Favorite hardshell seafood out there?
 

I'm not sure myself, I just know its not the lobster like most choose. If I had to though I'd go with king crab.

And what are those tiny things like clams? Mollusks?

Dungeness Crab... the meat is very sweet.

did you mean mussels?

I'll agree with the dungeness crab. I prefer it to lobster, especially in a nice garlicky newburg sauce. I like oysters too, but not raw oysters. Escargot if not overcooked.
I grew up in Kansas, and Kansas is about as far removed from seafood as you can get. Living the last few years in Boston has really opened me up to seafood, and I've like most things that I've tried. Except raw oysters.

Lindy

Bring on the raw oysters... for me, cooked oysters kind of give me the willies. Not sure why.

mmm, king crab is great

been a while since I've had any

Hard shelled seafood includes clams, muscles, oysters, lobster, crab, yes? Am I missing anything? I feel like I'm missing something.

Of them, I like raw (Kumamoto) oysters on the half shell the most. They take a little getting used to and an open mind, but they're so worth it. Don't get me wrong, I love muscles and clams and lobster, but for my money, it's gotta be raw oysters.

Crawfish, give me a full on seafood boil and I'll eat till I roll over into a coma.

My friend and I have been plotting a huge seafood boil (crab/shrimp/lobster/crawfish with potatoes, corn on the cob, onions, and garlic) and plan on eating ourselves stupid.

Yes.

Can't beat Alaskan King Crab.

any kind of crab is what i like. lobster is ok but to me it just dosent have alot of taste. maybe i havent had it right??

You want me to choose?

I grew up on the Puget Sound, and my parents still live there. If I want a bucket of clams or some oysters, they have their own private beach with access to significant tidelands. Hell, oysters are easiest--they're just hanging out there at low tide, waiting to be shucked (you have to shuck the oysters BEFORE you leave the beach to guarantee that oyster spat have something to adhere to). There's really nothing like shucking your own oyster right on the beach and slurping it down.

When I was a kid we used to go pick up Dungeness crab out of the eelgrass beds at our community beach that were exposed at low tide. That was great fun. The eelgrass beds would only be exposed at very low tides, so it was definitely a special event. Dungeness is pretty expensive these days, and it makes me long for the days when my dad regularly went out crabbing with friends or else we could just get some off of the beach.

I really couldn't pick a favorite. I love seafood, and despite living relatively close to the coast, I don't get to eat it very often. Oh well.

King Crab Legs and raw oysters are my preferred hardshell seafood, although I think I'll eat anything that comes out of the ocean.

This reminds me- there's a little greasy spoon diner 5 mins. from my house that actually has crab legs on their menu for only $15. They're not huge and you have to crack them open yourself, but when you're in the mood- that price is hard to beat!

Love the Dungeness, too, but I love all crab, lobster (except Florida), clams and oysters, both cooked and raw, mussels, crawfish ... you name it. No sauces, please. Just a squeeze of lemon and I'm in heaven.

lobster is pretty nice. You can get em fresh near where I used to live.

Now I am like 80 miles from the sea, so not so much.

I only like snow crab or king crab... unfortunately, I'm allergic to anything with a hinge.
If you're counting conch, which I'm not sure people count as seafood or hard shell, I dig it.

I dislike lobster... terribly disappointed in it the two times I've tried it. I'd rather not bother again unless I find myself in Maine. And I had a horrifying experience with blue crabs after no one picked up on the fact that they were all females and all full of nasty orange roe paste.

Lobster is over rated. It has zero taste.

Steamer Clams all the way.
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9195/100io.jpg

I think Maine lobster is probably my favorite but Dungeness crab is a close second.

I tried some for the first time. Apparently I went to a bad place (fry's) because 1/3 of them were bad and didn't open in time. They were decent but expensive for so little food.

Stone crab.


mmmmmm, stone crab.....

Don't you live in Arizona? I wouldn't eat seafood in Arizona. Just because we can ship seafood that far doesn't mean we should.

Golden crab beats dungeness and king.

NO! Absolutely not. Sorry, Snowy, but you're 100% wrong. I get fantastic seafood in Chicago all the time. We pay more for it, but that's understandable since most of it is flown in daily, at least the fresh stuff.

Mussels. Especially from this place in Prince Edward Island right beside the Wood Islands Ferry dock. $5 for a huge bowl.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/u...ke-Leto/cs.jpg


and at the other end of the country, Crab bought off the dock in Tofino, British Columbia. Had the best tasting crab there cooked on the beach.

http://i639.photobucket.com/albums/u...o/crabdock.jpg

Balmain Bug

found off the coast of Australia. It's a species of lobster that's easier to eat than the normal lobster you see in the markets.

http://www.thegutsygourmet.net/balmain-bug.jpg

I think Chicago is a little different than most places in the country, Jazz. Lots of fine restaurants means that there's a higher turnover on fresh seafood and more willingness to fly in the best stuff.

Perhaps. But there's also good seafood to be found in Atlanta. And suburban Detroit. And even Fargo.

I have to agree with Jazz. I don't think location matters as much as it used too. I've had really good seafood/fish in odd places like St. Louis, Denver, Omaha, Wichita.:) And mediocre --expensive mediocre-- in Newport Beach and Cape Cod.:mad:

Lindy

i like most of these things.
lobster and clams are best really soon after they're pulled from the drink. lobster in particular seems to loose flavor really quickly....no idea why...but it seems to be true. i had lobster sometimes in philadelphia and it tasted like wet paper. now i live on the coast in northeastern massachusetts and the lobster's really great. and the clams are amazing from the essex river. sweet. i have friends who are clammers...nothing better, i don't think.

problem with touristy seafood joints is sometimes that they're just located in places famous for something---woodmans, which is the famous friend clam place in essex, uses maryland clams. other places use local. there are a couple chain restos that advertise lobster in gloucester--a big lobster port--that don't serve locally caught lobster. it makes no sense to me. but they make money i guess. people don't necessarily know the difference until they discover it then they do.

o yeah--the spiny lobster you can get in brittany is really really good. sweet. yummy.

little necks and lobstahs - not the rock lobsters you get down here in florida but the real thing from up in northern new england...

then there are the fried clams at red's in wiscasset...

I gotta go with conch