Joe's Stone Crab
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Joe's Stone Crab is an American seafood restaurant in
Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. In 1998 the restaurant won an America's Classic Award from the James Beard Foundation It is consistently among the highest grossing individual restaurants in the United States, with 2024 sales approaching $50 million. Joe's Stone Crab is the biggest buyer of Florida stone crab claws, and it plays a significant role in the industry, influencing the wholesale price and financing many crabbers. Even though stone crabs are their most famous dish now, fish was served, rather than crabs, in the early years after the restaurant's opening. According to lore, when an
ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...
asked founder Joe Weiss why he didn't serve stone crabs, he answered that no one would want to eat them. He was wrong, as they found out soon after first cooking them.


Menu

Fresh stone crab claws are available from October 15 until May 15, when the regulated catch is legal. At other times of the year, the restaurant operates on a reduced schedule and serves frozen stone crab claws. In addition to stone crab, the restaurant is known for reasonably priced fried chicken and fried oysters. Lamb chops, a variety of steaks, and
baby back ribs Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then ...
are on the menu. Vegetables include creamed spinach, chopped salad, grilled tomatoes, onion rings, baked potatoes,
Lyonnaise potatoes Lyonnaise potatoes (, ) – are potatoes, boiled and then sliced and shallow-fried, served together with fried onions. History and ingredients The culinary term ''à la lyonnaise'' – in the style of Lyon – which is applied to numerous Frenc ...
, and fried asparagus. Other seafood items include King crab legs, shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, and crab niçoise salad.
Key lime pie Key lime pie is an American dessert pie. It is made of Key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk. It may be served with no topping, with a meringue topping made from egg whites, or with whipped cream. Traditionally, Key lime pie i ...
and brownie sundaes are among the dessert options.


History

Joe and Jenny Weiss were Jewish immigrants from Hungary who initially settled in New York, where their son Jesse was born in 1907. Joe worked in a restaurant in the Bronx, where he learned the recipes for several dishes that he later offered in Miami Beach. Joe had asthma and borrowed against a life insurance policy to travel to Miami Beach in 1913, where he found relief from his symptoms. His wife and son soon followed to Miami Beach. That year, the couple opened a seafood service concession at Smith's Bathing Casino, and in 1918, they purchased a small house across the street and established Joe's Diner in 1920. This was the beginning of the restaurant business in Miami Beach, which was not yet a city. Many accounts describe a visit to the Weiss's restaurant in the early 1920s by an ichthyologist from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, who suggested that they consider serving stone crabs as a dish. One source mentions
George Howard Parker George Howard Parker (December 23, 1864 – March 26, 1955) was an American zoologist. He was a professor at Harvard, and investigated the anatomy and physiology of sense organs and animal reactions. Biography George Howard Parker was born in Phi ...
as that scientist. He was a zoologist who studied
crustaceans Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of Arthropod, arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquat ...
extensively, especially their perception. When they added that dish to the menu, business grew, along with the influx of more tourists. In 1975, Joe's Stone Crab was designated a Miami Beach historic landmark. In 1999,
Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc. (LEYE) is a restaurant group currently comprising 120 or more restaurants mainly located in the Chicago metropolitan area. It was founded by Rich Melman and Jerry A. Orzoff in 1971. History The first res ...
became involved and opened a branch in Chicago, followed by the 2005 opening in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in 2014 Washington, D.C. These branches are known as Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab to set them apart from the fourth-generation owned Miami original. In 1998, they won an America's Classic Award by the James Beard Foundation


Popularity

''Restaurant Business Magazine'', the industry publication of record, reported in October 2014 that Joe's Stone Crab ranked second in the United States with $35.3 million in revenue in 2013. According to
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
, in 2017, Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach was the second highest grossing restaurant in the United States, with sales of $37,243,159. They served 316,000 meals that year. By 2019, Joe's Stone Crab was the highest-grossing independent restaurant in the US, grossing $38.4 million in 2019. In 2024, the restaurant had $49,413,190 in annual sales, highest in the United States. Politicians, actors, and athletes often visit Joe's Stone Crab.


Further reading


See also

*
List of seafood restaurants The following is a list of notable seafood restaurants. A seafood restaurant typically specializes in seafood cuisine and seafood dishes, such as Fish (food), fish and shellfish. Seafood restaurants Australia * Doyles on the Beach Braz ...
*
South Beach South Beach, also nicknamed colloquially as SoBe, is a Neighborhoods of Miami Beach, Florida, neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida. It is located east of Miami between Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area encompasses Miami Beach south ...
, Florida


References


External links

* {{Restaurants in Miami 1913 establishments in Florida America's Classics winners Restaurants established in 1913 Restaurants in Miami Seafood restaurants in Florida