Nightlife / Stephanie Depasquale

Crab Rangoon memories

By Stephanie De Pasquale | Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | () comments

I spent Friday night with John Seum, better known as the Crab Rangoon Guy to District regulars.

I’m profiling Seum for a story I’m working on and while I was there, I couldn’t help but think of all my favorite college memories, several of which involved chicken fried rice, crab Rangoon, egg rolls and shish kabobs from Seum’s stand, Egg Roll Express.

My first crab Rangoon Guy memory comes from my junior year. I was hanging out with a friend who hadn’t turned 21 yet when his three roommates stumbled into their apartment at 3 a.m. after walking home from the District. They each had a Styrofoam container of fried rice in one hand, a fork in the other and had been eating their combos throughout the 2 1/2-mile walk home. The sight was hilarious.

My second memory was the first time I ever tried crab Rangoon or an egg roll. My friends and I were going to a bar crawl some students had organized to raise money for a charity. We were seniors and had never walked home from the District (the walk is practically a rite of passage for Augustana students.) But I forgot my license and had to take a cab back to get it. I didn’t want to pay cab fare to get me to and from the District again and my friends and I decided it was far too cold to attempt the walk that evening, so I agreed to be the designated driver and drove us back to the District.

I’m not a fan of seafood and generally don’t eat it if the organism lives in water, but by the time we got back to the District I was starving and my rumbling stomach spoke louder than my aversion to swimming cuisine so I ordered crab Rangoon and chicken fried rice. It was the best $8 I had ever spent.

Then on the last night my best friend from college and I went out before graduation, we went down to RIBCO for 50-cent drafts on a Thursday night. Around midnight we realized we had a few too many and headed down to Egg Roll Express to put some substance in our stomachs. I’ve never eaten so much rice, shish kabobs and egg rolls in one sitting. We were stuffed, and we still had to call someone to come get us. But it was a great way to say goodbye to college life, but not to Seum. I’ve been back to his stand several times since I graduated. I’ve even stopped there after work just to get some crab Rangoon and fried rice before heading home for the night.

What are your favorite Crab Rangoon Guy memories?

Stephanie De Pasquale can be contacted at (563) 333-2639 or sdepasquale@qctimes.com.