fresh crab?

[poss]

Mostly when I read about crab meals in Vancouver, people speak of those great "feasts" where one goes with other people and gets many different dishes, etc. All sounds great, but it'll just be my husband and I. I'm hoping that there's someplace near the Westin Bayshore where we can get delicious fresh crab (which kind? Dungeness?), but in portions suitable for one or two people. We'll be there mid-May.

 

Thank you.

[martincath]

Mostly when I read about crab meals in Vancouver, people speak of those great "feasts" where one goes with other people and gets many different dishes, etc. All sounds great, but it'll just be my husband and I. I'm hoping that there's someplace near the Westin Bayshore where we can get delicious fresh crab (which kind? Dungeness?), but in portions suitable for one or two people. We'll be there mid-May.

 

Thank you.

Dungeness crab is pretty common. Any of the seafood-focused restos we've already recommended to you will have it, and depending on appetite it could be good for just 1 of you, definitely 2 won't have a problem demolishing a whole crab with room for other food too. The season runs until June, so while they won't be quite as abundant as they are over winter/spring you'll still find them in May (and being smaller, many more places keep them live in tanks so it's possible to eat these fresh basically all year round).

 

Edit - you may also find Red Rock crabs locally. Smaller, less meaty, and (obviously!) red in colour they are cheaper than Dungeness. Snow Crab is like a smaller/cheaper/less tasty King - often available, but rarely fresh for similar reasons to King that they are too big to keep in tanks easily and not worth close to as much as King so nobody I'm aware of tends to bother. A specific place to go for simple crab dishes at a great price is the Fish Shack on Granville. They do a Sunday Crab & Lobster Fest deal, either discounted frozen leg clusters of Snow or whole fresh smaller crabs depending on time of year.

 

The feasts are the only practical way to guarantee getting fresh King Crab - since these are HUGE, with very few under 10lbs and most in the tanks are in the 10-12lb bracket that works well for a group meal.

Edited March 20, 2016 by martincath

[poss]

Once more, many thanks, martincath. I will take your advice about the Dungeness.

Btw, is there no way even to get fresh King Crab LEGS? Regent serves crab legs anytime anyone wants, and actually they've been delicious, but I thought that maybe in Vancouver we could get fresh.

[martincath]

Once more, many thanks, martincath. I will take your advice about the Dungeness.

Btw, is there no way even to get fresh King Crab LEGS? Regent serves crab legs anytime anyone wants, and actually they've been delicious, but I thought that maybe in Vancouver we could get fresh.

While back in the day as kiddiwinks harvesting freshwater crabs by pulling off just one claw and returning the crab to the water was a quite useful way to sustain the local fishery (albeit in hindsight not exactly a nice thing to do to the crabs!), the depth that Kings live at makes anything short of industrial scale crabbing impossible (that whole 'deadliest catch' reality show didn't occur because it's a fun and easy lifestyle!)

 

So, let's say you now have a bigass crab over five feet across in your huge, expensive to run tank - someone wants to buy just a leg or two, do you send in your least-favourite waiter each time to tear them off the live crabs on demand? Let's assume you do - but now nobody wants to eat the 'damaged' crab they see in the tank and you're stuck with it.

 

Maybe you can get lucky and sell most or even all of the remaining legs while the crab's still alive but, whoops, a legless crab isn't going to survive so once it's down a few you have to kill the whole thing and cook up all the shell meat and remaining unsold legs or they'll spoil real fast... unless someone wants it that day, it's going into the freezer and whoops, no more premium pricing it's just another bunch of frozen crab like everyone elses...

[xlxo]

Agreed.... a whole King crab needs about 6 to 8 to enjoy the meal. If you are able to get a large group... premium Chinese Restaurants may be a place to explore... it's one of the few places you can pose for pictures with a live crab.

http://www.followmefoodie.com/2014/04/dynasty-seafood-restaurant-alaskan-king-crab-dinner-vancouver/

 

Googling "Vancouver Crab Feast", here's some seafood ideas to research.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=vancouver+crab+feast

 

I wonder if this event is returning for 2016.

http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2015/07/05/crab-feast-dig-into-2-summer-seafood-boils-in-vancouver/

 

Some restaurants to contact closer to your cruise date for crab options...

• http://www.joefortes.ca/
  
• http://boathouserestaurants.ca/
  
• http://www.bluewatercafe.net/food/
  
• https://www.vancouverdine.com/sandbar/menus/
  
• http://www.vanfish.com/menus_dining_dinner.asp
  

[poss]

Got it! Thanks!