#8: Salt-Baked Crab @ Kim Son
The dish, a Vietnamese specialty, is a misnomer. There's more pepper than salt. And it's not really baked, but stir-fried and finished briefly in the oven. It is, however, really made with crab--good lake blue crabs cut into quarters, cooked with a tremendous amount of garlic and pepper. It's a major mess to eat--along the lines of boiled crabs. But once you start eating this, you'll find it impossible to stop, particularly during the best months of crab season (early and late summer). Also good are the scallops and shrimp done in the same style. At a significantly higher price, Kim Son also does salt-baked Maine lobster. There's always someone in the dining room eating that. All if it is lusty eating.
