Last week, I was in Miami Beach for a work conference.  While I was down there, I was definitely looking for some type of restaurant that really was Miami Beach.  Boy, did I find it.  It was Joe’s Stone Crab.

It was a Monday and I was walking down Ocean Drive to meet up with my buddy Doug, who was joining me for dinner.    That night, it was immediately noticeable how quiet all the other trendy Ocean Drive restaurants were.  I was thinking that maybe we had caught a lucky break.  Maybe we wouldn’t have to wait as along to get into what was Yelp rated as a top restaurant in Miami Beach.  Ha… was I wrong.

You walk in and it was FILLED with people. There was definitely a palpable excitement or anticipation amongst all the other patrons that were there waiting to dig into a big pile of stone crabs.   The restaurant is MASSIVE and it was still overflowing with people.

Doug and I made our way to the host who was taking people’s names to be seated.  There was an hour and a half wait.   Doug assured me it was worth it, so we put in our name, went to the bar, and got some drinks.  Three drinks later, our names were called and we moved back to the staging area where they take you to your table.

The whole experience with the hosts was pretty crazy.  You definitely had folks that were flashing hundred-dollar bills to the host in order to by pass the line and go directly to a table.  I don’t think that I’d ever seen that before.

So… we got to our table.  On the way you got to see, even more, how expansive the restaurant was.  You could also tell how it was run like a very tight naval ship.   All the food and drinks came out pretty smoothly and looked to be consistent and uniform with what everyone else was getting.

Since Doug paid for drinks, I bought a bottle of wine.  Normally I don’t buy wine at restaurants because the markup is ridiculous.  This wasn’t bad.  I  think we had an Albarino.  It was an acidic wine that was very crisp and refreshing.

At Joe’s, you’re obviously getting stone crab claws but you can also order a variety of incredible sides.   We got coleslaw, grilled tomatoes, and cornbread.  The coleslaw came out first.  Usually when I have coleslaw, it’s that typical cream based coleslaw that you get everywhere.  This had a vinaigrette, which was delicious.

Next, with the rest of the sides,  came the beloved stone crab claws.  Unlike other crabs that I had in the past, these are served hot.  They’re served cold, which is interesting.   You peel off the shell and then just suck off as much of the delicious meat as possible.  They give you this really tasty mustard with a kick and some butter sauce that you can choose to dip the claw meet in.    I commented to my friend Doug that the crab claw was like an “adult popsicle.” :-p

I was definitely worth trying.  I’m told by my friends that a lot of the stone crabs that you see throughout the East coast all come through Joe’s Stone Crab.   So, it was especially rad to go to the source directly.

The cherry on top of the sundae for the evening was the key lime pie.  It was everything that you want key lime pie to be.    I can’t put the joy that the pie gave me into words.   A week later, the though of the pie still puts a smile on my face.  :-)

All in all, going to Joe’s Stone Crab was a really awesome experience and would be something that I’d recommend to everyone.   It is a little expensive so it’s probably not something that you can do all the time but it’s worth going at least once.

(Photo by snowpea&bokchoi)