The Popular Seafood Dish You Can't Miss Out On When In Florida

It's not surprising that there's a lot of great seafood in Florida — after all, the state is surrounded by water on three sides and has the longest coastline of any state in the contiguous U.S. From Key West "pink gold" shrimp to the increasingly pricey grouper sandwich, it's no wonder that seafood makes up around half of our list of iconic Florida dishes to try. However, there is one seafood dish that you absolutely shouldn't miss while in Florida, and that's the stone crab claw.

Known for having a sweet and slightly salty flavor that's comparable to lobster, and a tender yet firm texture, stone crab claws are a popular Florida delicacy. Nearly all commercial harvests of stone crabs occur in the waters off Florida, and they're also one of the state's top commercial seafood products by value. Unlike many other types of crab, only the claws are harvested from stone crabs, which are then returned to the ocean to regrow their claws. They can only be harvested between October 15 and May 1, with strict limits on minimum claw size (2 7/8"), daily harvesting limits, set timings between harvesting and cooking, and other restrictions. The restrictions mean that stone crab claws probably aren't going anywhere, however there is still some decline in numbers. All the rules and regs also explain why stone crabs are so expensive.

These days, stone crabs can fetch around $35 to more than $70 per pound (the price is even higher when ordering at a restaurant), depending on the size of the claw. Those figures are a far cry from when they were first served to the public, by Joe's Stone Crab (then Joe's Restaurant) in the 1920s; back then, the restaurant that helped popularize the dish charged 75 cents for four or five crabs.

Prior to the 1920s, no one ate rock crabs, which could be found in abundance in the bay. After an ichthyologist (that's a fish specialist to you and me) brought some live stone crabs to the restaurant, founder Joe Weiss boiled them and served them chilled and cracked with a mustard dipping sauce. That's still how they are served to this day at Joe's Stone Crab, although you can also enjoy them warm with drawn butter, in a bisque, or in a salad or sandwich. Joe's is Martha Stewart's go-to Miami Beach crab joint and also one of Andrew Zimmer's top restaurant picks for Miami, as well as a Robert Irvine pick for one of the best restaurants in America.