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Dungeness season is here, which is fantastic for seafood fans. Love the tender, juicy and succulent taste of crab but don’t enjoy wrestling the meat out? You’re in luck. The Bay Area is a veritable sea of fish restaurants just waiting to do the work for you.
Here are five of our favorite seafood restaurants offering a little something special to welcome those delicious, locally-sourced crustaceans, from a classic Crab Louie to wok-tossed crab with duck egg. Availability, of course, is contingent on crab season. Fingers crossed and bibs tied.
Gott’s Roadside
You know Gott’s for its Niman Ranch beef burgers, hand-spun organic milk shakes and legendary sushi-grade ahi poke crispy tacos. Come fall, the reinvented California-style roadside eatery adds Dungeness crab to its delicious, family-friendly lineup. From Dec. 6 to Jan. 31, enjoy a Dungeness crab sandwich with house-made Meyer lemon aioli, green onions and romaine lettuce on a toasted brioche bun. Craving something lighter? Try the Dungeness Crab & Bay Shrimp Louie with sliced avocado, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg and a secret sauce tossed into a lemon-Dijon viniagrette.
Details: Open from 10 a.m. daily at seven location in Northern California, including at 1275 S. Main St., Walnut Creek, and at 855 El Camino Real, Suite 65, Palo Alto; https://www.gotts.com
EMC Seafood & Raw Bar
This sleek So Cal seafood chain, with locations in San Jose and Concord, offers expansive light-filled dining rooms, swift service and sushi, grilled fish and crave-worthy Asian noodle preparations brimming with shellfish. The menu is massive and has everything you’d want for a seafood fix — including Dungeness crab. Our favorite: A Cantonese-style crispy whole Dungeness crab with crisped garlic. The Truffle Crab Garlic Noodles, with chunks of crab meat, is also delish.
Details: Open from 11 a.m. daily at 2015 Diamond Blvd., Concord, and 378 Santana Row, San Jose.
Poggio Trattoria
This beloved trattoria in Sausalito is known for its fresh, simple and classic interpretations of Northern Italian cuisine, from wood-fired vegetable antipasti to handmade pastas and blistered pizzas. The kitchen welcomes Dungeness Crab season with new specials on the menu, including a local Dungeness Crab Salad with blood orange, radish, preserved lemon, pickled red onion and green goddess dressing and Chitarra Lobster Roe Pasta with Dungeness crab, preserved Meyer lemon and herbs. We’re swooning a bit over that last one.
Details: Reservations recommended. Open from 6:30 a.m. for breakfast, from 11:30 a.m. for lunch and from 5:30 p.m. for dinner at 777 Bridgeway, Sausalito; www.poggiotrattoria.com
M.Y. China
With its upmarket location and flashy, open-kitchen setting, chef Martin Yan’s Chinese eatery is a must for top-notch dumplings and some of the best hand-pulled noodles in the city. But the new Dungeness crab menu is truly exquisite. The crabs, two-pounders delivered to M.Y. China’s kitchen tanks and cooked to order. Available in six preparations, each celebrates a different Chinese province, from the wok-tossed Salted Egg Yolk Crab of Dongbei Province to the Chili Pepper Crab of Guiyang Province and the steamed Golden Garlic Steamed Crab of the southern Guangdong Province.
To quote Yang: “These are preparations that you will not experience anywhere else, unless of course you flew to China. Not a crustacean fan yet? You will be after the feast.” We believe it.
Details: Westfield San Francisco Centre, 845 Market St., Level 4, San Francisco; https://tastemychina.com
Homestead
Holy crab feast. For two nights before Thanksgiving, this Oakland restaurant delights crab lovers with an epic, multi-course dinner designed around Dungeness crab. Now in its fifth year, Homestead’s prix fixe feast features everything you crave for such a supper, including an heirloom chicory salad with Shinko pear, pomegranate and Boont Corner aged goat cheese; spiced delicata squash; and, of course, grilled Dungeness crab with fried butterball potatoes.
Details: Nov. 20 and 21. For reservations, call 510-420-6962. 4029 Piedmont Ave., Oakland; http://homesteadoakland.com