I really wanted to eat blue crabs and went to Fish in the West Village where they have All You Can Eat Crabs for lunch. This time I had studied on YouTube, watching many videos on how to properly eat/pick a blue crab. The funny thing is they all say they are showing the proper way to do it …yet they all do it differently. Anyway, I showed up to Fish, sat down, ordered a beer, then asked for the All You Can Eat Crab deal. The waiter said they don’t have it. I told him that I was going to eat somewhere else then (I don’t think it a dickish way, but maybe it sounded like it). Then I asked if it was just today they don’t have it? He said they didn’t get the crabs this week, but …they might not have it again. When he said the last part, it felt like he was just saying that out of spite because he was mad I was leaving. It’s just weird, because I thought the main reason to go to this place was for the All You Can Eat Crabs. It’s painted on their window.
So I walked around and tried to figure out where I could get crabs. Oh yeah, Chinatown! So I went there, sat down at Hop Lee’s, ordered the Crab Cantonese, then realized, “Oh shit. Didn’t I get really sick the last time I had crabs in Chinatown?” Oh well.
The Crab Cantonese came out on a huge platter all sauced up. It was delicious. I could even just eat the sauce with white rice and be satisfied. The crabs were all cut cup, so I didn’t get to try any of those YouTube tips. But I do now know that if you really want to eat crabs, you have to use both your hands and get messy. I ate it all. And it’s been a couple of days since and I don’t feel sick.
The fortune cookie I got at the end of the meal said, “The thing one fears most is fear.” I guess that was relevant. Time to use the lottery numbers on the other side I guess.
Hop Lee – 16 Mott St (btwn Mosco St & Park Row) New York, NY 10013
