Daryl King has been a Lakeland police officer and a corporate exec in Atlanta, but when his career path led him to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant, he chose a spot at 1046 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. in his childhood neighborhood.
Crab Daddy’s Surf & Turf, which evolved from a food truck of the same name, held a soft opening last Friday. Specialities include shrimp and grits, crab and shrimp pasta, conch salad and other Southern delicacies
“I grew up within walking distance of the restaurant just a few blocks down 2nd Street,” said King, 58.
King and his wife, Bridget, have been operating the Crab Daddy’s Surf & Turf food truck in the Tampa Bay area since 2019. “The brick and mortar is the next step that simply makes sense for us. Our clients have often asked us to open a brick and mortar (restaurant),” King said.
The couple’s top seller is “The Skillet.” It’s a seafood rice with garlic shrimp, smoked sausage, crisp catfish nuggets, caramelized onions and peppers topped with a creamy sauce.
Another popular entree is crab and shrimp pasta, which has lump crab meat, garlic shrimp, caramelized onions and peppers mixed together with a creamy penne pasta, he said.
The restaurant is open Wednesdays to Saturdays, noon to 8 p.m., and on Sundays noon to 6 p.m.
Deep roots in Lakeland: Opening the restaurant in the neighborhood he grew up in is like a homecoming for Daryl King. He graduated from Kathleen Senior High School in 1984. He played football for the Red Devils and received a scholarship to Troy State University, where he played football for a team that won two national titles. He returned home in 1989 with degrees in criminal justice and business administration and ended up helping create a police substation right across from where the restaurant is located.
“I attended the police academy with Sam Taylor, who is now chief of police,” he said, adding that his grandfather, Samuel King, was one of LPD’s first black police officers.
How it all started: King left LPD in 1994 to pursue a corporate job in Atlanta. When the “entrepreneurship bug” bit, he opened a small restaurant in Decatur, Ga., called, “Crabby’s D’s.
Then the economy tanked in 2007, and “I closed the restaurant and ran back to corporate America where it was safe,” King said.
Then in 2013, he and his wife decided to operate a food trailer in the Atlanta metro area as a side hustle. “My wife and I used the food trailer to participate in music and food festivals and catered special events on weekends,” he said.
Returning to Lakeland: In 2019, the couple returned to Florida to be able to operate the food truck year round and assist his aging parents.
“We did our due diligence and joined The Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally, which proved to be one of the best business decisions we could have made,” King said. Their “partnership has allowed us to touch clients we would have never had access to, thus literally putting us on the map.”
King said working with the Tampa Bay Food Truck Rally has allowed his business to be able to cater events in Tampa, Lakeland, Orlando, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Winter Haven and Daytona Beach.
But home – Lakeland’s Lake Ridge neighborhood, just a few blocks from Memorial Boulevard and Bryant Stadium – continued to call him.
A restaurant corner: “We felt this location was right for us on many levels. What better place to open a restaurant than your own backyard … I often ate here when working across the street at the police substation,” King said, recalling the local “crab man” who used to traverse the neighborhood.
“‘Baker the Crab Man’ would sell crabs from the back of his old station wagon within this very community and we absolutely loved it. There was a popular barbecue restaurant, Ellis, that was on the corner of what is now 2nd Street and MLK,” King remembered, adding they underwent an exhausting search looking for a location but ultimately landed right back home.
The restaurant’s location had previously housed Brother’s Bar-B-Q, which opened there in 2008, according to online business records, and most recently, Uncle App’s Wings, Seafood, and Full Bar.
“This is home and though I’ve been away for over 20 years, it’s still home because home is where the heart is,” King said. “I’m thankful for the guidance and support of the many people who have given advice, recommendations, constructive criticisms and prayers. I’m thankful to Lynne Simpkins (formerly with the city of Lakeland Department of Community and Economic Development) for her advice and input as it has proven to be spot on.”
Raised in the kitchen: Home also reminds him of his childhood, growing up in the restaurant industry. His parents, Russell and Laura King, owned Big Daddy’s BBQ on Kathleen Road, which later relocated to 10th Street and Florida Avenue.
“My sister Tammy and I practically ran the operation at times so I gained a lot of experience early in life,” King said, who added his dad passed away in 2022.
“Cooking connects me with my dad because we loved to talk (about) food and share menu suggestions … He remains my inspiration today so we keep a picture of him in the restaurant because that’s where he would be if he hadn’t been promoted to being my culinary angel.”
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Very informative, I use to live near that area back in the 70’s. I was not aware of the history.