Feeling Crabby

>holiday_ (yes, that one - so sorry...) we
>visited the Eastern shore of Maryland.  On at least one day my wife
>managed to have crab for breakfast (topping eggs with a white sauce),
>lunch (in a bisque) and dinner (soft shells on a bed of roasted sweet
>corn, with a nice riesling, ahh...).
>
>My question is "How do you obtain nice, plump meaty crabs instead of the
>paper-shell scrawny ones that are always served in the New York area
>restaurants and markets?"  We were told that the crabs harvested by hand
>from the rivers entering the bay were the meaty ones and the scrawny
>ones were mechanically harvested from the greater expanse of the bay
>proper.
>
>We had excellent soft-shells at 208 Talbot in St. Michael's.  Also, two
>weeks previous, we had excellent soft-shells at Commander's Palace in
>New Orleans.  Big surprise.
>
>Absent paying an arm and a leg (sorry, crab joke), whats the best way to
>get high quality soft-shell crabs either in a market or restaurant in
>our (central New Jersey) area?
>
>I've alreadey taken note of the "Spamy the Crab" ad recently posted to
>the news group.  No follow-up needed there.
>
>I'd appreciate names of markets or restaurants in which others have

I have asked basically the same question about crab in NY for many years - nothing like what you get in Maryland and BTW - next time you're in Baltimore try Angelina's on Harford Rd - best crab cake in town.

I can report that Foley's Fish House in the Renaissance Hotel - 47St. and 7th Ave. - serves a crab cake about as good as you can get in Maryland - as far as I know the only such place in NY>