Surrounded by waving seagrass, salt flats, white ibis, and murky swamps, Highway 41 (known as Tamiami Trail) was the original Alligator Alley and the one way into Florida’s Everglades City. The population hovers under 500 in this quaint fishing town, the self-proclaimed Stone Crab Capital of the World. Stone crab traps line the yard surrounding the Museum of the Everglades, waiting to be assembled into the annual crab trap holiday tree. Everywhere you look, the influence of this small creature can be seen from the errant buoys, to the bits of seagrass blowing around, to the little markets and restaurants emblazoned with dates of stone crab season.
Many people know Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, but what many might not know is the bulk of their fresh stone crab claws come from across the state. Crabbers on the Gulf Coast harvest more than 300,000 pounds of the sweet crustacean annually. This once nuisance species transformed into a $30 million-a-year industry because of one man, commercial crabber Ernest Hamilton, a Chokoloskee Native.
“They were considered a garbage catch because you couldn’t freeze them, the meat would stick to the shell,” says Thomas Lockyear, Museum of the Everglades director. “Ernest Hamilton discovered if you steam them right off the boat, then you can throw them on ice and they don’t stick to the shell anymore.”
Along with the flash cooking method, Hamilton also made the discovery that only the claws needed to be harvested and would regrow after multiple moltings (when crabs shed their old shells).
Everglades City Mayor Howie Grimm Jr., and his son, Quinton have deep ties to the generational fishing community. Mayor Grimm’s family has always worked on the water and Quinton is Ernest Hamilton’s great-grandson on his mother’s side. Their seafood market, touted by many as the best anywhere, overlooks the Barron River.
“We are the Stone Crab Capital of the World because when crab populations were low or hurricanes wiped the town out, families hung on,” Grimm said. “It’s the family legacy and lore. We have the largest fleet that continues to harvest the most stone crabs every season.”
What are stone crabs?
Courtesy of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB
Stone crabs are tender and sweet with hard shells, which help them burrow into sand. Natural predators are octopi, who crack crabs’ shells with their beaks and suck the crab out, and goliath grouper, who use their large mouths to swallow crabs whole. When stone crabs are pulled from the traps (usually every seven to 10 days during the season), only legal-sized claws are broken off, and the crabs are returned to the water.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “it takes approximately three years for a regenerated claw to grow to 95% of its original size.” The meat from the claw is often served with drawn butter and a mustard sauce that brings out the sweetness. “It’s just a delicious dish that takes patience to catch. It’s sustainable — we’re not killing the crab. When we harvest them, we’re only taking the one claw, which they regrow, which is well monitored in these waters,” says Pinchers Events Manager Jarrod Cain.
When is stone crab season?
Courtesy of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB
Stone crab season begins in mid October and ends on May 1. According to the Florida Stone Crabber Association, locals won’t have an indication of whether it will be a favorable season until the traps are pulled then.
To celebrate the season, as well as area seafood and Indigenous cooking and crafts, the Everglades Seafood Festival has taken over the town every February for the past 55 years. Commercial fishermen in the area started the event as a fundraiser for the city’s first fire station. Now it is the primary fundraiser for the local school, hosted by the Florida Stone Crabbers Association. Expect traditional cooking, arts, crafts, and music from the local Miccosukee tribe, and lots of stone crab.
Where to buy and eat stone crab
Camellia Street Grill
Mayor Grimm recommends this waterfront restaurant for fresh stone crabs during the season. The menu at Camellia Street Grill features plenty of fresh seafood including stone crab claws, plus salads with herbs from the restaurant’s garden, and daily specials. Expect live music and maybe some dancing.
Grimm’s Stone Crab
Courtesy of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB
Generational fishermen, the Grimms have lived and worked in Everglades City for decades. In 2000, they opened Grimm’s Stone Crab, harvesting and supplying the freshest stone crabs every season since. The cases are filled with fresh Florida lobster tails, key lime pie, stone crab chowder, and of course, piles of stone crab claws. Have claws cracked for you, and grab some of the famous Miss Wanda’s Homemade Mustard Sauce to bring to your accommodations or home.
