Softshell Crab Season Has Arrived From Georgia!
The season's first catch of Wild Georgia Softshell Crab has arrived! They're making their West Coast debut at Water Grill.
THE START OF THE SEASON
Spring is a wonderful time. For starters, we get more daylight (and eventually recoup the hour of sleep lost at the start of Daylight Savings Time).
That means little to Mother Nature though: the world continues to turn, and tilt on its axis, bringing warmer weather to the Northern Hemisphere. It’s here, in the Mid-Atlantic, where we begin to reap those rewards. Watermen take to their boats off the coast of Georgia and the Chesapeake Bay and prepare their traps for the blue crab harvest.
As water temperatures rise, these blue crabs begin to molt and shed their shells. It’s at this moment when the live crabs are harvested – at the peak of tenderness.
Learn more about their journey – from blue shell to softshell, and from the country’s largest estuary to one of our favorite seasonal offerings – here.
ABOUT BLUE CRABS
Who says Latin is dead? The language tells us a lot. Exhibit A: the scientific name for blue crab is Callinectes sapidus, meaning beautiful savory swimmer.
These crabs propel themselves through the water using their back fins, or swimmerets. You’ll find this species all along the Atlantic Coast, down through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and even to some northern parts of South America.
HARVESTING
Blue Crabs live anywhere from three to four years and reach maturity around one year to 18 months. Growth is very dependent on temperature. Mating occurs from fall through the spring and, interestingly, females can only mate once during their life but can spawn multiple times.
Females, especially those carrying eggs, prefer higher salinity areas and often migrate towards the mouth of nearby rivers to spawn. Males prefer lower salinity waters and can often be found closer to river mouths and estuaries.
Most of the season’s harvesting will happen in late Spring as water temperatures warm and crabs prepare for their summer growth. This is often marked by the first full moon in May. In some cases, like what we’re seeing out of Georgia, the water warms as early as the beginning of April.
A COMING OF AGE
Softshell crabs are blue crabs. They’re harvested throughout the East Coast by commercial crabbers when the hardshell blue crabs are deemed to be peelers, or crabs that are ready to molt.
Watermen will look for signs, such as white, pink and red colors on the shells, to tell which crabs will molt, and when. In fact, a red outline, called a “red sign”, on the swimming fin indicates that a crab will molt in less than two days.
These crabs are then transferred to shedding tanks where they are monitored until they molt. The tanks are shallow, and the water temperature is carefully regulated to emulate the crab’s natural molting habitat.
Once a crab molts, it is removed from the shedding tank as soon as possible before the shell begins to harden (which can take as little as a few hours). It’s at this moment when a blue crab becomes a softshell crab. They’re then carefully packed and arrive to us daily – directly from pristine coastline of Georgia, straight to our restaurants.
this moment when a blue crab becomes a softshell crab. They’re then carefully packed and arrive to us daily – directly from the Chesapeake to our restaurants.
FLAVOR
Iconic, sweet and earthy, softshell crab delivers a crunchy, delicate bite with olive-like notes imparted from the shell.
At Water Grill, our Wild Georgia Softshell Crab is prepared tempura-fried, served with pickled plums, Belgian endive and our house XO sauce
All this softshell talk got you hungry for more? Check out our menus and make a reservation!
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Pacific Halibut Season Is Back!
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If you’re looking to spot a Pacific Halibut in the wild, you’d have to keep a keen eye on the ocean floor to find this diamond in the rough. And the Pacific Halibut surely has two eyes on you!
With a face that only a mother could love, The Pacific Halibut’s unique appearance is matched by its uniquely delightful flavor. Luckily for us, Pacific Halibut is back in season, and you can try it now at Water Grill.
About The Pacific Halibut
The Pacific Halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) is the world's largest species of flatfish. This species of right-eyed flounder can weigh up to 500 pounds and grow as long as 8 feet! Those big ones are lovingly called “barn doors”, whereas smaller ones are referred to as “chickens.”
These massive flatfish are groundfish, meaning they live near the ocean floor and prefer water temperatures around 37 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. Living near the ocean floor is why they have their unique coloration.
