Testing Petaluma’s Dungeness crab dishes

Dungeness season is practically a holiday in these parts. And while this year won’t have the usual feeds and other crab-based fun, there are plenty of Dungeness dishes to stay satiated. So this week, we went for crab overload, ordering up crustaceans in stews, on buns, over eggs — however we could find them.

Seafood shines at Seared

We started with Seared (petalumaseared.com) on a Thursday, both because we knew it would be a huge order and did not want to overwhelm them on a busier night, but also because we wanted to make sure we did not get crab blocked by early orders on those brisk weekend nights.

When it comes to Dungeness crab, we did not want to miss anything, especially when Chef Joe O’Donnell is at the grill. Because he updates his menu regularly, you will need to check online for the most current offerings. These are the gems we found on last week’s menu.

As with every meal from Seared, we started with the deviled eggs, which this time came topped with Dungeness crab salad, pickled jalapeno and chives. Even as leftovers for the next two days, these farm-fresh eggs were delicious.

Following the deviled eggs were the Dungeness crab tangoons, although this week’s menu swapped in Dungeness crab taquitos. Our tangoons were filled with Dungeness crab and whipped potato and came with vibrant house-pickled veggies, along with dipping sauces of chili, lime and cream cheese.

Next up, the crab mac ‘n’ cheese. Chef Joe’s iterations of the classic comfort food usually feature a unique noodle, this time the corkscrew Cavatappi, alongside healthy portions of hand-picked crab meat, and just enough smoked bacon to add another dimension without taking away from the pasta, cheese and crab. For the uninitiated, Dungeness has a delicate sweet flavor and can easily be overpowered.

Then came the Dungeness crab pasta, which was something to behold. Few things can compare to freshly made pasta. Here, Seared’s pasta dish started with fat noodles with roasted fennel, heirloom tomatoes, Thai basil, Parmesan and Dungeness crab. We were initially confused by the container of broth included with the order, until we dipped a tester noodle in and realized the punch of flavor this smoked crab broth brought to the dish. This week’s menu shows the pasta has been replaced with Dungeness crab gnocchi (house-made gnocchi, hand-picked crab, fennel, shallot, garlic, arugula, parmesan, Meyer lemon, cream).

The most unassuming of the dishes was the bowl of Dungeness crab bisque but after three days of reheating it as leftovers, it very well may be my favorite crab dish. Sure, bisques have lots of cream, so it is hard to go wrong, but this particular one was packed with crab salad, crème fraiche, chives and caviar as well.

At this point, we had already devoured a full meal’s worth of food but still had the main dishes to go, a Wagyu ribeye Oscar and the main event, the salt and pepper Dungeness crab.

The Oscar was a blackened Beeman Ranch ribeye medallion, covered in a Dungeness crab béarnaise with roasted broccolini and crème fraiche mashed potatoes. The steak was perfectly cooked and even with the delay of delivery and my not-so-brief photoshoot of our dishes, everything was still at the perfect temperature.

If truth be known, I prefer Dungeness cold and cracked, passing up on the melted butter if the crab is sweet enough. I rarely have it any other way, but Chef Joe’s salt and pepper Dungeness retained the essence of the crab flavor, even though it was wonderfully warm and well-seasoned. The crab was roasted with spring onion, Thai herbs and chili glaze and included toast “for sopping up the leftover juices.”

We paired this dinner with a bottle of Bengoetxe txakolina, which we regularly purchase at Pearl. This young white wine from the Basque Country pairs well with fish.

Can’t go wrong at The Shuckery

Because of a cry for some sort of veggie in our meal (apparently, French fries do not count as a vegetable?), I ordered the cauliflower wings. The cauliflower fleurettes were ideally bite-sized, the tempura batter was light yet flavorful and the hot sauce was both perfect in quantity and in spiciness. This appetizer also comes with garlic honey for the dipping.