Kirk Fish Company
Kelly Kirk
In Goodland, Florida, Kirk Fish Company has stacks and stacks of stone crab traps waiting for the season. The family-owned Buzzard’s Bay operation has fresh stone crabs all season that come straight from the boat to the seafood market.
Little Bar Restaurant
Courtesy of Little Bar Restaurant
A cozy spot in Goodland, Little Bar has fresh stone crab during peak season, sourced from Kirk Fish right across the street. The menu is chock full of fresh Gulf seafood, but patrons near and far flock here for the stone crab claw appetizer served with mustard sauce, of course.
Pinchers
Courtesy of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB
The first Pinchers opened in 1997 in Bonita Springs, Florida, and was founded on locally caught crab. The restaurant and seafood counter sources from Island Crab Company on Pine Island, and just like in the early days when owner Tony Phelan got up early every morning to make the “Crab Run” in his truck, Pinchers employees like Cain drive to Island Crab, load up with stone crab claws, and head to the 11 locations on the Florida’s West Coast to ensure the freshest product each season. “We haven’t lost that tradition,” says Cain. With restaurants from Tampa to Key West, Pinchers hosts a Stone Crab Festival in Naples to celebrate the season the last weekend of October. For the past 14 years, local artisans, live music, and the stone crab tent have taken over the parking lot of Tin City, where hundreds of pounds of claws get cracked and served with mustard sauce and fresh lemon over the free three-day event.
Triad Seafood Market & Café
Courtesy of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB
A favorite of Sandra Rios, Paradise Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau’s PR and communications manager, and Mayor Grimm, Triad Seafood Market & Café serves the legendary all-you-can-eat stone crabs in a rustic turquoise building overlooking the Barron River. Established in 1984 in Everglades City, the family-owned and operated establishment offers a comfortable vantage point to observe the flora and fauna of the Ten Thousand Islands.
Truluck’s
Courtesy of the Naples, Marco Island, Everglades CVB
For the elegant, white-tablecloth experience, Truluck’s is the choice. The restaurant has a dozen locations in Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Washington, D.C., and I recommend the Naples spot in the heart of the Paradise Coast and nexus of stone crab country. The restaurant serves stone crabs year-round which normally would mean a frozen product, but not at Truluck’s. Instead, when the season ends locally, the company imports from Campeche on Mexico’s Gulf coast, investing in the local area to guarantee fresh stone crab year-round. Each year, Truluck’s sources more than 200,000 pounds of stone crab, which is prepared and served to guests within 24 hours of capture. From the fruit tray of water garnishes, to the already cracked stone crab claws served with a housemade mustard sauce, to hot towels delivered to the table post crab consumption, this is luxe dining throughout.
How to order stone crab online
If you can’t make it to Florida but can’t resist the craving, serve fresh stone crab at home.
Goldbelly
Channel the Joe’s Stone Crab experience with fresh or defrosted claws for even parties of two to 10 with your choice of four claw sizes, mustard sauce, a mallet, cocktail forks, and yes, the bib.
Holy Crab
Holy Crab in Coral Gables ships four sizes of fresh claws overnight nationwide from the Florida Keys. Sold by the pound, the claws come complete with mustard sauce and a mallet for cracking — only in season since they’re never frozen.
OceanBox
Bronx-based OceanBox promises never-frozen, sustainably sourced and packaged stone crab claws fresh from the Florida Keys as well. Choose from three sizes for one or two-day shipping, with Tuesday to Friday delivery.
How to cook stone crab
With stone crab, it is all about the preparation right after pulling the traps. Once the claws are sorted, crab trappers steam them immediately for eight minutes according to Mayor Grimm. Then the claws go into an ice slush to stop the cooking. This also helps separate the meat from the shell. Then you crack and serve them cold with your favorite mustard sauce. Grimm adds, “The best meat is the last two knuckles which a lot of people don’t pay attention to because the claw is bigger. That meat in the knuckles is the sweetest you will taste.”
