Dungeness Crab

I have read in another post about Dungeness Crab being a specialty in San Francisco. How are they usually prepared? Where is the best place to get fresh Dungeness Crab?

Dungeness Crab

Dungeness crab is wonderful....

They are cooked...and you can easily find some at the open areas at Fisherman Wharf where they sell crabs. We like the ones that are the heavier ones as they seem to be better; but each their own.

The restaurants by Fisherman wharf (if its crab season - right now it is) will usually offer them on the menu during crab season.

If you like crab in sauces (garlic, and other), many Chinese restaurants will cook crab up and put sauces on top. These can be downright wonderful - great thing to enjoy.

Several times during the year local charities or other organizetions will have a Crab Feed. You pay one price and then enjoy all the crab you ever wanted to eat (come hungry).

The key thing is that you do need to shell them....so they can take a bit of time to eat...but its a really fun activity to do with people you enjoy eating with. Dungeness crab and sourdough bread from San Francisco - with a glass of Chardonnay or other wine - now that%26#39;s a perfect meal!

You can catch crabs in the area - its done by using crab cages and setting them. The most successful people however are the commercial fisherman as they know where and how to set the crab cages. We generally end up with just star fish in ours and no crab, but we have enjoyed crabbing from time to time.

Dungeness Crab

Calif. Dungeness Crab is harvested from the Oregon border down to Central Calif. The official season in No. Calif. is Dec. 1st to July 15th. and about a mo. earlier for the Central Coast. During crab season there is, indeed, a frenzy of special wine/food events, festivals and of course, Dungeness on the menus of many restaurants up and down the Calif. coast, not just in the San Fran. area. Most crabs are boiled whole and then served dismembered and oftentimes already cracked (broken open along the shell/legs to allow easier extraction and eating). It can be a messy business, eating crab--but that%26#39;s the fun of it and we usually put down newspaper or butcher paper on a big table, with everyone getting a big cloth napkin to cover themselves and then going at it with bare hands and crab picking/extraction utinsels. Sounds and looks barbaric, but it%26#39;s quite a popular social event! The cooked crab is usually accompanied with sourdough bread and lots of bright, crisp white of one%26#39;s choice (a dryish Riesling is great). Many restaurants serve whole, cracked crab or will put fresh crab in dishes from omelets to crab cakes (very popular) to salads to stews. Pretty much anything goes!

The Swan Oyster Depot on Polk Street near California.

Is there a great place to get crab cakes?

You will find crab cakes on menus everywhere.

The best I have had in ages was fairly recently at ';Sutro%26#39;s'; at Cliff House.

www.cliffhouse.com

Enjoy.