If you’re a fan of stone crabs, it’s currently the most wonderful time of the year, as the crabbing season got underway in Florida on October 15.
While the delicacy is available in some Las Vegas restaurants throughout the year, anything delivered from May through early October will have been frozen last season. This time of year, however, they’re fresh out of the water. And the early part of the season (right now) is generally when you’ll see the largest examples.
Several Las Vegas restaurants offer claws this time of year. But nobody serves as many as Joe’s Seafood Prime Steak & Stone Crab in the Forum Shops. And the start of this season is particularly special to that restaurant this year, as they celebrated their 20th anniversary in Las Vegas on October 22. To mark the occasion, the restaurant’s managing partner, Dave Quillen, appeared on the Food and Loathing podcast to discuss the history of stone crabs as a delicacy and that restaurant.
A Century Of History
Joe’s Seafood Prime Steak and Stone Crab is a spinoff of the legendary Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, which dates back more than a century. Believe it or not, they didn’t even serve stone crabs in the early days – because nobody served them in those days.
“The original [restaurant] opened in 1913 as just Joe’s,” says Quillen.
“It was just a little dinnerhouse. They weren’t even serving stone crab back then. And it has evolved into the entire city block.”
He says that a century ago, stone crabs were just a nuisance that washed up on Florida shores.
“People would just throw them back because nobody knew what to do with them, or how to cook them, or if they were any good,” Quillen explains.
Fortunately, Joe’s owner, Joe Weiss, saw an opportunity. He worked with a marine biologist to determine if they could be used as food. And they learned that if you remove and boil the claws and crack through their hard-as-stone shells, you’ll find some very delicious meat.
“Next thing you know, they started serving them as one of their items, and they became Joe’s Stone Crab.”
From Nuisance To Delicacy
While stone crab claws proved tasty, harvesting and shipping have turned out to be costly. Crabbers are only allowed to take the claws, which they can only remove from the crabs after reaching a certain size (which usually means only one claw is taken at a time). The live crabs are tossed back into the water, burrowing underground until the claws grow back. The harvested claws must be cooked immediately, chilled, and shipped while cold.
Individuals craving a crab can throw a trap or two off a Florida dock and eat them the day they’re caught. Commercial operators, however, have a much more complicated job.
“It’s all [done on] day boats,” says Quillen.
“The boat goes out. It has to come back and cook them immediately. So you’re dealing with high fuel prices. It’s a tough living.”
Those high costs, combined with the costs of shipping them from Florida to Las Vegas while they’re still fresh, result in a high-end luxury product.
“’High-end’ is a good word because they just continue to get more and more expensive,” Quillen concedes. “But it’s just the nature of how they get fished and how they get processed.”
Joe’s currently charges $79.95 for approximately one pound of medium claws, usually about seven claws. An order of large claws costs $99.95. And the price of the jumbo and colossal claws that come in early in the season (which can weigh as much as 12 ounces per claw) can go considerably higher, based on the market.
A Hit In Vegas
The Las Vegas Joe’s, a partnership with the Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, was an immediate hit. And it continues to resonate with tourists and locals. An expansion in 2021 added 110 seats, bringing the total to 650. And on a busy night, they can serve over 1,000 people.
Over the years, many of their other dishes have gained popularity among customers. The most prominent include king crabs, steaks, pies and even hamburgers. Yet, stone crabs remain the star of the show.
“It’s in the name, so they are an important component,” says Quillen. “About 25% of our sales come directly from stone crab.”
Stone crab season in Florida runs through May 1.
