One week into stone crab season, the dockside dining rooms along the Suncoast are looking a lot more like February than October. Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant and Pub on Longboat Key reports roughly a 40% increase in guests from the week before the season opened to its first week. Fall is traditionally the quietest stretch of the year for waterfront restaurants here, which makes the early-season surge a welcome sight for owners and staff alike.
The draw is local stone crab, and it’s pulling people across the bay. Customers drove in from Tampa specifically for the claws, and one visitor summed up the appeal like this: you can’t get them very often, but when they’re in season, you seize the day. For the serving staff, the stakes are higher than a busy weekend. Mar Vista’s general manager, Brandi Craig, says the local delicacy is what brings people back, and server Gage Kelly notes that staff base their annual income on these few months.
Stone crab season runs from mid-October through May 2, which means six months of opportunity for the restaurants and workers who count on it. If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to get out to Longboat Key or anywhere else along the waterfront, the season is wide open. Where do you go for your stone crab fix? Let us know in the comments.
