The Crab Cooker, Newport Beach

The Crab Cooker

2200 Newport Beach Blvd.

Newport Beach, CA 92663

I can't remember who first took me to the Crab Cooker, but I'm sure it was some girl and whoever it was suggested the clam chowder. I'd guess that it was in the neighborhood of 30 years ago, too, so the low price of their clam chowder was probably most of it's appeal. If memory serves, it was something like $1.95 for a small cup of soup and $.95 for a loaf of fisherman's bread. Throw in an ice tea, and you could get out for under $5. Plus, there was all the breadsticks and little hard bread balls you could eat.

After the first time I went, I would come in fairly often, both when I was living in Diamond Bar and when I was living in Pasadena, usually by myself. The drive to the beach from those places was a bit of a mission, and if I was going to go to the shore, I was staying the day, regardless of the weather, and having an inexpensive place to eat that was warm when the beach was cold was important to my enjoyment. The Crab Cooker fit that bill for me.

At this point, I don't think I've been in there in the last 10 years, so I was happy to see that everything except the prices was about the same. You can still get the soup, ($2.95), bread ($1.50) and ice tea ($1.50) and be out for under $10 with a tip included. The atmosphere is good, tables and chairs comfortable, and if you come in at an off time, they won't rush you back out again.

They serve Manhattan Clam Chowder, the red kind, in little paper bowls, and ice tea in plastic cups, all placed on a paper place mat with plastic spoons and forks. The decor is all quirky nautical fare and dumb jokes. They bring out cold pads of butter to spread on the warm, crusty fisherman's loaf. Though I ordered my usual, I was a bit more hungry and had them throw in a plate of prawns. They weren't bad, but in hindsight, I wish I'd have just asked for a second bowl of soup and maybe some cole slaw. Prawns are prawns, and for the most part are either good or bad. Their chowder, though, is unique and a lot less expensive. The menu items aren't prohibitively expensive, but it really is about the chowder for me.

The most unpleasant thing about the place is finding parking. Newport Beach is the land of parking meters which are checked regularly. I only had enough money for an hour, so though I wasn't rushed in the Crab Cooker, I was rushed by the parking meter.

It some distant past, there must have been tons of places like this, quirky, individual and with a charm all it's own. It's like Joe's Crab Shack if Joe's Crab Shack didn't look like every other Joe's Crab Shack. Now, in a world of-yes-Joe's Crab Shacks and Bucca di Beppo (both of which I kind of like), places that are unique, like the Crab Cooker are fading away.