Joe's Stone Crab has them as a special (I was there tonight).

Returned again to Fish Bar, the spouse had a pair of sauteed soft shell crabs with a spicy lemon aioli.

Yum. Good!

When I was there last week you could get a single for $5. An add-on hard to pass up. The roe shot out of it. Very good.

As happy_stomach mentioned, Longman&Eagle is still offering their soft shell crabs

Are those morels underneath the soft shell crab at Longman and Eagle? If so, that's a great idea: the crunch from the shell should hide the crunch from the nasty grit that the kitchen doesn't bother cleaning off of the mushrooms.

Fantastic pic incite--I almost ate the radish jutting out from my screen
Not sorry I missed Kenny's mushroom experience though!

Joy Yee's makes a pretty decent soft shell crab at a decent price on their appetizer menu. I'm pretty sure at all locations (Evanston/Chicago).

They were on the menu as an entree at Branch 27 when I ate there last weekend (but I didn't order them). I think they were being served as a SC-BLT, but couldn't swear to it.

I had a softshell crab appetizer (pan-fried with a curry sauce, I think) at Broadway Cellars two weeks ago...better than the rest of the meal, but not fantastic.

Blue 13 has a great soft-shell sandwich on the menu.
Nice roll (sturdy and soft with good char from the grill), crunchy shaved veg and a remoulade dressing that all work really well with the crab.


Blue 13
416 W Ontario St
Chicago, IL 60654-5714
(312) 787-1400
http://www.blue13chicago.com/

went to FIN recently, and they had a delicious soft shell crab app. for $8

FIN Sushi Bar
1742 W Wilson Ave
Chicago, IL 60640
Neighborhood: Ravenswood

mark44 wrote:We at Myron and Phil have been preparing Soft Shell Crab for going on ten years. We serve them on a bed of liguine with lemon butter and garlic. I haven't seen anybody prep them the way we do. I wish to invite our friends at LTH to come in and try. (original posts May 2009)Tell us you with LTH and I will throw in a Glass of our house wine or our one of are martini specials.

I wonder if this offer still stands, as I will be at M&P's next Saturday (whenever my in-laws visit, they want to go there. Odd that Texans would want to eat steak in Illinois, but whatever).

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:

mark44 wrote:We at Myron and Phil have been preparing Soft Shell Crab for going on ten years. We serve them on a bed of liguine with lemon butter and garlic. I haven't seen anybody prep them the way we do. I wish to invite our friends at LTH to come in and try. (original posts May 2009)Tell us you with LTH and I will throw in a Glass of our house wine or our one of are martini specials.

I wonder if this offer still stands, as I will be at M&P's next Saturday (whenever my in-laws visit, they want to go there. Odd that Texans would want to eat steak in Illinois, but whatever).

Considering that Mark posted that only 3 days ago, I'd guess yes.

Joe's Stone Crab has them.

stevez wrote:

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:

mark44 wrote:We at Myron and Phil have been preparing Soft Shell Crab for going on ten years. We serve them on a bed of liguine with lemon butter and garlic. I haven't seen anybody prep them the way we do. I wish to invite our friends at LTH to come in and try. (original posts May 2009)Tell us you with LTH and I will throw in a Glass of our house wine or our one of are martini specials.

I wonder if this offer still stands, as I will be at M&P's next Saturday (whenever my in-laws visit, they want to go there. Odd that Texans would want to eat steak in Illinois, but whatever).

Considering that Mark posted that only 3 days ago, I'd guess yes.

Truly important people never look at dates.

Yep, offer still stands, to anyone of LTHForum. Just mention LTH

Mark

The title of this thread is "who's making them," not "who's making them well," thus I include this data point from last night's snack at Poor Phil's in Oak Park:



About $20 for two with soggy fries and a side (we had slaw: decent), these somewhat older seeming crabs tasted pretty much like a fried thing, and that's that. Pointless.

However, so as not to dwell on the negative, I should point out that Poor Phil’s has an absolutely fabulous collection of beers, a fact that was reinforced for me during my first visit there in maybe four years.

I was knocked out by the selection, in bottles and on tap, many of them small craft beers.

We started with the “Changin’ Beer Flight,” which our server told us changes whenever they run out of one of the beers.



This was a beautiful introduction to four fantastic beers. From right to left in the photo:

• Lost Abby Red Barn: from Illinois, this is an exquisitely balanced beer in the Belgian tradition. Slightly hoppy and citrusy, a lovely summer quaff.

• Finch’s Golden Wing: from Chicago itself, this was a sleeper. Medium body and slightly malty, if I had this one alone, I’d love it more, but with the other three heavy weights, it was a dark horse.

• Hop Slayer Imperial IPA: from California, this one threatened to be a victim of the current craft brew trend toward radical over-hopping. But I was surprised, it was astringent, but still had the pleasant green taste of hops.

