It seems like only yesterday we were just breaking out the hammers, crackers and seafood forks.
But stone crab season actually opened six-plus months ago, on Oct. 15.
Which means it’s rapidly coming to a close on May 1.
“It’s crazy how fast season goes,” said Grant Phelan, CEO of Phelan Family Brands and one of the biggest stone crab claw fans around.
“Season was phenomenal. Some years are better than others, and this one was great. I saw some claws bigger than your fist. There were some big stone crabs out there.”
Stone crab supply was good this season
The numbers are impressive too.
“We did tens of thousands of pounds,” said Phelan, whose claw-filled venues include Bimini Basin Seafood, Deep Lagoon, Phuzzy’s Boat Shack, The Bay House and all the Pinchers. “On a good day, we’re catching 500 pounds. In a week, it’s not unheard of to get 1,500 to 2,000 pounds.”
The supply was so good, in fact, that prices actually decreased at one point in the season.
“We ran a $29.99 special at Pinchers that we haven’t done in a very long time,” said Phelan, adding that year in and year out, Pinchers in Bonita Springs sells the most claws. “I think people associate Pinchers with stone crab claws.”
And while time is running out to get them this season, there are still plenty available.
“We are bringing in traps right now,” said Phelan, who also owns Island Crab Co. on Pine Island. “We will still have crabs up to closing day — at Island Crab, the seafood markets in our restaurant, on the menus. We’re catching crabs every day. The ones you eat today were sleeping in the Gulf yesterday.”
But you have to hurry. May 1 is the last day.
“I’ll just cry and wait,” Phelan said, laughing. “We will use the time to clean and fix the traps and get them ready for next season.”
We can’t wait.
In the meantime, here are five get-there-by-May-1 stops for stone crab claws.
Bimini Basin Seafood & Cocktails
This waterfront seafood restaurant in Cape Coral is the newest of Phelan’s properties.
“It gets better every day,” Phelan said of the two-month-old, casually cool restaurant. “We’ve gotten better since we first opened (on Feb. 28). We are much better than we were last month, last week.”
And the end of stone crab season is a great time to give it a try. Being a Phelan property, you know the “ones you eat today were sleeping in the Gulf yesterday.”
And the setting is perfect for it.
“The whole restaurant, inside and out, is all open,” Phelan said. “There’s not a bad seat in there. I like to say it’s an infinity-edge restaurant. You can see the basin from any seat.” 458 Tudor Drive, Cape Coral; (239) 347-7033; make a reservation through OpenTable; biminibasinrestaurant.com or follow on Facebook
Blue Dog
When we think of stone crab claws, we often picture this no-frills Matlacha restaurant. All of its seafood is the freshest of fresh, and claws are no exception (they come from the seafood market next door). They’re served with addictive sea salt fries and homemade mustard sauce or drawn butter.
Blue Dog, by the way, is also home to a blackened mullet sandwich — one of our favorites (if not our absolute favorite) around. It’s our go-to order there, except when it’s stone crab season. But honestly, you can’t go wrong with either. 4597 Pine Island Road, Matlacha; (239) 558-4970; bluedogmatlacha.com
Cabbage Key
The dollar-bill-covered dining room at this boat-access-only restaurant and bar is one of our favorite places in the world to eat stone crab claws. We love, love, love the history, the charm, the everything about it. There’s a reason it was named one of TripAdvisor’s top 5 hidden gems in the country. And it was voted one of the best old Florida-style restaurants in the state by the USA Today Network Florida Dining & Entertainment team.
The claws — served as an appetizer or as a dinner with salad, veggies, starch and rolls — are just one more thing we love about this place. Get there by May 1 if you can. Accessible only by boat, Cabbage Key is located at Channel Marker 60 in Pine Island Sound, 4.5 miles west of Pineland; 239-283-2278; cabbagekey.com
Dixie Fish Co.
While we’re always up for a stop at this gem on Fort Myers Beach, we up our stops during stone crab season. The sound of the water lapping underfoot, watching birds and boats go by, and cracking open claws from a waterfront seat in what was originally a fish house is tough to beat.
“We buy enough to get us through the night,” said Joe Harrity, managing partner of HM Restaurant Group, which owns Dixie, neighboring Bonita Fish Co. and all the Doc Ford’s locations (all of which also serve up claws). “Then we buy more every day.”
We could eat them every day, too. 714 Fishermans Wharf, Fort Myers Beach; (239) 233-8837; dixiefishfmb.com
Phuzzy’s Boat Shack
When stone crab season started in October, this Phelan-owned low-key bar & grill in St. James City was our first stop. We just love cracking claws at a high-top rail table with a clear view up and down the canal.
And the claws here are as fresh as they come — they’re from Phelan’s Island Crab Co. just down Stringfellow Road. They come with two sides and a homemade mustard sauce that we’ll take over melted butter any day of the week.
Since we began stone crab season here, we’re happy to end it here, too. Save us a seat along the rail, please. 3051 Stringfellow Road, St. James City; (239) 283-5555; phuzzysboatshack.com
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: 5 Southwest Florida restaurants serving up sensational stone crab
Reporting by Robyn George, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
