Getting ready to jockey at the renewed Preakness Crab Race at Lexington Market

For the first time since 2018, the Preakness Crab Race is on at Faidley’s at Lexington Market. On Wednesday, March 17 at noon, local celebrities and crustacean lovers with jockey for position on the Lexington Market floor for Chesapeake Bay supremacy. Alicia from Faidley’s invites Nestor to saddle up as a “Crab Jockey.”

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

crab, preakness, people, lexington, baltimore, derby, week, crab cake, market, oyster, hippodrome, cakes, families, part, run, race, fade, alicia, schuler, noon

SPEAKERS

Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome back, W N st Towson, Baltimore. Baltimore positive we’re positively down here fade Lee’s in the old Lexington market. Not to be confused with the new Lexington market which is about 20 feet away. So brought to you by the Maryland lottery instant lottery scratch offs. Giving some away to these folks here at fadeless. Today we’re going to be down at MC falls. Oyster in real I want to get that right down the middle River on Thursday. Continue the Maryland crab cake tours all brought to you by our friends and when their nation I get to wear the funny floppy hat here because it’s funny floppy hat season. It’s raining outside here today at Bally’s. Alicia is here. She runs things down here at the families along with Amy So Jamie came on. We talked cat fish, oysters, crabs, the bay we did all this stuff and I completely forgot pregnancies couple weeks away. And you guys been doing some special stuff down here for many, many years. Crab races going on here Lexington market. We had plagues we almost lost the Preakness 24 different times, but it’s still here. Yeah. And you guys are sort of reinstituting some funniness here. Tell me what’s going on.

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01:01

Okay, so we are bringing back for the first time I think the last crab Derby was 2018.

Nestor Aparicio  01:07

So it has I’m writing

01:10

and so we’re bringing it back. And it’s it’s Bailey’s with Lexington market, not Lexington market hosting it. We are and partnering together for a really fun event leading to Preakness so it’s gonna be on Wednesday, May 17. We’ve got the Oriole bird coming

Nestor Aparicio  01:28

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into my calendar and see where I am on a 17 Finn. Well, this is something that was I mean, the mayor used to come to this all the time. Governor Schaefer was a parliament. This was something in my childhood that was it was like Bud Light nights there were concerts there. The Clydesdales would show up all of these things that made the Preakness such an integral part of our city. I love the Preakness. I want to breathe that life back into it. And this is part of it for me.

01:55

This is so you know, it’s interesting. What do you think actually, it comes first. Preakness, what originated first Preakness or the crab derby.

Nestor Aparicio  02:05

Well, the Preakness is like 130 years old. So like, go ahead.

02:09

Do you think frankness Well, I

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Nestor Aparicio  02:11

mean, I know how old that is. I don’t know how old I am. crabs have been around millions a year. So

02:14

okay, so this is I did some digging. I’m like, where did this come from? Like, How did someone just come up with a crab derby?

Nestor Aparicio  02:22

Well, it turns to leashes which I love doing

02:24

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this stuff. So I found that it was two vendors in the, like, original Lexington market in 1857. And they one said they had their crab was faster than the other ones. And so to settle it, they raced through crabs, and then the one won the bragging rights that their crab was faster to eat the

Nestor Aparicio  02:47

loser or no? Winner Tim Yeah, absolutely.

02:50

They both got steamed. I’ll be here all night. Um, so the why not? That happened and then it just continued. The fastest crabs. So Preakness started in 1874. Okay, so 20 something years.

Nestor Aparicio  03:12

It was 150 because they they’re numbered. I don’t know which one this is, but we’re getting up on like 140 something. Yeah, right.

