Messy Crab Shack-Style Seafood?

[Alice Q]

A girlfriend of mine wants crab legs for mother's day. I'm trying to figure out what to recommend and ll I can find is Crab Hut. Are there any other non-chain crab shack style places here in town? I'm talking abou t the kind of place where you dump the crabs on the paper covered table and have at it with a mallet. It seems like there should be an Asian style one with garlic crab or something like that, but I can't find one.

If Crab Hut is the only one around - how is it?

[Beach Chick]

Crab Catcher in LJ has King Crab Legs but its not the 'shack style'..and probably around $40+
I get my King Crab at Costco and for around $10.99 a pound with some Veuve Clicquot and 4 pounds of King Crab..this chicka is one happy clam!

[Josh]

Saigon on El Cajon Blvd. does serve crab, but it's not specifically legs (body and claws included), and it's not dumped on the table. They do provide tools for cracking the shells, and it's quite messy as you need to use your hands. The tamarind sauce is really good, but I haven't tried any of the other options.

[stevuchan]

IIRC correctly there is a Crab Hut style place next to Tajima, been a while since I've been over that way.

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Crab Hut
4646 Convoy St # 106A, San Diego, CA

[Cathy]

It was called Crawdaddy's and is closed.

Alice, You are looking for Sand Crab Cafe.

[stevuchan]

Thanks for that Cathy, that did not last long.

[mliew]

Yeah, it was pretty obvious that Crawdaddy's wasn't going to last. Every time I walked by on the way to Tajima it was empty (even on a Friday/Sat night). There's a new restaurant opening in it's place but forget what it is at the moment.

[monku]

Valley View Casino.
Sign up for a Players Club card and get a free seafood buffet.
They have Alaskan king crab legs (no hammers needed-they're cut and splti). Grab a plate full of king crab legs bring them to the Asian cooking station and the guy will stir fry them any way you want. Probably be very busy for Mothers Day.
Seafood buffet dinner includes Maine lobster, shrimp, oysters, sushi, prime rib etc...

See picture of stir fried king crab legs with sweet-chili sauce.

http://www.valleyviewcasino.com/Playe...

[leanneabe]

I thought there was another Asian-style crab place around Convoy, but I can't find it. Aside from Crab Hut, I can only think of Sand Crab Cafe: http://www.sandcrabcafe.com/

It's more of a "traditional" style dump crab on the paper table (they do give you wooden mallets) and I think it usually comes with potatoes, sausage, and corn. You can get various combos of crab, clams, shrimp, and crawfish. The sourdough bread is served cold, with butter... we usually just skip it. I like Sand Crab Cafe because I like the bites of sausage (dipped in honey mustard) and potato in between the shrimp and crab.

Crab Hut boils the seafood in different sauces (with varying levels of heat) and it's kind of all a la carte. If you want corn and sausage, you have to order it separately. Instead of dipping sauces, you get limes and pepper/salt. A pound of shrimp and a whole crab is usually enough for two of us. Kirk's done a couple posts on Crab Hut: http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2...

The two places are really different, but we like them both for various reasons. One advantage to Crab Hut is you're next to O'briens, Yogurt World, and Crepe World. The disadvantage being the parking lot, of course.

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Crab Hut
4646 Convoy St # 106A, San Diego, CA

Yogurt World
4646 Convoy St Ste 113, San Diego, CA 92111

[Alice Q]

Thanks Leanne!