Dungeness crabs made me laugh when I saw them advertised prominently in San Francisco.

Dungeness in England is the setting for a nuclear power station, suggesting to me that these were special glow in the dark crabs.

The other connection with Dungeness is that the English film-maker and famous gay, Derek Jarman lived there and wrote extensively about his home and garden there. My second thought was to wonder whether Jarman ever caught Dungeness crabs. I don't think he would have minded. I bought all of his books when he was still alive, so I hope he had a couple of grins on me too. Or a couple of gins maybe.

(He was HIV positive and died of an Aids related illness)

I don't particularly like either lobster or crab on their own, but I love crab in a seafood mornay. It just seems to make the flavour right. Lobster is ok, but personally I think it's overrated.

"Maine" lobster is by far the best choice. If you are talking about "lobster" tails then crab is a better choice. Crabs are good, but they are a lot of work, unless you are getting a crab cake. Soft shelled crabs are not bad too. Actually, I won't turn my nose up at any of it, except "lobster" tails.

glatt, do you have "lobster" in quotes because the tails are not real lobster parts?

Blue Unction.

Very important distinction here and glatt is right on. Many lobsters now are farmed in FRESH WATER. They shouldn't even be called lobster. They taste nothing like a lobster from salt water. They are also very common in Australia and taste like nothing more than an overgrown crawfish.

They are also frozen and served at virtually all restaurants, in the US anyway. So unless you see it alive beforehand, don't count on it.

Sorry, but growing u in N.E. and experiencing the best seafood there is, its appalling to me what some call "fresh seafood."

That's true classic. We get both freshwater and saltwater crayfish here. Saltwater is far tastier. Freshwater crayfish are native here though, and come in different sizes from pretty small right up to full sized. We call the little ones yabbies, but there are actually different species of smaller ones. I think they're similar to the things you lot in the US call Crawfish.

Crawfish taste like crap - as does virtually all freshwater fish when compared to those from saltwater.

We had lobster at a restaurant in the Scilly Isles where you had to go in and book your lobster when you made your restaurant booking. They were then caught to order that day.

About as fresh as you can get!

If you go to a restaurant and order only a lobster tail, you are getting the tail from a Caribbean spiny lobster. It is pretty much flavorless compared the the meat from a Maine lobster (which lives from Massachusetts to maritime Canada.)

I've never seen anyone offer a Maine lobster tail for sale. Those lobsters are sold whole, because there is so much meat in the claws and arms as well as the tail. The Caribbean spiny lobster only has meat in the tail part. I've only seen the spiny lobster tail offered for sale frozen in a store or cooked (from frozen) in a restaurant. The Maine lobster is usually sold alive in stores.

See the Caribbean spiny lobster (top picture) and Maine lobster (bottom picture.)

Oh, and the Culinary Institute of America does a better job of explaining it than I do.

You did a good job yourself, glatt--thank you.

I'm kind of skeeved out by that spiny thang.

"Caribbean spiny lobster" = Underwater spider! Yuck!

:drool:

You guys are ruining the pot roast I am about to make with all this talk. Mmmm....crab better...Mmmm....

I thought the idea of having this pot roast was awesome. Now I just want crab legs. :neutral:

Update: I am going to go get crab legs, all because you guys had to open your mouths about this....

It's going to cost me because I am completely land-locked. But I can't stop thinking about crab-legs, since this came up, and nothing has tasted like it's supposed to since.

Off I go! Reservations at 6:00 and an hour drive! MMMmmm...