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03:18

Definitely. I’ve actually think that the Lexington market is a little maybe they lost count to see

Nestor Aparicio  03:24

I had taught Schuler on the show. We were Captain Larry’s in your crap kicked down on Federal Hill yesterday. And I taught Schuler, and he’s a really big Preakness guy. And he never goes to the Preakness. He has a party at his house and a Preakness and he boiled crawfish because he went to college at Tulane, it’s his thing. Yeah, they don’t eat any crabs. They only do crop. This is a Baltimore guy, right? So we got talking about this, and I was in a antique shop up in Shrewsbury. And I saw the old previous classes from 1975 to the petrol show. I’ll show you I pulled him out yesterday during the show, because the glasses with the Black Eyed Susans were always like, you know, a part of my childhood, even though I drink out and then we shot it up. But I’ll show my audience I these are the pictures I took 1975 and 1977. That’s his glasses, right? Look at that picture of the Woodlawn VA it’s a beautiful car, right? So the Preakness had glasses, history celebrities, like the Derby, winner, all of that stuff. But the city itself really truly with a festival nature, absent anybody’s been to the Derby, they know about the oaks and kids. Kids will go to school on Friday, right? To try to do that kind of thing here. But part of it is the community has to support it. It has to be more than just the race on Saturday, right? I mean, it’s just not us. So this crab thing went away in a while to go away.

04:42

I mean, it just kind of fizzled out ran its course, of course and you know, it’s it’s something that’s so integral, like a part of Lexington market and the history of families as well, that we just decided this year we’re doing it it up. And so as he leaves the house of crap, I don’t even know what it is. So the Kaveri so we’re having a ramp built, because crabs, you know, run sideways, right? You know, and I’ve connected with a handful of other people who are once a part of it. So my cousin will

Nestor Aparicio  05:17

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do the crab race, you should be in the center and it should be a circle and whatever one gets out of the circle, that’s what really makes that that makes more sense the crabs that go sideways and trying,

05:25

they would want to have a long term

Nestor Aparicio  05:28

thing, man, you don’t have to you don’t have to do the oval race any way you want.

05:31

We’ve got we’ve got the slit, like it’s just like a ramp that they’re going to kind of slide off of. And then we have these sticks that have like a white tennis ball at the end of it. And a spray bottle where we just guide the crab into the box. So there’s like 512 boxes whoever is

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Nestor Aparicio  05:54

stupid doing this if I valance? Yes. Oh no, it’s

05:56

gonna be wonderful though. It’s gonna be the great kind of memorial.

Nestor Aparicio  05:59

How stupid am I gonna look? I mean, well, for my audience, the more stupid the better. I would say at this

06:06

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point, you’re gonna look absolutely ridiculous. Oh, my goodness hat though. Don’t

Nestor Aparicio  06:09

donation at 8669 You should

06:12

definitely wear that with the crab hat to

Nestor Aparicio  06:15

me. You’re laughing Hold on. I didn’t realize I had to hat on that. I just thought oh, I have a funny hat on. Oh, maybe that explains like that you’re perfect for it. Okay. All right. I’m sitting here looking like this and saying how can it look more foolish? Alicia is here from Bally’s. You know, I’ve talked to Danny about the crab cakes and the people that come here. I was supposed to be here on the Thursday before opening day then we went up move in the days around and want to come and today instead. The Orioles are bringing people back downtown they are and and your crab cakes in the office. It seems like don’t pay ballpark prices. You know don’t give money to Angelo’s give it to you. But part of this is you have these great crab cakes and more people downtown. I just had a run leg with from the Hippodrome here. I feel the city’s coming back to life in a way that I’m down here all the time. And you work down here obviously, when I feel it, I feel obviously if the Bank Arena I feel what’s going on. I feel with the new market. There’s improvement in Baltimore. And you don’t have to look hard to find though you just got to come in and open your eyes.

