"EVERYBODY loves our crabs!" Hannah Conrad

Table Talk by Sloane Brown

You walk up to the display case, where you examine all sorts of fresh fish and seafood. You make your pick. You choose how you’d like it cooked – broiled, fried or grilled – and perhaps, what kind of sauce you’d like with it. You choose two side dishes. Ten minutes later, your meal is delivered to you. Are you at one of Baltimore’s finest seafood restaurants? You could be. But you could also be at Parkville’s newest seafood place, Conrad’s Crabs & Seafood Market. Obviously, not your usual seafood market.
Much of that has to do with the family history of Tony Conrad, who owns the place with Michael Dellis (who also owns Michael’s Café in Timonium) and seafood wholesaler Frank Petillo.

The Parkville native says his great-great-great-grandmother steamed crabs for men who built the railroad line from Richmond, Va., to Washington, D.C. In 1947, a cousin opened a legendary seafood restaurant on the Potomac River in Southern Maryland, now known as Captain Billy’s, which is still in the family. Conrad himself couldn’t break free of the genetic call to the sea. After years of working in the white-collar world, he says he decided to do what he really loved: be a waterman.

When the space that had been Joppa Seafood Market went up for sale last year, Conrad, Dellis and Petillo decided to combine their knowledge and skills and make it a market with an edge. If you’re curious about just how fresh the seafood is, there’s a good chance you can ask the guy who caught it. Conrad’s is just a carryout now. But Andrea Conrad – who runs the market with Tony, her husband – says the group hopes to expand the business to include a restaurant within the next couple of years.