Local Crabs—the Big, Heavy Boys Have Arrived

Greater Annapolis is known for crabs—steaming, delicious blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay, covered in spice and ready for pickin’.

However, not all crabs are created equal. And they all don't hail from Maryland. They can come from such places as Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, Delaware—wherever crabs are prevalent and commercial fisheries and/or watermen abound.

The question then becomes how to support local watermen and find truly fresh, Maryland crabs? The good news is most often you can. 

"We really haven't had a problem getting what we need from the local guys," said Chris Grava, general manager of the Annapolis Seafood Market . "We just got in today about 13 bushels of local male crabs. We have a few crabbers that work for us."

Grava said makes every effort to buy local, but sometimes demand dictates adding some out-of-state crustaceans into the mix.

"Sometimes, around the holidays (Memorial, Independence and Labor days), we supplement from North Carolina or Delaware," he said. 

He said though Louisiana crabs are available, "We try to stay out of the Gulf (of Mexico)."

This is not because of the oil spill.

"When buying crabs from the gulf, there are a lot of extra expenses;  blue crabs don't travel well, so there's a lot of loss," Grava said.

In Edgewater, sells live and steamed crabs too.

And since not all crabs are created equal or in crab terms—small, medium, large, extra large and super—how are the crabs this year?

"Nice, big, heavy crabs," Grava said about those he's seen.

Tony Piera, co-owner of in Riva agreed.

"The crabs we got in last Monday were great crabs," he said. "They were outstanding."

And those were Maryland crabs. If you want to eat local crabs at Mike's, right now you've got to do so at the start of the week.

"We just get them in on Mondays when Louisiana and Texas are hard to get," Piera said.

That's not a matter of preference for out-of-state crabs, but a necessity for a crab house that serves year-round, he said.

"The Louisiana and Texas guys crab all year," Piera said.

He said most often, good Maryland crabs of a decent size/weight aren't available until a bit later in the season, but things are looking up.  

"Maryland is kickin' in," Piera said. "We started getting calls (from watermen) last week. They're a nice size, packed full of meat. Usually you see that kind of crab in the fall."

As for personal preference, there's no question. 

"Everybody knows Maryland crabs taste better," Piera said.

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