Dungeness crab by the bay
Dungeness crab season is on. It was delayed twice in the Pacific Northwest because the crabs there weren’t big enough, but not here in the Bay Area. What my companions and I got a few weeks ago were 2-pound crabs, roughly one-fourth of which were meat, tossed in garlic and butter to perfection. More on that in a second.
First, what defines good crab? It has to be fresh. Its flesh should be tender and sweet, which are also defining characteristics of Dungeness crab. You also want the flesh to be firm, somewhat springy, and easily pulled off from the shell. If the meat sticks to the shell and if the shell is too hard, the crab is old. Dungeness crab is best enjoyed steamed then tossed in garlic, butter, salt and pepper, as to maximally preserve the sweetness of its meat. It’s not hard to turn a good fresh crab into a good cooked crab, but it can be messy to cook, eat and clean up after. So if you dislike cleaning as much as I do, the place to satisfy your Dungeness craving is Thanh Long in San Francisco.
The restaurant is three blocks away from the waterfront in the Sunset District. Be sure to make a reservation because the line gets long, and waiting outside in a cold foggy evening while entranced by the smell of butter and garlic is torture. Even with a reservation, it still takes roughly 30 minutes to be seated. And forget about sending half of your party to the restaurant first to place an order. The restaurant is so packed that they refuse to seat you unless the whole party is there.
The wait is the best time to study the menu. Once you’re seated, you should know immediately what to order, given that Thanh Long is known for its crab: the Roast Crab (one whole Dungeness “roasted with An’s garlic sauce and secret spices”) and the Garlic Noodle (noodle tossed in, you guessed it, An’s “garlic sauce and secret spices”). The garlic noodle is a good starch base to give you the pretense of a healthful, balanced meal. There are other crab options on the menu for the same price, such as Drunken Crab (whole Dungeness simmered in Chardonnay, sake and brandy, seasoned with scallions, chives and black pepper) and Tamarind Crab (whole Dungeness simmered in a tomato and tamarind mélange, seasoned with dill and green onions and flambéed with cognac), but fresh crab is best when it’s simple. Garlic, butter, salt and pepper bring out the crab’s flavors more than any other combination. In fact, I found the Drunken Crab lackluster.
Fried calamari and the broiled New Zealand green-lipped mussels are sensible choices to start off the meal before cracking crabs. The former is served with superb grilled green onion bulbs while the latter, drowned in a sweet Asian pesto, is already cut so that it can easily slide off the shell onto a baguette crostini.
After we ooh-ed and ah-ed and wiped the appetizer plates clean, the waiter arrived with big plastic bibs and carefully put them on everyone — one of those moments that justifies eating crab at a restaurant instead of eating crabs at home. The conversation stalled when the crabs came, as everyone became focused on taking every last piece of meat out of those legs. These crabs were so young that some of the leg shells could be broken by hand. Several bowls were placed and replaced for the crab shells.
Once we were done, we were also given hot wet towels to clean our hands. This is not the ideal first-date dinner because you just have to get downright messy., But who knows, that might be the perfect first date for some.
Address: Thanh long
4101 Judah Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 665-1146
www.anfamily.com
NOTE: the above section was published on the Daily Cal food blog. However, there are a few points I didn’t mention there because they’re more personal and/or not that relevant to the main topic:
– The kanimiso in the Dungeness is not as sweet as the kanimiso in other crabs, rather it has a bitter hint, but still, who would NOT eat kanimiso?
– The Vegetarian Delight (soft tofu sauteed with tomatoes, shiitake, green onion and broccoli) was not delightful. It tasted old and sad. But you don’t go to a crab restaurant to get vegetables. 😉
– The crab cost $40 each.
– The restaurant is red-themed. It enhances the crab, but my camera is not happy.
– We were too full to handle any more than 2 scoops of ice cream at Bi-Rite. 😉 By the way, their Orange Cardamom is heavenly.
Some really select blog posts on this website , saved to favorites.
1An interesting dialogue is worth comment. I think that you must write extra on this matter, it may not be a taboo topic however typically individuals are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers
2I got good info from your blog
3Very interesting info !Perfect just what I was looking for! “Oh, I don’t blame Congress. If I had 600 billion at my disposal, I’d be irresponsible, too.” by Lichty and Wagner.
4It’s actually a nice and helpful piece of info. I am glad that you shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
5You made some nice points there. I did a search on the topic and found mainly folks will consent with your blog.
6Howdy! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to take a look. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Outstanding blog and amazing style and design.
7Yeah bookmaking this wasn’t a speculative decision outstanding post! .
8What’s Happening i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve found It absolutely useful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to contribute & help different users like its aided me. Great job.
9Hey! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!
10What’s Happening i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has aided me out loads. I hope to contribute & aid other users like its aided me. Great job.
11Utterly written subject material, regards for entropy. “The earth was made round so we would not see too far down the road.” by Karen Blixen.
12I am continually searching online for articles that can assist me. Thanks!
13Merely wanna remark on few general things, The website style and design is perfect, the content is real wonderful. “War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.” by Georges Clemenceau.
14Some really wonderful articles on this web site, appreciate it for contribution.
15nice defi swap
16Thanks for this post, I am a big big fan of this web site would like to proceed updated.
17Some genuinely rattling work on behalf of the owner of this website , dead great subject material.
18