Fresh Catch

Diners seeking a hearty seafood meal should set sail for The Crab House in Boca Raton.

Frederick J. Krantz charts the course.

Knowledgeable Boca Raton seafood aficionados are heading west. Instead of trekking down to the ocean armed with fishing rod, net and harpoon, they are navigating 18th Street west to Boca Pointe and dropping anchor at Wharfside. Their destination is The Crab House, a popular restaurant offering the freshest fruits of the sea. Located in the quaint Wharfside quarter of Boca Pointe Shopping Complex, The Crab House serves excellent seafood in a lively atmosphere. Recently, a friend and I went there for dinner.

After we ordered a glass of Italian sparkling wine, Rotari brut ($5.95 a glass; $20.95 a bottle), we examined The Crab House menu. With the wine, a fresh-baked, crusty boule and butter were delivered to our table. We were joined by the restaurant’s manager, Enrique Brao. Venezuela-born Brao has been with the Boca Raton Crab House since it opened in March, 1994. The Boca restaurant is part of Bayport Restaurant Group, Brao explained, which operates a string of Crab Houses in Florida, Georgia , South Carolina and Illinois.

With the assistance of Enrique, and that of our accomplished and cheerful waitress, Trish, we ordered our dinner. Because my guest and I are great seafood — especially crab — fans, we really went to town.

My companion began with broiled savory Maryland crab cakes ($15.95) that were succulent and contained large lumps of crabmeat. My order of sautéed soft-shelled crabs ($14.95) was so delicious and perfectly prepared we almost swooned.

But that was only the beginning.

Next came garlic crabs (large bowl, $14.50; jumbo bowl, $18.50) and the crème de la crème of the crab canon, the sweet-flavored Dungeness ($15.95). After she set down the crab, Trish supplied us with large paper bibs.

Enrique suggested we share the intriguing appetizer sampler ($12.95: designed for two persons), which offered four each of clams casino, oysters Rockefeller and crabmeat-stuffed mushrooms. A zippy, Manhattan-style Bahamian conch chowder ($2.35 cup; $3.35 bowl) was a wake-up call with its soaring notes of Tabasco. Somewhere during the course of our meal, Enrique arrived with a plate of his favorite dish for us to sample: seafood pasta primavera ($13.95), a pleasing mosaic of shrimp, sc allops, fresh vegetables with fresh basil butter strewn across a bed of al dente fettuccine.

We should have ended our dinner here, but didn't. We threw caution to the wind and forged ahead with two entrées. After all the crabmeat we had sampled earlier, I decided on a change of pace and ordered a broiled red snapper ($16.95) which was moist, tender and had flesh like silk. My companion remained in the shellfish arena and went into overdrive on a broiled, crabmeat-stuffed 1/2 Maine lobster with Dungeness crab ($18.95). With both dishes came steamed vegetables: broccoli and carrots. A mixed salad is included with the price of all entrées. My companion’s salad was dressed with a low-fat vinaigrette offering the racy smack of orange and tarragon. Although the Caesar ($1.50 extra) boasted tasty cubes of toasted sourdough, not one anchovy could be located among the salad's generous portion of romaine.

After Trish cleared our main course plates, she recommended several desserts. Even though my companion and I rolled our eyes at each other, we decided in a moment of reckless abandon to order two. It was worth it. The refreshing apple blossom ($3.50) was a crisp cinnamon-dusted shell, loaded with sweet, warm apples and crowned with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The dessert combo ($2.95) proved to be a lethal duet featuring a slice each of chocolate silk pie and of The Crab House’s homemade Key lime pie.

We lifted our cups of espresso ($1.95 each) to Enrique Brao fils, wishing him all the best in his career in the restaurant business. If, during the course of his career, he ran a restaurant as excellently as his manager/father ran The Crab House in Boca Raton, he will be successful indeed. The Crab House Wharfsi de at Boca Pointe 6909 Southwest 18th Street Boca Raton, FL 33433 (407) 750-0498