Dungeness Crab is not "remotely affordable" here either. Even at the grocery store crab meat is like $25+/lb.

Etta's Seafood is a great restaurant but the only crab on their menu last time I was there was (a little dab really) topping a salad. Certainly not a "crab pig out" by any stretch.

Honestly the easiest crab is from the fresh fish vendors right in the Market. Most of them do a "cup of crab" with a plastic fork to go, cocktail sauce if you want it.

suze, reporting from seattle

Where will you be staying? Maybe someplace with a kitchenette? (E.g. the Residence Inn on Lake Union would be a great location.)

Reason being, while most fish/seafood restaurants in Seattle will sell you Dungeness crab for $$$, to be honest the very best way IMO is just to buy a couple of cooked crabs (have the fishmonger clean them) a couple of nutcrackers, a loaf of good bread and maybe a bottle of local white wine (and anything else you'd like, such as, say, a pound of butter to melt, a few lemons to squeeze, and did I mention butter?) and DO IT YOURSELF. Even if you're not staying someplace with a kitchenette, I'm quite certain virtually any hotel in town will be glad to have room service bring you the setups - order a couple of Caesar salads and some dessert. There won't be any dress code, you can use all those extra towels to clean up the inevitable mess, and tip the hotel people a couple of extra bucks to adios the plates and shells before you start smelling like a halibut farmer.

Any way you cut it, you'll be way ahead financially, you can pick the crabs you want, take your time, and indulge in one of the Northwest's great traditions - cold crab for dinner.

You can buy the crab at the Pike Market, or for a treat go to the Uwajimaya supermarket in the Chinatown/International District for IMO the best fish/shellfish selection in town (and pick up some funky Japanese snack food in the process.)

Now if all that hasn't convinced you, I'd recommend Anthony's Pier 66 on the central waterfront, around $40 pp, or Elliott's Oyster House, around $50 pp. The Crab Pot, a small chain, has an outlet on the central waterfront also, for about $40 pp. (I'd choose Anthony's in a heartbeat.) Etta's is also good; I think a whole crab (just crab) will be around $25 in the bar. [For comparison's sake, a take-it-home crab will usually be under $10.]

I guess it's all relative. The meat would cost me $99 ($33/lb plus shipping, plus $45 for the minimal 3 lb order. The whole crab would be $75 for 3, plus $45 shipping.

I do see on Etta's menu (if it would be available, who knows) that a steamed dungeness crab with lemon & butter is 25 half/40 whole, or at "crabby hour" is 15 half/25 whole.

Growing up in the SF Bay Area, I know what you mean about those little thimbles of crab cocktail - thanks but no. Would like some garlic crabs, if they could be found..

Hi Gardyloo - thanks, excellent suggestions. No, we won't have a kitchenette in Seattle, but we will have a condo with kitchen in both Victoria and Vancouver.

For Seattle, your idea sounds delicious. Thorough shower before getting on the plane...

It'd trust Etta's to make anything delicious (although not cheap). I usually eat there at lunch-time and didn't realize they served whole crabs.

The crab cups from the fish vendors aren't little "thimbles", they are regular plastic drinking glass sized.

But wait, Dungeness crab season doesn't even begin until mid-December, so how can you get fresh crab anywhere in Seattle in September? Am I missing something? Generally getting crab out of season means it was "previously frozen".

Weelll... I believe it's harvested pretty much all year round up in BC, so maybe that's where it is coming from. Sport crabbing in the Puget Sound opens in October, I think, depending on how things are going.

We'll be in Victoria 2 nights in a condo with a kitchen and will pick up some seafood at The Fish Store (Victoria Fisherman's Wharf). They have a floating store and claim that their dungeness crabs have never touched land - the boats pull up and drop them off, live.

I'll certainly find out..

IIRC there's a summer commercial Dungeness fishery in SE Alaska too.