Somewhere far off the Washington Coast, 80 fathoms (or one Smith
Tower) beneath the waves, a fat Dungeness crab, one creature in a mat
of millions, is snuggled beneath a blanket of cold, dark mud.
If you are very lucky, someday that crab will perish in a steam pot
and, in no more than 20 minutes, show up in front of you, hot and
gorgeous. Do not feel too badly about its fate. This crab, a hunter of
fish and clams and sometimes a cannibal, is also a scavenger who may
have gnawed on a bit of person lost beneath the brine. Its Latin name
is Cancer magister, the “master crab.” It can measure as much as
10 inches across the carapace and has one of the highest meat-to-shell
ratios in the world. Its mating ritual lasts several days, the male
crab protectively embracing the female, face to face at the bottom of
the ocean.
Though it lives in the mud, its flesh is delicate and slightly
sweet. If overcooked or starved, it turns fibrous and bland. Once
removed from the cold and pressure of the ocean depths, Dungeness crabs
stop eating; they absorb calcium from their shells for nutrition,
turning their shells soft and their meat chewy. A crab caught and
immediately steamed on the boat can taste better than one kept alive
and fasting.
The very best place to get Dungeness crab is the Quileute
Reservation near La Push, where you can rent a beachside cabin
($50–$200), then walk to the docks and buy a few crabs straight
from the boats. They go for around $5 a piece (or whatever the
fishermen feel like charging that day). Drop them in your bucket, lug
them through the tiny, tattered town back to your shack, then set a pot
of water to boiling, confident you’re about to eat one of the best
meals available to anyone, anywhere.
But where’s the best place to eat crab in town? Seattle lacks the
crab shacks of the East Coast, where you can get a pile of crabs and a
few bottles of beer for not much money. The Alki Crab and Fish Co.
(1660 Harbor Ave SW, 938-0975), a little linoleum-and-picnic-table
joint on the West Seattle ferry dock, makes for a nice trip, but rarely
has the goods. “We’re small, and they send the crabs out to the casinos
before they get to us,” says manager Yvonne Renick. “I try to have some
on Fridays and Saturdays, but I don’t always get ’em.” When she does
have them, a steamed half-crab (about one pound) and Caesar salad goes
for $14.95.
Crawfish King—a Vietnamese-run, Cajun-style family chain that
has spread from Texas (725 S Lane St, 623-3622)—seemed promising.
A theme-park version of a Louisiana icehouse, Crawfish King has plastic
tablecloths, swamp kitsch hanging from the ceiling, generic zydeco
tumbling out of the overhead speakers, and exotic hot-sauce bottles
glued to the wooden windowsills. Inside, Asian kids were greased to the
elbows in goo, gnawing and sucking piles of crawfish. The crab came out
in a scorching-hot plastic bag, smothered in a chili sauce that
annihilated the Dungeness’s delicate flavor. At $12 a pound—most
restaurants automatically call their crabs at two pounds each—it
felt like a crab death in vain. (And while we’re on the subject: The
fried crawfish po’boy [$9] was a disappointment, with the bread soft
and doughy, not crusty French style.)
The closest thing Seattle has to a crab shack is Jack’s Fish Spot in
the Market (1514 Pike Pl, 467-0514), a countertop adjoining a fish
stand. It serves chowder, raw oysters, fish and chips, and steamed
crab. The crab I had there for $18 wasn’t the tops—the shell was
soft, the flesh fibrous and bland, perhaps because the crab wasn’t very
fresh, perhaps because the guy behind the counter said he’d spaced out
and left it in the steamer too long. Jack’s will do for a quick,
restorative oyster, though the brushed-aluminum counter was
filthy—like, New York subway filthy, with a veneer of schmutz of
varying color and thickness. (Being part of a fishmonger’s, it gets a
pass.)
Three strikes into the crab search, the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife was consulted. “Where’s the best place to eat steamed
crab?” I asked state crab expert Heather Reed. “My home,” she said.
Duh.
