Join the locals, love the seafood: It's crab season in California

Crab season has officially come to the Bay Area. Despite the season's opening a day late, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Dungeness crab catch promises to be bigger, meatier, and more plentiful than in recent years.

Now through the season's end in June, visitors and locals alike will flock to Fisherman's Wharf street vendors, Chinatown fish markets, Marin County seafood restaurants, the Pillar Point Harbor docks, and other crab and seafood hot spots all over Northern California -- join in the tradition, and get cracking!

San Francisco

There are a few well known centers of the crab and seafood industry in San Francisco. Chinatown, which prizes live fish and seafood, has a plethora of small shops and markets with fish tanks filled with caught-this-morning crab.

Fisherman's Wharf street vendors are famous for their fresh crab and sourdough bowls of chowder, in addition to plenty of seafood restaurants. Grab some bread and a plate of sweet, succulent crab legs, and sit out on the sunny pier with views of the bay!

And Clement Street in the Sunset District sees locals (avoiding the crowds in Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown) shopping its strip of shops for live crab, fish, and other fresh seafood.

Sam Hussein, assistant manager at the San Francisco City Center Hostel, recommends that his hostel guests head to Swan Oyster Depot, 7 blocks from the City Center Hostel and 12 blocks from the Downtown Hostel. "It's fantastic, a real traditional SF place, family run, with great atmosphere," he says. Since it's small and only open for lunch, he recommends being prepared for a long line.

Those who don't want to wait, he said, should head to the Woodhouse Fish Company's Market Street restaurant, or to the (kind of pricey, he says) Tadich Grill in the Financial District.

Stuart Bousel, our San Francisco office manager and a Castro District resident, recommends his neighborhood's Zagat-rated Catch. San Francisco Citysearch, which awarded this spot "Best Brunch" and "Best Seafood" in 2010, says that Catch's "affordable seafood menu served in swanky digs captures the heart of the Castro."

Brian Leadingham, our group sales coordinator, likes the classic street vendors in Fisherman's Wharf. "The restaurant row at Taylor and Jefferson streets is where to get the fresh crabs," he says. "They have them on ice and ready to boil right there on the street." As far as area restaurants, he suggests "the oldest and most famous," the Franciscan.

He adds that the "also nice, but more expensive" Alioto's as well as the Crab House at Pier 39 are also good options.

Marin County

Allison Doyle, our fall marketing intern, grew up in Marin County about halfway between our Marin Headlands and Point Reyes hostels. Her favorite seafood spot in Sausalito is Fish -- but she adds that Scoma's, Spinnaker, and Horizons are all excellent. "The best place to buy fresh cracked crab near the Headlands hostel is Mollie Stone's in Sausalito," she adds, for those interested in cooking for themselves.

For guest at the Point Reyes Hostel, she recommends Nick's Cove, which is in Marshall, 13 miles north of the hostel on Highway 1. "It's somewhat of a destination restaurant for locals like myself," she says. "It's a pretty famous seafood restaurant -- possibly one of the best in the bay -- and it's well worth the jaunt." Also, she adds, the views from this bay-front spot are nothing short of spectacular.

Pillar Point Harbor

Just three miles south of the Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel at Pillar Point Harbor, "the boats come in and you can buy direct from the crabmen," says hostel front desk worker Brian Wentzlaff. He and hostel manager Chris Bauman both recommend checking it out -- fresh fish are sold straight off the boats 7 days a week.

If you don't want to cook it yourself, Crab Landing, Sam's Chowder House, Barbara's Fish Trap, and the Princeton Seafood Company are all right there as well.