The Crab Cooker is a popular

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

restaurant specializing in

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

that is located at 22nd Street and Newport Boulevard in

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

on the

Balboa Peninsula The Balboa Peninsula (also referred to as "Balboa" or "the Peninsula") is a neighborhood of the city of Newport Beach, California. It is named after Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific from the Amer ...

. In 1969, '' Venture Magazine'' rated it as one of the top two restaurants in the world. The restaurant is known for its Manhattan-style clam chowder, skewers of scallops, crab and lobster entrees, oysters, crab and shrimp cocktail, salmon fillet and other fresh fish.

History

The Crab Cooker restaurant was founded at 28th Street and Marina when original owner Bob Roubian was offered the opportunity to take over a local fish market in August 1951. Roubian, a carpenter by trade, had helped remodel the market three years earlier and had an interest in fishing. The original restaurant was adjoined by a annex. The building housing the restaurant was formerly a branch of the

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

, whose former logo can be seen embedded in the corner of the building. The restaurant was established in 1951 and is considered a local landmark. In 1992, a second restaurant was opened in

Tustin, California Tustin is a city located in Orange County, California, United States, within the Los Angeles metropolitan area. In 2020, Tustin had a population of 80,276. The city does not include the unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated communit ...

. Bob Roubian, who was born in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

, served as a

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

during the Second World War. In 1955, Roubian and

Cliffie Stone Clifford Gilpin Snyder (March 1, 1917 – January 17, 1998), professionally Cliffie Stone, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality who was pivotal in the development of Californi ...

wrote a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

song called " The Popcorn Song", proceeds from which helped pay off the restaurant's debts. Roubian died in 2017 and the restaurants are now managed by his son-in-law.

Temporary closure

In 2019, The Crab Cooker's original location in Newport Beach was demolished after construction of an adjacent condominium complex undermined the restaurant's foundations, causing major structural damage that resulted in the business's insurers declaring the building to be "unsalvageable." The building's owners decided to demolish it and rebuild on the current site. The last day of business in the original building was September 2, 2018. Construction problems delayed rebuilding by more than a year. In 2021, the new building opened, retaining many of the features and whimsy of the original building, including the iconic fish sign that says, "Don't look up here!".

Description

The Crab Cooker restaurant is known for its casual atmosphere. The building's exterior is painted bright red. Inside, the restaurant decoration is a

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

of unique items including paintings by famous artists, theater

chandelier A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...

s, pots and pans, a wrought-iron gate, nautical equipment and a giant shark. the restaurant is popular with locals and tourists from around the world. Food is served on paper plates. It is common to see patrons waiting in lines in the street; these lines once elevated The Crab Cooker to national headlines when advance staff for President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

asked Roubian to allow Nixon to be seated for dinner. Roubian informed them the president would have to wait along with rest of the people, as would any president.

In popular culture

In the television show ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on Fox in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, with a total of four seasons consisting of 92 episodes. The serie ...

'', the restaurant dubbed the "Crab Shack" is The Crab Cooker. but, in one episode, Julie Cooper (

Melinda Clarke Melinda Patrice Clarke (born April 24, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Faith Taylor on the soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'' (1989–1990), Julie Cooper on Fox's teen drama series '' The O.C.'' (2003–2007), Lady Heath ...

) refers to the restaurant by its real-life name.

References

External links