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Second Ike’s Famous Crabcakes opens in Ocean View

The Cossaboon extended family is celebrating and grieving at the same time. On the one hand, they’re celebrating the grand opening of their new location on Sea Isle Boulevard in Ocean View. On the other hand, they’re still grieving over the loss of the family member who was the energy behind the franchise.
Ike Cossaboon, who took his parents’ recipe for crabcakes to Jersey Shore street festivals where he became known throughout the region as the guy with the eye-catching crabcake cap, would have turned 47 on Tuesday, March 18.
Sadly, last year, Ike trekked to his Philadelphia Eagles season ticket seats for the 2007 home opener -- a Monday Night Football game Sept. 17 against the Washington Redskins.
“He got to his seats and died of a heart attack,” said Ike’s sister, Stormi Hoffman, of Seaville, who now runs the operation with the help of family and friends.
Ike, a father of two boys, had turned his parents’ recipe for pure-meat – no filler -- crabcakes into a cottage industry and a must-visit for Ocean City boardwalkers. As much as Mac and Manco, Shrivers and Johnson’s Popcorn, Ike’s Famous Crabcakes was a mandatory stop while vacationing in America’s Greatest Family Resort.
So, as Stormi has been working overtime – 17 hours a day, seven days a week – to open the Ocean View location while prepping the Ocean City boardwalk restaurant for its 17th season, she is riding an emotional roller coaster.
“I’ll be here (on the OC boardwalk) painting or taking care of things and enjoying what I’m doing, and the next thing I know, I’ll be sitting in a corner crying,” she said. “We’ve had a really good response while we’ve been working here (on the boardwalk) with people stopping by and giving condolences. They say they’re glad to see we’re working and they’re sorry he’s gone…I’m going to start crying here, give me a minute…my brother and I, we were really, really close. We talked three or four times a day on the phone, I used to call him my girlfriend.”
It would have been easy – too easy, for Ike’s sake – to sell the business. Take some time off to heal their wounds and get away from the memories Ike helped make. The fun, the hard work, the fishing trips, the Phillies’ and Eagles’ games, the moments made with sons Paul, now 13, and Caleb, now 5, that were captured in photographs that now adorn the walls of both restaurants.
Retirement was something Stormi had done before. She ran the Asbury Avenue Ike’s for five years before retiring – until Ike got in her ear about it.
“He talked me out of it. He kept busting on me, telling me that people who retire get tired and just die,” she said. “In fact the day he died, we had a pretty intense discussion, a back and forth talk on how he wanted to grow the business, where he wanted it to go; I’ll never forget that.”
Then why do it? I mean, for someone who was in retirement, who lost a loved one, get into the grind of 17-hour days of prep work, planning and customer service?
“I’m doing it for a lot of reasons,” she said. “One is to carry on his name, and two, for our whole family. This could be for my nephews – Ike’s sons, because they want to get into the business, and for my kids, who help run the business…I sure as heck am not doing it for myself.”
The extended family who have helped keep Ike’s memory alive are his mom and his sons, Stormi’s daughters Ashley, 19, and Amy, 15, and Stormi’s husband Ron. Mixed in is a family friend named Jimmy Howell, whom the family affectionately calls Uncle Jimmy.
For the record, Stormi’s daughters, Ashley, 19, and Amy, 15, are integral part of the process, as is Ashley’s fiancé, Pete Angelo, the main chef, and Pete’s mom, Tina, who volunteers to make weekend pasta specialties that include crab-stuffed ravioli and a seafood medley served on angel hair pasta.
“She’s a tremendous cook,” Stormi said.
Ashley will marry Pete this summer on June 20. There will be more celebrating, and more grieving, as the family continues to miss big Ike.
 

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On the Menu

Ike’s Famous Crabcakes 2

Ocean View Plaza
566 Sea Isle Blvd.
Ocean View, NJ 08230
609-624-2272
Open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Ike’s Famous Crabcakes

1344 Boardwalk
Ocean City, NJ 08226
609-814-1700/609-398-9200
Open weekends 11 a.m. until closing
www.ikescrabcakes.com

Free parking at Ocean View location, paid parking (city lot) in Ocean City.  

Visa and Master Card accepted.

Customer favorites: All platters and sandwiches are served with cole slaw and butterfly fries, a fresh cut potato that come s out of the fryer looking like one long string of potato chips. Crabcake Sandwich ($9.95—named by the Food Network as one of the Top 4 best crabcakes on the East Coast); Grilled Lobstercake Sandwich ($11.95); Neptune’s Feast ($18.95, flounder filet, 3 scallops, 3 oysters, 3 shrimp); Fish and Chips ($8.95, made with mahi mahi); Crunchy Fried Grouper Royale Sandwich topped with cole slaw and Rooster (hot) sauce ($9.95); and the Fried Oreos with Vanilla Ice Cream dessert ($4.95). “It’s very fattening,” said Stormi, “and very good.”

Kid’s meals are served with butterfly fries and a soda in a beach bucket with a shovel. Offerings include Crabby Patty ($6.95), Crunchy Fish Sticks ($6.95), Crunchy Chicken Tenders ($5.95), Grilled Hot Dog ($4.95) and Crunchy Kids Shrimp ($6.95).

OC boardwalk location opens this Friday

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Rob Seitzinger can be e-mailed at seitz[at]catamaranmedia.com or you can comment on this story by calling 624-8900, ext. 250.

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