Soft Shelled Crabs
 

I just love them! Where, fellow Fodorites, have you had your best soft shelled crabs. (Can't really find them in California :-( )

Maryland, Maryland, Maryland...... at any of the good seafood houses around Baltimore and Annapolis!!! Second, Emerald Isle, N.C.!!! My husband's idea of heaven is a BLT with a fried soft-shell crab on it!!!

Bayou La Batre. AL.

I second MD. My husband has had them twice in the last week - Southern Maryland - Fancy: Dry Dock Restaurant in Solomons. Casual: Clarks Landing in Hollywood, MD. Very Tasty.

July/August is the season, I think, at least in NYC.
Our favorite is a small place in Rockland County NY called Piermont, the restaurant is called The Freelance Cafe, ..they saute them in white wine and butter and serve them with amazing fresh sauteed vegetables. Tender and melt in your mouth..bonnie..do they fry them or saute them?
I had some lovely soft shell crabs in sauce in Little Italy one summer also :)

Hi Scarlett

In Maryland they saute those little soft shells in butter - sometimes adding some white wine other times adding some Old Bay. They are sooooo good!!!

My husband has been known to bring them home when he finds them and then cleans them for cooking. I just saw some yesterday at the market but someone else bought the last ones.

Hi LN :)

I have to wander over to our new fish market and see if I can get some, now that you tell me this- I am getting a taste for them ~

Scarlett, my husband dips them in egg, then crumbs, then sautes them!

Thanks bonnie!
I will look tomorrow and make the Yankee cook them..does anyone clean their own or do you have the store do it?
Once, the store didn't do it, I thought they had. Was I horrified when those poor crabs started hopping around and waving their arms at me, when they hit the hot pan :(

Scarlett, dear Scarlett, what do you mean you don't clean your own? Half the fun of eating crabs is knowing that you deserve to eat them, after having spent hours picking at them!

I had my first taste of soft shelled crabs more than 15 years ago, after having given birth to my daughter. My parents were staying with us to help out with the babies, and they presented me with a heaping plate of freshly picked crab meat! Now crab to me signifies celebration and good times.

Beach Bistro--Anna Maria Island (FL). It was a little hard to eat something that was looking back at me but I managed!

I love, love, love them, used to eat them all during their season when we lived in Philadelphia. Here in Europe, they're hard to find, except at some sushi places..."Spider roll" on the menu automatically gets me inside. Grasshopper, check some of your favorite Japanese restaurants, bet they have spider rolls. The crab will be frozen, but frozen soft shell crab is better than no soft shell crab! And you can always comfort yourself that it's much easier to get Dungeness crab on the West Coast than on the East Coast. And it looks like it will be a good Dungeness season this year up in the Olympic Peninsula.

dln, you are talking crab meat and picking. WE are talking about the most divine food on earth--soft shell crab--you eat the whole thing (AFTER cleaning!!). Yes, I clean my own--and they do have to be at leasst somewhat alive. Dredge in flour and saute in butter. The season should be in when we go to Litchfield in a couple of weeks. Serve them with a fried green tomato as the "carrier".

Gretchen's right. You must get them as close to live as possible. Frozen doesn't do it. Nor does refrigerated for a couple of days. I had a soft-shell crab dinner last night in Chincoteague, VA. Disappointing. I've had a SS sandwich at this same restaurant in the past, and it was exquisite. Last night, however, didn't make the cut.

And Old Bay is great for hardshells, but it would destroy soft-shells.

Incidentally, the soft-shell starts getting hard as soon as it sheds its (old) hardshell. Best place to get a great sandwich or dinner is probably Crisfield, or Smith Island MD, or Tangier VA.

(Sorry to ramble on, but my mother was born on Smith Island, and I spend summers there as a young 'un...)

And for one last comment, find a copy of William Warner's Beautiful Swimmers. It's a powerful ode and homage to the Blue Crab.

In july 2002, we saw some amazing crabbing in Ft. Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington. (Cool area used for filming of 'An Officer and a Gentleman'). The guys catching them (what are they called ... crabbers..?!) educated us regarding ordinances, limits etc. Very interesting! And soo yummy later!

Question for Maryland - Virgina residents: after a search here these are the restaurants we're considering.

-Seaside Seafood (glen burnie?)
-G & M
-O'Byckies
-Carrolls Creek
-Murphy's
-Cantlers Crab House
-Riordans

Comments? Suggestions? Thanks!

Gretchen, I plead guilty! I was on the phone with my mother this morning, and she said to me (voice dripping with disbelief that I should confuse one with the other) "It was blue stone crab, not soft shell!" Hey, what can I say? Childbirth is rough. The blue stone sure tasted good, though.

Most of the crabs served in Maryland restaurants come from the Gulf of Mexico. Check with any seafood wholesale vendor.
That said, my parents had a house on the Chester River X from Chestertown on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and we caught 3 dozen Blue Claw crabs (male keepers) every day when visiting while I was stationed at NNMC in the early 70's (Bethesda N H). Fresh crab imperial is even better than soft shells, 'tho we get those fresh in season here in DFW.
Bistro Latino in Dallas and Bistro Louise in Ft Worth get the very best!
The frozen guys just don't cut it.
M

Peck's Old Port Seafood restaurant- Ozella, Florida

Oh I love soft shell crab!

