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Crab Cooker

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stvchin
stvchin
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
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Crab Cooker

  • May 6, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by stvchin from Tustin, California
Crab Cooker

The Crab Cooker is a no-frills seafood restaurant. They specialize in crab, lobster, shrimp, and a few types of fish. There is another Crab Cooker location in Newport Beach.

The Tustin crab cooker is a slight bit harder to find. It's actually on Yorba, just south of 17th Street. Upon entering, there's a seafood counter with all sorts of frozen and fresh fish and shellfish for sale. We were given a friendly welcome by the greeter and seated in the dining room. The decor is best described as "old salty fisherman decor." There are nets, glass ball floaters, fishing poles, plastic fish models, and photos of old Tustin in the 1930s.

If you came here for surf and turf, too bad, since there is no turf. Everything on the menu is seafood, except for the salad. Most of the menu features crab legs, crab claws, seasonal local crab, and local California spiny lobster. They also have some fish, if you feel that cracking shells is too much hard work for you. We ordered the seafood salad and clam chowder, Alaska king crab legs, and Australian lobster tail, and a side of sourdough bread and fried calamari appetizer.

Since the Crab Cooker is a no-frills place, all the food came on disposable hard paper plates and plasticware. Even the drinks came in disposable plastic cups. I'm sure it saves on the dishwashing expenses. Only the wine came in glasses. There are dry breadsticks and little bread puffs on the table. I didn't particularly like these because they were extremely dry.

Our calamari appetizer came out early. The fry batter is lighter than I'm accustomed to, but it's still quite good. The warm sourdough bread was also quite yummy. The sourdough bread is not free, the Crab Cooker charges $1.50 for it.

Our entrees finally came out. The Alaskan king crab legs came out with two side dishes. My friend chose the cole slaw and mashed potatoes. The two huge steamed Alaskan king crab legs were pre-slitted for easy shell removal. They were served with lots of lemon and butter. Yummy.

My Australian lobster tail came with cole slaw and rice pilaf. I found the preparation unusual. The lobster tail is already shelled and laid out on a big skewer and grilled. Personally, I like the shell on for the presentation, but the taste was very good. Plenty of lemon and butter go with this lobster tail as well.

Our total bill was $106, including crab legs, lobster tail, salad, chowder, drinks, and 4 glasses of wine. The entrees average around $10 cheaper than at a nice fancy seafood restaurant. This is a no-frills place that passes on the savings to the diners through good prices.

If you want good shellfish for a fair price, and a fairly good atmosphere, the Crab Cooker is for you.

From journal Dining Around Orange County

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