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Buca had soft-shell crab on the menu last night.
As Flexitarian mentioned, soft-shell crab is also currently on Malena's menu. When I was there, you could order the soft-shell crab as a 1st course, or add one to your main or fritto misto for $10.
I ordered soft-shell crab at Starfish when they were in season a couple years ago, as a daily special. I would think Starfish might be offering them as a special right now.
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Starfish
100 Adelaide St E, Toronto, ON M5C1K9, CABuca
604 King St. West, Toronto, ON M5V 1M6, CA -
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Joanne Kates reports in her review of Malena today that she's been eating the best soft shell crabs in years there:
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Rodney's Oyster House has soft shell crab. I had one for dinner tonight, coated with buttermilk and panko, then deep fried. Delicious!
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Rodney's Oyster House
469 King St W, Toronto, ON M5V1K4, CA›4 Replies-
re: cookiebaker
Because I'm too lazy to cook them myself, and for sure too timid to cut off the faces of the poor little things, I'm still waiting patiently - like the OP - to discover from the soft shell crab cognoscenti on this thread where I can partake of fresh soft shell crab in a restaurant setting. Rodney's is a start - thank you, cookiebaker, for staying on topic - and I'll travel there if I have to, but would prefer some place further uptown. C'mon now, surely you're all not saving the names of these places for yourself! Cough up. There's only a two- to three-week window to enjoy these things. I am a desperate man.
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re: juno
TorontoJo
May 1, 2010 09:23 AM
Hey juno, I wonder if you gave Zee Grill a call, whether they'd be willing to buy and prep some for you? Maybe talk to the chef, who always seems so nice (once gave a friend of mine a container of his seaweed salad after she told him how much she loved it).
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Zee Grill
641 Mt Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON M4S, CA -
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re: pinstripeprincess
Ematei is indeed a restaurant, but as pinstripeprincess pointed out in her original response, it was last year that she enjoyed soft shell crab there. And this year? I suppose I'll have to phone the place to get the latest on the soft shell crab situation. Still, given the traffic nowadays, I was hoping for something a little more uptown. Zee Grill is a long shot. The chef may be a nice guy, but asking him to go off menu for little old me, may be pushing his good humor to extremes - especially on a busy night, which seems to be every night. Still, it's a thought if I'm desperate enough (and I am). As for the hot new spot at Av and Dav, praised by Joanne Kates in today' s Globe, it looks like it'll be weeks before I can fight my way through the crowds to get inside, by which time soft-shell-crab time will have come and gone. Surely there are other joints awaiting me with fresh soft shell crab on the menu. But where?
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Ematei
30 Saint Patrick St, Toronto, ON M5T3A3, CAZee Grill
641 Mt Pleasant Rd, Toronto, ON M4S, CA
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Got mine at Bill's today - apparently they were only taking reservations for this batch, and I wonder if what's going on with the oil spill in the Gulf is going to affect things this year (and for maybe years to come). Planning on eating softshells every chance I get.
Anyway, I fried them up and had them as a po-boy in honour of New Orleans. Delicious.
Oh and according to Bill's, BC spot prawns will be showing up "any day." I'm on their call list for that too!
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Acd123 - I hear you on the not wanting to kill a live crab but I killed my first one this past weekend (blue shell not soft shell but nonetheless alive) and it wasn't anywhere near as bad and I thought it was going to be!
I wouldn't have done it if my chef bf wasn't cheering me on but now that I've done it I would suggest that you try it at least once.
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Bill just called me, he'll have softshell crabs in tomorrow, big ones too. I just reserved a couple. And yeah cutting their faces off does kind of bug me. I get over it once I'm eating, though.
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re: acd123
Yes absolutely as long as you are using them right away, I am planning to do the same. He'll even give you a bag of crushed ice to keep them cold on the drive home.
I would call the store now, he might very well be reserving the whole shipment ahead of time. The first batch of the season, everyone is waiting for them...
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re: childofthestorm
foodyDudey
Apr 29, 2010 01:38 PM
Yup, crabfest on Friday evening. I'm getting a few snowcrabs in addition to the soft shell crabs.
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re: acd123
foodyDudey
Apr 29, 2010 02:33 PM
The live snow crabs are from Bill's Lobster on Gerrard St. They arrive on Friday.
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Bill's Lobster
599 Gerrard St E, Toronto, ON M4M, CA
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Charles Yu
Apr 28, 2010 04:36 PM
Get some fresh ones from either SLM, Diana's seafood or Taro fish.
Pat them dry with paper towels, lightly dust them in flour, dip them in egg wash then coat them in corn meal or panko. Shallow fry them in butter! Yum!!!
Could taste even better than restos version!
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pinstripeprincess
Apr 28, 2010 02:32 PM
last year i got my fix at ematei and taro's (not a restaurant as i'm sure you know). ematei was charging $15 and taro's only $9. i'm planning on making a trip to taro's once i call to confirm it's in and available.
i suspect that with a bent towards local and many of the trendier places sourcing seafood from the same place... it might be hard to find restos offering the soft shell crab because their distributors might not catch any.
