December 29, 2006
Dungeness Crab Extravaganza
It’s crab season! A time for rejoicing and celebrating one of San Francisco’s greatest gifts to the tastebuds!
The local dungeness crab season runs from the second weekend in November through May, and the best time to eat is in December and January, when supplies are plentiful and the dungeness crab meat is sweetest.
San Francisco Fishermen’s Wharf is not exactly a stone’s throw away from where I live. In fact it takes many many many stones throw for us to get there. Coupled with the fact that J & I went into early Autumn hibernation mode, it had been a while since we drove into the city for a dungeness crab feast. It would be a sin to miss San Francisco’s season of greatest gifts to the tastebuds. So on Boxing Day, we buckled up and prepared to slurp up!
Fishermen’s Grotto, Stall & Restaurant #9 was the first place we tried dungeness crab and we had been loyal to that stall ever since. I went deliriously ballistic when I saw the pile of crabs at the stall.
We not only got to eat one of the world’s tastiest seafood offerings in its freshest possible state, we also got to be in so many strangers’ videos, too. Curious tourists peered over our shoulders to see what we were feasting on, but we were oblivious to them as we went “ummmmm” each time we bit into the tender, juicy and warm crab meat.
Each dungeness crab has been skillfully cracked by the professional crab-cracker such that you do not need much effort to remove the shell. The best part of it is that after you peel off the shell, the meat on the crab legs is still WHOLE! We’d dip that chunk of crab meat into the cocktail sauce provided and eat the WHOLE piece. Our tastebuds went wild!
Then we dug into the hot bowl of clam chowder soup. Now, this clam chowder is unlike any other clam chowder we have ever tried. The clams are big, the soup is thick, and it’s taste is in every way home-made. Pepper up the chowder and add the oyster crackers for the extra crunch.
The bonus for eating at the stall is that the price is much less than if you eat in the restaurant. It’s quite fun too letting the crowds watch you as you slurp or seeing the person standing next to you enjoy the feast as much as you do.
We had one BIG dungeness crab and a bowl of clam chowder soup. Total cost amounted to only $30. The crab was $8.95 per pound the the clam chowder was $7. A divinely delicious dungeness crab meal. Hands up those who love crab!
Bite This!
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December 30th, 2006 at 12:14 am
My hands are first to be up! Teacher, can I go toi……Fisherman Grottos ?
December 30th, 2006 at 12:20 am
We went crabbing once. We had to keep throwing them back because they were legally too small to keep.
December 30th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
*drool*
- Chubbypanda
December 30th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Hi Tiger, Sure you can go! MR Tiger will fetch u there :)
DF - I went crabbing once many years ago back in Singapore. We also threw the crabs (called flower crabs) back becos they were too small to eat!
Chubbypanda, you want some tissue? :p
December 31st, 2006 at 8:22 am
I remember eating these at San Francisco. No sour dour for you?
I can’t remember which stall I ate at, but it was good. After that, we also went to the Forrest Gump restaurant, where we had lots of shrimp! ooooo. yum yum….
December 31st, 2006 at 8:24 am
oops. I meant Sour Dough. To go with the clam chowder… :-)
February 18th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Dungeness Crab Enchiladas…
Winter time is Dungeness crab season on the west coast. Dungeness crab is just about the perfect crab when it comes to culinary greatness. They are far sweeter and more flavorful than the more familiar King Crab. They are larger than east coast variet…