Good places for crabs in NYC?

[DrGaellon]

Anyone have any recommendations for good places to go for a Maryland-style crab boil in NYC? Any of the City Island restaurants? Any place in Manhattan? Or do we have to slog all the way to Sheepshead Bay, or the Jersey Shore?

[justinb914]

I think you have to slog out to Sheepshead or the Shore. I've done Mermaid Inn's "boil" and been to Back Forty and it doesn't stack up to Clemente's. In fact the crabs at Mermaid were horrendously small, watery and null of lump crabmeat. But I'm always open to trying something new and will definitely check out Hammer and Claws.

[kathryn]

This might interest you:
http://themermaidnyc.tumblr.com/post/...

We are crustacean lovers here at the Mermaid & summer is our favorite time because of our Crab Boils on Tuesday!
Swim in tonight for buckets of blue crabs, corn, potatoes and corn bread for $24.
Hey, why not throw in a dozen oysters. Crabs + Oysters = Tasty Tuesday.

[Silverjay]

Another place that gets the Maryland part wrong...Hope their crabs are bigger than the ones in the photo.

[kosmose7]

Yes! I think Mermaid Inn has one of the best deals for crab boil. I go there during happy hour to get the $1 oyster and $6 cava deal as well! All three locations (Mermaid Inn Upper West Side, Mermaid Inn East Village, and Mermaid Oyster Bar) offer the special. :)

[mingu725]

Luke's lobster in east village has an amazing lobster salad! and crab one, too. But there's one huge shortcoming: it's too pricey for that portion (in other words, too small portion for that price). Guys need to grab at least two of those.

[Motosport]

I agree, not a good "value." Then again, it's Manhattan.

[HippieChick]

And they recently (well, over the past year, maybe?) upped the price by a buck. This in the face of a Maine lobster glut...not exactly passing the prices on to the consumer, are they?

[loratliff]

Missed this post, now did we—http://gothamist.com/2012/07/20/why_t...

[MVNYC]

Having worked in a family owned seafood shop in NYC I would have to say that article is not entirely accurate. We got plenty of live soft shells when the season was in. Granted they don't taste as good but our provider was able to supply us

[DrGaellon]

But were they locally caught, or shipped down from Maine?

[MVNYC]

The prices have dipped all throughout New England. The Maine appellation is a bit of a marketing term, I could serve you a Long Island Sound Lobster and a Maine one and you would not be able to tell the difference. Lobsters are not oysters, the environment doesn't play as big of a role

[MVNYC]

Also places like Luke's deal only with claws and knuckles. You can't ship down live parts of animals. So their spin makes no sense. I would guess the claws/knuckles are steamed before they are sent down to NYC. If not raw body parts are sent down anyway and are dealt with in the same way.

[Silverjay]

Maryland-style crabs are steamed and we usually call it a "crab feast". For some reason, Back Forty and others call it a "crab boil" but boiling crabs is a Gulf coast thing I think. Definitely not Chesapeake. Anyway, you might want to look into this event next month- http://hammerandclaws.com/ .

[craig_g]

Hammer and Claws was incredibly fun last year and very well run.

[Silverjay]

Cool. I was out of town last year. Looking forward to it this year.

[DrGaellon]

We will be in Virginia Beach for a wedding. Phooey.

[Silverjay]

Too bad. It looks like the real deal. But VB is known for crabs as well.

[UES Mayor]

My favorite memory of crabs was at Virginia beach!!!! the long pier out on the beach served crabs w mallets to break them open. Look for it!!!

[Sneakeater]

This is New York. All restaurants HAVE to serve crabs. If they turned them away, there wouldn't be enough customers.

(Somebody HAD to make that joke.)

[Motosport]

Love it!!! I'll remember to use that joke myself.

[Bkeats]

I was thinking about the other kind of crabs but couldn't come up with an amusing spin. Best I could do was recall a line about crabs and toothpicks. ;)

[loratliff]

Fish on Bleecker Street does all-you-can-eat blue crabs at lunch. Pretty tasty.

[Tommynyc1]

Tuesday night. Back Forty and Mermaid Inn.