine, and herbs. The gazpacho is still on the menu ($5), and so is Charley's chowder ($4). Several dozen entrées include shrimp Danielle ($17) broiled with garlic butter and sliced almonds, coconut shrimp ($18) with pineapple chili dipping sauce, half a dozen species of fresh fish cooked any way you like ($22), naked or, for an extra $6, with a choice of four 'signature toppings.' Giant machines 2017 1 1 2.
Charley's serves very good quality seafood across the board. I've eaten so many sub-par scallops and shrimp at other restaurants lately that bad fish is starting to feel like the latest groovy South Florida trend -- but you don't have to fret about bleach-infused scallops or freezer-burned shrimp here. Our hot appetizer sampler ($25) included two small but tasty scallops in the shell smothered with dynamite sauce -- a mixture of creamy crab and basil drizzle; two mini crab cakes decorated with a swirl of mustard sauce; and a half dozen juicy, flavorful king crab legs cooked in a gingery Szechwan broth. The crab legs were delicious, spicy, and sweet. The scallops in their creamy sauce were rich but fairly undistinguished -- you can't taste any basil in that 'drizzle.' The crab cakes didn't really rise above the welter currently crowding the menus of most seafood houses. For $25, we each had one scallop, one small crab cake, and three crab legs -- no bargain for us, but surely a whopping boost for Landry's profit margin.
Our waiter arrived with our Martha's Vineyard salad. Composed of red onion, pine nuts, blue cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette, what could have been a rainbow-hued salad looked like wet, gray felt. As a conceptual art object by Joseph Beuys it would have been pure genius; as a plate of something to eat it fell short of edible. Maybe somebody'd tossed that blue cheese and raspberry dressing into the lettuce many hours ago. the thought didn't bear examination.
I don't know, am I getting too picky? I don't even pay for my own meals, but I'm still finding the prices at restaurants these days outrageous. If you're going to charge $28 bucks for a plate of halibut with asparagus spears and rice, I want it to be damned near perfect. I'm not going to make allowances just because the fish is pretty good -- I want everything to be fricking delicious. And as far as I'm concerned, it should come out looking and smelling great, too. I figure at least ten of those 28 dollars ought to go for a bit of artistry on the plate, a squiggle or a swoop of sauce. Something! My halibut tasted fine. But the entire plate of food was almost all one color, from the wishy-washy overcooked asparagus to the greyish rice to the paleish fish with its pinkish sauce. Served on a white plate, it was practically an exercise in camouflage. I'd paid an extra $6 for the dynamite sauce, and I'd be willing to bet there wasn't a full tablespoon of the stuff lobbed on top of my fish. Come on, man!
Ms. A's mahi mahi ($22) wasn't as insulting, if only because she hadn't paid the price of a movie ticket for a thimbleful of sauce. She had hers sautéed with butter, and it was really very good, a luscious, thick fillet cooked perfectly -- with a squeeze of lemon, it was divine. Still, she had the same color- and taste-free asparagus and rice as I did.
We finished up with molten chocolate truffle cake ($7.95), a head-clearing rush composed of gooey cake and semi-sweet chocolate sauce in a pool of crème Anglaise accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The waiter informed us apologetically that the presentation had collapsed on its way from the kitchen, so it came to the table looking like it had already had a rough night. What a shame. For eight bucks I would have liked to have seen what it was really supposed to look like, in all its teetering, towering glory. Total bill before tip: $121.50 with two glasses of wine.
OK, I'm a bitch! Hurricane Katrina has left me in a terrible mood. My two favorite restaurants in the world may be closed forever, and I'm completely helpless to do anything. I'm left scarfing down mushy asparagus and gray salad at a waterfront restaurant in Deerfield Beach, remembering the now-vanished deliciousness of a flaming plate of bananas Foster at Brennan's in the French Quarter or the incredible fried apple pie at Camellia Grill and wondering whether those handsome, honey-tongued waiters in their snazzy white chef's jackets ended up somewhere safe and dry. Then across my desk comes this saving grace from Spoto's Oyster Bar. I can go order their spicy Cajun-style shrimp étoufée topping on any fish in the house, and for each topping I buy, Spoto's will donate $7 directly toward the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Effort. Spoto's is located in downtown West Palm on Datura Street or at 4560 PGA Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens. They're clearly more generous with their sauce than Landry's. Now I can ease a little long-distance suffering even while weeping into my gumbo.
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Chuck Muer grew up in Michigan and opened a restaurant there in October of 1964. Later, he opened a restaurant named Charley's Crab in Palm Beach, Florida. Their seafood is indescribably good and I've been scarfing meals at the Charley's Crab in Palm Beach for over a decade. Predictably, word about the food leaked out, so more Charley's Crabs popped up in South Florida like mushrooms after a spring rain.
