Joe's Stone Crab

Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant Review:

This South Beach institution has been serving the distinctively sweet claw of the stone crab since the early 1900s. The founding family still owns and runs it on an entire city block below Fifth Street --- formerly a sleepy, low-rise neighborhood now booming with big buildings and nightlife. But the restaurant itself, despite renovation and expansion, remains gratifyingly simple. If you’re not prepared to wait for a table, cruise into Joe’s take-out next door and grab your crab to-go, and a lobster roll while you're at it. Stay for a table, though, and you won’t be disappointed. Medium stone crabs (remember, stone crab in Florida means only the claw, by law) are best; the claws are a fine regional meal paired with Joe's creamy mustard dipping sauce and sides of hash browns and creamed spinach. But it's not just all crab and claws; there are fried green tomatoes, fried chicken (a not so best kept secret), a rare meat program focused on sourcing cattle bred in Florida farms; and, of course, the famed and quintessential Key lime pie.