‘Gulfport’s ready.’ Create your own steam bag at this new Coast seafood restaurant
Customers will be encouraged to dig in and get their hands messy at a new seafood restaurant opening Saturday in Gulfport.
Mr. & Mrs. Crab Juicy Seafood & Bar, a franchise restaurant based in Tampa, Florida, opens at noon on Feb. 22 and will be open daily for lunch and dinner.
It’s at 9131 U.S. 49, southwest of Airport Road, and is a different kind of seafood restaurant for South Mississippi.
“We’re right in between I-10 and the beach,” said Darleen Newman, who manages the 186-seat restaurant that has booths, tables and a dining hall for parties or large groups. A 32-seat bar offers beer, wine and specialty cocktails.
Diners choose from shrimp, oysters, blue crab, snow crab, clams, mussels, Dungeness crab and lobster for their low country feast. Crawfish will be added to the list in season.
“This style of food originated in Louisiana,” said Tom Kuo, training coordinator for the restaurant chain. Meals are customized by the diners’ choice of seafood and seasonings, and most everything they select is best eaten as finger food.
Customize your dinner
Prices are by the pound and half pound, Kuo said. Once the seafood is weighed, it’s mixed with the seasonings and flavorings of the customers’ choice, cooked and served in steam bags with corn and potato. Gloves and bibs are available by request.
Those who want mild can choose no spice, ask for the seasoning on the side or opt for garlic and butter flavor, he said. Those who like heat can ask for a little spice or extra hot.
Fried baskets and seafood combos also come with choices for spice level and seasonings.
Highlighting the appetizer menu are raw and steamed oysters, along with fried calamari, fried clam strips and lobster bisque or other soup of the day.
More than seafood
“We do have other options besides seafood,” Kuo said, such as chicken tenders and wings. They also have a children’s menu.
Happy hour will be twice a day before and after dinner, and a staff of more than 50 was hired to provide good service from the start, Newman said.
They already have a Facebook following of people eager for the restaurant to open.
“Gulfport’s ready. They’re hungry,” Newman said.