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07:17

That’s the truth. I mean, that convention there’s a convention booked every single week. You know, it’s we’ve got people by the busloads getting brought in here. And they’re walking around you know, they’re actually exploring Baltimore, so we’ve got this like rare opportunity

Nestor Aparicio  07:32

and you Google rated I’ll tell you I’ve never I’ve never Googled families to see like, what did he What does it even say about you? enterable Wait, do you hold

07:40

on TPT recommended us as the only restaurant if you have one day to visit with faintly see no

Nestor Aparicio  07:48

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frills staple for huge jumbo lump crab cakes and raw oysters in a standing room only space 4.4 stars How can it not be least a four six I’m gonna vote right now.

07:57

Thank you. i This is that’s my still pretty good every point for it gets anybody but I don’t see how they get this ratio.

Nestor Aparicio  08:03

The soup is really good too. By the way, mac and cheese people were on to that they know. Probably because I’ve been promoting your mac and cheese really.

08:09

But so I had this morning for breakfast. I didn’t know

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Nestor Aparicio  08:13

why I’ve taken home a wife a bunch. And I kept telling her I’m like, you know, and that’s crabcake place. That’s the thing once you get a reputation. People come here and they don’t they don’t get the fried oysters like I did today, right? Yeah, they just get and Danny brought me these a year ago. They’re delicious to you do fried fish here. You do all sorts of things. Everything. Yeah. But nobody comes. You’re gonna get a crab cake though. I mean, what percentage of people? That may I probably wrong question. Some people don’t eat crab. Right? I Peter Jensen has shellfish and dollar. But I would think eight out of 10 people get a crab cake easily. Oh, so it’s more than 80%? Yeah. Okay. All right. That’s

08:51

because we do have a lot of tourists, people who have seen us on TV. You know, in the latest episode of family dinner, people are coming from all over driving from different states just to come here to have our crabcake and what’s good and it’s wonderful. And for the longest time, you know, people once a pandemic was lifted, they weren’t coming out of the county. Right. So 90% of our you know, patrons are tourists.

Nestor Aparicio  09:15

Well, I’m glad to be here. I’m gonna take some crab cakes home to my wife today. It’s been a great, great week on a crab cake tour. It started the week in Maui. So it’s going to move down to Baltimore. Maui was good. Yeah, the kids stuck in the Vegas airport. Not good. But it got home and since I’ve been home, let’s see. Ray was a sign Lamar Jackson. We drafted J flowers. I’ve done two crabcake towards downtown. I’m headed to the county next week. We got a baseball team that’s relevant. Oh, and a boxing champion to all that’s happening last week. Baltimore stepping up we’ll take undertake needs to fade these as well. We’re down here with families at the old market. It’s the last remaining remnant of the old market. They’re going to be moving into new market. Amy tells me September. We’re hoping I’m hoping by October My birthday is October 14. Maybe I can have a birthday cake in the new spaces. The swanky new Lexington bar which is about 10 feet away. We’re giving away Maryland scratch off lottery tickets. I’m wearing the funny window nation floppy hat. Big appreciation to all of our sponsors. We’re taking the show on the road next week. I am back for good Lucas covering the draft and all things Orioles baseball. And my thanks to Alicia damy. Peter, Bill Henry. And God spent so long I forgot my first guest Ron Legler from the Hippodrome for making a rap today. I will see you on what time is on the 17th is a scrap thing. Noon. That’s easy to remember. Awesome. Wasn’t it always like at noon lunchtime thing? I think

10:29

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it was it was in the old arcade. That’s where they typically held it now we have the entire area in between here and the new market where we’re going to take over and crab it up. So may 17

Nestor Aparicio  10:41

putting into my kit. I got it right here. It’s noon. I’d say it’s getting my calendar. Fade Lee’s crab race. Look Like a Fool guess get the winning crab. Okay, I have all that together now. May 17 At noon we’ll be back here at fade these we’re gonna be McFaul oyster and Rio I keep saying Ironside tavern, but it’s not the oyster and Rio the old su Island. We’re being Middle River. That’s my side of town. He’s nice. Well, it’s not Dundalk, but it’s almost as nice as we are WNS TA and 1570, Towson Baltimore and we never stop talking. Baltimore positive