cstuart

I'm interested! What hole in the wall are you talking about?

I did! No not really, but Nancy does call Mario her friend and includes "Mario's Favorite Bagna Cauda Sandwich" in her sandwich book. Good thing Mario has some weight to throw around because he seems to be spreading himself quite thin with all these restaurants, although opening one with Silverton sounds like a great idea.

if you boil the crab to just to kill it, maybe a minute or two, the meat is still translucent and easier to remove than in its raw state. here's a (crappy) pic from the last time i made crabs in which you can see the meat after a quick bath: the meat is closer to raw than cooked and would pass through a sieve fine. and i was able to get out whole leg pieces after wacking them with a cleaver, however the body took a little more work.

We had another "crab feast" of 5 crabs totalling over 12 lbs. I made ginger scallion stir fry, garlic roasted, and boiled with hot garlic butter. Everyones favorite was the ginger scallion, but they were all really good.

I found a bottle of the Mexican made coke in a corner market a few blocks from my house: At $1.35, I think it was a little more expensive(I don't normally drink soda), but I liked it more than the last coke I had. Maybe next time I'll do a side-by-side taste test.

Take a look here: http://www.cordonbleu.net

Chris, you can also get them outside of the Hollywood Bowl after a concert, usually in front of the parking lot across the street from the Bowl. Too bad it's winter. Did you ever make them using the mayo?

can you expand on this a little? thanks, chiel

i can get live crab down the street from my house at about $3/lb. yesterday we picked up 2 and had a mini feast; i made ginger scallion stir fry and she made boiled crab with filipino condiments. later i whipped up some crab fried rice. i really love crab and can see a weekly crab feast happening while the season lasts. i'll try and take some photos next time. -chiel

jj, great report, and thanks for posting the pics. where in the mission did you eat?