Dungeness Crab restaurant in Seattle

[cujochurch]

WIll be in Seattle 2 days prior to cruise. Staying in Downtown area. I would like to have a meal of fresh Dungeness Crabs. Any recomendations?

[PNW Traveler]

Our dungeness crab is seasonal, so depending on when you are cruising you may or may not find it easily. If the crab is in season you should buy 2 whole cleaned and cooked crabs at Pike's Market, ask them to crack it for you, then take it - along with a loaf of fresh bread and a good bottle of wine - and have a picnic. Your hotel room or a local park will work for this. This is our favorite way to eat crab and we catch it on nearby Hood Canal as well as other spots in Puget Sound. Some like their crab with lemon and or sauce, but fresh caught crab is a delight all by itself. Bring along plenty of napkins and enjoy your feast.

[Casagordita]

Our dungeness crab is seasonal, so depending on when you are cruising you may or may not find it easily. If the crab is in season you should buy 2 whole cleaned and cooked crabs at Pike's Market, ask them to crack it for you, then take it - along with a loaf of fresh bread and a good bottle of wine - and have a picnic. Your hotel room or a local park will work for this. This is our favorite way to eat crab and we catch it on nearby Hood Canal as well as other spots in Puget Sound. Some like their crab with lemon and or sauce, but fresh caught crab is a delight all by itself. Bring along plenty of napkins and enjoy your feast.

 

I totally agree--this is the best way to enjoy some fresh dungeness crab!!

 

If you want something a little more unusual, though, try the Szechuan Crab at Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant in the International District (a bit south of downtown). It's spicy and messy to eat and a really, really good.

[Gardyloo]

...you should buy 2 whole cleaned and cooked crabs at Pike's Market...

:eek:

[cujochurch]

Our dungeness crab is seasonal, so depending on when you are cruising you may or may not find it easily. If the crab is in season you should buy 2 whole cleaned and cooked crabs at Pike's Market, ask them to crack it for you, then take it - along with a loaf of fresh bread and a good bottle of wine - and have a picnic. Your hotel room or a local park will work for this. This is our favorite way to eat crab and we catch it on nearby Hood Canal as well as other spots in Puget Sound. Some like their crab with lemon and or sauce, but fresh caught crab is a delight all by itself. Bring along plenty of napkins and enjoy your feast.

This sounds like a great idea. We will be there August 11 and 12. Please say that is in season? Thanks so much.

 

We will be leaving for cruise to alaska with stops in Junneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria. Can I get fresh crab there now? Maybe I should wait until a port stop to try it.

[Gardyloo]

This sounds like a great idea. We will be there August 11 and 12. Please say that is in season? Thanks so much.

 

We will be leaving for cruise to alaska with stops in Junneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Victoria. Can I get fresh crab there now? Maybe I should wait until a port stop to try it.

Dungeness crab is harvested up and down the Pacific coast - from California to the Bering Sea. The fisheries have different seasons, so if product isn't available in one area at a given time, it will be in others, and the planes fly every day.

 

Some crab species, like Red King Crab, are commercially harvested only in very limited areas, like the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands, and if they're out of season there, then they're not available fresh. (Most Bering Sea crab fisheries are in the winter, which is why asking for "fresh" King crab on Alaska cruises is generally not going to be successful.)

 

So the Dungeness crab you'd buy at the Pike market in the high summer will be either (a) previously frozen - unlikely, or (b) harvested elsewhere and brought to Seattle. There's a summer commercial Dungeness fishery in SE Alaska, for example (a bit controversial.)

 

Doesn't matter - buy a couple (make sure they're cleaned) along with a nutcracker or two, plenty of napkins, some wine, bread, lemons, butter (for melting if possible) and something to pick out the meat from the legs) and you're good to go.

 

There are a variety of places in SE Alaska ports of call where you can get Dungeness crab - ask on the ship.