Peachy Picks City Crab
Peachy's friend the dungeness crab at City Crab. She loves to make friends and then eat them...
In the world of Whom You Know, it is a positive attribute to be CRABBY!
When we are referring to City Crab, that is!
If you know Peachy Deegan, she is intrinsically crabby due to her love of crabmeat and she love love loves crab legs. In fact, they are one of her most favorite foods. And according to Peachy, City Crab has the BEST crab legs in Manhattan. If you knew the quantity of crab legs Peachy has consumed in her entire life you would know that was really saying something. Peachy, though really from balmy Connecticut, has spent a significant amount of time in Florida and that is her second home state and you know what she loves to eat on the beach: crab legs. She surmises that you could fill every box of shoes that she's ever owned with the leg shells of every aformentioned crab and still you'd have leftover shells. If you read our shoe columns, you can only imagine....Perhaps the more crab you consume, the less crabby you will be in life because crab legs bring such joy and happiness!
Try to keep your computer screen clean as you feast your eyes on what you are missing by not being at City Crab right this very second. That can however be rectified, and you'll find their contact information at the end of this review so you can make a beeline for these AMAZING crablegs...but listen to what Peachy and her fab panelist have to say first.
City Crab was first featured in Tasty Tidbits:
The total winner of a seafood extravaganza easily advanced to Peachy's Picks. It really reminded Peachy of her Boston days at both Legal Sea Foods and Atlantic Fish Company, neither of which can be found in Manhattan, and City Crab is among the best seafood places we have seen yet in this city. We began with an array of appetizers, the crowing jewel of which was the Oysters Rockefeller says Peachy. These fried oysters in a party of creamed spinach and hollandaise were simply exquisite and outshined the rest, all of which were excellent as well.
Spicy angry is a new term we learned, and those refer to the Seamed PEI Blue Mussels which were simply mouthwatering with a unique kick that you will just have to try for yourself. You also should know that City Crab has a rewards program, and their prices are a great deal all around not even considering the steal that they have every day from 4 to 7pm: half priced appetizers, and Friday and Saturday from 10 to 12pm and Sunday noon to 7pm. Normally we do not consider price but we just could not believe this deal for what you get.
Peachy angelically began with the City's Garden Salad which even the Easter Bunny would have loved this weekend. The ranch dressing was on the side as asked for, and the romaine, iceberg, carrot, cucumber, red onion, tomato, radish, and enoki mushrooms were outstanding. What else was simply outstanding was the knowledge of the City Crab menu by Mitchell, the General Manager. In our 55 restaurant reviews to date, Mitchell Rosen knows the City Crab menu better than any other General Manager that has taken the time to sit down and talk to us about the intricacies of his/her menu. We even learned the history of the machine made to take the shell off of popcorn shrimp. You can tell Mitchell exudes joy in what he does and we imagine the 15 years have flown by at a place as superior as City Crab. Also, you should know that we love the philosophy of City Crab, which is: "Mother Nature made the food great, let's keep it that way (and they do!)" They do not overseason or oversauce as other establishments do and the result is pure perfection. They have four to six kinds of fresh fish every day.
City Crab holds 300 people-200 upstairs and 100 downstairs. You really could have quite the party here, and even if you have a party of two or even one, when you have this crabmeat on your palette you can be assured that it will be your own personal party. Jeff Matkin was a lovely server and totally attentive. The wine list was excellent and Peachy preferred these whites in particular: Bex Reisling from Mosel, Germany and Arancio Chardonnay from Sicily, Italy. The final touch of the night for Peachy was the key lime pie which was so Florida, and the perfect balance to the seafood hit parade. Our amazing panelist comments:
Although I have lived in Gramercy for nearly 7 years and walk down to Union Square almost daily, I had not until today had the pleasure of eating at "City Crab". I would suggest that you ask to eat upstairs. It is an open-air restaurant and upstairs offers great views of the guests below as well as the city streets. Up front you can see the live crabs and lobsters, which always makes for entertainment for "children" of any age. The restaurant has been open since 1993 and the general manager has been working there since 1996. He started at the young age of 25 and has grown with the business. As an entrepreneur, I always find it fascinating to see the passion people have for their jobs. In this case, Mitchell Rosen's extraordinary commitment to excellence shows, and you can tell why the restaurant is a success. Not only do they just try to "get best ingredients" and do the least amount of work to a just steam lobster and others don't have to do a lot to.. For example, all the lobsters come from Novia Scotia or Maine. The Marilyn Blue crabs are in season April - December and he is also aware of the "soft- shell" season and increases the longevity of the season by buying crabs form the south and continues to buy further North as the short season progresses. He does this in order to prevent "leather backs". All very interesting and moreover shows that as a manager or owner of company, to be the best, you have to know EVERYTHING.
To start, sampling from the raw bar: Oyster's Rockefeller (my favorite), clams oregano, Peel and eat shrimp Cajun lemon and butter Mussels (extremely tender), stone crabs, crab cakes, and raw oysters. This is definitely a great way to start off the dinner with some raw seafood; very fresh and seasoned to perfection. The price is also right here. They offer a ton of happy hour specials at the bar, even on Saturday 10-12PM. After 2001, they lost foot traffic, like all other restaurants, and this was a way to combat the problem and entice more customers. Next, I had new England clam chow; very hardy and fresh, as shown above. The perfect seafood "comfort food" as far as seafood menus are concern. Wine for dinner, the Riesling, Bex 2009 with raw bar and soup and with my entree the waiter suggested Muscadet Sevre et Maine, Chateau La Noe 2009.
The entree was again delicious and I think priced out at $18; great value. Four large blackened scallops with a touch of BBQ sauce. The sides of sweet potato fries and green Beans paired well with the scallops. I think at this seafood restaurant the balance of appeasing "the kid in everyone"(fried food, live fish, soup / crackers) and then the "adult in everyone" (raw bar, more exotic dishes, crabs, lobster) as well as the "20s something" (bar specials, happy hours) is executed perfectly.
And all of these groups would be happy with the recommendation for the dessert to top off the meal, "Oreo ice-cream cake". So, “Whomever “ you are, lighten up and enjoy the meal; it's the weekend!
Peachy Picks City Crab!
Be Crabby with Peachy!!!!!
City Crab & Seafood Company
235 Park Ave South
New York, NY 10003
Phone: (212) 529-3800
