Seafood Chain the Boiling Crab Opens First D.C. Location on H Street NE | Eater DC

"Opened at 400 H Street NE on July 19, the D.C. outpost of The Boiling Crab — an international seafood chain from the tiny Texas fishing town of Seadrift founded in 2004 — serves saucy seafood dumped from clear plastic bags onto paper-topped tables where customers don bibs and eat with their hands. The menu includes lobster, peel-and-eat shrimp, crawfish, oysters, clams, and mussels, with seasonal blue or Dungeness crab and king or snow crab legs; an employee told Eater shipments of blue crab are sparse for now, with prices spiking. Diners pick from sauces including Cajun, lemon pepper, garlic, and the proprietary “Whole Sha-Bang!” with heat levels from nonspicy up to a fiery XXX, and napkins provide three-step instructions to “get messy,” “clean,” then “get messier.” Add-ons like sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob replicate classic crab boil plates, while fans of fried food can choose baskets of battered catfish, shrimp, chicken tenders, calamari, and oysters, plus fries in Cajun, sweet potato, lemon pepper, and crab varieties and Cajun or lemon pepper wings. Booze offerings begin with four beers (Coors, Modelo, Corona, and Heineken) and include micheladas and margaritas served in mason jars. The brick-lined corner space (formerly Driftwood Kitchen) was refreshed with graffiti murals and Gulf Coast decor — fishing tackles, boating equipment, photos of famous fishermen, and bumper stickers like Lone Star and “I <3 Tabasco” — and guests can scribble messages on walls near their booths. The restaurant is open weekdays 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends noon to 10 p.m., with takeout available now and third-party delivery coming soon, and the company also operates locations across Southern and Northern California, the Dallas area, Las Vegas, Miami, Honolulu, as well as outposts in Shanghai and Melbourne." - Tierney Plumb