The tragedy is the story of poor Chuck's demise. Here's a guy that had everything to live for. Here's a guy that was making money hand over fist, living in Palm Beach Florida. Bought a sweet 40 foot boat and named it 'Charley's Crab'. He sailed back and forth between the Bahamas, which is pretty much the thing to do on the Treasure Coast.
In the summer, crossing over to the Bahamas is a cake walk. You could cross over to Grand Bahama Island in a 14 foot flat bottom boat with an outboard and a few jerry cans of gas. Plenty of people make the crossing without the aid of a GPS receiver. My brother-in-law said he and his brother used to do it all the time with nothing more than a compass. Accounting for the Gulf Stream, they'd just head East South-East for 4 hours across the open ocean in a 20 foot boat and watch for Memory Rock on the horizon.
In the winter, the seas are rough, but in the summer, unless there's a hurricane, the oceans are generally calm and the crossing is a cake walk.
Chuck Muer had a big boat. A 40 foot boat is a large boat. Now, I know, there are bigger boats. However rich you think you are, South Florida can be an humbling place. You pull into the dock and some guy next to you anchors his yacht and he's got rescue boats the size of your boat hanging from cranes over the stern of his vessel. But a 40 foot boat is a big boat. I've made the crossing more times I can count in boats ranging from 27 feet to cruise ships. But a 40 foot boat is a large boat and is certainly capable of making the crossing in anything shy of a full-blown hurricane.
On March 13th of 1993, Charles and Betty Muer and their friends George and Lynn Drummey attempted to cross back from the Bahamas when a freak storm blew up. The storm hit much more quickly, further South, and with greater intensity than had been forecasted. By the time the freak March storm left Florida, it had killed more people than Hurricane Andrew and done $500 million in damages. Then Governor Childs wrote a scathing letter lambasting the National Weather Service for their poor forecasting.
Chuck Muer's party had probably nearly completed the crossing before they heard any forecast of an impending storm on their marine radio. By the time they knew of the storm, it was too late. Battling 30 foot seas and 70 mile per hour winds in the pre-dawn blackness, Chuck Muer placed two calls at 4:25 a.m. and 4:27 a.m. to Palm Beach County's emergency center. But each time, there was only the crackle of static on the line.
They never found a trace from the wreck, and they searched like it mattered. They mounted a massive search and rescue operation, because the guy was as rich as Croesus, so they searched for him like it mattered. This wasn't a Coast Guard search for a Hatian clinging to a palm tree in the Gulf Stream. This was a 'Holy Sh1t a jillionaire is missing calling-all-cars search-and-rescure' and they never found a trace of him. Nada.
Later, the freak storm would be called the 'Storm of the Century', the 'Superstorm', or the 'Storm With No Name'. (This was not the 'Perfect Storm' of October 1991 that sank the Andrea Gail.)
In the aftermath of the tragic deaths, we are predictably left with a cacaphony of reverberating wrongful death lawsuits revolving around General Maritime Law and the Death on the High Seas Act. In September of 2002, that dreadful blight of corporate cuisine known as Landry's acquired C.A. Muer Restaurants.
Rest In Peace Chuck Muer, Betty Muer, George Drummey, and Lynn Drummey.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on February 09, 2006 at 09:42 AM
Comments
Lynn drummey was my grand mother.I loved her deeply.my family spent months on helicopters searching. Nothing was ever found.which is very bizzare. My mother has never fully recovered but my grand parents and the Muers will be in my heart forever.
Posted by: grand daughter on April 06, 2006 at 03:59 PM
I worked for Chuck Muer Restaurants for almost 20 years as Payroll Administrator for his Pittsburgh restaurant. Chuck was the kind of guy who might have been rich but he was approachable,.down to earth and you could talk to him. When he came to town, he made the time to listen and talk to anyone who came up to him whether it was a manager or a dishwasher. In his restaurants all employees and their jobs were important. I can still recall that day, March 13th, 1993 when one of our new Vice Presidents got off the phone and told me of Chuck's disappearance. Even months after that we half expected him to walk in the restaurant at any time. Tillman Fertitta could never fill Chuck Muer's shoes, I don't care how many restaurants he buys up. It's not the same since Landry's took over. They are all about the money,.Chuck was all about the customer, the employees and the best service we could provide.
My heart still goes out to the Muer and Drummey families on their loss.
Posted by: Adrienne Franco on April 08, 2007 at 03:51 PM
my late husband's father and mother, Dick and Ellie Davidson were the captains for the Muers - what a very sad loss, I remember that Chuck had young children at the time. Dick and Ellie are also deceased. Dick was a talented ship model builder and had his ships displayed at Chuck's restaurants. I am wondering where the models are now. I have a 20 year old son who would love to see them. thanks for any info.
Posted by: barbara davidson on March 03, 2008 at 12:18 PM
'The Troy Hilton in troy mi. had many of these models.a charleys was attached tjo the lobby entrance.if thats any help. Sai flexisign software download.
Posted by: robert savitski on April 03, 2008 at 08:44 AM
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