A Matter of Taste: Crabs

The Pinellas beaches are crawling with crabs – literally. Stone, blue, and a bevy of other little guys not big enough to eat scuttle across the sandy bottom of the warm Gulf of Mexico. If you’re looking for ready-to-eat crabs, though, you’ll have to head for the land. Have no fear: you don’t have to head far. You can’t swing a crab trap without hitting one place or another that serves some variation of Florida crab. Below we’ve listed some places where you can find crabs, and we’ve noted what makes those places worth checking out.

Before You Dine… Before you shell out the bucks for crab, here are a couple of things to help you get the best tasting crabs:

1. If you want local crab, you have two choices: blue crab and stone crab claws. Stone crab season runs from October through May, and blue crab season starts in July and ends in October. If a restaurant has those crabs on the menu outside those months, you’ll be getting frozen, not fresh, crabs.

2. Ask your server if the crabs were cooked on the premises. Many crabs are cooked at the time of catch, which is totally acceptable, but if that’s the case there’s no reason but personal preference to eat them hot.

If you want...

*To eat on the cheap:

Prices change, but historically these two locations (Indian Rocks and St. Pete Beach) offer the best value on crab dinners and by-the-pound claws up and down the beach. The two locations have similar menus but separate owners.

*To bring home and eat: The Reef at Redington Shores

Local fishermen sell their crabs and fish to the docks, and from there it’s a short trip to your dinner plate. You can get sauces and wines to go with your dinner, but you’ll have to take your repast home to chow down.

*To eat somewhere with cloth napkins:

This Indian Shores restaurant offers finer dining, great views of the bay, and indoor and outdoor seating. They have a full bar and a few crab dishes on their 2-for-$25 early bird specials. Bonus: you can sail in to their dock and tie up.

*Best for crab-etizers:

Not sure how you feel about crabs? Try out the crabcake, the crabmeat spread, or the jalapeno crabmeat poppers. This Indian Rocks Beach restaurant is a longstanding locals hangout with a loyal following.

*Best Sunset: Frenchy’s Rockaway

Although the restaurant has limited crab choices outside of stone crab season, you can still order the odd crabcake or she crab soup any time of year. It’s worth it to have a crabcake on the outdoor deck bordering the sugar sand of Clearwater Beach. When the sun goes down, you’ll have the best view of any restaurant serving crab along the 22 miles of Pinellas beaches.