South Florida residents lined up and cracked their claws to mark the beginning of stone crab season.
The highly anticipated season began with fishermen catching more than 1,800 pounds of stone crabs from Marathon, early Thursday morning.
The trucks delivered the stone crabs to Joe’s Stone Crab, where their executive chef and staff began working on preparing each crab is made to perfection.
“My secret is the team, really,” said Jim Pastor, the executive chef.
Joe’s Stone Crab expects to serve more than 800 pounds of stone crab in its first night of the season.
“It’s prepared simply. They’re boiled, we serve our mustard sauce, it’s been a legacy mustard sauce. You let the sweetness of the crab do all the talking,” said Pastor.
The famous restaurant has been cracking the coveted claws and feeding customers since 1913.
Stephen Sawitz, the restaurant’s chief operating officer, says he hopes to make his great-grandfather Joe proud.
“A Harvard ichthyologist, or marine biologist, was studying what was a stone crab. He said, ‘I wonder if they’re edible.’ So he brought them to the only seafood restaurant around on Miami Beach and this guy named Joe happened to cook them,” said Sawitz. “This is when Joe’s went from black and white to color.”
He says opening day each season is always frightening.
“A little bit of fear just because you want everything to go perfectly,” said Sawitz.
After an entire day of preparation, the dining room was packed with some of Joe’s most faithful customers.
“I am a regular for about 70 years,” said a customer.
The famous South Beach restaurant delivered another successful start to the season as customers left with glowing reviews.
“It’s delicious, yeah we loved the stone crab,” said a customer.
Others even showed up to enjoy some of Joe’s other menu options.
“I come here for the chicken,” said another customer. “I love their chicken.”
Stone crab season runs through May 1.
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