#Crab cooker newport beach movie#
#Crab cooker newport beach full#
#Crab cooker newport beach plus#

The coleslaw looks like mulch from a food processor, but it is actually almost perfect, striking the right balance between salty and sweet. Because the menu is kept small and simple, the quality probably wonРІР‚в„ўt vary much.Р”В®at your brain food with delicious side dishes that come two to an order, your choice.

#Crab cooker newport beach plus#

There are occasional specials such as good grilled swordfish and halibut, plus menu regulars such as Atlantic salmon for fish lovers. The Crab Cooker РІР‚СљspicesРІР‚Сњ the shrimp with bacon (sprinkles them with crushed bacon, actually) and cooks them up on a charcoal grill. One evening I tried shrimp on a skewer (two skewers, really) and counted 36 shrimp. There are other things to eat here, of course. Dungeness crab, in my opinion a more delicious variety than Alaskan king, is served cold and partially cracked, but unfortunately it is not quite as fresh-tasting as the king crab. Crab cocktail is probably the least appealing crab choice, because the meat has already been shredded and therefore exposed to the air.

#Crab cooker newport beach movie#

If you donРІР‚в„ўt order the king crab claws (the best meat), you can have crab legs big enough to be props in the movie РІР‚СљArachnophobia.РІР‚Сњ You wonРІР‚в„ўt have any trouble taking the meat out of the shell with this one, and the pieces you do extract will be huge. I prefer this crab straight, and IРІР‚в„ўd wager you will too.Р”В¬rab actually comes in several incarnations here. Oh, you may want to embellish the natural taste of this crab meat, which flakes out of the shell like snow, with the tangy house cocktail sauce or some of the unctuous tartar sauce, but that would be a shame. Order a special appetizer such as king crab claws, served steaming hot with drawn butter, and youРІР‚в„ўll get the idea. Freshness is especially important when it comes to crab, because the fatty acids in crab meat oxidize over time and the crab loses flavor. Because it does such a high volume, the Crab Cooker is able to offer the freshest seafood of any restaurant in Orange County. This is simple food, and none of it has to be dressed up. The salmon doesnРІР‚в„ўt exactly reek of the hardwoods it was smoked in, something the best Northwest salmon does. ItРІР‚в„ўs on the dry side, firmly packed and sweet, and it has a much smokier flavor than the salmon. Of the two, I have to say I prefer the albacore.

#Crab cooker newport beach full#

ItРІР‚в„ўs a rich, thick broth full of huge clam strips that the restaurant buys especially for the soup, as well as spices and chunks of potato.Р”Р„s long as we are on the subject of appetizers, I also want to tout the smoked albacore tuna and salmon, available both by the plate in the restaurant proper and by the pound from the tiny fish market next to the front door. The chowder is ladled from an enormous stainless steel caldron that is big enough to bathe in.

I start with a bowl of chowder and then have a plate of crab claws. YouРІР‚в„ўd better know what you want or you can plan on waiting until she has finished with the customers who do. The Crab Cooker is not a restaurant where you ought to hand the waitress a list of questions. Service is strictly of the high-volume, low-patience school. All the tables have plastic containers filled with hard bread sticks and puffy oyster crackers.

The walls are hung with replicas of the better-known fish and bits of local memorabilia such as like old photos of Tustin. Here are two huge, boisterous rooms, both well-adorned with Tiffany lamps, red-topped tables and a variety of sturdy wooden chairs. ItРІР‚в„ўs just that this expanded version-an oddly shaped red structure that from a few hundred feet away looks like a giant strawberry-is about twice as big as the Newport Beach restaurant, and it seems to move РІР‚Вem in and out even faster than the original. ThatРІР‚в„ўs not to say that the Tustin location doesnРІР‚в„ўt fill up, because it does. Some people would even call this progress. Now that a new and larger Crab Cooker has opened in a Tustin shopping mall, the long lines of Newport Beach are bound to become shorter. Richard Nixon has waited in that line, and so have thousands of others over the years. On almost any Friday or Saturday evening, winter or summer, you could count on seeing dozens of the faithful clumped together on Newport Boulevard, waiting for their chance at bowls of rust-colored clam chowder, paper plates piled high with Alaskan crab legs and goofy plastic cups filled with various jug wines. Hail the new world food order.Р”Р„nyone who has eaten regularly at the Crab CookerРІР‚в„ўs claustrophobic Newport Beach location has braved the restaurantРІР‚в„ўs legendary lines at one time or another. KnottРІР‚в„ўs Chicken Dinner Restaurant, BurrellРІР‚в„ўs Rib Cage and other venerable establishments. The Crab Cooker is the latest Orange County eating institution to break down and open a second branch, following the trail of Mrs.