Looking For Crabs In San Francisco
 

The edible kind, that is. We will be going to San Francisco next month, and I know that it is still Dungenous crab season, and was looking for advice on where to go for really good crabs or dishes made with crab (love crabcakes). Any suggestions? Any recommendations on the best way to have them prepared?

Being like so many tourists, we went to Fishermans Wharf and bought the whole crab from the sidewalk vendor, then went to the Bodun bread restaurant next door where I bought some chowder in a big bread bowl. Then we all ate our goods in their outdoor patio and patted ourselves on the backs for being so thrifty.

Most likely, we could have accomplished the same thing somewhere else for much less money but I think it was as fresh as it could possibly get (I've heard they freeze all the crab while out in the boats).

Crabs are not frozen if caught close to SF. We buy live crabs at the farmer's market on a regular basis. However I have been told that there is such a demand for crab on Fisherman's Wharf that they do import them frozen from Washington and Oregon.

There is a Vietnamese restaurant on Judah and 44th Avenue (near the ocean) which used to have a reputation for whole cooked (fried) crab. But it has been many years since I went there, and I do not know if it still exists or if the quality has maintained itself.

>>(I've heard they freeze all the crab while out in the boats).<<

Where did you hear that ??? We've devoured about a dozen local crabs each season for the past 30 years. I often see the merchants I buy crabs from dumping live crabs into the boiling tanks. They are also crawling around in tanks for anyone who wants to buy them live. This is the usual way (live) you see them in Chinatown and at restaurants that serve crab.

I just got back from my local grocery store and asked them if they are ever frozen (I know the Fish & Poultry people quite well). They say that they are never frozen before cooking. Even in the off season here in the Bay Area, they get them live from Alaska. Some large chains like Safeway will sell crabs that have been frozen, but they are frozen until after they are cooked - not before. The fish & poultry guy said you can't cook a frozen crab properly. He also said that you can easily tell a crab has been frozen after cooking when you crack it open & the meat is "shrunken" and not as delicate looking as a non-frozen one.

They may store the caught crabs on ice, but I'm pretty sure they are not frozen on the boats. Putting them on ice will not cause them to become frozen.

Close friends purchased crabs from Costco two weeks ago. They said they tasted kinda like iodine. That same week, we had crabs I got from the fish merchant in Half Moon Bay (where many crab boats depart from). They were some of the sweetest crabs I've ever tasted - I guess this means you need to be a little careful as to where you buy the crabs.

IMO, the best way to serve crabs is to do as litle as possible to them. The crab meat is delicate and you don't want to ovepower it with much of anything. I just dip it into some melted butter with a little lemon in it.

Stu Dudley

We also took some crabs home with us in an iced air-box. A nice treat when we got home to cook them and remember our trip.

Follow Stu-our dungeness is NEVER frozen
and served locally. Putting them "on Ice" makes them "sleepy" for lack of a better word, and keeps them from skittling all over the place,but doesn't freeze them.

You can easily find fresh cooked crab in groceries and restaurants in the SF Bay Area. Because we live in Sonoma County, we enjoy going out to Lucas Wharf in Bodega Bay.
We typically will dine in the restaurant on fresh crab or fresh crab louie salad-(tons of crab on this BTW)
After our meal we will go out on the dock and select a live one or two to bring home in the ice chest for friends
/neighbors to dine on that evening.

The best way to have them is cold with lemon, IMHO and lots of napkins :)
R5

R5

Is my best bet one of the vendors at the wharf? Any restaurants in other areas with some really good crab dishes?

The Vietnamese restaurant is probably Thanh Long which has a "drunken" crab dish with a whole crab (drunk with brandy, white wine, etc mixture) - pretty expensive when you consider that the restaurant charges about $35 for a crab, but good taste.

Thanh Long also has a shrimp noodles dish which is famous. I prefer the lobster noodles dish in some Chinatown locations.

Another Asian place with really good crab is the R&G Lounge in Chinatown. They have a "signature" crab dish (believe it's salt and pepper crab) which is very, very good - but also a bit expensive.

The Mayflower Chinese Restaurant out on Geary serves a wonderful onion and ginger crab.