• New Belgium New Terroir Dry Hopped Sour Ale: from Colorado, and a major eye-opener. If you, like me, enjoy a sour, Belgian-type beer, you will like this. I’m guessing a lot of Phil’s customers leave a lot of this one unfinished. It was just fine with me. But sour, really sour.

For those of us who love us some suds, Poor Phil’s is a fabulous local resource.

Poor Phil's
139 S. Marion
Oak Prk

...David, is it bad that I'm still searching your post for a picture of the soft shell crabs?

I see a picture of meatballs in marinara and some beer flights.

incite wrote:I see a picture of meatballs in marinara and some beer flights.

Meatbals? All I see is shag carpeting (and beer).

I just received a back channel correction that Lost Abby is a California beer. The menu says otherwise and the menu is wrong:

mark44 wrote:Yep, offer still stands, to anyone of LTHForum. Just mention LTH

Mark

Sadly, now that I think about it, might be a bit gauche to cop a glass of wine and leave the other eight (well, five are of drinking age) out of the loop. Oh well. Looking forward to the crabs, anyway.

David Hammond wrote:I just received a back channel correction that Lost Abby is a California beer. The menu says otherwise and the menu is wrong:

Looks like they mixed up the origins of Lost Abbey Red Barn and the Wild Onion Hop Slayer. Lost Abbey is from San Marcos, CA & Onion is a brewpub in Lake Barrington, IL

Fish Bar had a softshell po'boy this Friday when I went. It was not bad, a little oily but I thought it was pretty tasty.

Just had a really good soft shell crab sandwich at Southgate in Lake Forest, with their crunchy home made potato chips. It was a special, so call before you go.

Had an excellent lunch at Shaw's Crab House (downtown) today and soft shells are on the menu. Had one sauteed, served with lemon butter, as an appetizer before a main of Copper River salmon. Both were excellent.

Had soft shells at Longman & Eagle last night and was disappointed, but with an asterisk.

The asterisk is that the dish was actually quite tasty--but not because of the crabs. The flavor that dominated was the flavor of delicious lightly deep-fried batter. So each bite was quite enjoyable. But it really could have been anything under that batter, and the taste would have been pretty much the same. Good soft shell crabs, done right, should obviously have the distinctive flavor of soft shell crabs. These had practically no soft shell crab character at all. The kitchen needs to figure out how to do better with this dish, if it's going to include it on the menu.

Was the meal a washout? Not at all. Besides that the batter on the crabs was enjoyable to eat, the "small plate" of duck liver we shared as a starter was a standout. And interestingly, it was a standout for exactly the reason the soft shell crab entree wasn't. It put across the intense flavor of what it was. It was duck liver to the max.

My friend's entree was the Miller half-chicken, which was more successful than the crabs, in that it tasted like chicken a lot more than the crabs tasted like crabs (or tasted like anything). I enjoyed the bite or two he shared with me quite a lot.

At Myron and Phil, we just started getting them in so the still are a little expensive. I have the hotel size for dinner 3 served on linguini, $27 as an entree ( with all the other stuff) single piece for an appetizer $7. As they get cheaper I will adjust.

I have a friend I haven't seen in a couple of years who loves soft shells. I'm looking for some suggestions in the city for some places that have had them recently in the hopes that when we go they might have them. It won't be the end of the world if they don't. We just would like to go to a place that has great seafood, good cocktails, pretty much any cuisine. We're probably in the $50 - $75 range, perhaps a bit more for something exceptional. Thanks for your help!

Just had them a couple weeks ago at Henri on Michigan Avenue; interesting prep. Not the best I've ever had but quite good and the meal as a whole was very enjoyable. I think it fits your price constraints but you can check their menu online.

Henri
18 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago 60603
(312) 578-0763
http://www.henrichicago.com
http://www.henrichicago.com/images/henri_dinner.pdf

anybody else? If not soft shells, really good fish? My friends have tasked me with coming up with some options.

knitgirl wrote:anybody else? If not soft shells, really good fish? My friends have tasked me with coming up with some options.

Though not "fancy", you might want to give a call to GNR New England Seafood Company. I'm not sure if they have soft shells or not, but they do have great lobster rolls and fish. No alcohol is served, but they are BYOB.

New England Seafood Company
3341 North Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 871-3474

knitgirl wrote:I have a friend I haven't seen in a couple of years who loves soft shells. I'm looking for some suggestions in the city for some places that have had them recently in the hopes that when we go they might have them. It won't be the end of the world if they don't. We just would like to go to a place that has great seafood, good cocktails, pretty much any cuisine. We're probably in the $50 - $75 range, perhaps a bit more for something exceptional. Thanks for your help!

What about Bavette's, Publican or Maude's, all of which have shellfish/raw bar options? Publican probably has the strongest fish menu, but Bavette's and Maude's have stronger craft cocktail lists.