While it’s not likely to betray you, the Pacific Halibut is a particularly two-faced creature. The two sides of this flatfish are composed of a lighter, off-white-colored side on its underside (the side that faces toward the ocean floor) and a darker side on top. The lighter side is meant to look more like the sky from those looking up at it, helping it camouflage into the ocean surface. The greyish-brown darker side has colors that help it blend into the sandy ocean bottom.
Perfectly camouflaged, finding a Pacific Halibut really is finding a diamond in the rough, as its diamond-shaped body is more elongated than most flatfishes, and its caudal fin has a crescent shape to it, which is unique to this particular species of flat fish.
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
If you were to find a Pacific Halibut shortly after it was born, you’d easily mistake it for some other type of fish. They’re born swimming upright and without their iconic one-sided eye placement. It’s as they get older that the Pacific Halibut begins to morph into the form we know and love.
By the time a right-eyed flounder reaches six months old, its left eye has made a journey across its skull to situate itself close to its right-sided partner (although about one in 20,000 halibut are left-sided). Now right-eyed and laying flat, the Pacific Halibut can keep an eye out for potential threats and feed on a diet of small fish, crabs, clams, squid and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
Pacific Halibut Season and Fishery Management
Typically, the season for catching Pacific Halibut runs from mid-March through early November, closing right before the spawning season begins. The females typically spawn at depths of 300 to 1,500 ft. When we get a hold of Pacific Halibut, it’s wild-caught by longlines or hook-and-line along the coastal waters of Northern California all the way up to Nome, Alaska – though, most of them are caught in the Gulf of Alaska.
Fishing for the Pacific Halibut is regulated by the International Pacific Halibut Commission, NOAA Fisheries and the Pacific Fishery Management Council. These agencies set yearly quotas to support a minimum halibut population. The teamwork these agencies have shown in both the United States and Canada has ensured that the Pacific Halibut has not been overfished, but also that its population has seen growth since 2013. Today, nearly 25 million pounds of Pacific Halibut are fished annually.
The commercial fishery for Pacific Halibut began in 1888 off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia. Due to dwindling stocks of the Atlantic Halibut at the time, along with prime access to railroads for shipping, there was an upsurge in vessels in Canada and Alaska fishing for Pacific Halibut to supply the demand from the East Coast. With the rapid growth of the commercial fishery came a decrease in stocks of this fish, ultimately leading to the first known treaty to be introduced for the conservation of an ocean fishery – the Convention for the Preservation of the Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific Ocean in 1923.
Pacific Halibut at Water Grill
At Water Grill, we handpick, cut and exclusively supply the highest quality seafood to our restaurants, leveraging more than 75 years of strong relationships to source from local fishermen and lobstermen.
From off the boats of the local fisherman, around 40 tons of Pacific Halibut passed through King’s Seafood Distribution in 2024, where it is filleted and prepared for our restaurants. We are committed to ensuring the maximum yield of this amazing fish, utilizing all parts in our menu. This includes the tail, collar, fillet, cheeks and even the bones and eyes!
It may come as some surprise to some to see these lesser used parts of a fish on a menu, but parts like the collar and the tail bring out tremendous flavors and contain the most tender and flavorful meat.
Make no mistake, Pacific Halibut is a people and palate pleaser, with a flavor that’s delightfully mild and slightly sweet. It’s a leaner fish, with large white flakes and a firm but tender texture. These flavor characteristics, texture and color come from its sedentary lifestyle, unique diet and relatively cold-water environment where it inhabits.
Depending on availability, we offer several preparations of Pacific Halibut throughout the season at Water Grill, utilizing the whole fish. This includes:
•Pan Seared Halibut entrée with spring peas, fingerlings, braised leeks and lemon velouté
•Pan Roasted Halibut Cheeks appetizer with braised fennel and brown butter lemon sauce
•Miso Marinated Halibut Collar with grilled Okinawan potatoes, pickled bean sprouts and yuzu aioli
•Roasted Halibut Tail tacos with roasted tomato salsa, pickled mango and soft corn tortillas
All this Pacific Halibut talk catch your eye? Check our Water Grill menus for availability and make a reservation today!