Most good Asian restaurants will feature live crabs swimming around in tanks. Dead crab tends to lose a lot of its sweet flavor. So, Tandoori Girl's idea of getting a crab at Fisherman's Wharf is a great idea. I've seen live crabs being dumped into those boiling vats, but can't remember specifically which restaurants at the Wharf do this.

Stu and razzledazzle are correct too. It shows that they know what great crab tastes like! :)

The West Coast is not known for crabcakes that I know of. Dungeness crab is best enjoyed cooked whole and dipped in either butter or an Asian sauce. There's no elegant way to do this, you have to go at it with your hands, a nutcracker and a nutcracker pick - or use the end of a crab leg to dig the meat out.

Besides which, most restaurant crabcakes have too much other "stuff" and not crab in them. Best crab cakes I've had were homemade with about 80-90% canned crab from the Gulf.

Enjoy! :)

I am pretty sure you could get crabs at the Abigail Hotel ;)

The "sweetest" Dungeness crabs come from the area that gave them their name--Dungeness near Sequim on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula. They can be found, however, from Alaska down to the SF area. So a crab caught locally may not be the absolute best crab in terms of flavor.
My husband's parents lived just a few miles from the Dungeness spit and one of their neighbors was a skilled crabber. During crabbing season, he used to stop by every few days with a bag of cleaned freshly caught crab.
Enjoy, they're a real delicacy!
http://www.crabfestival.org/dungeness-crabs.html

I don't use any sauce with dungeness, the flavor is too delicate for that.
I do enjoy a Crab Louis at the wharf or fresh cooked at one of the many outdoor stalls.
I did ask once at Alioto's "Do you serve crabs?"
They relied," We serve anyone sir, take a seat."

What is Crab Louis?

don 512,
It is essentially a salad with the special Louis dressing

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/re...s/views/106264

R5

don512.

Crab (or sometimes shrimp) Louie is a salad with a base of lettuces, and a pile of crab (or shrimp) in the middle, ringed by various vegetables....tomato wedges, asparagus, etc. Served with a "Louis" dressing, which is a dressing made with a tomato kind of base (maybe chili sauce (Heinz?) and lemon juice and horseradish (yes). Then folded in is whipped cream.

The original recipe is very important.

If you ever go to an establishment which asks you, when you order a Crab Louie...."what kind of dressing do you want on that, oil and vinegar or blue cheese or French", get up immediately and stomp out of the restaurant.

I do it all the time. Louie salads simply should not be fooled with.

Hi jtrandolph, if you are lactose intolerance as I am you do not want that dressing. I for years order Crab Louie's with a good olive oil and vinegar and to tell you the truth I prefer it. You get a better taste of the crab (or the shrimp).

I would encourage anyone that cannot eat dairy products to try it that way..I would even if I could again order it with the Louis dressing.

if youre looking for great crabs, try alaska,.youre taste buds will thank you

loveitaly,

OK, if you are lactose intolerant, order a crab SALAD. It is not a Crab louie unless it has LOUIE dressing...and I will stalk out of a restaurant which doesn't know this....<grin>....(but seriously).

If you've never had crab done in any Asian restaurant then I'd especially recommend going that route. I completely disagree with those that say the meat is too delicate for that! Dungeness meat is quite flavorful and this is my absolute favorite way to have crab. For a trip I took to SF last weekend I'd looked at a bunch of reviews to find a good Asian place with crab (I guess I can't get enough of it here in Seattle) and I read good things about the crab at Crustacean, the Slanted Door and PPQ Dungeness Island. I'd heard good things about Than Luong but read it's gone downhill. Anyway, you can find info about all these places here:

http://www.sfgate.com/food/

Swan Oyster Bar is a classic place to eat crab in SF, though I personally hate to pay those kind of prices just for cracked crab with butter (which is what they have for crab, along with some crab cocktail and crab salads) since I can get it cooked and cleaned at any market for a third the price and have it at home (harder for a tourist, I know).

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/listin...nue?vid=181313

OK jrandolph ::) just as long as "the salad" is the same ingredients as the Crab Louis except for the dressing (which I love btw) I am happy! I do know what you are saying..honest..but I have gotten where even if I could have the Crab Louie dressing I would still order it with olive oil and vinegar on the side..and lemon of course.