Back in February, chefs Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Joule (1913
N 45th St, 632-1913) served one night of fantastic deep-fried crab,
Cantonese style, with a peppery breading on the outside. The meat was
succulent and tender, and the hot oil turned the gills and guts,
normally discarded, into deep-fried crab cracklings. Chirchi said he
did his research at a few Chinese restaurants, including Sea Garden in
the International District (509 Seventh Ave S, 623-2100).
Sea Garden wins. First, because it serves five different whole,
fried preparations. Second, because the waitress brought out the
creature live, in a white plastic bucket, for approval. Third, because
it serves its crab—cracked and steaming and (in this case)
smeared in a thick ginger-onion sauce—with bowls of warm, lemony
water to clean your fingers. (Why doesn’t everybody do that?) Fourth,
because it was delicious: The frying kept the meat succulent and the
sauce complemented, but didn’t overwhelm, the sweetness. It was pricey
at around $35, but it was also the first crab bill of the season that
didn’t feel like a rip-off. The fortune cookie said: “A new friend will
bring you happiness.” A new friend just had. 
This article has been updated since its original publication due to the fact that leagues are a lot longer than fathoms.
great article albeit confirmation of the lack of GREAT crab in town – ugh. still, i also love the black pepper and curry crab at malay satay hut.
good times, good times.
The best crab in town is the one you catch yourself. It is easy. Borrow the gear, or buy it if you can. All you need is a crab basket with 40 feet of nylon line, a turkey leg, and a zip-tie.
Borrow a kayak. Go to Carkeek, Golden Gardens or Lincoln park at the start of an incoming tide (check the weather section for this info). Paddle out into about 20-30 feet of water where you are reasonably sure of a sandy flat bottom with eelgrass. Drop the basket with the drumstick zipped to the middle. Wait 20 minutes and haul it up. Repeat until you have up to five “keepers”, crabs measureing 6 1/4 inches across the carapace, males only.
Here is the important part: clean before cooking. Break ’em in half over the edge of a bucket– right down the middle front-to-back. Clean and rinse out the guts, gills, etc.
Then boil a gallon or two of water and add a bunch of salt & beer, more is better. With a rolling boil, drop in the crab halves and cook 15 minutes.
Spread some butcher paper on a table, preferably outdoors. Drain & dump cooked crabs into a pile on the table. Serve with melted butter, lemon, and cheap beer in a can. Enjoy the bounty of the great Northwest, it’s right there in plain sight.
The best dungeness crab is a WHOLE live crab dropped into a roiling, salted boil for 12-18 minutes.
Comes out perfect every time.
Best Crab?
I love Seattle food and I love dungeoness crab. But hands down for the best crab do the following:
Drive South of Seattle to Seatac Airport.
Take flight to San Francisco Airport.
Drive North into downtown San Fancisco, find Polk street.
Find Crustacean Restaurant (a Vietnamese fusion seafood restaurant)
Order the Roast Crab. There are at least two other types of Dungeoness on the menu such as tamarind and something else, but ignore the temptation to order anything but what you came for. Order the house special: the Roast Crab.
Enter Dungeoness Nirvana as you lick every last hint of flavor from the fingers you used to crack open the crab. You will taste garlic, szeuchaun pepper and god knows what else they use to spice this house specialty (they refuse to tell you how they do it.).
I have no idea how they get these incredible savory asian flavors to penitrate the shell and actually enter the meat, but they do.
The best dungeoness crab is in San Fancisco. Sad for those of us here in the Northwest but true.
No thanks. Someone’s going to have to give me a LOT more than crab to get me to San Fran…
PS, I’m so sick of hearing about how great everyone things San Francisco is. If you love it so much, please go back. And stay there.
I hate San Francisco…
I HATE SAN FRANCISCO TOO….IT IS SO DIRTY AND VISUALLY BLAND
Sorry to be a smartass, but I believe you mean 80 fathoms, not leagues– a league is approximately 3.5 miles, whereas a fathom is about 6 feet.
Sea Garden always wins.