We also tried the fish and chips for the first time and were not surprised at how good it was. The lightly battered fish changes with the catch of the day, so its flavors can be quite different from one meal to the next.

The main plates landed on the table next. The California crab cheesesteak is the Shuckery’s version of a Philly cheesesteak. Piled high with a mixture of crab and cheese sauce, this was a fun and inventive flavor combo. And although not normally a fan of the onions and peppers on a cheesesteak, I found this sandwich to be suitably subtle. This dish comes with a healthy-sized side salad but fries can be added (and at the Shuckey, should not be missed).

The Dungeness Cioppino was so packed full of seafood that it took us several minutes to shell everything, even before hand-picking the crab. Crab, clams, mussels and shrimp are favorites of ours and this cioppino had plenty, along with local rock cod. The house stock is always excellent, as was the side of grilled bread, for the sopping. This was one of the best cioppinos we have ever had.

We added two cans of beer to order to supplement a bottle of locally produced Raft Wines sangiovese, which is an all-around pleasurable drinker, whether on its own or with food. The Chapman Crafted Pils beer was a great palette cleanser between fish dishes and the Fort Point Beer Company Manzanita is one of our favorite food-pairing beers. This unique beer is brewed in the smoked altbier style. However, where the malt would normally be smoked over beechwood, Fort Point uses local manzanita, to great success.

Other crab dishes to try

Our plan for this week is to finally try Fantasy Restaurant’s salt and pepper crab, prepared fresh, straight from their live tanks. (Visit their Facebook page for menus and hours.)

Stephanie over at Water Street Bistro prepares one heck of a crab chowder. Because it is available year-round and has a stronger crab flavor than you might find with delicate Dungeness. Stephanie’s crab chowder is what gets us through the “off season” while waiting for next year’s Dungies to wash back in. Water Street Bistro is also the first place I tasted the world-famous Allagash White, a Belgian-style witbier from Portland, Maine, and the perfect beer to accompany the crab chowder. (Visit Water Street’s Facebook page for current menus and hours.)

Take a beautiful 20-minute drive west to Valley Ford’s Rocker Oysterfeller’s (rockeroysterfellers.com), where they offer half crabs, as well as crispy fried Dungeness crab and artichoke cakes, with remoulade sauce and Cajun-dusted pine nuts. Hilary Stoldt Thomas tells us that when available, Rocker’s deep-fried Dungeness is “out of this world.”

Finally, when it comes to seafood, Pearl (pearlpetaluma.com) is Petaluma’s sleeper, with a stew that’s not to be missed. Chef Brian Leitner’s current shellfish stew features local Dungeness crab, shrimp, mussels, potato and fava greens, in harissa tomato broth.

Desserts for a crab king

The desserts offer by both Seared and the Shuckery proved to be stand outs all on their own. We usually shy away from bread pudding, however the Shuckery’s had a firm consistency and a caramel drizzle was beyond reproach. We have rarely met a panna cotta we did not like and the Shuckery’s vanilla version didn’t disappoint. This one had a layer of excellent caramel on the bottom and was topped with raspberries and blackberries, both of which were unexpectedly sweet considered the season. This was a surprisingly simple yet extremely satisfying dessert.

Along with our Seared dinner, we enjoyed the “Boozy Shake 3.0,” which I assume is the third version in this series. It was made with Mariposa Ice Creamery’s caramel apple ice cream, bourbon, cream and lemon cookie crumble. I was a bit skeptical at first about how the lemon cookie crumble would go, but those O’Donnells know a thing or two about boozy milkshakes. It was excellent. However, the grand finale was Chef Joe’s custom ice cream cake. Regular readers know I am a big fan of ice cream cakes and have had more than a few in my day. This one really took the cake. The foundation was Mariposa’s spumoni ice cream, which was added to a thick and lavish graham cracker crust and then topped with crushed pistachios, meringue and what I believe were real Italian maraschino cherries.