Stone Crab Season in Naples

Stone crab is the one local delicacy that is genuinely local. The claws on your table were almost certainly pulled from traps within sight of the coast you drove in on, often that morning, and the season is short enough that the whole town notices when it opens.

The dates

Florida's commercial stone crab season runs October 15 through May 1. Those dates are set by the state and don't move. The first week of the season is a small event in Naples — restaurants advertise it, prices are at their highest, and the claws are at their freshest.

How the sizes work

• Medium — the everyday size. Best value per bite and what most locals order.
• Large — noticeably meatier, roughly a third more per pound.
• Jumbo — impressive, expensive, and the size restaurants photograph.
• Colossal — a special-occasion order and priced like one.

Claws are always sold cooked and chilled. They are boiled at sea or dockside immediately, because the meat sticks irretrievably to the shell if it is frozen raw. If a menu offers you a hot stone crab claw, something unusual is happening.

The part people ask about

Only the claw is harvested; the crab is returned to the water alive and regrows it. Florida rules require a minimum claw size and prohibit taking claws from egg-bearing females. Regrowth takes roughly a year for a usable claw. It is not a perfect system — survival rates depend heavily on handling — but it is the reason the fishery has lasted as long as it has.

Where to eat them in Naples

Three different experiences, all valid. Waterfront fish houses on the bay serve them casually, with a view of the boats that caught them. Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South restaurants do the white-tablecloth version with a proper wine list. Seafood markets sell them by the pound to take away, which is by a wide margin the cheapest way to eat a lot of them — a pound of mediums, a lemon, a jar of mustard sauce and a rented kitchen beats any restaurant on value.

The most Naples version of the meal, though, involves picking them up from a market in the morning and eating them on the water in the afternoon — most private charters will happily let you bring a cooler aboard, which turns a tray of claws into an anchored lunch off a sandbar instead of a table indoors.

The sauce, and how to eat them

1. 01Claws arrive cold and pre-cracked, or with a wooden mallet. Cold is correct — never reheat them.
2. 02Tap the knuckle, not the pincer, if you're cracking your own. The shell fractures along the seam.
3. 03Classic mustard sauce is mayonnaise, Colman's dry mustard, Worcestershire, cream and a squeeze of lemon. Drawn butter is a Northern import and locals will notice.
4. 04Figure a pound of medium claws per person as a main, half that as a starter.