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.
I together with my pals were actually going through the nice guides located on the website then all of the sudden got a horrible feeling I never thanked you for those techniques. Most of the guys happened to be totally glad to see all of them and have now actually been taking pleasure in these things. I appreciate you for actually being considerably helpful as well as for picking out some incredible subject matter millions of individuals are really desperate to learn about. Our honest regret for not expressing gratitude to earlier.
1Good day! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!
2I have read several good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot attempt you set to make one of these wonderful informative site.
3Definitely, what a splendid website and instructive posts, I definitely will bookmark your blog.All the Best!
4소액결제현금화(휴대폰깡·모바일깡)의 뜻과 수법, 정보통신망법 위반 처벌 수위, 실제 처벌 사례와 이용자 피해, 급전 필요 시 합법 대안까지 정리했습니다.
5I am extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it is rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays..
6광주호빠를 찾는 분을 위한 광주광역시 예약 안내. 라운지 분위기, 인원별 공간 선택, 가격 상담, 첫 방문 준비와 자주 묻는 질문을 확인하고 원하는 일정에 맞춰 문의
7Hello my loved one! I want to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include approximately all significant infos. I’d like to see extra posts like this .
8I will right away snatch your rss as I can’t find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you’ve any? Kindly permit me realize in order that I may just subscribe. Thanks.
9Sweet website , super design, really clean and apply friendly.
10magnificent publish, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector don’t realize this. You must proceed your writing. I am sure, you have a great readers’ base already!
11대밤·대구의밤을 찾는 분들을 위한 대구 지역 정보. 동성로·수성못·동대구역·달서구의 저녁 여가와 지역별 특징, 후기 비교 기준, 가격·운영시간·교통 확인사항 및 자주 묻는 질문을 살펴보세요.
12superb post.Never knew this, regards for letting me know.
13Very interesting information!Perfect just what I was looking for! “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations entangling alliances with none.” by Thomas Jefferson.
14It’s laborious to search out educated folks on this topic, but you sound like you recognize what you’re talking about! Thanks
15Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and everything. But imagine if you added some great pictures or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips, this blog could undeniably be one of the greatest in its field. Great blog!
16Woh I love your articles, saved to fav! .
17I am impressed with this web site, real I am a fan.
18I’ll right away take hold of your rss as I can’t find your e-mail subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please allow me recognise so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
19You have done a great job explaining this subject. Really appreciate the detailed explanation.
20I am continually searching online for ideas that can aid me. Thx!
21This 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!
22Real informative and great complex body part of subject matter, now that’s user friendly (:.
23I think other website proprietors should take this web site as an model, very clean and wonderful user friendly style and design, let alone the content. You’re an expert in this topic!
24I have recently started a web site, the information you offer on this site has helped me tremendously. Thanks for all of your time & work.
25Everyone loves what you guys are up too. This kind of clever work and exposure! Keep up the fantastic works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to blogroll.
26