Always.
Look Kip, in this century- we refer to ASIANS as ASIANS, not Orientals. And as far as smelling what’s in the shops, I’m sure it smells far better than YOU, asshole.
Go to 3 Crabs in Sequim; very close to Dungeness, where the crab was named. Excellent crab there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeness_c…
I’m with crab master on the cleaning of the crab *before* cooking and eating. So much better, and no butter required.
a. Seattle can’t touch the east coast for oysters, but I hope y’all realize what great crab you have. In fact I plan on going to La Push on Memorial Day Weekend just to get the family real fresh crabs.
b. I believe in freedom of speech, but I have reported Kip (comment above) to the forum moderator for his blatantly racist comment.
rh,
unfortunately, most oysters on the east coast are imported from the west coast. I go nantucket every yr and guess what they try to RAW bar WA oysters on me and say they are they fresest and best. Lived in nYC for 4 yrs and the same thing. WA and Alaska oysters were always top of the list as the best.
And its asians for the idiot above not orientals. haha what idiot.
Not so far as SF – go to Depoe Bay, OR. My favorite crab dinner was purchased off a boat that just came in and was cooked on the spot. Fantastic!
I remember one boat trip in the San Juans we took with my stepsons, when they were about 11 and 14. My husband and I wanted some privacy, so we talked the boys into setting our crab pots WAYYYY out from the mooring buoys. They’d take the dinghy and row out to check the pots, which would take them about 45 minutes. We got our happy fun time, the boys got some exercise, and as a side benefit, because no one else was setting their pots out that far, we were getting BIG crabs and a lot of them. For the ONLY time in my life, I actually got tired of crab (I’m kind of an otter about shellfish).
has anyone tried chandler’s (ahem) crabhouse? they do crustaceans quite nicely there, once you relieve yourself of sticker shock. despite the article being about dungeness, i think the best crab at chandler’s is the king crab. 20oz in one sitting?! sign me up!!
Hamster: “Dungeoness”? Really? “Dungeoness”? Eeeew. Then San Francisco can keep it. We prefer the real thing here in Seattle.
You don’t have to go to San Fran to get that roasty, garlicy, peppery crab. Go to Seven Stars Pepper on Jackson and 12th(?). It’s delicious and comes on a platter with the legs all pre-cracked. Also get the green beans, sooooo soooo good. You can get all this at Sunday brunch too. Also their shaved noodles are delish.
its a damn shame that you can’t get good crab at a restaurant here. when i moved here from new orleans everyone said “oh at least you’ll still be able to get good seafood.” Yeah right. if its so plentiful here then why is it so goddamn expensive? and why can only high end restaurants cook it right? the food in seattle is a major disappointment, at least when gringos cook it. for good food here you have to go ethnic.
I think Seattle made a mistake making bars carry food. there is a million places here with bad bar food, flooding the market with mediocrity. change that law and plenty of bars will stop serving food, enabling more competition between places that now how to cook. and maybe we’ll get some good crab finally
SOO!!!:
Go f your assumptions
My years lived in Washington: 17
My years lived in California: 0
I have eaten creatures with exoskelatons on five continents, and simply wish to pass on where I thought the best Dungeness Crab was. I am glad to tell you (for those looking for bias and prejudice) that it was not only on our continent but on the West Coast.
RH:
While I have not lived in California, I have lived on the East Coast. I am not from there but I did live there a while. I gotta agree with “Bill Gates” that the best oysters I have tasted are local. My favorite place to buy them is from the Taylor Shellfish farm on Chuckanut Drive between Mt Vernon and Bellingham. There are a few road side taverns in Maryland that serve some darned tasty blue crab, however. One can’t live on Dungeness alone.
nellie:
I actually catch my own crab every single Summer. You can’t get any fresher than out of your own crab pot. I have cooked it every which way I know how. To cook your own, I reccomend boiling, with adding 1/2 cup vinegar to every 8 quarts of water you boil them in. The meat comes out of the shell much easier. I have roasted them, grilled them, boiled them, baked them. You name it. But I still can’t come close to what they do at Crustaceans.
