Things just haven’t been the same at the Mad Crab Restaurant in Coupeville. Try as they might, the kitchen crew has been on awkward auto-pilot without head chef Mark Davis.

“He is the captain of this ship,” said Stephanie Wilson, Mad Crab manager.

He’s the captain with all the tricks that make the Mad Crab menu what it is. He’s the “Mad, Mad Cook” and “Lord of the Prep.” He’s the one who makes the house dressing just so.

Sunday, May 20, Mark Davis, the 49-year-old head chef at the Mad Crab, suffered a stroke — an inner-cranial bleed — and he’s been in the intensive care unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle ever since.

Davis has worked at the Mad Crab for four of the restaurant’s five years of existence. Owners Jack and Melissa Lamy were, no doubt, pleasantly surprised to see his resumé as an applicant.

Davis began working in restaurants as a 17-year-old dishwasher in Bellevue.

“He’d get the dishes done and ask, ‘What else can I do’,” said his mom, Carol Reafs. “They’d teach him stuff and he’d learn quickly.”

Davis quickly worked his way up the Bellevue restaurant scene, and onto gigs at Anthony’s Home Port, the Crazy Lobster and the Casa Munras Garden Hotel in Monterey, Calif., where he was executive chef.

He started at the Mad Crab as a prep cook, but soon proved to be a valuable part of the team.

“His cooking is insane,” Wilson said. “He runs the whole show and keeps the whole restaurant prepped.”

At the Mad Crab that’s no small feat. Everything is made from scratch — from the artichoke dip, marinara, clam bisque and chowders. From every fish filet to every crab cake, Davis helps make it happen.

Wilson estimates Davis often puts in 60-hour work weeks. He serves an estimated 100 plates per weekday and 600 plates on the weekend.

To make up for the void Davis leaves in the kitchen, Wilson finds herself back in the kitchen doing all the cooking. Training is kicking into high gear for two Americorps sous chefs and the dishwasher is learning to prep.

Whether there were signs of Davis’ impending stroke, Wilson isn’t sure.

He went home around 2:30 p.m. Sunday because he wasn’t feeling well.

“I yelled at him because he was getting agitated,” Wilson said. “I told him to go home and talk to his fiance about taking a vacation.”

His fiance, Theresa McClanahan, talked to him around 5:30 p.m. as he was playing video games. At 7:30 p.m. a young family friend called McClanahan and said he spoke with Davis and his speech was slurring. McClanahan got off work at 7:30 p.m. and when she entered their home at the Big Rock Apartments just before 8 p.m., she found Davis collapsed on the bathroom floor.

“He was conscious but couldn’t move,” Reafs said.

By 8:40 p.m. medics had Davis at Whidbey General Hospital. Following a CAT scan, doctors immediately deemed the need to transport Davis once again — this time to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a leader in brain trauma care. He was in bad shape. A lung had collapsed, that same lung that became infected from aspiration. He’d suffered a 35-cm bleed.

“It’s a major bleed for someone his age,” Reafs said.

Weather was too poor for an air transport so Davis was placed in a medically induced coma and prepped for ground transport via Whidbey General ambulance.

He was taken to Harborview’s intensive care unit where he remains. It was touch and go as doctors had to walk a fine line of giving Davis enough oxygen to breathe and raise his blood pressure, while also restricting that flow to keep another bleed from occurring, Reafs said.

“His left side remains paralyzed, but he is an excellent candidate for rehabilitation,” she said.

His family takes turns spending 24-hour shifts in Davis’ hospital room.

Within only the last couple of days Davis was moved from the ICU to another part of Harborview. It will be countless more months of treatment after that. What caused the stroke could remain unknown, but doctors speculate underlying diabetes that was newly discovered and high blood pressure, according to Georges.

Reafs said there’s no family history of stroke, but that high blood pressure is hereditary. Davis is a “maintenance drinker. “ He and his fiancee are recently making efforts to eat better. Georges said her brother is extremely strong; an avid athlete who plays volleyball, football and enjoys video games.

“He’s a pinball freak,” she said.

Cause aside, Reafs now wants to encourage others to realize the signs of stroke.

“Don’t delay care,” she said. “The sooner people get to the hospital the better their chances for recovery.”

Davis and McClanahan have been engaged for a year and together for five. They had been working to get debt free before they are married. With impending medical bills, Reafs is unsure when that day will come.

Wilson said Davis’ wit is supernatural and is what makes working at the Mad Crab fun.

“He’s the biggest goofball ever to hit the Earth,” she said. “He’s my best friend, almost like a girlfriend.”

The duo share an affinity for the same TV show — Heroes — and often talk on the phone throughout episodes.

But in addition to Davis’ unfailing humor is his immense generosity.

Davis dresses up as Santa for Christmas parties and coaches kids in sports.

“He feels strongly about family values,” Reafs said. “He values taking care of what’s important. Even as a child and young teen he’s always cared very much for others.”

He’s known to cook for the kite festival, and regularly delivers food to the bank and the crew working at Prairie Center.

“He’s always cooking because he loves feeding people,” Wilson said.

Davis’ whole family lives on Whidbey. His parents Carol and Jerry Reafs live in Coupeville, so does sister Suzan Georges. His brother Jay Reafs is in Freeland.

He also has numerous nieces and nephews around the island.

Davis’ stroke only adds insult to injury for the crew at the Mad Crab. The restaurant was robbed the same night, Sunday, May 20, that Davis fell ill.

According to Wilson, it appears that two thieves schlepped away the restaurant’s heavy two-foot square safe.

It was a robbery that didn’t carry much weight in loot — there was only around $60 in the safe. The restaurant also lost around $300 worth of tips from credit card slips that had been cashed out, but the tips had not.

“We always do that the next day,” Wilson said.

Wilson isn’t sure when the burglary occurred. She knows the restaurant closed at 8 p.m. but remembers seeing the lights on at 9:30 p.m. when she passed by later. The case remains under investigation with the Coupeville Marshal.

Reafs said her faith and her son’s already-proven determination are what’s getting her through and what will bring Davis back to being the Lord of the Prep once more.

The family now wears green ribbons tied in a knot to represent the family’s strong bond.

“My first-born son is very ill, but could have been so much worse,” she said. “He loves Theresa, loves his family and loves life and no matter what he’s done in life he’s always given 110 percent.”