Scarlett, have you noticed the wire baskets you turn at all of the car washes? They are to clean your oysters during season.

Why do you clean them? I love that goo. Yummmm. Just a little ground up garbage. Crabs will eat anything. They eat metal (but very slowly).

Crabs migrate, and the same crabs that are in the Gulf of Mexico will eventually find themselves in Maryland, moving along the shoreline with the Gulf stream. Hmmmm. They must stop somewhere. I wonder if there's a Mason-Dixon line for crabs? No crabs allowed from here on.

What a good list of places to try. I may have to make a trip east. I do get Spider Rolls, but the little bit of crab is only enough to make me think about what I miss.

Bookhall, for another homage to the swimmers, there's a chapter in Michner's Cheasepeake that gives a lot of heart and soul to the little critters.

ellen_griswold,
The most important factor you need to consider is whether the restaurant has their own "molting pens". This right from the water to your plate freshness is paramount and cannot be overstated. Obviously the restaurant has to have a waterside location to have them. Call the restaurnats to make sure. Cantler's does have their own molting pens, but it is incredibly popular/crowded place 7 days a week. If you go there, you must arrive before noon. After that, it just keeps getting busier and more crowded until closing time. Again, call ahead before you make any decision.

Thank you for the tip, bardo! We will do that, as this trip is primarily to have some good crabs. :)

Ellen, some thoughts on some of the restaurants on your list:

Obryckie's is a good, traditional Maryland crab house; however, they do theirs with a peppery spice mix rather than the expected Old Bay. Their crabs usually come from elsewhere.

Carroll's Creek is not a crab house at all, but a relatively pricey (though casual) seafood restaurant with good food. Great views of Annapolis -- if it's not too hot, ask to sit outside. Expect a wait on weekends; they do not take reservations. Hurricane Isabel pretty much trashed the Annapolis and Eastport waterfronts, and Carroll's Creek used the disruption as an opportunity to renovate -- call to make sure they have opened back up.

(P.S. To those not in the know, if you order tuna tartare at Carroll's Creek, it is indeed RAW. I saw a fellow diner order the tartare and send it back because it wasn't cooked; I nearly offered to take it off her hands...)

Cantler's Riverside - This is a classic. I just went last weekend, and watched the crabs coming in off the watermen's boats (i.e. the crabs are local). We ordered a half-dozen larges (they were going for $65/dozen; they also have two bigger sizes) and they were heavy and full of meat - yum! Make sure you get directions, because it can ge tough to get there. Better yet, go by boat. Also, try going at off-peak times because it can get very crowded.

Hi Callaloo! Thanks for such great info! How exactly do we get to cantlers by boat?

Inlet Cafe, Highlands, New Jersey next to Sandy Hook. It also has good steamers and a great view: http://www.inletcafe.com/

Now you made me hungry!

Keith

Hi again

As a native Marylander I will hope to offer some soft shell/hard shell blue crab insights.

First - right now we're are getting most of our crabs from around Louisiana as the Chesapeake bay crabs are not really in yet.

When I prepare soft shells I dredge them in flour add a bit of old bay (crab is so sweet that a little seasoning helps) and saute in butter. And yes, they must be alive when you clean and prepare them for cooking. They don't move around much when they're iced down and can appear to be dead but they'll move when you really check them. If the crabs are NOT alive don't cook them cause it won't taste good. This is also true for steaming hard shells.

When you clean soft shells you want to remove the lungs and all the little mustard and then take a scissors and cut off the face. I know, sounds terrible. Also soft shell crabs are only available when the blue hard shell crab is molting and gets rid of its hard shell.

Ellen - in reference to these -

Seaside Seafood (glen burnie?) great crabs - even better crab imperial

-G & M - I went there for crab imperials and sorry I didn't care for the filler - toooo thick!! no crab picking

-O'Byckies - always good crabs, crab cakes, and crab imperial

-Carrolls Creek - great waterfront dining - no crab picking

-Murphy's - don't know where it is

-Cantlers Crab House - good old Maryland crab house

-Riordans - nice Annapolis bar/restaurant

Blue crab is not really like stone crab claws - with stone crab claws they catch the crab and remove one claw and then return the crab to the water.

Hope this helps
Ellen

Ellen Griswold, the only real way to get to Cantler's by boat is if you have access to a privately owned boat. If you do, you leave the Severn River (Annapolis), turn north into the Chesapeake, go west into Whitehall Bay, then enter Mill Creek (follow the marks - it's quite shoaly). Cantler's is on the southern side of Mill Creek - you won't be able to miss it. They have a dock with room for about 10 boats.

I don't know whether there are places to rent a boat in Annapolis, or whether anyone would take you on an excursion.

We generally have steamed crabs (and cream of crab soup) at Bo Brook's - now located on the water in the Canton section of Baltimore. (I am sure they have soft shell crabs too but I am a wuss and don't eat them.)They are consistently good and the view is great. Angelina's in northeast Baltimore is not scenic at all but has really good crab cakes.