Myra:
sorry about my spelling. I try hard but never was that good at it. Forgive me. My bet is that the Californians import most of their crab from Oregon and Washington (not to mention their muscles). Just like the oysters they eat on the East coast. So I think you will likley be eating NW Crab even if you are eating it in San Francisco.
maria:
I will go to Seven Stars Pepper, next chance I get! Despite weighing in on “the best” I inherently distrust suppurlatives and will gladly find a new “best” crab. Especially if it is closer to home. Thanks for the tip. If you are right I will gladly eat crow… Although cracking the crab myself is usually part of the fun of eating crab.
I triple the notion mentioned above to clean the crab and then cook it. This way, you can go to work picking out the meat immediately when it’s out of the pot, plus the crabs haven’t been cooking in their own yuck (this is why I don’t buy crabs at restuarants). They’re not that hard to clean (watch out for the pinchers!), and the butcher will do it for free if you’re squeamish about slaughtering your food (you non-pioneering type). Best place to get LIVE crab in Seattle is any Viet-Wah grocery or Uwajimaya grocery. This is the cheapest you will find them, this far from the ocean (cleanest water). Be careful when eating Puget Sound caught crabs! (not the cleanest water).
And now… the secret to the best tasting, cooked in your own crab steamer pot at home,…. Old Bay Crab Boil Seasoning. Get the nylon-looking bag sold in a box, not the tin can of powder. And, if you can stand the smell, a cup of vinegar. Throw the cleaned crabs in the boiling mixture for about 7-10 minutes until they turn red.
I grew up eating the blue claw on the east coast, and when I discovered the dungeness… OH MY GAWD! The meat is so much easier to get out of those shells. Both exo-skeletons are the same, except the dungeness is bigger and easier to pick out all the meat… even the joint meat.
Cooking tip for above: Boil that bag of Old Bay for a good 20-30 minutes first.
The BEST dungeness crab is , yes, caught yourself in the puget sound, San Juans, or Hood Canal..especially if you can cook it in its own (clean)salt water. And yes, clean then cook in a cauldron over a camp fire preferably.Yum..As far as going out, I agree the Sea garden is the best.I like the Salt and pepper preparation. Has anyone reviewed the Crab Pot recently? And, hands down, SF f’in rocks with their seafood counters on the pier. I wish we had that here on the SEattle Pier..the decent, fresh, simple seafood counter scene is virtually non-existent now.WE need more seafood markets that also prepare the food. Simple: fish, salads, rice, sandwiches, beer and wine. Plus the seafood market so people can purchase. DUH!! They have those all over cali and sf, and the east coast, why are we so lame when it comes to that. I buy and cook at home so I’m jaded I guess. It’s so hard to eat CRAB here in restaurants once you’ve had it the REAL way. I had a really sucky experience at Salty’s on Alki, their “roasted” Dung. crab came out like crab jerky and was missing the first-two big claws on one side!! I was apalled and sent it back. They actually tried to serve me a crab that had been cooked w/o the claws bc it was black on the socket where the claw was torn off. Those people messed with the wrong chick, I was weened on dungeness crab and practically raised on a boat, so I have had the BEST d.crab $$ can buy. It was actually funny, bc I realized how blessed i was having known what its supposed to taste like. I do give them credit for the salmon though.
Kip you know as well as anyone else in Oregon that your don’t air out your shanties between renters. So these “reviews” and comments must be another of your pathetic attempts at “humor”.
For those who have not already seen Kip in person. You can watch a drunk Kip doing stand up. Just google him you will get an eye full! It is alway nice to put a face with a name.
A warning, you might think Kip is not wearing a costume, but he actually goes around wearing shorts and red cow boy boots pretty much all the time. Hearing the “joke” while seeing the outfit along with his balding head and natty ass pony tail will help you understand why servers probably do want to spit and piss into his food or at least toss a couple of roaches or rat turds into it.