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.
There are some attention-grabbing time limits on this article but I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There may be some validity but I will take hold opinion till I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we would like more! Added to FeedBurner as effectively
1Just a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw great layout.
2Hello, you used to write excellent, but the last few posts have been kinda boring?K I miss your tremendous writings. Past few posts are just a bit out of track! come on!
3I view something truly special in this site.
4서울출장마사지 서울출장안마 셀럽은 고객이 머무는 장소에서 관리를 받을 수 있도록 방문 서비스를 안내합니다. 자택이나 숙소의 위치, 원하는 이용 시간, 코스를 알려주시면 예약 가능
5With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My website has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you know any ways to help stop content from being stolen? I’d truly appreciate it.
6I am glad to be one of the visitants on this great web site (:, thanks for putting up.
7Keep up the superb work, I read few articles on this website and I conceive that your blog is really interesting and has got circles of great information.
8whoah this blog is fantastic i love reading your articles. Keep up the good work! You know, many people are hunting around for this information, you could aid them greatly.
9Hiya, I am really glad I have found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish just about gossips and net and this is really annoying. A good web site with interesting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
10I conceive you have observed some very interesting points, thanks for the post.
11I was just looking for this information for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your website. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Normally the top web sites are full of garbage.
12I am continuously invstigating online for articles that can facilitate me. Thanks!
13As I website owner I believe the content material here is very excellent, appreciate it for your efforts.
14I precisely desired to thank you so much yet again. I do not know what I might have sorted out in the absence of the aspects discussed by you about my field. Previously it was the hard difficulty in my opinion, however , being able to view the specialised manner you handled that took me to cry over delight. I’m grateful for the advice and in addition have high hopes you are aware of a great job you are always accomplishing educating many people thru your site. I am sure you have never encountered any of us.
15I’m not positive the place you’re getting your info, however good topic. I needs to spend a while studying much more or figuring out more. Thank you for excellent info I used to be in search of this info for my mission.
16As soon as I detected this website I went on reddit to share some of the love with them.
17Just wish to say your article is as surprising. The clearness on your submit is just cool and i can assume you’re an expert in this subject. Well along with your permission let me to seize your RSS feed to keep up to date with approaching post. Thanks a million and please keep up the rewarding work.
18Rattling informative and superb body structure of content, now that’s user friendly (:.
19I conceive this web site holds some really superb info for everyone. “He who has not looked on Sorrow will never see Joy.” by Kahlil Gibran.
20It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this outstanding blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
21I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post…
22This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.
23This is the right blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
24I’d perpetually want to be update on new blog posts on this website , saved to bookmarks! .
25Thanx for the effort, keep up the good work Great work, I am going to start a small Blog Engine course work using your site I hope you enjoy blogging with the popular BlogEngine.net.Thethoughts you express are really awesome. Hope you will right some more posts.
26As I website owner I conceive the subject material here is very excellent, regards for your efforts.
27I am no longer positive the place you are getting your information, but good topic. I must spend a while finding out much more or understanding more. Thank you for great information I was looking for this info for my mission.
28구미오피를 검색하며 구미 지역 일반 마사지·스파를 알아보는 분들을 위한 안내입니다. 프로그램 선택, 관리 시간과 비용, 시설·위생, 주차, 예약 전 확인사항과 자주 묻는 질문을 정리했습니다.
29늑대닷컴을 검색하며 궁금했던 웹툰 정보와 작품 찾는 방법을 정리했습니다. 연재·완결 구분, 무료 회차와 미리보기 차이, 주소 정보 확인 기준, 모바일 이용 팁과 자주 묻는 질문을 확인하세요.
30밤토끼가 어떤 사이트였는지, 과거 이력과 현재 검색 정보를 구분하는 방법을 정리했습니다. 예전에 보던 웹툰 찾기, 공식 연재처 확인, 무료 회차와 대여·소장 차이, 자주 묻는 질문까지 한 번에 확인하세요.
31포항오피 검색어의 맥락과 온라인 정보 확인 기준을 정리했습니다. 광고성 표현과 후기의 출처, 게시물의 최신성, 개인정보 보호 방법, 포항 공공정보와 자주 묻는 질문을 확인하세요.
32Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch as I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch! “A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.” by Oscar Fingall O’Flahertie Wills Wilde.
33I would like to thank you for publishing such valuable content. I really like your web page. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to comment on your article. I would love to see more interesting posts from you in the near future.
34Good post. I be taught something more difficult on totally different blogs everyday. It should at all times be stimulating to learn content from other writers and observe just a little one thing from their store. I’d choose to use some with the content on my blog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll provide you with a link in your net blog. Thanks for sharing.
35Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive learn anything like this before. So nice to seek out anyone with some authentic thoughts on this subject. realy thanks for starting this up. this website is one thing that is wanted on the web, somebody with a little bit originality. useful job for bringing one thing new to the web!
36This is a topic close to my heart cheers, where are your contact details though?
37I really appreciate you for posting this great information. I truly enjoy your website. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to comment on your article. I hope more useful content from you in the future.
38Hi, i think that i saw you visited my blog thus i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
39소액결제현금화의 의미와 수수료 계산, 실제 부담액을 확인하세요. 휴대폰 결제 한도와 통신요금 청구, 관련 법령, 취소·환불 및 피해 대응까지 공식 자료를 바탕으로 정리했습니다.
40Rattling fantastic info can be found on blog.
41Wow, marvelous weblog structure! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you made running a blog glance easy. The entire look of your web site is fantastic, let alone the content!
42소액결제현금화의 의미와 수수료 계산, 실제 부담액을 확인하세요. 휴대폰 결제 한도와 통신요금 청구, 관련 법령, 취소·환불 및 피해 대응까지 공식 자료를 바탕으로 정리했습니다.
43I haven’t checked in here for a while because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are great quality so I guess I will add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
44Great blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What web host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
45부산여성전용마사지 부산토닥이 드디어 부산 상륙 NO.1 부산 최대 규모 관리사들 항시 대기중 24시 연중무휴
46Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the pictures on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any feed-back would be greatly appreciated.
47Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your web site in internet explorer, would test this… IE still is the market leader and a big portion of people will miss your wonderful writing because of this problem.
48Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this website. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between usability and appearance. I must say you’ve done a very good job with this. Also, the blog loads very fast for me on Internet explorer. Outstanding Blog!
49You got a very wonderful website, Sword lily I found it through yahoo.
50